Work On Corruption Index Of Govt Depts In Progress

The process of classifying government agencies on the basis of corruption index has been initiated and a decision had been taken that this would be carried out by an independent agency, Suman Nayak, director, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), said here recently.

Mentioning that CVC was determined to crack down n corruption in public life, Nayak said public sector enterprises and departments of government have been asked to publish a citizen's charter which would detail what services each enterprise or department can provide to citizens and in what time. "This way non-performance can be tackled by taking legal recourse," Nayak informed.

The deadline for completion of investigation in any public sector is six months and that for CVC is two months. "But we are trying to complete within one month.

Also we are taking measures to protect a subordinate who knows the wrongdoing of a senior officer. This act would be controversial but they are present in many countries," Nayak informed adding that the steps were being taken in consonance with the goal of achieving zero tolerance by 2003.

Nayak pointed out the Indian defense ministry had agreed to display details of all major defense deals on the net going forward as part of bringing transparency in such multi-million dollar transactions.

The defense ministry has been 'persuaded' to take such controversial measure as part of introducing stricter vigilance norms across different government departments.

The consent of MoD assumes significance for the fact that number of defense purchases has come under scanner causing political uproar.

The most recent addition to the list is Tehelka case, which forced Samata party leader and the then defense minister George Fernandes to resign.

Interestingly, the consent to throw open hush-hush deal for public knowledge coincided with Fernandes' rehabilitation as defense minister at the Center.

It is evident that the Samata leader does not want to take any chance in his second innings as defense minister.

Nayak informed such measures would help establish accountability and replace rampant corruption in Indian public life. "India stands 72th among 91 countries in terms of corruption, according to a report prepared by World Bank.

In 2000, we slipped behind China and Sri Lanka and only ahead of countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Russia. In a corruption scale, India scored 2.8 out of 10," he said.