I, as finance minister, inherited an economy with bankrupt treasury, with foreign exchange reserves totally exhausted, with the nation’s creditworthiness in doubt. We turned around that economy. The bankrupt economy that we inherited has now become one of the fastest growing economies of the world.
Madam, whatever the members of the Opposition may say, India is respected all over the world. I think this is because of the inherent strength of our economy, polity and democratic system. In these seven years or as earlier as the finance minister, I did make a small contribution in my own way to enhance the prestige of this country. Thus, while charges are levelled against me, it hurts. But I am not going to convert this forum into a forum for accusation one way or the other. All I can say is that if any wrongdoing has been done by me, I invite the leader of the Opposition to look at my property, which I may have accumulated in the last 41 years. I would accept any verdict if he finds I have used public office to amass wealth for myself or for any member of my family.
Madam, in the course of seven years as Prime Minister, I may have made mistakes. Who is above making mistakes? To err is human, but to accuse me of evil intentions, of conniving at corruption is a charge I firmly repudiate. I would like to say corruption is a multifaceted problem. Therefore, we, as a nation, have to find practical, pragmatic means but effective means to tackle it, and this is not merely the responsibility of the central government. The state governments are responsible for over 50 per cent of the total national spending and the conduct of the state governments, which is one way people come in contact with government, is essentially the responsibility of the states. There is anger in the country about the misuse of public offices. Therefore, both at the centre and the states, it is our obligation to clean up the system of governance and ensure that we leave behind a system of public administration, which is capable of meeting the challenge of the 21st century. I commit our government to doing precisely that.
In my address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, I listed a number of areas where in the next couple of months I would like our government to take initiative and I stand committed to whatever I promised. Corruption sources are numerous. Until the early 90s, the biggest single source of corruption was the licensing system, import controls and foreign exchange controls. The liberalisation that we brought about has ended that part of this corruption story. Another major source was the exorbitant rates of taxation, which tempted people to enter into corrupt practices, to reduce their tax liabilities. We have, I venture to suggest, ourselves and the successor governments worked hard to simplify and streamline the taxation system. Now, there is less scope for corruption as far as taxation matters are concerned. Even though I recognise that a residual element is still there and we have to work together through various mechanisms, including goods and services tax which is, I believe, an obligation that our country must fulfil if it wants to move forward.
Malfunctioning of public distribution system (PDS) has been widely commented upon. We must, therefore, devise new methodologies to ensure that PDS will be free of malpractices. This is an obligation which we can discharge only with full collaboration with the state governments. Yet another source is, where government contracts are given in a manner which creates suspicion that something is going wrong. Therefore, we need a Public Procurement Act, as some other countries have, to streamline our contracting mechanisms, leaving less scope for corruption in future. In certain areas, greater competition itself will reduce the scope for corruption. But, we still know that there are areas of infrastructure where competition can at best be only limited. There is scope for regulation. We have, in the last couple of years, put in place regulatory mechanisms, but the functioning of these mechanisms, requires attention.
The House has my assurance that we will work in full public glare to fulfil what we have promised. I have set up a group under Shri Pranab Mukherjee to look at the scope for reducing the amount of discretion that ministers have at the centre. This group has made some important suggestions. They will be considered by the Cabinet and we will put in place a mechanism to reduce the scope for misuse of discretionary power or to eliminate discretionary power wherever it can be done without detriment to public interest or achievement of public good.
Edited excerpts from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s speech in the Lok Sabha on August 25
