Says highest impact of corruption is borne by poor, marginalized

NEW DELHI (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, August 12, said the highest impact of corruption is borne by the poor and the marginalized and asserted it (corruption) affects resource utilization, distorts markets, impacts service delivery and ultimately diminishes people’s quality of life.

Addressing the G20 Anti-Corruption Ministerial Meet here via video-conferencing, the PM cautioned against greed as it prevents “us from realizing the truth”.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister welcomed dignitaries to the city of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Referring to the writings of Tagore, Modi cautioned against greed as it prevents us from realizing the truth. He also touched upon the Upanishads that strive for ‘Ma Ridha’, which translates to ‘let there be no greed’.

Referring to Kautilya in Arthashastra, the PM said it is the government’s duty to enhance the state’s resources to maximize the welfare of its people. “India has a strict policy of zero tolerance against corruption,” the Prime Minister remarked as he underlined that India is leveraging technology and e-governance to create a transparent and accountable ecosystem.

He mentioned that leakages and gaps in welfare schemes and government projects are being plugged. As a result, the Prime Minister said hundreds of million people in India have received direct benefit transfers into their bank accounts amounting to more than 360 billion dollars helping save over 33 billion dollars.

The Prime Minister said the government had simplified various procedures for businesses and gave the example of automation and digitization of government services that had eliminated rent-seeking opportunities.

“Our Government e-Marketplace, or GeM portal, has brought greater transparency in government procurement,” he added. Speaking about the enactment of the Economic Offenders Act in 2018, the Prime Minister said the government is aggressively pursuing economic offenders and informed about the recovery of assets worth over 1.8 billion dollars from economic offenders and fugitives. He also mentioned the Prevention of Money Laundering Act which has helped attach the assets of offenders worth more than 12 billion dollars since 2014.

The Prime Minister recalled speaking on the challenges of fugitive economic offenders for all G20 countries and the Global South in his very first G-20 Summit in 2014.

(Source: PTI)