Central Vigilance Commission is the nodal agency charged with the responsibility of ensuring corruption free administration. It is equipped with all the requisite infrastructure and trained manpower to conduct its duty efficiently in normal course of things. It has chosen the motto of Preventive Vigilance for this year’s Vigilance Week. The President, Vice President and the Prime Minister have sent their message to the Commission in connection with observing the week.
Every year the CVC celebrates the week. It has become a routine. The question is to what extent does the observing of the week help in improving transparency and efficiency of the administration. By and large, these celebrations have become a formality in our country, and all that the departmental authorities want to achieve is publicity and media hype. It has become the culture with most of the organizations. That is one of the reasons why people do not take the exercise seriously.
Corruption, lack of transparency and inefficiency have made dent in our administrative system. A country that carried its freedom struggle from colonialism for nearly a century should not have fallen easy prey to these vices. Heavy responsibility comes down on the shoulders of the State to devise means and methods of containing corruption. Whenever the State chooses to delay timely action to curb corruption and inefficiency, it grows rapidly like cancer till a time comes when its eradication becomes difficult. The message of the President sent on the occasion of the celebration needs to be read and explained with all seriousness. Prevention is better than cure, goes the old saying. Preventive vigilance is what every well-meaning Government would like to see in place. It is virtually what the axiom ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ means. Corruption is essentially a trait of human character, and among those traits that society wants individuals to control. When the social fabric gets worn out thin and values fall apart, corruption seeps into the social structure. It is true that accountability and the might of the law are deterrents to corrupt practice and inefficiency. The problem is that those who are charged with the responsibility of enforcing accountability become slack and unresponsive to social imperatives. Therefore, corruption spreads and spreads wildly among Government functionaries.
We have seen that owing to non-accountability, corruption has invaded even the highest echelons of civil administration. Not to speak of functionaries at lower levels, even at the highest levels, the disease of corruption has become infesting. The President has desired that the people at large need to be made aware of adverse consequences of corruption. It hampers the development of the State; it creates unnecessary and harmful disparity among the groups of people, it saps nation’s energy and zest for growth, and finally it brings about disruption in the social structure. The fact that the State needs a multi-tier corruption controlling mechanism is a reflection on the integrity and fairness of the people. It brings us disrepute. An honest, just and patriotic people have no need for institutions called vigilance. As such, the President is right in emphasizing the need of making people of India aware of what corruption and inefficiency cost us.
What is the mechanism of preventive vigilance and how can it be made functional? We believe that this theme will find big response from the civil society during the week of celebrations. We think that identifying complex rules or procedures and simplifying the same, curtailing discretions, ensuring accountability, sensitizing the officials, facilitating a culture of honesty and promoting ethical practices, etc. are some of the measures the CVC would be contemplating. These sound good and we expect the CVC will make some progress in publicizing these. However, we will emphasize that accountability and the implementation of the law against corrupt officials is a must.
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