New Delhi: The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, graced and addressed the Vigilance Awareness Week 2018 function organised by the Central Vigilance Commission in New Delhi today (October 31, 2018). The theme of this year’s Vigilance Awareness Week is ‘Eradicate Corruption – Build a New India’.
Speaking on the occasion, the President said eradicating corruption is the foremost condition for creating a new India. He emphasised that the confidence of our people that decisions and actions are being undertaken with transparency, accountability and fairness must continuously be enhanced. Technology and the Internet can be of great use in this regard. He noted that the GEM online platform has been introduced to improve transparency and prevent corruption in the public procurement process. From extending banking facilities to previously unbanked sections of our people to implementing the GST regime, various endeavours have been made to boost the formal economy. And adoption of digital systems has also helped contain corruption. In this manner, loopholes for misuse of public money are being addressed.
The President said that there is a serious effort to curb and punish economic offences, and to give habitual offenders a sense of fear of the law. Legislative measures have been taken – for instance the Amendment to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the enforcement of the Benami Property Act as well as the promulgation of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) & Imposition of Tax Act 2015. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill has also been introduced in Parliament. Such initiatives give confidence to honest citizens and tax payers.
In his address, MoS (PP) Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted the Government’s policy of zero tolerance towards corruption and enumerated various legislative measures including the amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act brought about by the Government to fight corruption. While the bribe giver was also made part of prosecution process, safeguards have been provided to protect honest officials, he added. The Minister said that the Disciplinary rules have been amended and interviews to lower levels posts have been done away with. He lauded the CVC’s efforts towards preventive vigilance and particularly mentioned its report on 100 top bank frauds, which has provided valuable insights.
The Central Vigilance Commissioner Shri KV Chowdary, in his welcome address, said that rooting out corruption would be possible only with the participation of citizens. Listing the negative effects of corruption he said it increases business costs, negatively affects financial investments and impacts the poor the most as they pay a high percentage of their income as bribes. He said as part of increasing vigilance awareness, several outreach activities have been undertaken by banks, PSUs and other organisations through screening of short films and holding essay and debate competitions among students. Online reporting of corruption complaints has been made possible through internet by several organisations, he said.
On the occasion, the President presented the ‘Vigilance Excellence Awards’ to acknowledge and appreciate efforts made by the organizations in their fight against corruption. The awards instituted in 2017 are intended to bring forth new ideas related to anti-corruption, and to give recognition to organizations for making a positive contribution to their efficiency and effectiveness.
The Commission has instituted awards for Central Public Sector Enterprises, Public Sector Banks, Ministries/ Departments/Organizations in the following categories:
- Vigilance Innovation
- Vigilance Awareness Initiative
- Excellence in Investigation,
- Timely Completion of Disciplinary Proceedings,
- Best Institutional Practice Including IT Initiative for Fighting Corruption.
The awards are graded as ‘Outstanding’ and ‘Excellent’ for their contribution by the organization, based on the work done by the CVOs/Vigilance wings as well as by Management in the above mentioned categories.
In 2018, 89 nominations were received from 34 organizations for the awards. The Central Vigilance Commission has selected the following organizations (category wise) for the Vigilance Excellence Awards 2018:
| Vigilance Innovation Awards for CVO | |||
| Sl No | Organization | Grade | Initiatives Undertaken |
| 1. | Ministry of Railways | Outstanding | Developed Freight Operation Information System which is now operated by SFOORTI app for transparent and effective freight booking and tracking. |
| 2. | Indian Overseas Bank | Excellent | Developed IOB Sahayak app for NPA recovery and REAP System for automated retail loan processing. Also implemented various other measures to streamline systems and procedures |
| Vigilance Awareness Initiative Awards for CVO | |||
| Sl No | Organization | Grade | Initiatives Undertaken |
| 1. | Union Bank of India | Outstanding | Conducted outreach programmes covering Gram Sabhas, Schools and Colleges |
| 2. | Indian Oil Corporation Limited | Excellent | Produced 8 short films which were viewed widely and organized outreach programmes on vigilance awareness |
| Timely Completion of Disciplinary Proceeding Awards for CVO | |||
| Sl No | Organization | Grade | % of cases completed in time |
| 1. | Canara Bank | Outstanding | 90.50 |
| 2. | Eastern Coalfields Limited | Excellent | 88.23 |
| Best Institutional Practice including IT initiative for fighting corruption in the organization | |||
| Sl. No. | Organization | Grade | Initiatives Taken |
| 1. | Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited | Outstanding | Leveraging technology in crude oil procurement, Introduction of Smart Terminals with automated work flow etc. |
| 2. | Mahanadi Coalfields Limited | Excellent | Use of Technology for accurate measurement of coal and over burden. |
