NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Monday did not mince words while extending full backing to central probe agencies, saying the Centre doesn’t lack the “political will to fight corruption” and officers should act against the corrupt, however powerful, without hesitation.
At a gathering to mark the 60th year of CBI, the PM asked officers not to be deterred by the power of the corrupt and the ecosystem created by them to tarnish the image of investigating agencies.
“They (corrupt) have been part of the government and system for years. Even today they are in power in some states… but you have to focus on your work. No corrupt person should be spared. There should be no laxity in our efforts. This is the wish of the country, of the countrymen,” he said.
This is the second time in recent days the PM supported action by central probe agencies amid allegations they are being used as handmaidens of the Centre, and days after some opposition parties moved the Supreme Court against “misuse” of these agencies.
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‘Graft no ordinary crime, snatches rights of poor’
At the CBI’s diamond jubilee celebrations on Monday, PM Modi mentioned how the investigating agency has instilled trust amongst common citizens through its work. “CBI’s name is on everyone’s lips. It is like a brand for truth and justice. The agency’s chief responsibility is to rid the country of corruption which is not an ordinary crime. It snatches the rights of the poor, begets many other crimes and is the biggest obstacle in the path of justice and democracy,” he said.
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The PM said India inherited a legacy of corruption at the time of Independence and lamented that instead of removing it, some people kept nourishing this malady. “There was a competition under way on who will set a new record of corruption,” he said. The scams and the prevailing sense of impunity led to the destruction of the system, and an atmosphere of policy paralysis brought development to a standstill.
He said Internet banking and UPI stand in stark contrast to the earlier malaise of “phone banking” malaise, where loans worth thousands of crores of rupees were sanctioned on the basis of phone calls from influential people.
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The PM mentioned that the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act had so far enabled confiscation of properties of fugitive offenders, worth about Rs 20,000 crore.
Highlighting the benefits of direct benefit transfer (DBT), he said around Rs 2.25 lakh crore was saved from going into wrong hands as beneficiaries were getting their full entitlement with the trinity of ‘Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile’. Over 8 crore fake beneficiaries have been removed from the system, he added.
Modi said the government had so far transferred Rs 27 lakh crore to the poor. “Even a Prime Minister once said, for every rupee sent out to the poor, only 15 paise reaches them. Going by this, Rs 16 lakh crore of this amount would have already disappeared,” he remarked.
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He said interviews were abolished in Group C and Group D services at the Centre to weed out corruption.
Modi said India’s economic power is growing while those who create obstacles are also rising. He warned that attacks on India’s social fabric, its unity and brotherhood, and its economic interests and institutions would also increase.
The PM also launched the agency’s Twitter account besides three offices in Nagpur, Shillong and Pune.
