Mail News Service
New Delhi, Dec 27: Following is the text of the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s statement in Lok Sabha made while intervening during the debate on the Lokpal Bill today:
On corruption, our Government like none before has taken decisive steps. In the last one year, we have been working on certain landmark legislations. The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011, is before this House. The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2011, and the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, awaits your approval. The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010, has already been cleared by the Standing Committee and awaits Government’s consideration.
The Electronic Delivery of Services Bill, 2011, is being introduced which will ensure that essential public services are electronically delivered at the doorstep of the citizen. These are landmark and unprecedented legislations. On the administrative side, our Government seeks to streamline decision making consistent with the principles of transparency and accountability. We are formulating public policy measures on procurement. A Group of Ministers has recommended elimination of discretion in administrative matters where possible. This is work in progress. We began with the Right to Information Act. We will not end the fight against corruption with the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill.
Corruption is corruption whether in the Union or in the States. It has no legislative colour. I urge leaders of all parties to rise above partisan politics to demonstrate to the people of India that this House means business in its effort to combat corruption. All of us are party to the resolution reflecting the sense of the House in which we committed to establish Lokayuktas in the States along with the Lokpal. We would be in breach of the promise that this House made to the nation if we do not provide for the mechanism of the Lokayuktas by taking recourse to citing articles of the Constitution as impediments. Such a course of action should not derail the sense of the House .
The Central Government is responsible for providing a limited number of public services directly to the citizen. The real problem lies in the domain of State Governments where the aam aadmi feels the pinch of petty corruption on a daily basis. It is for this reason that Group C and Group D employees have been brought within the ambit of Lokayuktas in States.
Local as well as State authorities are charged with providing essential services to the common man. It is here that the bane of corruption needs to be combated. Water, electricity, municipal services, land records, policing, transport, ration shops are but a few examples of essential services provided by State and Local authorities that affect the life of the aam aadmi. Setting up of Lokayuktas in States will go a long way in addressing the sense of frustration that is reflected in the anger that we see around us.
We believe that the CBI should function without interference through any Government dictat. But no institution and no individual, howsoever high he may be, should be free from accountability. All institutional structures must be consistent with our Constitution.
Today we are given to believe that a Government that is directly elected by the people and accountable to it cannot be trusted but a body that will not derive its legitimacy from the people directly or be accountable to it could be trusted to wield its immense powers with honour and trust. No entity should be created inconsistent with our constitutional framework and charged with onerous executive responsibilities without any accountability. In the ultimate analysis, all institutions within the framework of the Constitution are accountable to Parliament and Parliament alone. In our enthusiasm to enact this law we must not falter. I believe that the CBI should function independently of the Lokpal. I also believe that the CBI should function independently of the Government. But independence does not mean absence of accountability. We have, therefore, proposed a process of appointment of the CBI Director which involves the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India or his nominee and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. None should have doubts about the integrity of this process. As far as the issue of CBI functioning under the Lokpal is concerned, my Government believes that this would create an executive structure outside Parliament which is accountable to none. This is anathema to sound constitutional principles. I believe that the Bill which is now before the House contains a judicious blend of functional autonomy and accountability of the CBI.
In the course of this debate, the bureaucracy has been at the receiving end. While I agree that public functionaries must be above board and that delinquents must be dealt with expeditiously and decisively, I must express my deep appreciation for many a public servant who have shown exemplary integrity in discharging their functions in an environment of distrust. I don’t think all public functionaries need to be painted with the same brush just as all politicians should not be presumed to be corrupt. We must not throw the baby out with the bath water. Without a functional, efficient administrative system, no Government can deliver for its people.
Let us not supplant the system with one in which the public servants will hesitate to fearlessly record what they think and in that process endanger the very soul of good governance. In judging the conduct of public servants, we must not lose sight of the need to distinguish genuine and honest mistakes in the discharge of their duties from patently illegal acts. Very often our public servants have to take decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The future being inherently uncertain, it is possible that an action which ex ante appears to be rational may ex post turn out to be faulty. Our systems of reward and punishment must not lose sight of this fact.
All systems of governance must be based on trust. It is the people’s trust that we in Government reflect and protect. Rampant distrust of all authority imperils the foundations of democracy. Our polity with its enormous size and diversity can only be held together when we put our faith and trust in institutions that we have carefully built over the years. The power of the electorate is the ultimate authority which brings accountability to our democratic institutions. In endangering democracy, we will only be unleashing the forces of chaos where reason will give way to emotion.
We are creating something for the future in response to the inadequacies of the present. We have to be mindful of the pitfalls when we look into the future. Let us not create something that will destroy all that we cherish – all in the name of combating corruption. Let us remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/political-parties-should-discuss-corruption-issue-sans-political-motive-pm/
