President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said corruption is a threat to the democratic fabric of our country which will frustrate the Government’s efforts to bring equity to all citizens.
Delivering the 14th DP Kohli Memorial lecture here on the occasion of Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the CBI, Mukherjee said, “lack of good governance has
been identified as the root cause of many of the serious deficiencies in society. It robs the citizenry of their security, and their social and economic rights.”
“If what is meant for the poor does not reach them in the proportion it is meant to, then corruption and inefficiency are its two main causes,” he said while asserting that the delivery systems need to change.
The President said challenges to governance systems are reflected in some important international analyses which are mainly dependent on the social index. “India’s ranking in key governance indicators like Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of law and Control of Corruption are lower than countries such as Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US,” he said.
Emphasising that growth must be inclusive and sustainable, he said, “Poverty is still around 30 per cent and it is not something that we can live with. Statistics of economic progress will count for nothing if we are not able to uplift the marginalised sections of the society.”
Police and investigative organisations can play a crucial role in creating conditions that could engender social changes, he said.
In his opening address, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha highlighted challenges before the agency like new age cyber and economic crimes, engagement of economy with countries of ASEAN, the EU and SAARC member countries, judicial requests, corruption in multi-national organisations among others.