The Hindu : Karnataka News : Target corruption in private sector: CVC

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Target corruption in private sector: CVC

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: The “supply side” of corruption, found mostly in the private sector in the country, needs equal attention to tackle the “demand side” of corruption, which is in the government and public sector, said Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) Pratyush Sinha.

Participating in the second anniversary of Vigilance Study Circle’s Bangalore chapter here, he said that India, which aspires to become the world’s largest economy by 2020, will not be able to assume a leadership role in the world with the existing levels of probity and corruption not only in public administration but also in the private sector.

Referring to the findings of Transparency International, which describes “Indian private sector as one of the world’s largest bribe givers,” Mr. Sinha suggested a public-private partnership to fight corruption as historically as it has been proved that merely by institutional response one could not fight corruption.

“Whenever we take up the subject of corruption,” Mr. Sinha said, “we try to handle it only from the demand side but what about the supply side of it, which is entirely or mostly in private sector domain.”

“Let us not forget about private sector’s contribution in this whole sordid affair. And that is why focus on corporate governance sector is a significant one to check supply side of corruption,” the CVC pointed out.

Hence, he said, corporate governance assumes a big responsibility in fighting corruption in the country while emphasising the need for rule-based and value or ethics-based approaches in corporate governance.

Mr. Sinha told presspersons that the commission was emphasising leverage of technology in public administration as a tool to prevent corruption. “The commission has been asking the governments to put all the details like tenders, which bidders are selected, and many other information on the website.” Commission’s stress is on adoption of e-governance and e-procurement and so on in public administration, he added.

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