Mindless negativity will damage nation`s image: PM

The government was committed to doing "everything possible to ensure transparency and accountability", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday.

New Delhi: The government was committed to doing "everything possible to ensure transparency and accountability" but the negativity and pessimism sought to be created over the issue of corruption could do no good, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday.

Addressing the 19th Conference of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and State Anti-Corruption Bureaux here, the Prime Minister said the anti-corruption law would be amended to fill gaps in the legislation and bring it in line with international practices. "Our government stands firm in its commitment to do everything possible to ensure probity, transparency and accountability in governance," he said. He warned that the mindless atmosphere of negativity and pessimism that is sought to be created over the issue of corruption can do no good. "Mindless atmosphere of negativity can only damage the nation`s image and hit at the morale of the executive," he said. Experience had also shown that big ticket corruption is mostly related to operations by commercial entities, Manmohan Singh said. "Our investigation agencies need to continuously upgrade their skills and techniques to match the newer methods of corruption. The nature of the challenges that a country`s anti-corruption agencies face varies with the level of its economic development," he said.

"I would urge the CBI and other anti-corruption agencies to feel free to engage professionals who have the expertise which can assist them in conducting an impartial enquiry in complex cases." Manmohan Singh said the economic reforms initiated in the early 1990s greatly reduced corrupt practices, associated with controls and the licence-permit raj. "Faster economic growth led to newer opportunities for corruption, ones associated with specialisation and expansion of an economy," he added. IANS