‘Walk against Corruption’ reflective of growing angst
EMN
Dimapur, October 31
The chief minister of Nagaland TR Zeliang, who recently had tongues wagging with a clichéd anti-corruption speech during the current vigilance commemoration month, has been told by a consumers’ group to stop ‘preaching’ and start acting.
The Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ organization (NVCO) issued a statement on Saturday, October 31, coming during a time the question corruption, corrupt officials, and perceived corrupt practices in development works have begun to influence public restlessness over years now. The NCVO implied in its Saturday statement that anti-corruption stances were not in preaching but in actual ground work.
President of the NVCO, Kezhokhoto Savi, a local advocate, referred to Saturday’s ‘Walk Against Corruption’ organized by citizens under the people’s movement, the Against Corruption & Unabated Taxation (ACAUT). He was speaking in Kohima on Saturday during a local event.
“Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang in his message asserted that his government was committed to fight corruption in the state with an appeal to all concerned citizens to contribute their best in the fight against corruption and re-dedicate themselves to work with honesty, integrity and sincerity to eradicate corruption from our society,” the NVCO leader said.
“He has also said that once the Lokayukta Bill 2015 is passed, the vigilance commission would be strengthened and the fight against corruption would be intensified in order to provide good governance.”
All the good things said, Savi reminded nonetheless that they should “not just preach but put into practice and implement it so that the primary objective of the Central Vigilance Commission…”
Also, he referred to the speech of the President of India, who said that corruption ‘needs to be treated like a disease and focus should be on prevention as corruption affects the growth of a nation.’ Likewise, the governor of Nagaland PB Acharya had called citizens to ‘combat corruption.’
Referring to the Vigilance Awareness Week, the NVCO leader also said that the students’ participation in this anti-corruption themed vigilance event was of immense importance as “they are to be educated on the urgency to fight against unethical practices by way of conducting speech competition amongst them and also to provide appropriate mindset amongst the students to fight corruption.”
They are to be taught about effective preventive measures by way of using information technology and to promote transparency by using facilities such as the Right to Information Act, 2005, he said.
“Always keep in mind that corruption starts in a small way. Good governance is about the processes for making good decisions and their effective implementation. The main characteristics of good governance are transparency, accountability, following rule of law, being inclusive, effective and efficient. Good governance and preventive vigilance share several characteristics and therefore, preventive vigilance needs to be implemented as a tool of good governance,” the NVCO president said.
“Application of preventive vigilance as tool of good governance would not only result in removing the negative connotations attached with vigilance work but would also contribute positively towards the overall functioning of the organization.”
