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PRESS RELEASE

International Anti-Corruption Day

Decemb= er 9, 2010

Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi

Seminar on ‘Empowering Citizens to Combat Corruption’=

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), an= apex anti-corruption Statutory Body of India, with its mandate to fight corrupti= on and ensuring probity in public life has been taking various preventive and proactive initiatives from time to time.&n= bsp;

The United Nations General Assem= bly designated 9^th December as the International Anti-Corruption Day= and the same is being observed across the world since 2003. = Considering the enormity and comple= xity of the problem of corruption and the need for involving a wide set of stakeholders that include Government institutions, Private sector, Civil Society, Media, International agencies and Academic institutions, the Centr= al Vigilance Commission organised a one-day Seminar on the theme “Empowering Citizens to Combat Corruption” on 9^th December 2010 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The seminar is aimed at deliberating and recommending proactive and participati= ve measures to combat corruption. The United Nations Organisation on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Steel Author= ity of India Ltd. (SAIL) partnered with CVC in conducting the event. = ;

The event started with the Inaugural Sessi= on followed by panel discussion by eminent personalities, who = hail from all walks of life, on the following sub-theme:

(i)&= nbsp; Engagement of Civil Society in addressing Corruption

(ii)= Addressing corruption from the Supply Side=

(iii) = Modernizing the Vigilance Framework details of the program with Annotated Agen= da are enclosed. <= span class=3Dapple-style-span>

The Seminar commenced with the inaugural address by Shri P.J. Thomas, Central Vigilance Commissioner, touching upon various issues relating to corruption and the necessity to empower citizens= to combat corruption. While elucidating the commitment and mandate of CVC in combating corruption, the = CVC has also highlighted various step taken by CVC in this direction.

Ms. Cr= istina Albertin, South Asia Regional Representative, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) urged all the stakeholders in the fight against corruptio= n to lend support to the UNODC’s campaign on “Your No Counts”.= She emphasised the need to sensiti= se and educate the public on the direct and indirect manifestations of corruption. The need for bala= ncing efforts on demand and supply side of corruption was also stressed.

On this occasion, the Commission launched Project ‘VIGEYE’. Shri N. Vittal, former Central Vig= ilance Commissioner, launched Project ‘VIGEYE’ by symbolically registe= ring himself as a VIGEYE with his mobile number and instantly received a user id= and password which enable the user to lodge complaint, upload photos and videos= . The Project VIGEYE can be accessed through the Commission’s website cvc.nic.in.

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&nb= sp; Addressing the gathering after the launch of Project VIGEYE, Mr. Vittal emphasised the need for strengthening the organisation of CVC so that the VIGEYE becomes an effective tool in combating corruption and becomes a real EYE for the citiz= ens.

The Commission had chosen the Seminar theme ‘Empowering Citizens to combat corruption’ by recognising the need to involve all the stakeholders in the fight against corruption and delineated the structure of the Seminar accordingly.

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&n= bsp; The first Session on ‘Engagement of Civil Society in addressing corruption’ was Chaired by Shri N. Vittal, for CVC with S/Shri T R Raghunandan, Janaagraha (ipaidabribe.com), Puneet Ana= nd, Fifth Pillar, P.S.Bawa, Chairman, Transparency International and Shekhar Gu= pta, Editor-in-Chief, Indian Express Group, as Panelist. The issues for the discussion in t= he first session included the present status of engagement of civil society in= stitutions against corruption and lessons from the previous experiences and the reasons for the significant disconnect between the government and civil society eff= orts for combating corruption.

The second Se= ssion on “Corruption from the Supply Side” was Chai= red by Shri J.M. Garg, Vigilance Commissioner with S/Shri Rolland Lommer, Governance Advisor, World Bank of India, Bharat Wakhlu, Resident Director, = Tata Services and Sushanta Sen, Principal Advisor, CII. During this Session, issues like identification of the factors which are responsible for the inadequate commitment of the corporate sector in ensuring integrity and ethical conduct were discussed.

The third Sessi= on “Modernizing the Vigilance Framework” was Chaired by Shri R. Sri Kumar, Vigilance Commissioner, CVC with S/Shri K.S. Ramasubban, Secretary, = CVC, Dr. S.K. Sarkar, Additional Secretary, DOPT, C.S. Verma, Chairman, SAIL, Dr. A.K. Balyan, MD, Petronet LNG Ltd. During this Session, issues like drawbacks in the current vigilance framework and the conduct of vigilance and need for shifting to proactive, preventive and predictive vigilance etc were discussed.

The Concluding Session was Chaired by Shri Pratyush Sinha, former Central Vigilance Commissioner. During this Ses= sion, the Rapporteurs S/Shri R. Balakrishnan, Chief Vigilance Officer, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL), Arun Singhal, Chief Vigilance Officer, Gas Authority of India Ltd(GAIL) and T. Venkatesh, Chief Vigilance Officer, National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC) made presentation on the issues ca= me up during each Sessions, to the Chair.&nbs= p; The Chair made deliberations on the issues and recommendations evolv= ed from each Sessions and outlined the priorities for the future action which = broadly included:

· = Measures to be taken by the government in order to create an environment conducive to the development and participati= on of civil society organizations engaged in the fight against corruption;

· = Measures to convince and empower the entities who act as = the source of bribes i.e. citizens and the business entities to resist and desi= st paying of bribes<= /o:p>

· = Mod= alities for moving over from a punitive and reactive vigilance regime towards a more proactive, preventive and predictive vigilance.

The complete details of the deliberations and recommendations will be made available in the CVC’s website (cvc.nic.in) shortly.

-&nb= sp; Central Vigilance Commission