The Government of India is committed to “Zero Tolerance against Corruption” and has taken several measures to combat corruption and improve probity and accountability of Government institutions. The steps taken by the Central Government, inter alia, include:-

I.     Systemic improvements and reforms to provide transparent citizen-friendly services and reduce corruption. These, inter alia, include:

1. Disbursement of welfare benefits directly to the citizens under various schemes of the Government in a transparent manner through the Direct Benefit Transfer initiative.
2. Implementation of E-tendering in public procurements.
3. Introduction of e-Governance and simplification of procedure and systems
4. Introduction of Government procurement through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM)
5. An online “Probity Portal” operationalised since 2017 under which various Ministries/Departments, autonomous organizations and public sector banks etc. enter information regarding review under FR 56(j), cases for sanction for prosecution, implementation of rotational transfer policy and disciplinary proceedings etc.

II.     Discontinuation of interviews in recruitment of Group ‘B’ (Non-Gazetted) and Group ‘C’ posts in Government of India.

III.    Invocation of FR-56(j) and AIS (DCRB) Rules, 1958 for prematurely retiring officials whose performance has been reviewed and found unsatisfactory.

IV.   The All India Services (Disciplinary and Appeal) Rules and Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules have been amended to provide strict timelines in the procedure related to disciplinary proceedings.

V.    The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 has been amended on 26.07.2018 to bring a paradigm shift in tackling corruption in as much as clearly criminalizing the act of giving bribe, checking big ticket corruption by creating a vicarious liability in respect of senior management of commercial organizations where the act of giving of bribe is with their consent or connivance.

VI.  Issue of instructions by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) asking the organizations to adopt Integrity Pact in major procurement activities and to ensure effective and expeditious investigation wherever any irregularity/misconduct is noticed.

VII.  The institution of Lokpal has been operationalised by appointment of a Chairperson and eight Members, including four judicial Members. Lokpal is statutorily mandated to directly receive and independently process complaints as regards alleged offences against public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

         In addition, the CVC, as an apex integrity institution, has adopted a multi-pronged strategy and approach to combat corruption, which encompasses punitive, preventive and participative vigilance.

      This Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has taken several measures to help people to ensure access to relevant information. These, inter alia, include:

I.      Enactment of Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 to set out practical regime of right of information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of Public Authorities.

II.     Launching of a web portal namely RTI online with URL www.rtionline.gov.in for all Central Ministries/ Departments/CPSUs for making it convenient for citizens to file RTI requests and first appeals online.

III.     Guidelines Issued on suo moto disclosure of information by Public Authorities.

IV.   Providing funds to various State Governments for establishing helpline in order to facilitate obtaining of the information by the RTI applicants. Funds are also provided each year to various State Administrative Training Institutes (ATIs) by the Government to generate awareness among the citizens through measures like Distance learning programmes and Online Certificate Course in regional languages, publishing of handbooks on RTI and distribution of the same among the public.

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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VRRK/NK/JM