The Central Government is fully alive and committed to implement its policy of “Zero Tolerance against Corruption” and has taken several measures to combat corruption and improve the functioning of the Government. These inter alia include:

       I.            To increase transparency in government and effectiveness of RTI Act, an Online RTI web Portal (https://rtionline.gov.in), launched in August, 2013 by D/o Personnel and Training has 1847 Central Public Authorities aligned to it making it convenient for citizens to file RTI requests and First Appeals on-line;

    II.            Issue of Instructions by the CVC asking the organizations to adopt Integrity Pact in major procurement activities; State Governments have also been advised to adopt Integrity Pact in major procurements;

 III.            Ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2011;

 IV.            Placing of details of immovable property returns of all Members of the All India Services and other Group ‘A’ officers of the Central Government in the public domain;

    V.            Setting up of additional Special Courts exclusively for trial of CBI cases in different states;

 VI.            Introduction of e-governance and simplifications of procedure and systems;

VII.            Disbursement of welfare benefits directly to the citizens under various schemes of the Government in a transparent manner through Direct Benefit Transfer initiative.

As per information provided by the Central Vigilance Commission, the total number of major penalties, minor penalties and administrative actions imposed on officials of the Central Government/PSUs/Autonomous Bodies, Local Authorities etc. falling under the Commission’s jurisdiction during the last three years are as following:-

**Action taken by the Departments in which information was reported to the Commission during  2014, 2015 and 2016. These would include action taken on advice tendered during the previous years too.

Prosecutions Sanctioned by the Departments

The key findings in the report of Transparency International on corruption in Asia-Pacific region are, inter-alia, as follows:

     (i)            People in India were most positive about their governments’ efforts in fighting corruption, with 53% saying that Government is doing well to tackle corruption.

   (ii)            Only 41% respondents in India think that the level of corruption has increased. This is substantially lower than countries like China (73%), Indonesia (65%), Malaysia (59%), Vietnam (56%), South Korea (50%) and Hong Kong (46%).

 (iii)            In the Asia-Pacific region, police forces are perceived to have the highest level of corruption of all the public services accessed by the people.

 (iv)            69% of those respondents in India, who had come into contact with six key public services in previous 12 months like public schools, public clinics or hospitals, official documents, utility services, the police and the courts, had either paid a bribe, given a gift or done a favor in order to receive the services.

            It is pertinent to mention that the survey by Transparency International was not conducted at the behest of the Central Government.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri J.J.T. Natterjee and Shri Ram Tahal Choudhary and Dr. Thokchom Meinya in the Lok Sabha today.

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KSD/NK/PK/KM/AK-4573