New Delhi, Jul 6: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that there has been no "explosion in corruption" during his UPA rule.
He was replying to a questionnaire sent by The Hindustan Times, in which he rejected charges that corruption was rampant in his government.
This is what Dr Singh said in response to the question on corruption, "Never before in the history of India have so many steps been taken in such a short time to bring in transparency into the functioning government, make government accountable to the people for its actions and bring in measures to control corruption.
"The Right to Information is a landmark Act for which the Congress Party and its President will be remembered for generations. In fact, this single act has done far more to bring down corruption and bring in accountability than any other measure. It is the information flowing out as a result of this Act which is bringing a lot of corruption to light which would otherwise have been hidden.
"We have introduced a Public Procurement Bill which brings in far greater transparency into government procurement and severe deterrents for wrongdoing. This would remove a major source of corruption.
"A number of other bills are there such as the Whistleblowers Bill, the Lokpal Bill, the Judicial Accountability Bill, etc. which if taken in totality, will raise the standards of integrity at all levels of government.
"Coming to the personal criticism, not only have I maintained a high standard of integrity in my conduct, I have endeavoured to raise the levels in the system as well. All these measures are a reflection of our party's will to tackle corruption. As for criticism by media, that is their job and I compliment them for doing it effectively.
"My only request to them is to exercise some balance and retain a sense of proportion in their coverage of issues. Just as the pessimism over the economy is more in the markets and less on the ground, even in the case of corruption, I do not think there has been any explosion in corruption under my watch."
Asked, what was the one thing that he would like to be remembered for, Dr Singh said, "I have tried sincerely throughout my life to make India a better place to live, work and lead a fulfiling life. In some ways, I contributed to this as a Finance Minister. As Prime Minister, I have had a larger remit. I have worked on the same lines but on a larger platform.
"We have tried to build a peaceful, harmonious, secure, friendly, prosperous India where every citizen can aspire for the best in life. We have an unfinished agenda. I will leave it to history to judge whether I was successful."
Singh identified five key challenges ahead : controlling the fiscal deficit, achieving clarity on tax matters, reviving the mutual funds and insurance industries, clearing a backlog of foreign investment proposals and boosting infrastructure as his focus areas in the short term.
"The India Growth Story is intact. We will continue to work, as we have been doing for eight years, to keep the story going," he said.
"We want the world to know that India treats everyone fairly and reasonably and there will be no arbitrariness in tax matters."
Singh, who has taken up the responsibility of finance minister, said, his officials were working on a set of measures to reign in the fiscal deficit, identified by analysts as a key risk. Revival of mutual fund and insurance industries is another key goal.
"The absence of investment avenues has pushed Indian savings into gold. We need to open new doors so that savings can be recycled into productive investments that create jobs and growth, not into gold," he said.
Asked about the roadmap for key pending reforms in pensions, insurance and banking, Singh said legislation was not the bottleneck.
"More important is that we need political consensus in the government on some policies. These are genuine differences in opinion. So, in a democracy, consensus building is the key to long-term economic success and we are steadily moving ahead in doing that."
Singh said he was looking forward to visiting neighbour Pakistan, though there had to be "suitable outcomes" for such a visit.
He was replying to a questionnaire sent by The Hindustan Times, in which he rejected charges that corruption was rampant in his government.
This is what Dr Singh said in response to the question on corruption, "Never before in the history of India have so many steps been taken in such a short time to bring in transparency into the functioning government, make government accountable to the people for its actions and bring in measures to control corruption.
"The Right to Information is a landmark Act for which the Congress Party and its President will be remembered for generations. In fact, this single act has done far more to bring down corruption and bring in accountability than any other measure. It is the information flowing out as a result of this Act which is bringing a lot of corruption to light which would otherwise have been hidden.
"We have introduced a Public Procurement Bill which brings in far greater transparency into government procurement and severe deterrents for wrongdoing. This would remove a major source of corruption.
"A number of other bills are there such as the Whistleblowers Bill, the Lokpal Bill, the Judicial Accountability Bill, etc. which if taken in totality, will raise the standards of integrity at all levels of government.
"Coming to the personal criticism, not only have I maintained a high standard of integrity in my conduct, I have endeavoured to raise the levels in the system as well. All these measures are a reflection of our party's will to tackle corruption. As for criticism by media, that is their job and I compliment them for doing it effectively.
"My only request to them is to exercise some balance and retain a sense of proportion in their coverage of issues. Just as the pessimism over the economy is more in the markets and less on the ground, even in the case of corruption, I do not think there has been any explosion in corruption under my watch."
Asked, what was the one thing that he would like to be remembered for, Dr Singh said, "I have tried sincerely throughout my life to make India a better place to live, work and lead a fulfiling life. In some ways, I contributed to this as a Finance Minister. As Prime Minister, I have had a larger remit. I have worked on the same lines but on a larger platform.
"We have tried to build a peaceful, harmonious, secure, friendly, prosperous India where every citizen can aspire for the best in life. We have an unfinished agenda. I will leave it to history to judge whether I was successful."
Singh identified five key challenges ahead : controlling the fiscal deficit, achieving clarity on tax matters, reviving the mutual funds and insurance industries, clearing a backlog of foreign investment proposals and boosting infrastructure as his focus areas in the short term.
"The India Growth Story is intact. We will continue to work, as we have been doing for eight years, to keep the story going," he said.
"We want the world to know that India treats everyone fairly and reasonably and there will be no arbitrariness in tax matters."
Singh, who has taken up the responsibility of finance minister, said, his officials were working on a set of measures to reign in the fiscal deficit, identified by analysts as a key risk. Revival of mutual fund and insurance industries is another key goal.
"The absence of investment avenues has pushed Indian savings into gold. We need to open new doors so that savings can be recycled into productive investments that create jobs and growth, not into gold," he said.
Asked about the roadmap for key pending reforms in pensions, insurance and banking, Singh said legislation was not the bottleneck.
"More important is that we need political consensus in the government on some policies. These are genuine differences in opinion. So, in a democracy, consensus building is the key to long-term economic success and we are steadily moving ahead in doing that."
Singh said he was looking forward to visiting neighbour Pakistan, though there had to be "suitable outcomes" for such a visit.
