Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, P K Mishra, said Friday that corruption encourages dysfunctionality in government, perpetrates economic inefficiency and can be a serious threat to national security. Delivering the keynote address at the International Anti-Corruption Day-2022, organised by the CBI on ‘Anti-Corruption efforts - A sine qua non for Development and Security’, Mishra said the impact of corruption is especially heavy on common citizens, and even more on poorer and vulnerable persons in communities. “Since liberalisation in India, the nature of corruption has become more complex. With technological development, there are opportunities to prevent corruption but also areas where corruption can be much more difficult to trace, particularly in fields like cryptocurrency,” he said. Mishra said corruption, whether small or big, undermines the rights of someone or the other. Emphasising the importance of innovative anti-corruption solutions, Mishra stressed the need for real-time information sharing between law enforcement agencies. “India is ready to play an active role towards fighting various types of crimes with cross-border linkages, including financial crimes. India is ready to cooperate with other countries and agencies. Since 2014, the country has decided to make a major change and move in a new direction, and the government has expeditiously put in place significant legal provisions to support the policy of zero tolerance against corruption,” he added. He said the government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, besides enacting a comprehensive and more stringent new law – the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. “There’s also a Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016, which empowers the authorities to attach and confiscate benami properties. Law enforcement agencies such as CBI have done a great deal to reduce corruption,” he said. Mishra also presented the Police Medal for meritorious service to 34 officers of the CBI.
