Vittal targets genes’ to weed out corruption

In his memo, Vittal says “the recent announcement made by American and British scientists about the decoding of the human genome has opened up the possibilities of gene therapy in future. It is possible to identify the specific gene which causes a disease, say diabetes, and then target the treatment at the gene level”.

Drawing an analogy, the CVC says “when it comes to corruption, we are facing the problem of the public servant using his position for private profit” though he concedes that not all public servants are corrupt. “Some departments have got a very bad reputation. In fact, I had suggested that black money in this country is a standing monument to the inefficiency or corruption of four departments of the GoI.” These are “Income Tax, Customs, Excise and Enforcement Directorate.”

He says the identification of sensitive posts and the new system of postings “would amount to gene therapy in the sense that at least the corrupt genes in bureaucracy would not get into sensitive posts where they could multiply their activities and make the entire system corrupt.”

Vittal has also called for “continually increasing the supply of good genes over bad genes”. This involves declaring “whole offices corruption-free zones.” He feels corrupt elements will avoid getting posted to such offices and there will be a sense of pride among the employees.

Vittal ends his missive by expressing the hope that Parliament would pass the CVC Bill “which (I hope) is not delayed for 30 years like the much-talked-about and much-hyped Lokpal Bill.”