Expressing concern over Indian bureaucracy being rated poorly by certain international agencies, the government today said is "fully committed" to implement the policy of "zero tolerance" to curb corruption.
Referring to a report of Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy ranking India's bureaucracy as the least efficient, Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan told Rajya Sabha that "government is fully committed to implement its policy of zero tolerance against corruption".
He also referred to another survey done by Transparency International titled 'Global Corruption Barometer 2009', in which India has been placed at the 85th position among 180 nations during the year 2008.
Chavan said though the ranking is quite low compared to other nations, "We would like to reduce this ranking much further. We are not satisfied with this."
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour on measures the government has taken to ensure transparency in the system, Chavan said the government has introduced the Whistle Blowers Resolution 2004 and enacted the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005.
Chavan pointed out that the Hong Kong-based firm has ranked India's bureaucracy as "the least efficient" in a business survey of 12 North and South Asian economies, but not as "corrupt".
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He said the overall picture presented by Transparency International does not imply that the top bureaucracy of the country has been rated as most corrupt. Chavan said since corporate rivalries often led to certain motivated RTIs being filed against bureaucrats, there were provisions to protect government servants from such actions.
He said India is among the countries that have signed the UN Convention against Corruption.