As a part of "Vigilance Awareness Week" beginning today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh took pledge against corruption along with officers and staff members of Prime Ministers Office (PMO) in South Block here today. Prominent among those who took the pledge included Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nripendra Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister P K Mishra, Additional Secretary to PMO Bhaskar Kulbe, Private Secretary to MoS (PMO) M Saravanan. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said, eradication of corruption is one of the top priorities of the Narendra Modi Government and ever since the new Ministry took nearly five months ago, wide range of measures have been contemplated for the eradication of corruption and bringing to book those found guilty in different scams. Corruption in high places works as a fountain head of corruption percolating to the lower rungs of administration and therefore, the process of eradication of corruption must start from the top, he said. Dr Jitendra Singh said, in order to accomplish the Modi Governments commitment of maximum governance, minimum Government, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) under the guidance of PMO, recently came out with the decision of having a single self-attested affidavit. This will go a long way in eliminating the middlemen and other potential loop holes of corruption which were prevalent in the earlier more tedious procedural system, he observed. The new innovative initiatives for e-governance and digitalization will also seal the areas of pilferage and misappropriation in administration. Pertinent to mention here that the theme of Vigilance Awareness Week this year is Combating Corruption Technology as an enabler. The week long awareness programmes will seek to focus on adoption of technology to enhance transparency, making procedures less cumbersome and reducing delays in decision making. There will also be interactive sessions on Information and Technology aimed at making the process faster and less prone to corruption. The pledge against the corruption administered on the occasion read as follows: We, the public servants of India, do hereby solemnly pledge that we shall continuously strive to bring about integrity and transparency in all spheres of our activities. We also pledge that we shall work unstintingly for eradication of corruption in all spheres of life. We shall remain vigilant and work towards the growth and reputation of our organization. Through our collective efforts, we shall bring pride to our organizations and provide value based service to our countrymen. We shall do our duty conscientiously and act without fear or favour.
