'Organised graft, growing population major hurdles to growth'

Organised political corruption and growing population are the two major impediments in the way of good governance and the country's development, former Chief Justice of India H L Dattu today said.

He was speaking at the opening of a two-day national seminar on 'Good Governance, Development and Human Rights', organised by the NHRC in collaboration with the National Law University at its campus here.

Dattu, who is also the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, cited examples of the Right to Information Act and the Digital India campaign, to emphasise his point.

"There has been some progress in bringing transparency in governance and fighting the simpler forms of corruption but deep-seated, organised political or systematic corruption can paralyse a nation," he was quoted as saying in an NHRC statement.
 

Growing population and corruption are the two main hurdles in the way of good governance and the development of India, he said.

The best way to combat graft is that governments should strive to rid themselves of corruption and bribery. They should become "accountable and transparent" in order to preserve the integrity of democracy, he said.

"Corruption typically diverts funding from state budgets which should be dedicated to the full realisation of all human rights. We need to promote more researches for finding tenable solutions to end the menace of corruption," he said.

"Without achieving certain optimum standards of efficiency, it would be difficult for the country to reach the 17 new Sustainable Developments Goals set by United Nations for overall improvements of society," he added.

He said NHRC is committed to good governance towards the protection and promotion of human rights of all.

"A country cannot be considered having good governance, if the people of that country are corrupt and the population grows rapidly. Corruption destroys economic foundations, impedes the ability of developing countries to attract foreign investment. It also hinders the growth of democratic institutions affecting human rights," Dattu said.