1. National Ethics
2. Mission of the teacher
3. Elevating the young minds
4. Code of conduct
5. Trust and confidence in Governance
6. e-Governance for transparent Administration
7. Lead India 2020 Foundation
8. Some good examples in Governance
9. Efficiency and honesty in services and deterrence against corruption
a. Black listing corrupt organizations
b. Transparency in banking
c. Training and empowerment
d. Law enforcement
e. Vigilance mechanism and timely visible actions based on the same
f. Protection of honest persons
g. Recognition of honesty 1. National ethics
Profit with integrity leads to sustained growth. How is it possible? We need to have National ethics for sustained growth and peace. Wherefrom it starts?
o Nation has to have ethics in all its tasks, for sustained economic prosperity and peace.
o If nation is to have ethics; society has to promote ethics and value system.
o If society is to have ethics and value system, families should adhere to ethics and value system;
o If families have to get evolved with ethics and value system, parenthood should have inbuilt ethics.
o Parental ethics come from great learning, value based education and creation of clean environment that leads to righteousness in the heart. |
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I would like to recite a divine hymn. Righteousness
Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
There is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is an order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world.
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So friends, finally the beauty in the character, harmony in the home, order in the nation and peace in the world emanates from the righteous hearts. Righteous hearts can be evolved only by three people, who are they? They are father, mother and an enlightened primary school teacher who loves teaching and his or her life is the message to the students | 2. Mission of the Teacher | |
School is the next important environment where the character is getting shaped. The prime learning period for the children is five to seventeen years of age. The student spends approximately 25,000 hours in the school campus. Of course, at home, love and affection are imparted but again most of the time of the day is spent in preparing school’s homework and study, eat, play and sleep. Hence the school hours for children are the best time for learning and need best of environment, mission oriented learning with value system. I still hear the echo from Bestolozzy, a Greek teacher’s saying, “give me a child for seven years. Afterwards, let the God or devil take the child. They cannot change the child.” That is the great confidence of the teacher. What a golden mission for the teachers of great character and value system in the schools of all the nations to inculcate value system among the youth. | 3. Elevating the young minds | |
While I was in college, I remember the lectures given by highest authority of the Jesuit institution Rev Father Rector Kalathil of St. Joshep’s college, Trichirappalli, Tamilnadu. Every week on Monday, he will take class for an hour. He used to talk about good human beings, present and past, and what makes a good human being. In this class he used to give lectures on personalities such as Buddha, Confucius, St. Augustine, Califa Omar, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein, Abraham Lincoln including some scientific personalities and moral stories linked to our civilizational heritage. He also used to talk about great personalities living in the father’s lodge and who had made contribution with values in the service of the people. It is essential in the secondary schools and colleges to arrange a lecture by a great teacher of the institution once in a week for one hour. This class can be called as a Moral Science Class. That will elevate the young minds to love the country, to love the other human beings and elevate the young to higher planes. 4. Code of Conduct
people who are in high and responsible positions, if they go against righteousness, the righteousness itself will get transformed into a destroyer. Whoever deviates from righteousness, whether they are individual or states, they are responsible for their own actions.
5. Trust and confidence in Governance
As a part of governance, the Governments need to provide multiple facilities and services to the people. Also, these services are required to be constantly upgraded with the use of technology for fulfilling the aspirations of the people. The Government budgets and expends a large amount of funds for fulfilling this goal. The money for the work comes from people through taxes. It is the money collected from the people, which is being spent for the benefit of all the people and particularly the needy. However, when it comes to reaching of the benefits to the common man, the value of the services, which reaches the citizen, is much below the expected level of satisfaction. This happens in all the services namely education, healthcare, sanitation, water, power, road, drainage, tele-communication, seeking of loans from the banks for agriculture and small-scale industries and many other areas of societal importance. Even to make the timely payment for certain services the citizens have to struggle and are led to wrong methods. We may consider use of technology for ensuring quality service delivery to the citizens. Similar to internet booking for air and rail travel, some state services for citizens have been automated to the advantage of citizens. Now I would like to share the thoughts on implementation of e-Governance system for providing transparent administration.
| 6. E-Governance for transparent administration | |
Good governance is being recognized as an important goal by many countries across the world. They have taken up specific initiatives for open government. Freedom of information is being redefined and supported by detailed guidelines. The Internet revolution has proved to be a powerful tool for good governance initiatives and the world is moving towards Internet governance. An important dimension of the Internet potential is the possibility of providing services any time anywhere. Along with this there is a conscious effort to put the citizen as the center of focus of the governance. Citizens are being perceived as customers and clients. E-governance has to be citizen friendly. Delivery of services to citizens is considered as a primary function of the government. Particularly in a democratic nation of a billion people like India, e-Governance should enable seamless access to information and seamless flow of information across the state and central government in the federal setup. Typical scenario: I visualize an election scenario, where a candidate files his nomination from a particular constituency. Immediately the election officer verifies his/her authenticity from the national citizen ID database through multifactor authentication, through a multipurpose Citizen ID card. His education credentials come from the school or university records. His track record of employment comes from various employers with whom he had worked. His income and wealth resources come from the income-tax department, and other sources. His property record comes from the registration of land authority across the country. His credit history comes form various credit institutions like banks. His/her civic consciousness and citizenship behaviour comes from the police crime record. His legal track records come from the judicial system.
All the details arrive at the computer terminal of the election officer within a few seconds automatically by the act of e-Governance software agents which crawls across the various state and central government web services directories through the network GRID and collects the information automatically and presents the facts in real-time with out any bias. Artificial intelligence software analyses his credentials and gives a rating on how successful he will be as a politician. Election officer sitting at the remote block of the country decides on the spot and the election process starts. All the voters vote from their home through virtual polling booths. Is it a dream? Is it possible? If possible, when shall we have it? Can we provide good governance to our one billion people? Can the governance speed up the delivery system? Can the governance differentiate between genuine transactions and spurious transaction? Can the governance ensure immediate action for the genuine cases, which satisfies the checklist for a particular service and pend, the action on spurious transactions? Can this be done by e-governance at a cost affordable by our nation? If we have this system implemented then I can call this as an ideal example of the effective e-Governance system for the citizen. E-Governance system is a means to an end. We need enlightened citizens to realize the full benefits of the e-governance systems. It is people who finally uphold ethics, morality and righteousness. Now I would like to discuss the action taken by Lead India 2020 Foundation which has been functioning in all the districts of Andhra Pradesh in India.
| 7. Lead India 2020 Foundation | |
Youth of today have to fight to eradicate corruption by making each home righteous. The Lead India 2020 movement has derived inspiration from the 10 point oath for enlightened citizenship. |
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10 point oath for enlightened citizenship
1. I will pursue my education or the work with dedication and I will excel in it.
2. From now onwards, I will teach at least 5 persons to read and write those who cannot read and write.
3. I will plant at least 5 saplings and shall ensure their growth through constant care.
4. I will visit rural and urban areas and permanently wean away at least 5 persons from addiction and gambling.
5. I will constantly endeavor to remove the pain of my suffering brethren.
6. I will not support any religious, caste or language differentiation.
7. I will be honest and endeavor to make a corruption free society.
8. I will work for becoming an enlightened citizen and make my family righteous.
9. I will always be a friend of the mentally and physically challenged and will work hard to make them feel normal, like the rest of us.
10. I will proudly celebrate the success of my country and my people. The Movement of Transparency: I am happy to state that rapid transformation is taking place among the students of many districts of Andhra Pradesh and in other states of India with the intervention of Lead India 2020. As per the district authorities the impact of the training on the Students is visible in terms of self-discipline, love for their parents and teachers shedding of stage fear and recognition of their duties towards the nation. I happened to talk to Ms. Padma, a student leader from Andhra Pradesh Tribal Welfare School, Adilabad who related how she weaned her father away from smoking after imbibing the spirit of the 10 point oath from the Lead India Training Camp. There are many such good experiences. This gives me an assurance that the youth are on the right path. Nearly two million youth are covered so far by the Lead India 2020 Foundation. I have designed similar oath for various functionaries such as Teachers, Village citizens, Village Sarpanches, Doctors, Nurses, Pharma personnel, Civil Services Officers, Police Personnel, Armed Forces personnel, Para-military personnel, Sports personnel and Special children suiting to their contribution to the society. I have seen some positive impact on the youth.
| 8. Some good examples | |
Now I would like to discuss some of the good practices followed in the three pillars of our democracy. |
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Legislative system: The passing of the Right to Information Act 2005, progress of Right to Education Act, and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 are some of the recent examples of the effective functioning of legislative system in India. These Acts are structured to fulfill the aspirations of our citizens particularly the needy. However, the state governments are still to concur with the Right to Education Act. I am sure, they will be able to put the Right to Education Act into operation by 2009. |
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Executive system: Some of the key accomplishments of the executive has been the time bound realization of the metro railway system in Delhi, limited e-governance implementation in certain States in India bringing about substantial transparency in the provision of government to citizen services. A working validated model of railway reservation system, virtual university initiative of the three universities and the provision of healthcare services in certain states in India are the other notable accomplishments of the executive which has positive impact on large number of citizens. |
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Judicial system: There is a model available in Karnataka, where the Lokayukta has become pro-active in unearthing corruption and irregularities in various Government departments. Having the same powers as his counterparts in other States, he visits offices and hospitals to personally check on cases of irregularities and corruption. Due to the proactive action, I understand that Lokayukta has been able detect assets worth nearly Rs. 2500 million which was amassed disproportionate to known sources of income. The judgments of the Supreme Court and some High Courts are now available in the Internet. This step has considerably relieved the agony of the litigants and also enables others to use these judgments in their areas of interest. It is a giant leap. It is essential that all other Courts in the country also follow this model and that has to be enforced by the Law Ministry, State Govts and the higher judiciary. In addition to this, for example, the landmark judgment on the use of CNG, interlinking of rivers has large impact on the welfare of the society such as elimination of pollution in big cities and mitigating the miseries of the people from the flood and drought.
| 9. Efficiency and honesty in services and deterrence against corruption | |
(a) Black-listing corrupt organizations : Large value international corruption is associated with mainly procurement of systems and services. I understand that banks use a number of mechanisms like know your customer, world check and anti-money laundering procedures to prevent fraudulent transactions. However corrupt practices take place through parallel illegal financial systems. It would benefit if UNODC can analyse various loopholes and come out with recommendations for overcoming them. To curb such corruption, it will be advisable to impose certain types of sanctions against the individuals, organizations or enterprises who have found to be engaged in corrupt practices. UNODC can publish in their website such information, including fraudulent persons and organizations. UNODC can consider such action in a coordinated way among multiple agencies and countries. |
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(b) Transparency in banking : Another area which could be addressed by UNODC is prevention of parking the money realized through corrupt practices. There are certain banks in certain countries which in view of their confidentiality provisions are not able to share any information. Such a situation enables sometimes funds realized through large scale corruption to be parked safely for future use. Sometimes, these funds could also be channeled for promoting terrorism or extremism in some form. Time has come for to find a method by which clandestine international transactions which can cause large scale injury to the society are prevented. This issue is sensitive where the right balance of individual privacy, sovereign rights and information on public interest has to be exercised through multilateral engagement. (c) Training and empowerment: Services like police, land administration, judiciary, municipal services and income tax have been found to be the key areas for anti corruption movement. There is a need to train the personnel working in these services about the importance of providing hassle free services to the citizens. They should be specially trained to be citizen friendly. Personnel working in these departments must be provided with reasonable housing and transportation facilities including empowerment in their task. They should become accountable for the services to be provided to the citizens and also be penalized for wrong decision. These measures will improve the quality of services being provided to the citizens and the perception about these departments. Bureaucrat should become facilitators. Political leaders should get citizens feed back and work for continuously improving the service delivery system. |
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(d) Law enforcements: The following are the components that influence corruption free society: Corruption detection, Fast police action, Court proceedings with minimal adjournments, fast judgments with nobility and right to appeal restricted to a minimum level and also there must be provision for punishing the biased allegation bringing the accountability into the system. All these process should be completed within a prescribed time frame and all the pending cases in the court particularly pertaining to corruption should be cleared in a time bound manner using a special tribunal. (e) Vigilance mechanism and timely visible actions based on the same: Citizen and good governance centric vigilance mechanisms need to be propagated through well publicized web sites. They should give latest updates on pendancy on investigation and actions taken. Accountability for fair fast disposal on vigilance detected cases has to be established and sustained |
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(f) Protection of honest persons: Sufficient safeguards are required for protecting honest persons from being implicated for corruption on fabricated cases. Detailed guidelines are required for tackling this complex issue. |
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(g) Recognition of honesty: Organizations like ROSA can create a mechanism for determining the rate of reduction in corruption index in a particular country and publish performance periodically. In addition, the countries where deliberate methods have been taken for reduction of corruption could be recommended for providing incentive by the funding agencies like World Bank. |
| | | Conclusion | |
Conscience is the light of the Soul that burns within the chambers of our psychological heart. It is as real as life is. It raises the voice in protest whenever anything is thought of or done contrary to the righteousness. Conscience is a form of truth that has been transferred through our genetic stock in the form of the knowledge of our own acts and feelings as right or wrong. A virtuous and courageous person can alone use the instrument of conscience. He or she can alone hear the inner voice of the soul clearly. In a wicked person this faculty is dead. The sensitive nature of his or her conscience has been destroyed by sin or corruption. Hence he or she is unable to discriminate right from wrong. Those who are leading organizations, business enterprises, institutions and governments should develop this virtue of the ability to use their own conscience. This wisdom of using the clean conscience will enable them to enjoy the freedom and remove their anxiety and worries. Also, the citizens will soon get a corruption free service delivery system. |
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My best wishes to all the participants for success in your mission of promoting a corruption free society.
May God bless you. |
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Oath for Citizens
1 I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others to adopt a transparent way of life.
2 My motto is: “work with integrity and succeed with integrity”.
3 I will fully adopt the principles focused by citizens brigade on anti corruption.
4 I will be courageous to bring to the notice of the concerned authorities any wrong practices wherever they occur.
5 I realize my righteous life will lead to harmony in the home, order in the nation and peace in the world.
6 Now, I am empowered to act or say no to corruption. |
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======================================== Best regards, satish.p |
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