V-P speaks at Haksar memorial lecture in CRRID, lauds RTI Act

[karira]

V-P speaks at Haksar memorial lecture in CRRID, lauds RTI Act


Chandigarh, November 30 The Haksar memorial lecture was held at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) on Friday. Vice- President, Hamid Ansari delivered the lecture. He lauded theRight to information Act and called it a step in the right direction.

Ansari, on his maiden visit to the city as Vice- President, said, “ The ‘Right to Information’ movement has been significant success. It has been viewed globally as a pioneering effort. Good governance and transparency are being recognised as imperatives in corporate institutions also.”

Ansari raised his concern on the increasing “amoral society” in India . Ansari said, “The perceived dichotomy between public and the private behaviour of individuals does not exist in ethical terms. It follows that the individual, in relation to the State in any aspect of its functioning, must act in an ethical manner. It is the duty of the state and civil society to ensure that the individual follows ethics. Only then would the corrupt not only be punished but also ostracised by society.”

He added, “Step by step the circle for unprincipled, immoral and amoral behaviour is being narrowed down to individual behaviour. The challenge lies in addressing it because individuals are the building blocks of societies. They are also the principal actors in political life of societies and determine its character.”

Ansari said: “The Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, based on public opinion and business community surveys, gave India a score of 3.5 on a scale of 10. The corresponding figures for the preceding years were 3.3, 2.9, and 2.8. India was ranked 72 in a list of 179 countries.”

Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Haryana Governor A R Kidwai and Punjab Governor S F Rodrigues attended the meet.


V-P speaks at Haksar memorial lecture in CRRID, lauds RTI Act