'India has zero tolerance policy against corruption': PM Modi in G20 Anti-Corruption Ministerial Meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India has a strict policy against corruption during the G20 Anti-Corruption Ministerial Meeting on Saturday.

The meeting was held in Kolkata and was attended by PM Modi virtually.

“India has a strict policy of zero tolerance against corruption,” PM Modi said while underlining that India is leveraging technology and e-governance to create a transparent and accountable ecosystem.

He further referred to the writings of Tagore and cautioned against greed as it prevents us from realizing the truth. He also touched upon the ancient Indian Upanishads that strive for ‘Ma Gridha’, which translates to ‘let there be no greed’.

Building a robust anti-corruption architecture!

Deliberations of the #G20 Anti-Corruption Ministers’ Meeting commenced with a video message by Prime Minister @narendramodi and a special address by Union Minister @DrJitendraSingh. The anti-corruption Ministers and delegates have… pic.twitter.com/GDCY1q3mIP

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Modi said that the brunt of corruption is faced by the poor and marginalised communities.

“It affects resource utilization, distorts markets, impacts service delivery and ultimately diminishes people’s quality of life,” he added.

“The need to combat corruption to achieve this goal and said that it is the sacred duty of the government towards its people,” he continued.

India is making efforts to plug the leaks and gaps in welfare schemes and government projects.

“Hundreds of million people in India have received direct benefit transfers into their bank accounts amounting to more than 360 billion dollars and helping save over 33 billion dollars,” PM Modi said.

“Our government e-Marketplace, or GeM portal, has brought greater transparency in government procurement,” he added.

The prime minister also mentioned the enactment of the Economic Offenders Act in 2018 under which the Indian government is aggressively pursuing economic offenders and informed about the recovery of assets worth over 1.8 billion dollars from economic offenders and fugitives.

He also spoke about the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) which has helped attach the assets of offenders worth more than USD 12 billion since 2014.

With inputs from ANI