Prompt legal action against corrupt extremely important: President Murmu

New Delhi: Asserting that delay or weak action encourages unethical people, President Droupadi Murmu on Friday said that prompt legal action against corrupt persons is extremely important.

Addressing the vigilance awareness week function of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) here, she said trust is the foundation of social life.

"It is the source of unity. Public trust in the government's work and welfare schemes is the source of power for governance. Corruption is not only an obstacle to economic progress, it also reduces trust in society. It adversely affects the feelings of fraternity among people. It also has a widespread impact on the country's unity and integrity," Murmu said.

The president said prompt legal action against the corrupt is extremely important.

"Delay in action or weak action encourages unethical persons. But it is also necessary that every action and person should not be viewed with suspicion. We should avoid this. Keeping in mind the dignity of the person, no action should be motivated by malice. The objective of any action should be to establish justice and equality in the society," Murmu said.

Citing Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and e-tendering, she said the Government of India has taken several measures to check corruption.

Murmu said over USD 12 billion worth properties have been seized in the last ten years under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA).

"I am confident that the Government of India's 'zero tolerance against corruption' policy will eradicate corruption from its roots," the president said.

Probity watchdog CVC observes vigilance awareness week every year. This year, vigilance awareness week was observed from October 28 to November 3, with the theme: “Culture of Integrity for Nation's Prosperity”.

Along with the vigilance awareness week, the commission organises a three-month campaign on preventive vigilance which has been undertaken by the ministries/departments/organisations of the central government from August 16 and will continue till November 15.

The five focus areas of the campaign are capacity building, identification and implementation of systemic improvement, up-dation of circulars/guidelines/manuals, disposal of complaints received before June 30, 2024 and dynamic digital presence.

Central Vigilance Commissioner Praveen Kumar Srivastava and Vigilance Commissioner A S Rajeev, among others, were present at the event.