The theme for the Vigilance Awareness this year is “Preventive Vigilance as a tool of Good Governance”.

The Vigilance Awareness Week is being celebrated from 26th October to 31st October, 2015. The theme for the Vigilance Awareness this year is “Preventive Vigilance as a tool of Good Governance”. The Commission has been laying stress on Preventive Vigilance and driving home the point that vigilance should not be seen in isolation but as a tool to achieve good governance and better operational results. The Vigilance Awareness Week is being celebrated every year and coincides with the birthday of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, known to be a man of high integrity.

A press meet was organized by the Central Vigilance Commission in New Delhi today. Addressing the media persons, the Central Vigilance Commissioner, Shri K.V. Chowdary said that more emphasis should be given to ‘preventive vigilance’ than the ‘punitive vigilance’. The systems and processes should be set in place so as to generate alarm in case of anything happening beyond the prescribed processes. He said that it is important to bring changes in the system so that we can prevent such misconducts.

Commenting upon the delays and pendency of cases, he said that areas need to be identified where delays have happened and appropriate action should be taken to streamline the procedures and SOPs about the dealing of applications, their criteria and other related matters. Explaining the scope of corruption, he said that corruption is not only about giving money, but it includes all actions where processes are being compromised. He said that now the Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) have been made to access the pendency of cases pertaining to their organizations through the website of the Commission, thus speeding up the disposal of cases and reduction in pendency. The Commission can keep a tab on the log of the CVOs.

The prime focus of the Commission is to curb the pendency of cases. The number of cases pending sanction for prosecution (more than 4 months old) were 28 as on 30-06-2015 which were reduced to 15 as on 31.08.2015, thus coming down to half within 2 months.

He said that the purpose of Vigilance Awareness Week is to generate awareness in the public at large about the bad effects of corruption. He informed that this year then CVC is giving lectures at school and college levels. This will take the message of preventive vigilance to the young minds and they will be in a position to influence the society at large, he added. He said that the training of the Officers of the Commission and CVOs is being organized within the country and abroad for improving their skills and efficiency. Commission has, as a part of its knowledge management exercise, initiated a program to invite one eminent person every month to address its officers and all CVOs (through video conferencing) on a topic related to vigilance and improvement of governance.

He said that road ahead for the Commission is to analyse the suggestions received by the Commission from CVOs and public at large.

The CVC also appealed to the media to spread awareness on this issue among the public at large. He said that the Commission receives many complaints from the public at large every year. The awareness should be generated among the public so that the complaint is addressed to the appropriate authority and the action can be taken faster.

Giving emphasis on preventive vigilance, Shri T M Bhasin, Vigilance Commissioner said that prevention is better than cure. He said that investigative vigilance takes time and it also affects the morale of the employees, so preventive vigilance should be given prominence over the investigative vigilance. He said that the theme of Vigilance Awareness Week is not for a week only, but it will be for the next one year and is a part of its regular and dynamic process.

The observance of Vigilance Awareness Week will begin with taking of pledge on 26th October, 2015 at 11:00 AM in all the Government, Public Sector Organizations, Autonomous Organizations and Local Bodies.

Besides the regular activities of display of banners, posters, advertisements in the Newspapers and organization of activities such as lecture, panel discussions, competitions in Government and Public Sector Organizations, the Commission this year is reaching out to college and school students in a big way. Debates/Elocution/Lectures are being organized in 135 cities/towns spread across the country. CVOs of 101 organizations are involved in organizing these competitions and each CVO has been assigned certain number of cities/towns with the instruction to organize these competitions in at least 3 colleges and 2 schools. It is expected that competitions would be organized in more than 2000 colleges and schools. Activities are being organized across India in cities including Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Vijayawada and Ahmedabad. The Hindi College, Lady Shri Ram College, St. Stephen’s College, IIT Delhi, JNU from Delhi; Anna University, SRM University from Chennai, NNIMS College from Mumbai, Birla Institute of Technology from Kolkata and Gujarat National Law University from Ahmedabad are among other educational institutions organizing activities during Vigilance Awareness Week.