Imphal, April 21 (NNN): Corruption in public places have taken an epic proportion as against the good old days of yore, said a veteran Congressman and an ex-chief minister of Manipur Rishang Keishang, almost with an air of wisdom gained through experience in public service and politics. He was speaking as a chief guest at the inaugural session on “One Day Discourse on ‘Impact of Corruption and Extortion on Civil Society’”, organized jointly by Manipur Committee for Social Concerns and Kuki Research Forum at Hotel Imphal here.
Mr Keishing rued that both at the Central and State level corruption has rose to an alarming proportion. “MLAs and bureaucrats think only of the ways to benefit from corruptions… they don’t think for the welfare of the public,” he said. In a democratic country, the people have the right to choose their representatives. If they are convinced that their representatives have indulged in corrupt practices, they are obliged to make use of the right not to elect at the next election, he said.
As far as extortion is concerned, the veteran Congressman thought that it is mostly resorted to by insurgents which need to be stemmed with support from religious and civil organizations. “When the public is united in one voice against extortion, nobody will dare,” he said. MLA M Prithivi Raj who also attended the discourse as a special guest said that the root cause of corruption in society is bankruptcy of spiritual and moral values. Unemployment is also found to be the cause of much of the corruption and extortion prevalent in our society, he said. The lawmaker said that the practice of “blame game” must be stopped immediately and all heads must be involved in an attempt to find solution to the vicious corruption and extortion.
After ombudsmen law such as Lokpal bill have gone through the tedious vetting process and passed as a law, some sense of sanity in public place will be restored, he said. The program was attended in full force by intellectuals, ex-ministers, ex-MLAs, Army officers, senior citizens etc. of the State. Later in the day, after the inaugural session, the discourse moved on to other interesting themes like the genesis and growth of corruption, harnessing peoples’ power in countering corruption, role of women in the fight against corruption so on and so forth.
Mr Keishing rued that both at the Central and State level corruption has rose to an alarming proportion. “MLAs and bureaucrats think only of the ways to benefit from corruptions… they don’t think for the welfare of the public,” he said. In a democratic country, the people have the right to choose their representatives. If they are convinced that their representatives have indulged in corrupt practices, they are obliged to make use of the right not to elect at the next election, he said.
As far as extortion is concerned, the veteran Congressman thought that it is mostly resorted to by insurgents which need to be stemmed with support from religious and civil organizations. “When the public is united in one voice against extortion, nobody will dare,” he said. MLA M Prithivi Raj who also attended the discourse as a special guest said that the root cause of corruption in society is bankruptcy of spiritual and moral values. Unemployment is also found to be the cause of much of the corruption and extortion prevalent in our society, he said. The lawmaker said that the practice of “blame game” must be stopped immediately and all heads must be involved in an attempt to find solution to the vicious corruption and extortion.
After ombudsmen law such as Lokpal bill have gone through the tedious vetting process and passed as a law, some sense of sanity in public place will be restored, he said. The program was attended in full force by intellectuals, ex-ministers, ex-MLAs, Army officers, senior citizens etc. of the State. Later in the day, after the inaugural session, the discourse moved on to other interesting themes like the genesis and growth of corruption, harnessing peoples’ power in countering corruption, role of women in the fight against corruption so on and so forth.
