NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on on Friday denied charges of large-scale corruption in the UPA government under him and said he maintained high standard of integrity in his conduct.
“I do not think there has been any explosion in corruption under my watch,” Dr Singh said in an interview to a newspaper here.
“I have maintained a high standard of integrity in my conduct and I have endeavoured to raise the levels in the system as well.”
Dr Singh has been accused of overlooking the CWG scam and the 2G scam.
The Prime Minister complimented the media for its criticism, but suggested it should “exercise some balance and retain a sense of proportion in the coverage of issues”.
He said the various laws introduced by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government like Right to Information, the Public Procurement Bill, the whistleblower’s bill, the Lokpal Bill and the Judicial Accountability Bill will raise the standards of integrity at all levels of government.
“The Right to Information is a landmark act, for which the Congress party and its president ( Sonia Gandhi) will be remembered for generations,” said Dr Singh.
“It is the information flowing out as a result of this act which is bringing a lot of corruption to light, which would otherwise have been hidden.”
The Prime Minister said all these measures reflected the Congress party’s will to tackle corruption.
According to the prime minister, while there was, indeed, a slowing down of capital flows from overseas, due to concerns over tax matters, the finance ministry was also issuing clarifications from time-to-time.
“This does not mean things have turned very bad. Coca-Cola has announced to invest $5 billion in India a few days ago. IKEA plans to invest $1 billion. The pessimism in the media and the markets is far more than reality,” he said. (IANS)
