The government is to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act to punish bribe givers. Addressing the National Editors’ conference in New Delhi today, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanasamy said, his ministry has issued guidelines to sanction prosecution of government officers.

He, however, said there is a need to protect honest officers. Narayansamy said, the government is now focused on moulding ethics and moral values of the officers to curb corrupt practices. He said the Centre has also minimized time for disposal of inquiry against erring officers. Narayanasamy said inquiry into corruption cases is now done in a time-bound manner. The Minister said the Centre will assess the performance of government officers and whosoever is found to be not up to the mark, he or she will be removed from service.

Stating that public service delivery mechanism is the breeding ground for corruption, Narayanasamy said once the Public Services Delivery Bill is passed by Parliament, services will be provided in a fixed time frame.

Talking about the e-governance programme, the minister said, the government is pushing to make paperless offices. He said awareness programmes, like seminars and conferences, are being held in the States to communicate benefits of such a proposed arrangement.

Mentioning that there is a shortage of more than 1000 civil servants in the country, the minister said more than 70 per cent IAS officers have been provided to the States. He highlighted the importance of quality officers to promote greater transparency in civil administration.