Graft greatest enemy of democracy; transparency, accountability new governance norms: VP

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday described corruption as the ''greatest enemy'' of democracy that impedes growth of ordinary citizens and termed transparency and accountability as the new norms of governance.

Speaking at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Dhankhar said there was a time when power corridors were ''infested'' with corrupt elements, but they have been thoroughly ''sanitised''.

There is no trace of corruption in power corridors and those who leveraged decision-making by extra-legal means do not exist now, he remarked.

“Corruption is the greatest enemy of democracy, it impedes growth of the ordinary man. Transparency and accountability are the new norms of governance,” the vice-president noted.