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.

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. It disturbs the economy of the vulnerable sections of society. Corruption enters that particular segment of society which gets into hopelessness because of corruption,'' he said.

''Transparency and accountability are the new norms of governance,'' the VP asserted.

Dhankhar emphasised the transformation potential of new emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and said the world is on the cusp of a technological revolution.

AI will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and interact and it is an opportunity as well as a challenge, he added. While interacting with the students at IIT Bombay, he urged them to engage in research and innovation and to use technology for societal cause to bring about ease of living for the people of the country and humanity at large.

Recognising the importance of women empowerment and gender equality, Dhankhar lauded government initiatives like Swachch Bharat Mission, Ujjwala Yojana and Har Ghar Jal Yojana.

These have provided dignity to thousands of women, given them freedom from drudgery and made their life easier, he said.

The Women Reservation Bill, which was passed in Parliament recently, was an epochal development that will have far reaching societal changes, Dhankhar said.

Highlighting the changing nature of warfare and penetration of technology in strategic domains, the vice-president stated ''the best defence is that you are capable of extreme offence''.

Calling knowledge as the supreme power that alone has the capability to define the place of any individual, organisation and nation in the world, the VP exhorted students to engage in cutting edge research in areas like quantum computing, Artificial Intelligence, 6G, cryptography, cyber security and green hydrogen.