Bhardwaj hits out against corruption on R’Day

PTI

Bangalore, 26 January 2011: At loggerheads with the Chief Minister on the issue of corruption, Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj today warned people against any complacency in rooting out scams while lauding the Lokayukta for doing his best in cleansing the system.

 

"Eternal vigilance is the price we have to pay for the success of democracy," he said in his Republic Day address at the Manekshaw Parade ground here.

 

"Corruption is antithesis to the rule of law and good governance. It can nullify the benefits of development," said Bhardwaj, who recently sanctioned prosecution of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurppa on allegations of corruption.

 

Yeddyurappa, whose government has been mounting a blistering attack on the Governor, was also present at the function. He, however, left the venue soon after Bhardwaj completed his customary address. "When the country is looking forward to taking a seat at the high table in the world fora, we cannot afford to have this glaring deficiency in our system," he said and lauded the office of the Lokayukta for trying its best to deal with corruption in the system.

 

He said, "In order to root out corruption, society will have to participate in this effort in a sustained manner to achieve any visible success." "We have a very informed, enlightened and vigilant civil society. But we cannot afford to be complacent in order to secure sustained development," he said.

 

"Maintenance of law and order is a pre-requisite for any orderly development," he said. "I am happy that the state remained peaceful through out the year without any major incident and I congratulate the people and the police for maintaining peace," he said. Bhardwaj, who earlier mounted attack against illegal mining in Bellary district and launched a tirade against denotification of land by the government, said the development model adopted by the state required huge land resources.

 

"There are competing demands for the land and it is necessary to evolve a more comprehensive and acceptable policy for facilitating availability of land for development projects. The policy should be an inclusive one, particularly to protect the interests of the vulnerable sections", he said. He said, it was crucial to ensure that protection of the environment as well as development go hand in hand without one growing at the cost of another. The increasing instances of wild animals coming into conflict with human habitats, attacking people and damaging crops, is a "clear sign of conflict between the development and envrionment", he said.

 

On the Krishna Water Disputes Tribnal award, he said, "I am happy at this award and now the challenge is how fast we develop the capacity to fully utilize the state share for the benefit of people living in the basin".

 

Lauding the Global Investors Meet held this year and the large number of MOUs signed, he said "I hope these MOUs will be transalated into reality at the earliest to fulfill the expectations raised from the bold initiative". Governor who is the also chancellor of universities, said "Higher education is at across roads". Along with efforts made to increase universities, it is imperative to focus on improving education by attracting the best talent and improving standard of faculty and research.

 

"It is time higher education is left in the hands of academicians who have the ability to take this field to higher standards", he said. In this direction, the proposal of Karnataka Knowledge Commission to establish Innovative Universities "is an encouraging development", he said even as they were reports that the state government was set to clip the governor’s powers relating to appointing vice chancellors and overseeing affairs of Dharwad and Mysore Universities.

 

Lauding the strides taken by India in IT and Bangalore in particular, he said, "The very fact that the President of USA never forgets to mention Bangalore every time, he talks about competition is a proof of the recognition that we are in a position to compete with the best in the world". The governor paid rich tributes to the freedom fighters, Pandit Puttaraj Gawai and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. "They left a huge legacy that I wish their followers and disciples will follow their fotsteps and enhance the richness of Hindustani music".