Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (3 April) asked the central probe agencies to spare no one, no matter how powerful they are in tackling the ‘malaise’ of corruption.

Speaking at a gathering to mark the 60th year of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the PM said that those who have benefitted from corruption for decades have created an ecosystem, which targets investigative agencies.

However, the agencies should not be deterred by it and focus on their work.

“Today there is no dearth of political will to act against corruption. You do not have to hesitate and stop. I am aware that action has been taken people who have been very powerful for many years… they have made an ecosystem, which covers their wrongful activities and they got active to tarnish your image,” the PM said at the event.

“No corrupt person should be spared. I am assuring you that the country, law and the Constitution are with you,” he added further.

After 2014, priority was to restore faith in the system

PM Modi spoke on the various measures taken by his government against corruption after coming into power.

“After 2014, the priority of the government was to instill faith in the system, and for this, the government started taking action against black money, benami property in mission mode,” he said.

He mentioned the reforms in spectrum allocation, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) Portal, and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, which has so far enabled confiscation of properties worth over Rs 20,000 crores.

“We have seen the phone banking era before 2014 as well. At that times people used to get loans worth lakhs of crores on phone calls with the politically powerful. In that era, some people robbed the banks out of Rs 20,000 crores and ran away to foreign countries,” he added further.

Even a PM once said, for every rupee sent out to the poor, only 15 paise reaches them.

Without taking the name of the former PM Rajiv Gandhi, PM Modi quoted his famous lines and emphasised how the trinity of Jan-Aadhar-Mobile (JAM) has revolutionised the system.

He added that the government has been able to save Rs 2.25 lakh crore through the direct benefit transfer scheme and Rs 27 lakh crore has been transferred to the poor. He also mentioned that over 8 crore fake beneficiaries have been removed from the system

PM Modi bats for CBI

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