Corruption down, not out; Black money in polls: PM

New Delhi, Apr 28 (UNI) Acknowledging that the use of black money in elections and the huge public expenditure continue to breed corruption, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, maintained that the scope for the menace had been minimised in the past 15 years.

''The role of black money in the financing of election is a problem and until we tackle that problem, I think we cannot say that we have eliminated the scope for corruption,'' Dr Singh said while interacting with the 2005 IAS probationers.

Pointing out that the scope for corruption among bureaucrats and politicians had been ''reduced considerably'' following the lifting of controls and the Inspector Raj on business in the wake of the economic reforms launched in 1991, he said still the governent had a ''large share'' in national income and about 30 per cent of public expenditure was through the public sectors.

''And therefore when public sector is responsible for this large spending, there is always scope for corruption. And that's why we need a permanent vigilance and that's why our governent'' had recently enacted the Right to Information law.

Addressing the probationers, the Prime Minister explained the importance of promoting economic growth, stating that only an expanding economy would provide resources for redistribution of wealth to improve the conditions of the weaker sections of society.

''And if growth is not there, the whole process of redistribution of incoming wealth becomes a zero-sum-game and when social processes become zero-sum-games, they give rise to great degree of anger, frustration and therefore we need this vibrant growth to provide the wherewithal in which redistributing processes can become a positive-sum-game and not a zero-sum-game,'' Dr Singh said.

He asked the IAS officials to make an in-depth analysis of the problems of various sections of people and of the rural and urban areas. They also had to understand and deal with the law and order situation arising from naxalism and other forms of unrest.

The Prime Minister sought to allow the ''market economy'' to function ''without interruption, with of course, proper regulatory framework'' to take care of the needs of the growth problem.

UNI SN DKS BD1947