Transparency for corruption free society: Kalam

New Delhi, May 9: President A P J Abdul Kalam today stressed the need to adopt ''transparency'' for evolving a corruption free society and said the Government must provide constantly upgraded multiple facilities to people for fulfilling their aspirations.

''I would consider a government machinery corruption free only if the purpose for which the machinery is set up is fulfilled, in letter and spirit with honesty, sincerity and purposefulness,'' Dr Kalam said in his inaugural address at National Human Rights Commission's two-day National Seminar on 'The Effects of Corruption on Good Governance and Human Rights'.

Noting that the Government expends a large amount of money for implementing various projects, he said the value of the services, which reach the citizen, must be increased manifold.

While taking political and administrative decisions, interests of people from all sections of the society must be considered, he added.

The President said the creation of a corruption free society depends heavily on the home, the school, the environment, the society and the government, besides the person himself or herself.

''A nation can be corruption free only when its states are corruption free, a state can be corruption free only if its districts are corruption free... Panchayat can be corruption free only if the people are corruption free, people can be corruption free only if they have imbibed the value system from their childhood,'' he added.

Reiterating that use of e-governance can be used as an instrument for elimination of corruption, Dr Kalam said the Internet revolution has proved to be a powerful mechanism for good governance initiatives and the world is moving towards Internet governance.

''An important dimension of the Internet potential is the possibility of providing services any time, anywhere. Along with this there is a conscious effort to put the citizen as the center of focus of the governance. Citizens are being perceived as customers and clients,'' he added.

Dr Kalam said in a democratic nation of a billion people like India, e-Governance should enable seamless access to information and seamless flow of information across the state and central government in the federal setup.

''The typical scenario I visualise is of an election, where a candidate files his nomination from a particular constituency.

Immediately the election officer verifies his/her authenticity from the national citizen ID database through multifactor authentication, through a multipurpose Citizen ID card.'' ''All the details arrive at the computer terminal of the election officer within a few seconds automatically by the act of e-Governance,'' he said.

Dr Kalam said, ''if we have the system implemented then I can call this an ideal example of the effective e-Governance system for the citizen. E-Governance system is a means to an end. We need enlightened citizens to realize the full benefits of the e-governance systems. It is people who finally uphold ethics, morality and righteousness''.

UNI