Need to root out corruption to reach targeted level of growth: Rajnath

New Delhi: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said procedural reforms were not enough to root out corruption, people have to change their habits to eliminate the menace.

While releasing Bibek Debroy’s book, On the Trail of the Black: Tracking Corruption, the home minister said that the intention of the Narendra Modi government on corruption cannot be questioned and that the Prime Minister is trying hard to root it out.

“In our personal interactions, the Prime Minister always emphasises that till corruption is eliminated, how can we fight poverty and other issues,” Mr Singh said.

On digitisation and procedural changes, he said, “I do not believe that corruption can be stopped by only reforming or changing procedures. Besides procedural reforms, the tendency needs to change.”

Change in public mindset, he said, can be brought through education and people from whom others can draw inspirations.

Highlighting Prime Minister’s resolve to fight black money, the home minister said Mr Modi’s decision in his first Cabinet meeting to form an SIT to bring back black money, as ordered by the Supreme Court, shows his intent to end corruption.

“It is true that till corruption is present, it is not possible to achieve the development target we have set. And we need to accept this reality that when income disparity increases so does social unrest, which is a matter of concern for all of us,” the Union home minister said.

The Modi government is fighting corruption through the Benami Transactions Act and the Centre has also saved Rs 65,000 crore by introducing direct benefit transfer (DBT) mechanism in various government schemes, Mr Singh said.