As part of Vigilance Awareness Week 2020, the University of Hyderabad organised a talk on the topic ‘Honesty is still the best policy’. Manoj Abraham, ADGP of Kerala Police and Head of Cyber security wing of Kerala Police, also an alumnus of the university, was the guest speaker at the event.

 Prof. Arun Agarwal, Pro VC-1, and Central Vigilance Officer of the University briefed about the various initiatives taken by the University to fight corruption including making the certificates available digitally and the e-governance portal. Prof. B. Rajasekhar, Pro VC-2 introduced the guest speaker.

Manoj Abraham started off by sharing his memories as a student of MA Economics at the University from 1991-93. Talking about how Covid-19 changed our entire lifestyle in 2020, he reminded us of one of the best things that we witnessed in this year- “accelerated technological infusion into the system,” he said. Citing the importance of technology in fighting corruption, he looked at it as a welcoming change.

 

Commenting on how times have changed, he said, “Honesty was a common virtue back in olden days, but now it is considered foolish and impractical.” Recalling one of his earliest lessons from the IAS training institute, Manoj said, “In this race of life, you will feel, you may feel left behind, but remember, that you are running a totally different race.”

He further reminded everyone that fighting corruption doesn’t boil down to law enforcement alone. He rather encouraged everyone to embrace a multi-stakeholder approach. He suggested a few tips to fight corruption at an individual level as well at an institutional level. He also elaborated on the success story of the government’s digitalisation drive in this regard.

 In his concluding remarks, he made a call for collective action against corruption.

 The talk was followed by the announcement of the prize winners of different competitions organised in connection with the Vigilance Awareness Week 2020.

 The Vigilance Awareness Week 2020 is celebrated from 27th October to 2nd November. The theme of this year’s celebration is ‘Vigilant India, Prosperous India’. Every year, it is celebrated during the week in which Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s birthday (31st October) falls.

-Nimisha S Pradeep, Department of Communication 

The Video link of the lecture is mentioned below: