“If what is bad or not good, is not portrayed accordingly there are chances that it will become a new normal and will lead to dangerous consequences,” Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar said here on Saturday.
She was inaugurating the ‘Vigilance Awareness Programme’ organised by The Hindu in association with Bharat Petroleum Company Limited (BPCL) on the theme “Say No To Corruption: Commit To The Nation” at JG College of Commerce in Hubballi on Saturday.
Referring to the quote that a lie told thousand times becomes the truth, the Police Commissioner elaborated why it was important to sensitise students against a social malady like corruption. “If what is bad is allowed to continue, then it will become a normal thing,” she said. She said corruption was like cancer and if untreated it would take away the growth of the nation.
The Police Commissioner said that although the students were well aware of the ill effects of corruption, it had become inevitable to keep them sensitised on the issue on a regular basis in order to eradicate the deep rooted evil.
Underscoring the crucial role that the students would play in the development of the nation, she called on the students to be alert as they were on the threshold of becoming citizens and appealed to them to join hands with the government in fighting against corruption by reporting any such corrupt practices around them. She also asked them to remember the integrity pledge for life and not limit it to day’s events.
85th rank
Territory Manager (LPG) of BPCL Deepak Agarwal referred to the Transparency International’s corruption index according to which India is ranked 85th and highlighted why it was important for the students to take active roles in combating the menace of corruption.
Emphasising the significance of ethics and values, Mr. Deepak quoted from the poem which begins with the words, ‘You may fool the whole world,’ and elaborated on why it was important to be true to oneself. He called on everyone to be true to their conscience as it would automatically help them raise their voice against corruption.
Prof. B.S. Patil of JG College spoke on the need for saying ‘no’ to corruption and called on the students to be strong and raise their voice against evil, whenever they found corrupt practices around them. Manjunath Kusabi administered the ‘Integrity Pledge’ and Lokanath K. of The Hindu was present.
