Clean, green IT hub stands by Anna Hazare

Hundreds of employees of the Electronics City campus took a break from their desks to vow to fight corruption.

Shouting slogans like 'Desh ki Raksha Hum Karenge, Hum Karenge', they demonstrated support to the anti-corruption movement. 'Captains of Corporate India, is bribery a business tool?', 'Captains of Corporate India, dare to stand by your convictions?', so their banners read. The 'captains', however, were not among their colleagues who walked out of their offices and did all the sloganeering.

India Inc must train employees in ethics. A programme should be held once a quarter on how to handle situations where a bribe is demanded, said Kiron Shah, CEO and MD, Velankani.

"Most of the time, people don't know how not to pay a bribe in professional and personal life," he said. The speakers got the attention of the crowd all right. Speaking in terms they were familiar with, TR Raghunandan of ipaidabribe.com said, "You cannot outsource the battle to a Gandhian who is in jail right now. The fight starts from inside, from here," he said pointing at his heart. "Inside you, there might be a Kalmadi, a Raja, a couple of Reddy Brothers or even a Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who needs to be nurtured. Shed fear and make a small start," he said.

There is also a need to celebrate honesty, recognise the honest politician. For that, the Satyameva Jayate Award was being launched, he said.

Dean of IIM Bangalore Prof Trilochan Shastry was all praise for the IT firms of Electronics City. "All companies in Electronics City are clean and green, none is indulging in corruption. I need to salute the wonderful CEOs," he said.

Pointing at India's abysmal raking on the list brought out by Transparency International, he said, "If we want to be global leaders, we have to set our house in order. We have a long way to go."