Introspection may be proving to be potent deterrent against corruption among government employees in Maharashtra. A periodic review of an anti-graft campaign by the Maharashtra State Gazetted Officers' Federation has shown a decline in the number of corrupt officers.The innovative campaign, christened 'Pagaraat Bhaagava' – broadly meaning 'our salaries can sustain us' – was launched in 2015 to respond to the state's clarion call of a clean and transparent government. Under this initiative, awareness is created among government officials to resist ill practices in the government.Other innovative techniques like role play through use of dialogues like 'mera baap chor hain' from Bollywood classic Deewar, inculcating scrupulous behaviour through promoting self-respect among officials were also used. The Federation has made a team of 50 to 100 officers that creates this awareness among officers to prevent the well-entrenched practice of corruption and bribes."When you accept bribe, please make it a point to tell the family members as to what is the source of the money. We also conduct a quarterly review to sustain the campaign," said GD Kulthe, founder of the Federation.Commenting on the claim, RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi said, "I am not aware of the mechanism for this claim but general perception about corruption is unchanged. If at all they want to bring down corruption they need to bring in transparency which is not yet seen in Government related work."

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From Corrupt to Clean

  • The officers’ body launched ‘Pagaraat Bhaagava’ (our salaries can sustain us) in 2015 urging members to resist the ill-practice
  • Other techniques included role play through use of dialogues like ‘mera baap chor hain’ from Bollywood classic Deewar 
  • A recent periodic review of the federation showed that the number of corrupt officers in the state has seen a decline