Bangalore: Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on January 17 criticised a survey, which depicted India as one of the corrupt countries and termed it as an "international level propaganda".

"What is the basis for this survey?" he questioned while referring to the survey report published in a magazine that about 26,000 crore was being exchanged in the form of bribe in the country, in his inaugural address to the 7th all India conference of Lokayuktas, Lokpals, Upa-Lokayuktas which began in Bangalore.

He said only three persons have been convicted on charges of corruption so far and asked "Does it mean to say others were not involved in corruption?"

Shekhawat underlined that good governance, fixing of accountability and mobilisation of public opinion were the need of the hour to check the menace of corruption.

He said the country needs no fresh laws to eradicate the "corruption menace" as the existing laws were sufficient.

Shekhawat said though there is a central vigilance commissioner, Lokayukta and anti- corruption laws, it had not been possible to root out corruption and added a conducive environment backed by people's will-power could only achieve the task of eradicating corruption.

Shekhawat said he was disappointed that corruption has not been reduced or brought under control despite establishment of institutions like Lokayukta.

This has demonstrated that even if the Centre enacted the Lok Pal legislation, corruption cannot be checked unless there was no awareness among people.

Shekhawat called for initiatives to bring in improvements in the administration system.

He also underlined the need to strengthen Lokayukta institutions by arming them with more powers and lauded the efforts of the Karnataka government in this direction.

Shekhawat, citing the example of China, said that nation successfully implemented its one-child norm for every family, but could not eliminate corruption.

Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna said it was true that corruption was on the increase, but the government alone was not responsible for this trend.

Krishna outlined the efforts his government has made in bringing in certain institutional safeguards through enactment of Transparency Act and Right to Information Act, besides strengthening Lokayukta in its crusade against corruption.

The initiatives taken by the Karnataka government holds out promise in vast areas to check corruption, but added the governments have to look back on the methodology to be adopted in wiping out corruption.

He said Karnataka has become a force to reckon with in the sectors of Information Technology, agriculture and its allied services.

The software exports grew from Rs 11,000 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 13,000 crore in 2002- 03, which itself demonstrated the strides made by the state, Krishna pointed out.

He exuded that the deliberations of the conference would benefit states and Centre.

Karnataka Governor T N Chaturvedi called for hammering out a political consensus for passage of the Lok Pal bill by the parliament.

PTI