The all-pervasive corruption in our society is one major factor preventing our country from realising its full potential and emerge as a developed country.

It is said that a country gets the government it deserves. A society suffers from  corruption to the extent it tolerates it. A 2006 study conducted by the universities in Auckland and Melbourne on attitudes towards corruption in Australia, India and Indonesia revealed that Indians exhibit a higher tolerance towards corruption than Australians. Indonesians have the same attitude to corruption as Australians.

Indonesia seems to have realised the basic fact that if a society has to become less corrupt the youth must be moulded to behave honestly and fight corruption right from the school levels. And they have done something about it. According to press reports, a few weeks ago Indonesia introduced anti-corruption classes in the school curriculum. 

Sadly there is no such initiative taken in our country. There is however an heart-warming development in Chennai  regarding sensitising high school students on the issue of corruption.  Some students themselves have taken the initiative to form voluntary groups to promote a sense of commitment to integrity and good governance in our society. Every member of the group at the time of joining  signs a pledge to be totally honest in one’s life  and work to ensure better governance of the country.

Many a time the spark for a major movement is lit by one committed individual. Mr G Suresh, a Bangalore-based young vigilance officer, working with Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, a public sector enterprise, has provided the spark for this movement.

While most of the vigilance officers in government may be satisfied with routine discharge of their allotted functions, Suresh has gone much beyond that. He is computer savvy and has been using IT and the internet to spread the message of integrity, particularly among the students.

A few years ago he started a movement called SIVG (Self-Imposed Vigilance for Good Governance). If business enterprises are expected to display corporate social responsibility, Suresh believes that at the individual level, every citizen can display individual social responsibility.

To promote the idea further, he has been holding national level essay and elocution competitions among school students on the need to fight corruption and be honest. These competitions coincide with the observance of the annual vigilance awareness week promoted by the Central Vigilance Commission and observed by all government departments and public sector enterprises, including public sector banks.

In 2008, a student from DAV Girls High School in Gopalapuram, Chennai, won the first prize. She came up with the original idea of forming voluntary groups  of students who were like minded and committed for integrity in personal life and better governance of the country.  Suresh helped her to launch a voluntary group in her school with  the active support of the principal of the school and the enthusiastic support of her friends. This group is called the National Governance Corps. The idea is to promote such groups in as many schools as possible.

Like the National Cadet Corps (NCC), which is launched by the government, if NGC picks up in schools and becomes a nationwide movement, we will have a commited  corps of students who have internalised the values of integrity and are dedicated to the better governance of the country.

There are already encouraging signs that the movement may pick up. In Chennai itself, Ramana Vidyalayaas well as Sharada Higher Secondary School, run by the Ramakrishna Mission, have launched NGC in their schools. Sudha Murthy, wife of the Infosys mentor Narayanmurthy, has welcomed the initiative. In Bangalore also many have shown interest in the initiative.

A professor from Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA, has also enquired about launching NGC in the United States.
The initiative of the students is definitely a silver lining in the prevailing darkness of all round corruption in our country.

In the last decade, N Vittal, the former CVC, emerged as the voice of our collective conscience. This is his weekly take on public life in India