India Against Corruption - View Single Post - Computer Software to Catch the Corrupt in China

Proud Indian · #1 03-01-2011

With corruption among official ranks emerging as a major menace, a Chinese provincial government has introduced a computer software which continuously monitor the work of officials.

In the Nanjing Urban Planning Bureau of Jiangsu Province, a yellow light will flicker in the office computer system of the department, a warning signal, if an official does not finish a case within 20 days.

“If an official violates the protocol when dealing with a case, a red light will flicker,” Ding Haiyang, head of the discipline department of the bureau told official Xinhua newsagency.

The system enables public to follow their case, know the result of the official’s work on a website and make complaints online, Ding said. “Since the system was installed, every official has tried his best to finish his part of his work in time and hand it to colleagues in the next step.

No one wants to be the one who delays the case and causes the yellow light to flicker,” Ding said, adding that the discipline department will monitor the work of all officials through the system.

The new system is proving effective as 52 departments of the provincial government, 13 city governments and 106 county departments in Jiangsu are linked by the new monitoring system.

According to the provincial discipline agency, the system has sent about 3,200 yellow-light warnings and 22,400 red-light warnings throughout the province since it started operation in January last year.

“Transparency of government work and effective supervision are the best way to prevent corruption. The new system helps us supervise the administrative power and stem graft at its source,” Xie Chang, deputy secretary of provincial commission for discipline inspection said.

The new system is one of many measures the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CPC) is publicising as a part of its efforts to show that fighting corruption is its major priority as it continued unabated despite cases where some high profile officials have been given death sentences.

According to new figures, recent commercial bribes alone amounted to a whopping 16.59 billion Yuan (USD 2.65 billion) during the past five years. Prosecutors at all levels investigated more than 240,000 cases of embezzlement, bribery, dereliction of duty, and rights infringement.

Source : The Indian Express