Whistle Blower Portal: IREDA

• 03 Nov 2021

Why in News

Recently, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) has launched a ‘whistle-blower Portal’, as a part of ‘Vigilance Awareness Week 2021’.

• It is a part of IREDA's “zero tolerance" of corruption. Through this portal, IREDA employees can raise concerns related to fraud, corruption, abuse of power etc.
• IREDA is a Mini Ratna (Category – I) Government of India Enterprise under the administrative control of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Key Points

• Whistleblowing:
  
  • According to the Companies Act 2013, whistleblowing is an action aimed at drawing the attention of stakeholders to instances of unethical practices in an organization.
  • A whistleblower can be anyone who chooses to expose wrong practices and has evidence to support the allegations.
  • They can be either from within or outside the organization, such as current and former employees, shareholders, external auditors, and lawyers.
  • In India, whistleblowers are protected by the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014.
  • In January 2020, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) came out with a new mechanism to reward whistle-blowers and other informants for sharing information about insider trading cases.
    
    • Insider trading is an unfair and illegal practice in the stock market, wherein other investors are at a great disadvantage due to the lack of important insider non-public information about a company.
• Vigilance Awareness Week:
  
  • About:
    
    • It is celebrated every year in the birthday week of Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, often referred to as the 'Bismark of India'. It is observed by the Central Vigilance Commission.
      
      • National Unity Day or Rashtriya Ekta Diwas is celebrated on 31^st October every year to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
    • This year, Vigilance Week is being observed from 26^th October to 1^st November.
  • Theme:
    
    • 'Independent India @ 75: Self Reliance and Integrity'.
  • Aim:
    
    • Various activities are planned through the week, which are aimed at recognising the ills of corruption and promoting ways to combat it at an individual as well as systemic level.

Corruption in India

• Prevalence:
  
  • The Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) – Asia 2020, found that nearly 50 of those who paid bribes were asked to, while 32% of those who used personal connections said they would not receive the service otherwise.
  • As of 2020, India stands at the 86^th spot on the corruption perception index among a list of 180 countries. This is worse than 2019 when India stood at the 80^th spot.
• Causes:
  
  • The important causes of corruption in India are poor regulatory framework, exclusivist process of decision making aggravated by discretion and official secrecy, rigid bureaucratic structures and processes; and absence of effective internal control mechanism.
• Impact:
  
  • It promotes inefficiencies in utilisation of resources, distorts the markets, compromises quality, destroys the environment and of late has become a serious threat to national security.
• Initiatives Taken:
  
  • Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
  • The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
  • The Companies Act, 2013.
  • The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.
  • The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013
  • Central Vigilance Commission

Source: PIB