"...to secure the public interest, it is vital that the government shine a light on the power brokerages and influences peddlers in Delhi and other states."
Though
the BJP's noisemakers may not appreciate it, through their hysterical outbursts
against Wal-Mart, they may have unwittingly sponsored a major reform in pursuit
of good governance. In its misbegotten campaign against the American firm, the
BJP threatened to disrupt Parliament again, as it has done repeatedly for the
past nine years. This prompted Parliamentary Affairs minister Kamal Nath to
agree to a public inquiry into the company’s lobbying activities in India
The
BJP’s empty-vessel strategy to corner the government on lobbying by Wal-Mart
boomeranged in Parliament because of Mr Nath’s finesse. Reports say the
government will appoint a retired judge to conduct the inquiry. Most likely,
the exercise will stretch out and will hold no more sensation value; the BJP will
find some other dubious platform from which to rant against the UPA government.
As such, the inquiry will join the long list of commissions that have provided
not much more than sinecures for superannuated law officers.
On
the other hand, the government could actually use the inquiry to clean up the
murk that surrounds lobbying in India Delhi
A
thoughtful judge at the helm of the inquiry might recommend the establishment
of a Parliamentary registry that provides credentials to lobbyists, individual
as well as firms. In accepting such credentials, lobbyists would be required to
disclose their clients and fees received. The registry could go a step further
and demand from various government ministries, departments and agencies
periodic reports on any contacts they may have had with lobbyists.
Recommendations
of this nature could bring much needed transparency to the conduct of public
affairs; you won’t have a BJP president Bangaru Laxman accepting bribes or a
DMK minister A Raja playing fast and loose with the allocation of telecom
spectrum. A whole horde of middlemen, the kind you see at power lunches in The
Taj or cocktail parties at The Oberoi, will stand exposed. The business of
lobbying could become professional and cleansed of the stain of corruption.
Lobbying
is a time-honored practice that dates at least as far back as the signing of
the Magna Carta in 13th-century England, from whence sprang the right of
association and the right to petition authority, the cornerstones of the
lobbying profession.
Closer
to home and to the age, lobbying has had many beneficial outcomes. These
include campaigns for universal primary education, against sex trafficking, to
lower taxes on toiletries and cosmetics, to amend laws governing the business
of financial services, courier firms and cable operators, among others. They
have been successful and have benefited the public interest as much as the
interests of those who sponsored them.
This article appeared in Hindustan Times on December 16, 2012.
