11.10.11

G14's call for action

Almost 10 months after a group of 14 eminent citizens (G14) created a flutter with an ‘Open Letter To Our Leaders’ expressing alarm over a “governance deficit in government, business and institutions”, it has released another ‘Open Letter’ supporting the “need for the urgent passage of a well-crafted Lokpal Bill by Parliament”, and calling for “urgent action on land, judicial, electoral and police reforms”. Acknowledging that a “strong nexus exists between certain corporates, politicians, bureaucrats and power brokers”, which it described as “one of the greatest threats to the Indian economy”, the G14 said both the “giver as well as the receiver of a bribe” should be punished. The group, which includes some of the biggest and most respected names in India Inc, said, “We…believe the Lokpal Bill is only one small but critical step in the national task of weeding out the plague of corruption in India. This draft Lokpal Bill is intended to address episodic corruption, but is unlikely to have any significant impact on day-to-day corruption, which is insidious and demeaning.” The G14 comprises Wipro’s Azim Premji, HDFC’s Deepak Parekh, ICICI’s N Vaghul, industrialists Keshub Mahindra, Jamshyd Godrej and Anu Aga (also a member of the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council), former Hindustan Lever chairman and now Member of Parliament Ashok Ganguly, former RBI governors M Narasimham and Bimal Jalan (now a Rajya Sabha member), Justices B N Srikrishna and Sam Variava, architect of key Sebi and RBI regulations Yezdi Malegam, member of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council A Vaidyanathan, and banker-turned-social worker Nachiket Mor. Implicitly throwing its weight behind a strong Lokpal, the group said, “August 27, 2011, marked a high point by the historic debate leading to the ‘Sense of the House’ in Parliament on the Lokpal Bill. The event reinforced the inviolable primacy of the Indian Constitution. It was also an event of relief and reassurance to the vast and silent majority who constitute India’s core civil society.” The group lamented, at length and with examples, the fact that the common man’s life was “vitiated by corruption” at every turn. It has called for speedier environmental clearances, “online auction of natural resources…to prevent discretionary and irregular practices”, and appointment of more judges for an effective redress mechanism. It said the “impasse” on clearances continued to delay investment proposals and hamper economic growth. “Owing to several such impediments, fresh investments are not forthcoming at the pace required for a rapidly growing economy such as ours. Policy uncertainties and delays in approvals are forcing many large corporate entities to seek out opportunities in other geographies.” The group endorsed PM Manmohan Singh’s “statement that economic progress must not be hijacked by internal dissensions” and “national challenges cannot be solved by urban protests and posturing.”

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