Sunday, July 23, 2006
Transparency
Unwilling to adopt the changes suggested by President A P J Abdul Kalam in the controversial office of profit bill, the government on Saturday left it to MPs to reconsider it. (Mumbai Mirror, July 23rd.)
Kalam had returned the bill on May 30 for reconsideration so that "comprehensive and generic" criteria relating to offices of profit could be drawn up which were "fair and reasonable" and applicable in a "clear and transparent" manner across the states and Union territories.
Transparency sounds a jolly good idea to me, but most politicians do not seem to like it at all. I think many people will remember the problems of the BJP over the George Fernandes/Tehelka problem where a minister got himself videoed whilst allegedly accepting a bribe. After the Tamil wars and the Bofors gun matters, one would have hoped that the Gandhi family would have seen reason and opted for maximum transparency, but it seems not.
Be that as it may, with semi-obscene photographs of George Bush everywhere (and even referred to in a previous post of my own), one would have thought that people would have at least wanted to realise that we are in the 21st century now. Even in China, they are starting to realise that. (I'm thinking of the recent well-publicised embezzlement of at least $485 million from Bank of China's branch at Kaiping).
Possibly India is still ahead of China on transparency but it should stay ahead, which would surely be a harmless and profitable thing to do.
Kalam had returned the bill on May 30 for reconsideration so that "comprehensive and generic" criteria relating to offices of profit could be drawn up which were "fair and reasonable" and applicable in a "clear and transparent" manner across the states and Union territories.
Transparency sounds a jolly good idea to me, but most politicians do not seem to like it at all. I think many people will remember the problems of the BJP over the George Fernandes/Tehelka problem where a minister got himself videoed whilst allegedly accepting a bribe. After the Tamil wars and the Bofors gun matters, one would have hoped that the Gandhi family would have seen reason and opted for maximum transparency, but it seems not.
Be that as it may, with semi-obscene photographs of George Bush everywhere (and even referred to in a previous post of my own), one would have thought that people would have at least wanted to realise that we are in the 21st century now. Even in China, they are starting to realise that. (I'm thinking of the recent well-publicised embezzlement of at least $485 million from Bank of China's branch at Kaiping).
Possibly India is still ahead of China on transparency but it should stay ahead, which would surely be a harmless and profitable thing to do.
# posted by uv : 6:38 AM
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