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Extend Swachh Bharat Mission into anti-bribery domain
- Published on 03 December 2014
(Image courtesy: UNODC)
It is a tale of two different perceptions about corruption in India. Many citizens are eagerly awaiting Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2014 slated for release on 3rd December to know whether the country has slipped a few notches below its present 94th rank (with a paltry score of 36 out of 100) in the global clean ranking of 177 countries. The two most perceived clean countries perched atop scored 91 marks each under CPI 2013.
There are, on the other hand, no takers for the Indian Government’s maiden self-assessment report (SAR) on compliance with certain provisions of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). SAR was prepared during the corruption-tainted UPA regime.
Without seeing the report, one can safely conclude that SAR would be a muted attempt to describe the endemic and institutionalized corruption that thrives in the country. SAR should be accepted with a pinch of salt as it has been written by the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), which serves as the nodal agency for Indian operations under UNCAC.
DOPT had earlier failed to attract adequate number of reputed consultancy agencies and NGOs to undertake SAR study on its behalf, though it twice solicited bids for the study.
SAR should have been conducted by Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). It should be made the nodal agency for anti-bribery initiatives pending constitution of Lok Pal.
In January 2014, the Government submitted SAR to United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which serves as a Secretariat for UNCAC. Neither PIL entities nor RTI activists have got hold of SAR for putting it in public domain. Nor has NDA made the report public. Nor has it disowned SAR as a white-wash job of UPA. After all, perception about corruption is as important as corruption.
Modi Govt falters on the growth & employment front
- Published on 03 December 2014
Image courtesy:efilelabourreturn.gov.in
(Published by taxindiaonline.com on 18th November 2014)
“Look at the positives,” a friend of mine in the BJP advised me. The advice came against the backdrop of this column’s criticism over the Modi Government’s delay in clearing UPA-spun web of regulatory hurdles in the path of economic growth and mass employment. Appreciating his advice, I told him that the Government is hardly sharing developmental news with the media.
And now the social media-savvy Government has given the biggest proof of its reluctance to disseminate positives to the public through the conventional media. Neither Prime Minister nor the Finance Minister tweeted the disclosure of 8-page ‘India Employment Plan 2014’ (IEP) and 35-page ‘Comprehensive Growth Strategy: India’ (CGS) at the G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane.
The websites of respective administrative ministries and Press Information Bureau (PIB) have not yet uploaded these documents. These ought to be communicated effectively to millions of voters waiting for the dream jobs. Communication is important to reduce the prospects of analysts highlighting elements missing from the two documents. They delineate NDA Government agenda for inclusive and fast development. Entrepreneurs, workers, stock market and all other stakeholders have a right to know what the Government is doing to galvanize the economy.
In its eagerness to publicize Mr. Modi’s interventions/speeches at the Summit and his pictures at different events, the Government also overlooked the need for sharing certain other vital G20 disclosures with the Indian public.
It, for instance, has not uploaded on its websites its anti-corruption measures disclosed as a 32-page reply to Accountability Report Questionnaire 2014. The questions were put by G20 Anti-corruption Working Group to all G20 members.
Let SIT probe round tripping & treaty shopping to get a big snap on black money
- Published on 13 November 2014
(Image Courtesy:FATF)
BJP’s resolve to bring back black money lying in secret overseas accounts is like missing the woods for the tree. Tonnes of black money regularly flow back into the country through different channels. Successive Governments have been lax towards such capital flows.
Such investments include round-tripping and foreign institutional investment (FII) especially the one coming through participatory notes and other similar instruments collectively referred to as offshore derivative instruments (ODIs).
The round-tripping has been camouflaged through tax treaty shopping, towards which Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has been benign. This is notwithstanding the relentless opposition from Department of Revenue (DOR) for several years.
It remains to be seen whether the NDA Government or the Supreme Court would empower Special Investigating Team (SIT) to also probe such investments to find out whether it is same or similar black money that they are targeting.
The need for such a probe would become clear by taking up two latest instances relating to FIPB cases. These instances also reflect on the NDA Government’s lack of policy initiative in this area.
One case relates to rejection of an application for ex-post facto approval of Rs 50-crore investment which income tax department (ITD) considers as unaccounted money. The investment was made by two British Virigin Island (BVI)-based investors in the BSE-listed Veritas (India) Private Limited (VIPL).
The second case relates to FIPB’s ex-post facto approval of FDI aggregating to Rs. 350 crore in Soma Tollways Private Limited (STPL). This includes investment through two Swiss numbered accounts, Geneva 4813 and Geneva 7631 accounts, whose ownership continues to remain a top secret.
WTO should take decisive call on adverse effect of PTAs on global economy
- Published on 10 November 2014
(Image Courtesy: WTO)
A few multilateral organizations have lately voiced their concerns over the unfavourable impact of mushrooming preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on global value chains (GVCs).
Such concerns, coupled with independent studies on dubious impact of free trade agreements (FTAs)/regional trade agreements (RTAs), should lead to a decisive study on cumulative effect of 330 such pacts on the global trade. The suggested study should be undertaken by World Trade Organization (WTO) and later transformed into an important agenda for rebirth of free and fair global trade.
Any analysts of trade distortions would wonder why WTO has been muted and ambivalent in raising relevant issues about the adverse effects of all restrictive types of trade that can be collectively referred to as PTAs, for the sake of simplicity.
Before posing issues that need to be answered in the PTAs versus multilateral trade discourse, hear the latest concerns raised by two multilateral institutions.
Addressing WTO Seminar on Cross-Cutting Issues in Regional Trade Agreements held on 25th September, WTO Director General Roberto Azevêdo observed: “there are many big issues which can only be tackled in an efficient manner in the multilateral context through the WTO. Trade Facilitation was negotiated successfully in the WTO because it makes no economic sense to cut red tape or simplify trade procedures at the border for one or two countries — if do it for one country, in practical terms you do it for everyone.”
He stated: “RTAs do not — and probably cannot — fully address the gains from trade that can be obtained through global value chains. Indeed, the strict, product specific rules of origin that often accompany RTAs may actually be detrimental to value chains and therefore exclusionary for some. The smaller the country, the smaller the company, the smaller the trader, the bigger the likelihood is that they will be excluded.”