The Hindu Business Line : <I>Prime Minister's call to India Inc</I>

The spirited call of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to the captains of business and industry at the annual general meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry on May 24 to be role models in simple living and high thinking could not have been better timed, nor better articulated.

Private economic players occupying the space relinquished by the Government have no doubt contributed to the volume, velocity, variety, vibrancy and versatility of economic activities in a number of sectors and brought about a veritable industrial renaissance unimaginable barely a decade ago. But that the period has also been marked by a risk of fall in values is also becoming increasingly evident. With his earnest exhortation to India Inc, to create a `culture of caring, sharing and belonging', and usher in a `just and humane' social order, the Prime Minister's has done a distinct service to both the industrial magnates and the people at large.

Each one of the items in the 10-point charter to which he has urged India Inc to adhere touches on aspects to which the attention paid so far, as widely perceived by the people, has been notional and fitful. This is so on the part of industry only, but equally, if not more, on the part of the Government itself.

Canker of corruption

The Prime Minister has forcefully talked of the canker of corruption which, as he says, is eating into the vitals of the body politic. True, year after year, in the ranking of the Transparency International (TI) for the prevalence of corruption, India has been figuring very near the top, but this year has acquired an unsavoury dimension in that the TI has especially blamed the various levels of the judiciary for exacting an estimated Rs 2,500 crore as bribes.

Business and industry, in common with the rest of the society, certainly has an important role to play in mitigating the scourge, but the greater part of the responsibility in this respect devolves on the Government. But what example is the Government setting?

The Prime Minister will need to practise what he has preached by making his Council of Ministers a model of integrity and rectitude, and acting without further delay on the Election Commission's long-pending proposals to tighten electoral laws to weed out the corrupt and criminal elements from legislatures.

It is good that the Prime Minister has sought to instil a sense of moderation, if not austerity, in the lifestyles of the rich and the famous and highlighted as an area of great concern the vulgarity of ostentatious and socially wasteful expenditure of weddings and other family events.

One hopes that he will at the same time remember that there is a corresponding obligation on the Government's part to cut down waste, in fructuous expenditure and freebies. Otherwise, the charter will be lacking in moral authority.

There is one point of the charter, however, which has an ominous overtone. The Prime Minister says, "Through your advertisement budgets and your investments in media, you can encourage socially responsible media."

Who is to decide what organs of the media are socially responsible and on what criteria? Bringing highly subjective and possibly vindictive considerations to bear on the flow of advertisements to, and investments in, media will do incalculable damage to the freedom of the media.

India Inc will stand to gain by heeding the compelling message behind the code of conduct laid down by the Prime Minister: If deregulation is not followed by self-regulation, the entire globalisation process will be brought into disrepute, giving rise to even violent social upheavals in the future.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

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