Tuesday, February 22, 2011

India - In the face of corruption scandals, notably in telecoms, the Govt is now to ratify the UN Convention against Corruption

[indian express] The government's preoccupation with how to tackle the allegations of corruption which have dogged it in the last few months were reflected in President Pratibha Patil's address to both Houses of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session. The President announced that India would be finally ratifying a United Nations Convention against corruption, among other measures to “address frontally the concerns regarding the lack of probity and integrity in public life.”

Measures which the government appeared to have committed on include a partial public funding of elections, and a renewed commitment to bringing back Indian black money stashed abroad. She also detailed at length the direction in which a Group of Ministers on corruption will be working on. “The Group will consider issues relating to the formulation of a public procurement policy and the enunciation of public procurement standards., review and abolition of discretionary powers enjoyed by ministers, introduction of an open and competitive system of exploiting natural resources, fast tracking of cases against public servants charged with corruption, and amendments to the relevant laws to facilitate quicker action against public servants,” Patil said.

Corruption and inflation top govt priorities, says President

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