Govts trudge blind on FDI path, says Sindhia

The Industries Minister said politicians and bureaucrats find a way so that no process would be transparent.

BANGALORE, DHNS:

Garnering investment from different parts of the world has become the cause of competition between Governments of different States in the country -- so much, so that Governments which bag foreign direct investment now don�t care to see what adverse environmental impact such an investment can cause.

This candid confession came from none other than Industries Minister P G R Sindhia, while participating in a seminar on improved public participation in governance, at the launch of the �Access Initiative.�

The Access Initiative is a global movement of civic groups to promote the people�s access to their rights to information on public affairs, participation in governance and decision-making and access to justice. The city-based Environmental Support Group, which launched the initiative, has been taking up key causes relating to environmental degradation in different parts of the country.

The focus of such Access Initiative is guaranteed with right to information, to monitor and promote transparency and accountability in government functioning.
Mr Sindhia, giving a talk on �Consequences of Liberalisation to Environmental Governance in India,� felt that though Karnataka has a Transparency Act, bureaucrats and politicians find a way around this so that no process is transparent and the public do not have access to information.

He said he firmly believed that only public participation can ensure transparency, and public participation can be brought about through non-Governmental organisations (NGOs) not the government bodies.

�Neither elected representatives nor bureaucrats realised the full impact of globalisation before signing the World Trade Organisation agreements. Fifteen years hence, after the public sector units have shut down and lakhs are unemployed, we are so caught up withdrawing investment now. Once upon a time, Chief Ministers of States were hesitant to talk to industry heads of their own State, but CMs today will go to airports to welcome investors from other countries with red carpets. All the concentration is on getting more investment, Governments don�t bother with environmental concerns,� he rued.


�Criminals governing us�

Former Planning Commission member L C Jain, who delivered a talk on �Deepening Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making in India,� lamented the fact that �those who have committed murders insist on governing us.�

�We the people have nothing against the Government but the Government is doing everything that makes itself unacceptable. The moment the ballot box is closed, the people are forgotten. Many of those who govern us have not read the Directive Principles laid down in the Constitution, when they themselves are the upholders of the Constitution,� he said.

Mr Jain felt that governments better realise that for the country to survive, its people have to.