Young MPs seek more reforms

Young members of Parliament today defended the political establishment against charges of corruption and obfuscation, which were responsible for slow development and blunting the competitive edge of Indian business.

At a session entitled 'Recipes for Sustaining Development', at the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), young MPs called for more administrative and judicial reforms.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Panda differed with the popular perception that it was corruption within the political establishment which led to most problems.

"The political establishment has shown that it is capable of self-reforms, by passing crucial legislations like the anti-defection law and limiting ministry sizes to 15 per cent of the legislature," he said.

"On the other hand, our administrative structure and judiciary have steadily resisted reforms, the administration being much the same as under colonial rule and the judicial reforms agenda still unimplemented," Panda added.

He said the days of privileging the urgent over the important were over. "We are thinking more in terms of what is important, over the populist," Panda said, adding "we have to pay what I term a democracy tax; we are slow only to build a consensus".