A first-ever Women Legislators' Conference kicks off here tomorrow which could make a strong pitch for women's reservation in Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies, an issue hanging fire for long.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who is organising the meet, said there is no formal plan to bring a resolution on the issue, but suggested it all depends on how the discussions take shape during the meet.
Addressing a press conference on the two-day meet which is to be inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee, she said it would provide a platform to women legislators across the country to interact and learn from their counterparts, women Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, MPs and eminent women in the judiciary and bureaucracy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday address the valedictory session of the meet, which is expected to be attended by some 300 women MLAs, MLCs, Union ministers and Chief Ministers as also former President Pratibha Patil.
Mamata Banerjee and Jayalalithaa, respectively, the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers, are not attending the meet due to elections in their states while BSP supremo Mayawati has prior political commitments.
Speaker of Bangladesh legislature Shirin Chaudhary will be present at the inaugural session which will be moderated by BJP MP Poonam Mahajan. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will address the session.
Titled 'Women Legislators: Building Resurgent India', the meet's inaugural session will be addressed by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari and Mahajan.
While Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel will chair a session, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will head another.
Asked whether she would allow only women members to speak in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, which is International Women's Day, as suggested by the Prime Minister, she said the proposal was under consideration.
"In the Indian context, there is no issue more pertinent
than corruption, more importantly the politicization of corruption; it is something we should be deeply concerned about," said Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) in his inaugural address.
Prof Kumar who is also the Dean, Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) further noted that the criminal justice system in India has become an opportunity for power holders to engage in harassment, and said, "The anti-corruption mechanism has become a tool for extortion and harassment for many individuals."
"The business aspect of corruption is a very complex issue which occurs across the globe and needs a holistic and detailed insight to resolve the issue," observed Prof. Kumar. The keynote speaker, Professor Philip M. Nichols, Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, Associate Director, The Zicklin Center for Research on Business Ethics, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania gave examples of countries like Singapore and Hong Kong which have successfully combated corruption and witnessed an economic and social transformation.
He said, "Singapore and Hong Kong are leading examples of dealing with deep rooted systemic and endemic forms of corruption. Both countries suffered extensively with challenges of rampant corruption in the past years and became notoriously popular for corruption in business and trade. It was almost impossible to have anything done in these countries without paying bribes to officials in charge, but what is remarkable is their transformation and the manner in which they have successfully dealt with the menace of intrinsic corruption.
Participating in the Practitioners Round Table at the
conference senior Supreme Court advocate Francis Julian said, "All power holders are involved in corrupt practices. So much that you now live in a polluted environment," he further lamented that, "People have no hesitation in paying for unaccounted money. We need to seek greater transparency and accountability."
Experts agreed that judicial pendency in Indian courts is a major factor that allows corruption to prevail and pervade. "Firm corporate laws and internal control procedures are needed to stop corrupt practices," said Poonam Puri, Professor of Law at York University in Canada, while Melanie Reed from Tufts University in the US, noted, "What happens inside a company transcends to the general practices outside."
Professor Suvrajyoti Gupta, Assistant Director, Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, JGLS, "There is a wide body of economic literature available which states that corruption leads to misallocation of resources, inhibits firm growth and creates monopolies."
Defining how corruption feeds into extreme political philosophy, Prof. Gupta further noted "In terms of political economy, corruption undermines trust in the state and business organizations, leading to a situation where wealth generation itself starts being visualized as a corrupt and illegitimate activity."
"Healthcare is an issue concerning life or death and hence corruption in this sector can prove to be highly fatal. Better healthcare is essential for sustainable development and is also embodied as the third goal in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," observed Ms. Elizabeth Lin Forder, Secretary, World Bank Group Sanctions Board, in her paper titled 'Bad for Your Health: Case Studies of Fraud and Corruption in the Health Sector in South Asia.
