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Journalism of Courage
Nine years after the United Nations adopted the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC),part of a worldwide initiative to fight corruption globally,the Government of India has kick-started the process to review its own fight against corruption. India,one of the 160 countries which adopted the UN Convention,ratified it on May 9 last year.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has invited expression of interest from Indian law schools,law firms,academic and research organisations,etc,to undertake a Self Evaluation Study of Indias status of compliance of provisions of the UNCAC Convention and also prepare the Country Response to the Self Assessment Checklist.
The agency that bags the contract would get 36 weeks to complete the task. Once completed,the study would be submitted to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Incidentally,the tender circular released by the DoPT,refers to internal evaluation based on a broad approach to claim that though domestic laws are substantially compliant of the mandatory provisions of UNCAC,India still has to tackle the issues of bribery of foreign public officials and bribery in the private sector. This,the document claims,would be taken care of once steps already initiated by the government of India are implemented.
While the Prevention of Corruption Act does provide for measures to deal with corrupt government officials and public servants,it is silent on corruption in the private sector.
Since it has ratified the UNCAC,India is duty-bound to take steps to fight corruption.
