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Journalism of Courage
Finance minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the proposed Indian Financial Code IFC would take some time to be enacted as it requires a lot of preparatory work by the government as well as examination by Parliament.
In his first comments on the proposed IFC since it was made public,the minister said that some of its provisions are acceptable to current laws and can be implemented soon.
The committee,led by former Supreme Court judge,Justice BN Srikrishna,had submitted its report,including the draft code to the finance minister in March this year.
But Chidambaram said that implementing the code presents a challenge at three levels. Passing legislation in India is not easy with coalitions and the legitimisation of obstruction as a parliamentary tactic, he said,adding that the government would also have to go in for a massive capacity building exercise and recruit as well as train a large number of financial sector professionals. Lastly,the transition from the current to the proposed regulatory regime would also be very complex,he said.
The minister was also sounded a note of caution on proposals such as an omnibus regulation for the whole financial sector and said,I am not sure how much of this law will go through in the same fashion when it emerges finally from Parliament.
While acknowledging the dissent by four members of the 10 members committee,Chidambaram said the finance ministry too will have to embark on concerted efforts to get public comments on the FSLRC report. In this context,he asked his officials to begin inter-departmental and inter-agency consultations on the report as well as seek feedback from stakeholders and experts.
