Checking
Conflict of Interest (EPW)
Issue: An
ex-Gujarat minister's private investments while in public office has
highlighted the need for a law.
Paper: GS IV;
Topic: Probity, Dedication to Public Service, etc.
Transparency International defines CoI as situations
in which an individual or an entity for which she or he works, be it a
government body, a business organisation, a media group or a civil society organisation,
is “confronted between choosing between the duties and demands of
their position and their own private interests.”
A recent investigation by the Indian Express has
revealed how Saurabh Patel, a
well-connected former minister in the Gujarat
government, and his family members had been merrily making investments
in private firms linked to the sectors he was in charge of, namely, energy and petrochemicals.
This has drawn attention to the pressing need to enact
a new law to check conflicts of interest and strictly enforce existing service
rules that apply to government officials.
Notable instances of Conflict of Interest:
One-time administrator of the Board of Control for
Cricket in India N Srinivasan
was questioned for holding his charge even as he was the owner of a franchise.
Baba
Ramdev has been appointed “brand ambassador”
of the government of Haryana while products manufactured by a company with
which he is closely associated are being purchased by the same state
government.
Perhaps the most egregious example of CoI in India was
in April 2015 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to personally intervene to
ensure that Bharatiya Janata Party MP Shyama
Charan Gupta stayed away from the proceedings of a parliamentary
committee that was discussing the question of enlarging pictorial warnings on
packages of tobacco products. Gupta, who like Nationalist Congress Party bigwig
Praful Patel has major interests in the beedi trade, had claimed that there had
been no study in India linking tobacco use to cancer!
Towards a law on Conflict of Interest:
In February 2014, the Parliamentary Standing Committee
on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice had recommended an amendment to the Prevention of
Corruption Act to include issues relating to CoI. The short point is
that there is nothing in the laws of the land at present that could result in
the likes of former Gujarat minister Patel being charged for investing in
private companies that may have benefited from his position in the state
government.
In July 2014, soon after he became Prime Minister,
Modi had himself presented a 17-point agenda to his party MPs, one of which
suggested that there be mandatory
disclosures of possible clashes of interest by elected representatives
and civil servants in the manner in which company directors are required to
disclose their interests in related corporate entities. It is about time the
Prime Minister acted on his own recommendations to ensure that public officials do
not get opportunities to act against the interests of the people by subverting
decisions and policies.
XXXXX
Treat, Do
Not Shame (EPW)
Issue: The law
addressing the needs of people afflicted with HIV/AIDS needs to be enacted
urgently.
Paper: GS II; Topic:
Health
Statistics:
India is home to 21.17 lakh persons living with HIV
(2015).
Of these, 6.54% are children and 40.5% are women.
86,309 persons have contracted HIV and an estimated
67,612 AIDS-related deaths have occurred in 2015.
Problems faced by those afflicted with HIV/AIDS:
The stigma,
shame, and moral judgment attached to HIV/AIDS (equating the disease to
sexual promiscuity and deviance) have added to the problems associated with
treating those afflicted with the disease.
Many HIV patients across the country regularly face acute drug shortage.
For women (whether they are HIV-positive, or have partners who
are HIV-positive), the situation is particularly fraught as they face problems
accessing treatment and prevention programmes. Their families, on whom they are
invariably financially dependent,
are unsupportive. They also have to face social
normativity that judges their “morals” and “character,” and the insensitive and moralistic attitudes
of healthcare workers.
Legislation: Human
Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and
Control) Bill, 2014, is scheduled to be tabled in the ongoing winter session of
Parliament.
Government emphasises that with this bill it seeks to
“prevent and control the spread of HIV and AIDS” and arrest “new infections …
thereby achieving the target of ‘Ending the epidemic by 2030’ according to
Sustainable Development Goals.”
Critical Evaluation of some of the provisions of the
above bill:
Right to
free and complete treatment: HIV/AIDS
activists have long demanded amendments to the bill, especially Clause 14,
which deals with the state’s obligations towards providing treatment. They have
lobbied for the right to free and complete treatment. The amended bill,
however, stops short of this by stating that the state shall take measures to
provide “as far as possible, diagnostic facilities relating to HIV or AIDS,
Anti-retroviral Therapy and Opportunistic Infection Management to people living
with HIV or AIDS.” Activists point out that the phrase “as far as possible”
suggests the state’s abrogation of its obligation. Having the right to free and
complete treatment is critical, they say, especially as many HIV patients
across the country regularly face acute drug shortage.
Sensitization
of Healthcare Providers: Another
shortcoming in the bill is that while it mentions promotion and dissemination
of “HIV and AIDS related information, education and communication” among
patients and the general populace, it does not recommend that healthcare
providers be trained and sensitised to the nature of the disease and the needs
of the disease-afflicted. This is essential as sensitive healthcare providers
are indispensable to the ease of access to treatment and prevention programmes
for HIV/AIDS.
Strategies
for high-risk population: The only
place where the categories of sex workers, men who have sex with men, and
injection drug users are mentioned (no mention of transgender women here at
all) is as illustrations for Clause 24 relating to Promotion of Strategies for
Reduction of Risk. Only time will tell whether or how this bill will help these
high-risk populations.
Last Word: HIV/AIDS
should not be looked at in isolation from the healthcare system in the country.
In the long run, only a comprehensive universal healthcare system will provide
for equitable access and care to all, including those with HIV/AIDS.
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