MAKING a strong pitch for clean corporate governance and probity in politics, UK-based NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has said the “cancer” of corruption cannot be stamped out of India unless givers of bribe are held responsible equally as the takers.
He lauded the passage of the Companies Bill 2012 by Parliament recently, the biggest change in corporate law since 1952 which is expected to enhance transparency and attract international investments to India, but said these legislative changes will work only if business leaders “embrace not only the letter of law but also its spirit”.
Corruption in certain countries has destroyed the fabric of society for ordinary people and lowered the prestige of those nations internationally, the Chairman of the two-billion pound Caparo group said in New Delhi while delivering the inaugural Dr Stya Paul lecture, instituted in the memory of his brother and leading educationist.
Referring to scams like 2G and coal block allocations, he said, "Corruption is cancer…. There can be no tolerance of corruption at any level or any scale. It is divisive and corrosive….
“As we have all read, India's recent rapid economic development has been plagued by increasing corruption in both the private and the public sector and between the two. Perhaps what gets less comment is that all parties to an act of corruption are responsible.”
Maintaining that corruption cannot function in isolation, he said that in a society where corruption is endemic and one wants to get something done, then it is all too tempting to offer a bribe.
“But corruption will never be stamped out unless it is acknowledged that the giver is as much to blame as the taker. Both must be equally exposed to public scrutiny and the rule of law. Please remember, it does take two. While demand side is local, a large part of supply side comes from the foreign enterprises that see it as a way to obtain easy short cuts,” Lord Paul said.
While India has to curtail its side, those who do business in India have to be more conscious that they should be less part of the problems and more part of the solution, the business magnate said.
“Just as in business, our political leaders must recognise that others look at them as an example. I have seen how corruption in certain countries has destroyed the fabric of society for ordinary people and lowered the prestige of those countries internationally. In India I have been actively fighting corruption since 1982,” he said.
Citing the example of Britain, he said even there, “we have had our difficulties. Corruption extends well beyond simple monetary gain to the abuse of power.”
He spoke about the need for accountability, transparency and honesty in corporate governance.
“In 2009 when I was addressing an audience at FICCI, somebody had asked me a question about what has caused the 2008 financial crash. I had talked about the dishonesty of bankers then, which had raised a lot of eyebrows but now the world recognises it. These were not businesses behaving properly,” he said.
“Therefore, in today's world, where companies are answerable to a much wider group of stakeholders than before, they cannot ignore governance.
“And setting up of structure, committee and rule book is not enough. You need leadership, accountability, transparency and honesty. And the owners, the chairman, the chief executives and the board all need to lead by example,” he said.
Just as in business, he said, the political leaders must recognise that others look to them as example. Their behaviour must be and must be seen to be “unimpeachable at all times,” he said.
Talking about education, Lord Paul, who is also the Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton and University of Westminster, said it should be internationalised to bring quality and vigour to the academics.
“Education and research should have no boundaries, no border controls and no visa requirements. Ideas and knowledge should flow around the world like the oceans flow around the continents,” Lord Paul said.
He underlined that “this approach to education then begins to move across to trade and we start to increase the feeling of one world.”
For education to be truly global, “we must enter into transformational arrangements with academic minds for all nations learning from each other,” he said.
He referred to the requirement by India of 500 million people to be trained by 2020 to produce competitive labour force and ensure that there is a skilled work base to provide necessary infrastructure for a growing population.
“To meet this target, the Indian government has set a target to have 30 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds in higher education by 2020. On current numbers, that requires an additional 25 million places. This is a big task for any nation,” he said.
He said a robust relationships between Indian and international educational centres will help meet the educational needs of the nation.
Noting that Stya Paul had a deep influence on his life, Lord Paul said providing quality education opportunities to all in the society will enable the society to get rid of corruption.
“I firmly believe that education should be the fundamental right of any society and the opportunities to participate in education and gain vital life skills should be provided to all,” he said.
He said little access to education is what concerns him the most, with 57 million children in 2011 remaining out of primary education and only 23 per cent of girls in rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa completing primary school.
“Sadly, there is still a gulf between the genders in relation to education opportunities. Females are far less likely to complete formal education or have literacy or maths skills. Education of females is vital to communities,” he said.
