Legalization of Lobbying in India :

The current 2G spectrum issues has raised a Debate that whether Lobbying should be legalized in India or not?

Influence Inc. Is a billion dollar global industry, and India unlike US, where lobbying is a mandatory practice between Govt. And giant Corporations, its spreading its wings wrapped under the cover of ‘Public Relations’

Whether; “Public Opinion “on Policy making is not an ignored part in Indian Constitution. The Fundamental Rights of citizen gives access for making opinion on National Policy. But the corrupt practice is tagging Lobbying as a White Collar Crime.

Whereas; Lobbying is not a new phenomenon in India nor is it restricted to a handful of businesses but if the Niira Radia tapes are to be believed lobbying in India has become so insidious that it’s no longer an attempt to simply influence policy, it may even work towards determining ministerial positions. In short, lobbying has become very serious business here and all business needs a set of rules. So, The Firm raises the question: Should India, One tack that India could take to diminish corruption is to legalize lobbying, which currently appears to exist in a rather ambiguous area of the law. In the U.S., lobbying, which aims to affect government policy, is perfectly legal and reduces corruption.



Lobbying hasn’t been portrayed in the best of lights recently with the tapes of conversations conducted by lobbyist Niira Radia. But making lobbying above board, recognized and transparent in India would make corruption less necessary, and therefore automatically reduce it.



Would we gain by substituting lobbying for corruption? It is certainly less distorting and does not give privilege to cronies to the same extent. Outcomes accordingly are seen as fairer, which is a social good.



In India, there’s social acceptance of corruption, so there’s no real shame or social stigma attached to being involved, either at the giving or receiving end. Replacing it with lobbying should serve to stigmatize it, as it has in Western countries, and will reduce the inefficiency, arbitrariness, and waste that results when corruption serves as a second-best tool to achieve economically beneficial ends. consider legalising lobbying?