13 December 2012

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Part 2 Understanding Lobbying, is not a bribe Paid by the Companies or anyone

Part 2 Understanding  Lobbying,  is not a bribe Paid by the Companies or anyone

Political Funds Collected by the Political Parties is nothing but Lobbying Money paid by company to that Political Party.

In Ancient time also Lobbying happened  through Marriage , Give the daughters hand to a powerful man, and get what one wants.

Lobbying was a part of human life and will remain an important part of Human life.

Lobbying is everywhere in human life.

Before the Mahabharata war Pandava and Kourva went to Krishna that was also a lobbying.

Before War   Krishna sent his agent to Kourva not to go for a war and give a village that was also a form of a lobbying.

Mother and Son unite and request to father go to trip that is also a form of lobbying.

There are 11 political systems throughout the democratic world with lobbying rules in place:

1)Australia

2)Canada


3)the EU

4)Germany - Regulation and registration were introduced through rules of procedure of the Bundestag in 1951; later amended in 1975 and 1980.

5)Hungary

6)Lithuania

7)Poland -  Regulations since 2005.

8)Taiwan - Lobbying Act passed in August 2007, came into force in August 2008.

9)The US - Federal level. Lobbying Act 1946, amended in 1995 and 2007 State level. All states have lobbying regulations.

10)European   Parliament - Regulated by rule 9(2) of the Rules of Procedure, 1996.

11)European   Commission - Before 2008, ‘self-regulation’ was the model adopted by the Commission. However, in June 2008 the Commission opened a register of interest representations,

India spent US$630,000 on lobbying during 2008, US$360,000 each in 2007 and 2006 and US$240,000 during 2005.

Year 2012 –
Barbour Griffith & Rogers, a lobbyist engaged by the Indian government, spent $180,000 ( Rs. 99 lakh)  lobbying US establishments for "bilateral US-India relationship".

For Pakistan, the lobbying expenses stood at US$590,000 during 2008 and US$40,000 during 2003.

The Indian government paid a total of US$140,000 to high-profile lobbyist firm BGR during the July-September quarter in 2009 to push forward its case in the US Congress and various government departments on the two countries' bilateral relationship and issues related to civil nuclear agreement.

To understand Lobbying system one needs to understand how the government works and what happens.

What is the job of Government?

Government means Politicians who are the custodian of national property and Politicians are the rule makers who decide what will happen in a country, what will be legal in a country.

In simple terms, Politicians are the Gods of the country and citizens are the slaves of the politicians.

Politicians decide what to wear and what not to wear what to see and what not to see?

Everything is decided by the Politician , common citizens do not have any rights.

But in USA , citizens got the power of First Amendment because of this Politicians cannot treat easily citizens of America as a slave elsewhere  citizens got the everything in limits, limited rights, limited information, limited freedoms everything is limited and what will be the limit

The limit is decided by the Politicians of the country.

Now I hope you understand the power of the politicians.

If you think you are not slave of the politicians then that’s great and congrats for that
I am happy for that.

Now you understood that Politicians decide everything in a country.

Politicians decide at which rate and to whom and how natural resources of the country be given?
Examples are
1-    Oil
2-Gas
3-Spectrum
4-Water
5-Seeds
6-Fertilizers
7-Waves

Did you ever thought Why Political Parties give spectrum , Gas, Oil and Land to companies at a throw away price and they are not ready to give subsidy and always try to cancel the Subsides of Poor.


In short everything is decided the elected Politicians.

Now  Each Politician represents his Political Party.

Political Parties collect the funds in India.

In India Millions of Dollars are collected by Political Parties.

And Political parties are not ready to share the source of the funds with Indian citizens.

Loophole in the Political Party and Fund Raising is that  it is not compulsory for the Political party to collect funds through checks only , if amount is above Rs.20,000 then only Check is compulsory.

As per media reports only 20% collection of Political party is through check and  80% is cash.

Cash means Black Money as  we Indian citizens do not have right to know the source of the 80% funds collected by the Political Parties.

Lobby Groups can be defined in following three Groups

1)  
economic groups (including individual corporations and business organizations)

2)  
professional groups (such as trade unions and farmers)

3)  
public groups (including groups that are concerned about issues such as human rights, the environment, animal rights and health and safety)


What Happens in Lobbying?

Lobbying means a company hires the lawyers or advocates and then those people openly  try to influence the Politician and change his thoughts.

Lobbying money is spend for the legal jobs and legal demands only


Through lobbying, no one is going to demand that  make the rape legal and make the murder legal.

Lobbying is not used to make illegal things legal.

Lobbying is used by the companies to speed up the work, which will benefit the company as well as government and society.

If son or daughter is in 12th standard and parents say to his son or daughter that  beta , son or daughter if you will score 95% in your exams I will buy you a  Car as you will save the donation which I have to pay to medical college.

After that he or she gets inspired and scores 95% marks in his exams, he, or she gets Car and admission to medical or engineering college.

Will you call above as a Bribe?

Example –

Project Manager  calls a meeting of his software professionals in the evening and tells to them that  We got the project from American client but he wants it done in a period of 1 week which is nearly impossible but Our company has took up this  project and Now I am requesting you to finish this Project in 5 days and every one of you will get 1 month of bonus salary or a foreign trip to USA

Will you call it a bribe given by his boss to his employees?
What Happens in Lobbying?

Companies spend money on the Political parties , Companies help them in every other way, and when Political party is elected,  Politicians see that the legal demand of a company is fulfilled as fast as possible.

Examples –

Companies trying to get their taxes reduced  

Farming organization that lobbies the agriculture ministry in order to
Ensure maximum subsidies for the goods farmers produce;

 An environmental group that wants to make sure the ministry of the environment has
Strong legislation in place to control carbon emissions.

Today what happens in India,  we do not know which company is good or bad and what are the intentions of the company?

If Lobbying is made legal in India, we will come to know  which company helps which political parties as it will be compulsory for them to declare.

Currently there is no compulsion ,  Companies help all the political parties and show that we have done nothing

But in reality all, the policies of  Government are decided by the companies and their agents.

If you think I am wrong then it is great and I am happy for that I am wrong.

Just study and know more about Coal Scam, 2G scam and you will understand how everything works.

When Farmers write a letter to Minister and Politicians demanding land they do not get answer for 2 years.

But when a Politician writes a letter and demands a land he gets the land in 1 day or 1 week

Why happens this

There are many reasons one of them is  Lack of Transparency

Lobbying system brings transparency between the connection of a company and a political party.

Lobbying is not a bribe , if you think lobbying is bribe then

Promising something to kids for good marks is a bribe

Promising bonus to workers is a bribe

Promising reservation to people is a bribe

Promising electricity to citizens is a bribe


Understand real meaning of Bribe

Bribe is one where a citizen or company pays money to government officer or a politician to do illegal activity ,

Example is    Reduction in Taxes by doing wrong audits and not demanding fines for delay

Example is not punishing company for breaking rules


Through lobbying no company is going to say to Politician that Sir I  polluted the river and because of that 100 villagers died and now  please reduce the fine and do not send me to Jail.

This will happen behind closed doors even if lobbying is legal or Lobbying is illegal.

Lobbying is a tool, which is used by the companies and organizations, which fight for the human right causes.

Remember nothing is perfect even Gods were not perfect Thus Lobbying system got its own problems

First lobbying needs to be legalized and one by one each loophole will come into public domain and then Politicians will be required to remove that loophole.

Lobbying brings transparency and accountability in governance.

Suggested Reading –


Understanding Lobbying system of America a need for India to legalize Lobbying

Reality views by sm –

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Tags – Understanding Lobbying Part 2

7 comments:

virendra sharma December 13, 2012  

very logical and interesting reading.Good job buddy .

virendra sharma December 13, 2012  

विविध (अनेक )रूपा नारी रूपा है लोबिंग भी ,बढ़िया प्रस्तुति ने लोबिंग को बड़े फलक पे बिखेर दिया है .

A Great Liar December 14, 2012  

Yes, always behind closed doors, isnt it? Very well, done!

http://thediaryofaliar.blogspot.com/

Destination Infinity December 14, 2012  

If there is nothing illegal with lobbying, then why people need to spend any money? They can just lobby for their cause, without spending any money, right?

The actual problem is, political parties do not have any other means of spending for their election campaigns and hence they accept money from industrialists in order to come to power. Once they are elected, industrialists easily influence them to get things done. Mostly illegal or undue favors.

If a firm takes an advertisement in newspaper, its legal. But if the firm gives money directly to politician to make things happen, it's obviously illegal. That's mostly because companies can demand anything, as they have given money.

Destination Infinity

SM December 15, 2012  

@Destination Infinity


Thanks.

For Clean Ganga River many tried lobbying by going on fast, they met the death but they did not get Ganga River cleaned.

Anna Hazare lobbied for Jan Lokpal Bill but what happened nothing

Politicians act only if there is something for them example party fund if it is in cash then it is great.

This cash money they can spend on elections, on their party workers, and all types of black deeds, which are illegal.

Yes, companies can demand anything; even if politicians give them anything, we got judiciary, which may cancel that.