Lobbying, as defined by
Napoleon Bonaparte, is the heading for this article. It is arguably one of the
most controversial & oldest activities in modern societies that is
threatened to its core by the weight of money power and has morphed in toxic
capitalism that now has started debasing societies and countries across the
globe.
But, alternative models of
governance is equally culpable, if not more, for more malaise as their
deliberation are by a non transparent governance model is not even in public
domain.
The champion of legitimising of
lobbying in modern societies is undoubtedly the USA & following that are most
of the rich democracies in the Europe.
These countries have legitimised lobbying- and have reframed the matrix
of bribing in plain sight by large corporate to the governments.
Politicians have become the policy
advocates for corporate and it has become open and shameless, more so in poor
democracies like India and the likes. I call it sham democracy.
At this point, I hope we have
started getting the sense how lobbyists have diluted democratic processes the world
over and have brought weaker democratic countries to its knees that democracy
itself is in peril, unless participative transparency is restored- the basis of
democracy.
The advocacy matrix in
democracies have subjugated the societies by legitimising actions by lobbyists
that allowed plundering of natural resources, land grabs, resource cornering, bending
of laws, throttle the human rights, unfair compensation for land owners and
relocating them to arid and flood plains robbing them of legitimacy of
existence and worse introducing secrecy acts.
Should we consider lobbying as
a legitimate activity in a representative democracy? It is worth noting that no
country in the world, including India, has banned lobbying.
Many countries treat lobbying
as a legitimate right of citizens. Regulations serve as a tool to enhance
transparency in the policymaking process rather than restricting access to
policymakers. But they are for enlightened few in European democracies. Rest
are analogous where a public opinion and citizen’s right is a facade by bribing
citizens by making them stakeholders.
Naturally, the moral compasses
in the societies are now seen without a needle- and then how does the direction
matters in a moral compass?
Countries such as the USA,
Australia and Canada define lobbying as any communication with a legislator to
influence decisions on a policy matter, but generally exempt communication with
parliamentary committees and responses as lobbying; a clear brother in arms and
partners in crime set of symptoms.
In India during the furore over
Wal-Mart’s disclosure of lobbying activities in India, Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) denounced lobbying as nothing but a euphemism for bribery when they were
in opposition.
In contrast, when they came to
power in 2014, a private member’s Bill to regulate lobbying was introduced in
the parliament instead of tabling the bill for debate in both houses of
parliaments.
Electoral Bonds in India is one
such example of bribery openly and in plain sight by businessmen without going
through the lobbying route where a donation is made to a political party &
mostly to the party in power, without disclosing the name of the bond issuer.
What can be more legitimate corrupt practice than this anywhere in the world?
.
In the Indian public perception,
lobbyists are viewed as representatives of big businesses who indulge in
corrupt practices to push their agenda by compromising on the right of citizen
and their inheritances.
However, there are a large number
of advocacy groups who campaigns for policy reforms. They are driven by public
goods and not by the motives of profits. For example in India Right to
Information Act (RTI), Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, an
anti-corruption law called the Lokpal Bill and several others have been a
result of advocacy groups who lobbied for social changes backed with mass
public campaign.
The influence of these groups
lies in the public support they are able to garner, therefore, there is some merit
in including both commercial and advocacy groups in the definition of lobbyists
so that neither have undue advantage in influencing policy & law makers.
Countries, like, India needs to
determine a regulatory model that suits its socio-political ground realities
and can ill afford to copy laws of USA, Germany or any other country to frame
any law. It would meet a tough resistance by advocacy groups and would suffer
withdrawals. Enough examples exists for such events and withdrawals worldwide
Although lobbying by various
interest and advocacy groups is widespread in the world, the public mostly
remains unaware of it unless a scandal breaks.
Some work even as a subterfuge
for political campaign for political parties & often go unnoticed. But one lobbying
scandal that became the hottest political campaign corruption was Cambridge
Analytica & eighty seven million Facebook users data hacks that eventually
made Donald Trump the President of the United States of America. BREXIT was also
“managed” by shadow campaign & now Brits are in a fix after voting for exit
from EU.
There are a few
key steps that lobbying businesses usually follows to bend government to their
will by their sidekicks- The Lobbyists.
·
They try to control the ground
zero
Lobbyists have succeeded by bending
and steering conversations away from those they can't win and on to those they
can. If a public discussion on a company's environmental impact is unwelcome,
lobbyists will push instead to have a debate on a subject they want to lobby
& its benefits. Once this narrowly framed conversation becomes dominant, the
dissenting voices will appear marginal and irrelevant.
Every business does it,
including lobbyists for liberalising nuclear power, public sector reform and
bank regulation, mining privatisation, defence deals, etc. It doesn't matter if
the new frame relies on unsubstantiated data and fabrications thereof,
including fake surveys & opinions etc.
·
Spinning the media
More noise in media is, less
control lobbyists have. Media is critical tool to begin a dialogue with
government, though, the media is crucial. Messages are carefully crafted. Even
if the corporate goal is pure, self-interested profit-making, it will be
dressed up to appear synonymous with the wider, national interest. At the
moment, that means economic growth and jobs.
·
Buy in credibility &
Doctor a following
Corporate are one of the least
credible sources of information for the public & by popular perceptions
public hardly trusts them for any actions they take.
Corporate would then hire
advocacy/ lobbying groups & create a large following by induced contacts,
create media contents & contacts, online campaigns by shadow NGO’s that are
having master slave relations with the corporate and emotionally induce people
to join campaigns and create a followers base, some genuine and mostly fakes. Corporate
& Politicians do it regularly. They would have millions of followers on twitters,
all doctored and fake, but in campaign trails they would not be able to garner
even few hundred of them on ground.
In India political campaigns
would have hundreds of thousands of people in a rally and almost all are
joining by financial inducements ranging from Rs. 150 to 200 (2 to 3 US$) plus
a packed cheap meals of not more that 20 cents of a dollar.
The optics on TV media makes for
huge tractions that helps channel attract advertisements at premium costs. They
spin the video very often even for days ahead together.
Most of TV Media has become
worldwide a slave of political class in power mostly. That is why we find TV
channels often funded by crowd sourced funds to retain their independence.
·
Sponsor a think-tank &
neutralise your critics & oppositions
The think-tank route is often
engaged by lobbyist to undercover reporters that provides corporate a lobbying
package- a media-friendly report at a price.
Have we ever tried to wonder
how so many private insurers have invaded the insurance business in India? That
is precisely done by the lobbyist groups to sell to governments the
inefficiencies in the sector to tweak the policies to create space for private
insurers.
A constant media and online
campaign by aggregators engaged by the insurers have been able to change public
perceptions that private insurance is better services.
A farm and crop insurance
scheme launched by Indian government recently allowed private insurers to
participate in the general risk basket. Readers would be amazed & shocked that
in past two years farmers paid nearly 14 Billion US Dollars (Rs. 1 lakh crore)
in premium and had nearly 12 Billion US$ in claims and were settled only 1.2
billion US$ or roughly Rs. Less than ten thousand crores- a mere 5 to 9%
settlements maximum.
This is the nefarious nexus of
politicians, corporate, lobbyist and advocacy Groups in India that made the
process of insurance claim so obtuse that hardly any claimant could fulfil
claim criteria, hence claims were rejected. One who made noise and threatened
to take the insurance companies to court, the district authorities, responsible
for certifying damages reviewed the claims & they got paid & thus the
critics were silenced and peace was bought.
Keep tracking media as India
now have locust swarms invading the crops in central and north India & the
crop damage is extensive and by some media estimates close to one lakh crores rupees
already as you read this. Let us see how much insurers indemnify the insured.
Time would tell, but given the track records of media, claim will never make a
news item.
Lobbying and advocacy has done
more harm to society than good, especially in weak democracies where legal
frameworks are not strong. A law to regulate lobbying could pave the way for
transparency in the policymaking process. However, all these initiatives can
only work when democracy is strong, that is getting weaker by influences from
lobbyist in cahoots with corporate and politicians It is an inconvenient truth that
is seeking to augment corruption in public life and in politics. Public
advocacy & lobbying is not as bad as long as it strengthens the democratic
processes, by promoting better education deliveries, independent judiciary, better
health for all, elderly care, child care, right to education and right to food
& sanitations and generally all socio-economy markers that are harnessed to
improve the life of citizens.
A shift to lobbying as a means
of engaging with the legislative process would further the ideals of a
participative democracy provides ground rules are legislated transparently by
engagements with civil societies & administration before government brings
in shady laws.
Now that becomes, the यक्ष प्रश्न (Yaksh Prashna), a million dollar question that has no definitive answer as
the question hang perpetually over the government’s head about regulating the
lobbyists & advocacy groups.
In the meantime, the
surreptitious practices of lobbyists engaged by legitimate group secretively
would continue unabated in various morphs and citizens would keep on paying the
price for sweet talking and gullibility.
How naive the world has become
in front of incredulous corporate, governments that has sold lies packaged as
good for societies that has been lapped up only to buy a ticket to doom in
longer terms.
Action is the sole medium of
expression for ethics on ground & how money speaks loudest than all morals &
ethics combined can shout from the rooftops.
01 June, 2020
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