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A PIL on the decriminalisation of politics has been filed in the Supreme Court in cooperation with the Common Cause, Public Interest Foundation and Gandhian Seva & Satyagraha Brigade for debarring the criminals from politics.
Report by OrissaDiary.com correspondent; Bhubaneswar:Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Transparency International India committing itself, its suppliers and contractors for adoption of Integrity Pact, a tool developed by Transparency International, to ensure that all activities and transactions between the company and their suppliers and contractors are dealt in a fair, transparent and corruption free manner.
The MoU was signed at the state secretariat in Bhubaneswar in the presence of Hon’ble Minister for Finance and Public Enterprise, Shri. Prafulla Ghadai, Hon’ble Minister for Energy, Shri. Atanu Sabayasachi Nayak, along with several senior Government officials, representatives of OPGC, TII, vendors of OPGC among others. On behalf of OPGC, Mr. Venkatachalam K, MD signed the MoU while Mr. P S Bawa, Chairman, Transparency International India was the other signatory of the pact.
Among the states Odisha has become the first State to have its PSU adopt and OPGC has become the first one to join hands with TII to pioneer transparency and fairness in its operation. As per the terms agreed upon in the MoU, OPGC will appoint competent and credible Independent External Monitor (IEM) in consultation with TII to review independently and objectively, whether and to what extent the parties comply with the obligations under this agreement.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Energy Minister, Odisha said “It is a new initiative that has been taken by the state PSU OPGC and this will certainly bring transparency and transformation in the operations. It is important to implement this initiative towards creating corruption free environment and OPGC is committed towards transparency in all operations leading to better operational efficiency.”
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, Finance & Public Enterprises Minister, Odisha said “I must congratulate all the officials of OPGC for being the first state PSU to adopt this integrity pact with Transparency International India. However, utmost care need to be taken to properly implement this program and periodical review has to be maintained by OPGC for consistent improvement. This will help in checking corruption and bringing transparency in the society.”
It may be noted here that OPGC is a state premier Public Sector Organization incorporated with the object to establish, operate and maintain electric power generation stations and to develop coal mine and to pursue such other objective as are incidental and ancillary thereto. Currently, it is operating 2x210 MW power station at Ib Thermal Power Station, Banharpalli, Dist. Jharsuguda, Orissa and pursuing project development activities for capacity addition of 2x660 MW in the same location in addition to development of captive coal block in Sundergarh district. OPGC, which was incorporated on November 14, 1984, is a 51:49 JV between the Govt. of Orissa and AES Corporation, USA.
OPGC Signs MoU with Transparency International India
December 21, 2011 — IMCBy Akhand in Bhubaneswar,Orissa
December 20, 2011: In order to ensure greater transparency and accountability in their major contracts and procurements, Orissa Power generation Corporation (OPGC) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Transparency International India (TII), at Bhubaneswar, this evening. The pact was signed by Managing Director of OPGC, Venkatachalam Kuppusamy and TII Chair, P.S.Bawa at a ceremony attended by Finance Minsiter P.C.Ghadai, Energy Minister, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Finance secretary, G .Mathivathanan Chairman OPGC and Commissioner cum Secretary Department of Energy Govt of Odisha and many others.
With the signing of this pact, OPGC became the 44th Company in the country to adopt the pact, committing to have most ethical and corruption free business dealings with the counterparties whether they are bidders, contractors or suppliers. Earlier, several PSUs including Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), HPCL, GAIL, Coal India, Oil India, RNIL (Vishakhapatnam), Steel Authority of India Limited, Bharat Refractories Ltd, National Mineral Development Corp., Ferro Scrap Nigam Ltd., Manganese Ore India Ltd., Metal Scrap Trading Corp., Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd., Hindustan Steel Works Construction Ltd., Metallurgical and Engineering Consultants India Ltd., Neyvelli Lignite, Container Corporation, BPCL, Indian Oil, Airports Authority and MTNL have signed this pact.
OPGC is a joint venture of Orissa Government and AES multi-national company and by entering into MoU with TII, are committed to adopting highest standards of ethics in their business dealings. Speaking on the occasion, TII Chair, P.S.Bawa said, “While TII does not give ethical certification to any company, it is hoped that by entering into MoU with us, companies like OPGC will demonstrate their leadership in terms of implementing effective anti-corruption programmes”.
Finance Minsiter P.C.Ghadai , stressed on need of effective monitoring of implementation of IP by TII and concern officials of OPGC , if this implemention became successful it will encourage other state PSUs to adopt IP.
Unlike in the past, TII has recommended external monitors for IP implementation, who will take action in case of any complaint from the bidder. In case of other companies who have entered into MoU with TII for IP implementation, monitors were recommended by CVC.
Integrity Pact is a tool developed by Berlin-based Transparency International for enhancing the degree of fairness and transparency in procurement and contracts, resulting in substantial improvement in the systems and reduction in corruption in public dealings.
It may be mentioned that in 2007, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had recommended the adoption of this Pact to Secretaries to the Government of India, and CMDs of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in respect of all major procurements. Further, in another meeting, the CVC recommended that, to sustain credibility of the IP process, there should be periodic monitoring of its implementation involving the CEOs and Independent External Monitors (IEMs). Their findings and recommendations will be processed for appropriate actions. Also, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission in its Fourth Report on ‘Ethics in Governance’ had recommended the adoption of Integrity Pact.
Transparency International India is launching its new tool against corruption Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC Help-line). ALAC empowers the people to combat and demonstrate that they will become involved in the fight against corruption when they are provided with simple, credible and viable mechanisms and opportunity for doing so.
ANTI CORRUPTION HELP- LINE 011–26-23-23-23
ALAC aims to
· Empower citizens to make and pursue corruption-related complaints
· Translate these concerns into structural changes
ALAC activities are to:
· Provide legal advice and assistance to citizens to demand their rights
· Undertake advocacy for broader reform to fight against corruption
· Help in taking up the corruption cases with the concerned authorities
· Analyze and disseminate data collected at regular intervals
TI India's 3rd Annual Lecture will be upload shortly
New Delhi, November 2, 2011 – India ranks 19th out of 28 leading international and regional exporting countries on Transparency International’s Bribe Payers Index (BPI) 2011, that was just released. China and Russia rank on 27th and 28th position respectively, indicating that companies from these countries are always ready pay bribes to public officials abroad, in order to get business.
Dutch businesses are considered the cleanest in BPI 2011, ranking first in the least likely to pay kickbacks among the world’s 28 leading exporting countries.
India’s score this year is 7.5 against 6.8 in 2008, on a scale of 0-10 (0 being always bribe and 10 being never bribe).
Meeting of Sub-Group of Empowered Group of Ministers with Civil Society Representatives
Civil Society representatives from Transparency International India (TII), Shri Prabhat Kumar from Centre for Governance, National Campaign against Corruption, Swami Agniwesh from India Against Corruption and Mr. U.C. Agrawal (Ex-CVC) were invited by the Department of Personnel for a discussion on the draft of Lok Pal Bill on 28th of March, 2011.
The sub-group of Group of Ministers comprised of Mr. A. K. Antony, Defence Minister, Mr Veerappa Moily, Minister of Law, Mr. Kapil Sibbal, Minister of HRD & Telecom and Mr. V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions & PMO.
Transparency International India was represented by Mr.P.S. Bawa, Chairman, TII. He presented his views on the Lok Pal Bill and discussed various contours of the proposed legislations. He emphasized the need for an early passage of Lok Pal Bill, as well as other anti-corruption legislations pending with the Government of India.
TI South Asia Chapter-Fred Korpset, Norway Planning Meeting in Delhi, 21-23 Feb, 2011
TI-India hosted the Fred Korpset Planning Meeting for the third phase of the South Asian Transparency International Chapters from 21 - 23 February 2011 at Hotel Tivoli Gardens, Delhi. The representatives from TI-Nepal, TI-Bangladesh, TI-Sri Lanka & Transparency Maldives arrived in Delhi for the meeting. From Fred Korpset, Norway Ms. Catherine Wilczek, Programme Coordinator participated. TI-Pakistan was represented through online video conferencing.
After the three day long deliberations on various aspects of the Fellow Exchange programme, all the six TI Chapters signed the agreements with FK for the Phase 3. The programme is aimed at promoting mutual learning and sharing of expertise through exchanging fellows between TI South Asian Chapters.
Visit of US Delegates to TII Delhi Office, 11th March, 2011
A delegation of US diplomats headed by the Assistant Secretary, Department of State, USA, Mr. Fernandez visited TII office with five other US delegates and representatives from the US embassy. They met the TII Executive Committee members, Mr. P S Bawa, Chair, Mr. Arun Talwani and Dr S. K. Agarwal, Vice Chairs, Mr.S.C. Bahri, Treasurer and Ms. Anupama Jha, Executive Director, TII.
Issues of corruption plaguing the country and whistleblowers act were discussed at length. The US Assistant Secretary expressed interest in Integrity Pact program of TI-India. Others from the US embassy who accompanied him included Mary Tarnowka and Andrea Donnally.
Annual Lecture of TII by Dr. Bimal Jalan, 19th Feb, 2011
TII’s Annual Lecture was delivered by Dr. Bimal Jalan, Ex-Governor, Reserve Bank of India at India International Centre, New Delhi. IIC partnered with TII to host this event and is also bringing out a publication on the lecture.
TII @ University Campuses
Mr. P.S. Bawa, TII Chair visited the campus of IIM, Indore to deliver a lecture on Ethics in Business.
He also interacted with the students Kirorimal College, Delhi. He impressed on the young nation builders the need to imbibe ethical values and integrity in their dailt routine and make it their way of life. He envisioned that the new generation only can build a corruption-free India.
Ms. Anupama Jha, TII ED participated in an interactive session with students at Amity University, NOIDA. The students participated very enthusiastically and wanted to understand different aspects of corruption and its relation with businesses, development and governance.
Advocacy for Reforms
TII Chair participated in the Workshop on RTI, organized by GAIL, Delhi at SCOPE Complex.
TII Chair, Mr. P.S. Bawa was included in the transparency committee of CAPART and attended a meeting on implementation of the Section 4(1) B in all offices of CAPART.
Governance Reforms : The Government of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have already adopted the Right to Service through appropriate legislations, while the Government of Uttar Pradesh is considering it.
Electoral Reforms: TII Chair wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner of India to put the records of assets declaration by all the candidates on display at public places, apart from the online display through the website, as majority of the people in small towns and villages do not have the access to computers or internet. It was adopted by the CEC and a circular was sent to all the returning officers to display the same at public places.
Ethical Education : TII Chair wrote to the Chairman of University Grants Commission of India to include ethical education as part of the curriculum.
Advocacy & Adoption of Integrity Pact
Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) is keen to adopt IP in their programmes. It is an autonomous body registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. It is an umbrella organization for channelizing funds to the NGOs. Though IP has been adopted by 40 commercial public entities, CAPART is the first non-profit government entity to adopt such programme. The IEMs are being identified and discussions are going on with CAPART to finalise different modalities of the IP programme.
The Delhi Police Department and the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of Bihar are two other government departments who have expressed their interest in adopting Integrity Pact.
TII has written to several private sector corporate for adopting IP. Some of the have sent queries to explain the process etc.
TII Publications
A quarterly newsletter on Integrity Pact was launched in February, 2011. TII’s Annual Report, 2010 is ready and being puiblished. TII’s Annual Lecture by Dr. Bimal Jalan has also been finalized and being published by IIC, Delhi.
TII's Report on " Assessment of Integrity Pact (IP) in IP compliant PSUs 
