Integrating integrity : A 'bottom up glory' for Good Governance
(Published in the Fourth Year Anniversary Souvenir of the Vigilance Study Circle, Hyderabad, released on 7th July, 2007 by the Central Vigilance Commissioner)
“A good deal of harm is done by vague talk about corruption”, remarked the Santhanam Committee. Talking about corruption is like cursing the darkness which does not help in any way to remove it. It is Rabindranath Tagore who said; the best way to remove darkness is to bring light, instead of cursing it. There is a huge difference between fighting corruption and preventing corruption. It is in the direction of bringing light, the author presented a concept called SIV-G : Self Imposed Vigilance for good Governance. Details on this concept are available at www.siv-g.org. Perhaps the time has come now to stop cursing the darkness and bring some light. While the SIV-G could become a ‘light’, there are other silver linings visible in this direction.
In fact, the Santhanam Committee observed with regret (para 2.14) that the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce which could have given powerful support to the fight against corruption would not even accept the invitation of the Committee to meet them. This pertains to the situation prevailed in 1960s. Now four decades have passed and the level of corruption has multiplied manifold. Nevertheless, there is a silver lining in contrast to what Santhanam Committee observed. In 2006, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has provided a dedicated resource and launched a movement called Young Indians (Yi). Yi is a vibrant movement that seeks to integrate the “voice of young Indians”. In 2006, the CII – Yi had launched a campaign called “India Integrity Campaign”, which aims to create a national level vision and dialogue on the issues of integrity, probity, transparency, accountability and ethics in all facets of our national endeavour. This only confirms that the way governance and corporate governance have become relevant and important in today’s context, integrity is also becoming more and more significant and prominent today.
Integrity, in fact, is ‘dharma’. To bring anything together is ‘dharma’. When people come together in any form, which is the first pulsation of divinity, it becomes dharma. The solar system, the innumerable stars that are around are following certain principle or set of principles, some rules, some laws and they are subject to change, all that is dharma. In a family, the family members are held together which is dharma. In a locality or in a society, various types of people following very many things, various economics, political, social, cultural, religious functionalists for a society, can pull on together, which is dharma. Therefore, one which holds things together is dharma. The effort of Vigilance Study Circle (VSC) to bring people from different walks of life and working for the same cause is dharma. Thus, dharma is the principle of life and this principle of life is in everything. In human beings, when the set of values are held together and demonstrated for good causes and thereby leading to peace and harmony, it becomes a dharma and this dharma is called ‘integrity’.
The human nature has almost got into the mode of democracy. It is the infamous words of Abraham Lincoln, which described the democracy as the government ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’. Similarly, the human nature can be ascribed as ‘of the mind, by the mind and for the mind’. This democratic way of influence of the mind prevents the human being from realizing his real nature, which ultimately leads to all the human sufferings. The human sufferings are none other than disorderliness in human nature. One of the reasons why the disorderliness in human nature occurs, particularly in the present knowledge driven world, is undoubtedly lack of integrity. “Mind food”, to borrow the words of David J. Schwartz, has become a crucial factor which contributes to integrity and lack of integrity. Obviously, the lack of integrity leads to corruption and fraud which has a direct bearing on the moral fibre of the society. It is said, the integrity of the Nation is in the hands of the Parliament. Nevertheless, like the nature of atoms which determines the nature of matter, integrity at the individual level which determines the integrity of the nation. As such, the biggest challenge is to integrate the individual integrity in to national integrity and then to global integrity.
In fact, one such remarkable step towards ‘integrating integrity’ is the ‘Integrity Pact’, a tool devised by the Transparency International, the Berlin based NGOs, popularly known for publishing the Corruption Perception Index as well. Termed initially as “islands of integrity”, the Transparency International first took the step in 1990s to bring together the “Islands of integrity” of the parties involved in all contracting systems through a Pact to prevent corrupt practices. Now the Integrity Pact is a globally recognized tool to check corruption in contracts.
In India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is the pioneer to implement the “Integrity Pact” in all its contracts from July 2005. ONGC was lauded for this initiative widely.
The Integrity Pact is intended to accomplish two primary objectives:
(a) to enable companies to abstain from bribing by providing assurances to them that
(i) their competitors will also refrain from bribing, and
(ii) government procurement, privatization or licensing agencies will undertake to prevent corruption, including extortion, by their officials and to follow transparent procedures; and Transparency International Integrity Pact and Public Procurement Programme
(b) to enable governments to reduce the high cost and the distortionary impact of corruption on public procurement, privatization or licensing .
Beyond the individual contracts, the Integrity Pact is also intended to create confidence and trust in the public decision making process.
The Integrity Pact has the following as essential elements:
• a pact (contract) among a government office inviting public tenders for any type of contracts related to goods and services (the principal) and the bidders.
• an undertaking by the principal that its officials will not demand or accept any bribes, gifts etc., with appropriate disciplinary or criminal sanctions in case of violation;
• a statement by each bidder that it has not paid, and will not pay, any bribes “in order to obtain or retain this contract”;
• an undertaking by each bidder to disclose all payments made in connection with the contract in question to anybody (including agents and other middlemen as well as family members etc.);
• the explicit acceptance by each bidder that the no-bribery commitment and the disclosure obligation as well as the corresponding sanctions;
• remain in force for the winning bidder until the contract has been fully executed;
• bidders are advised to have a company Code of Conduct (clearly rejecting the use of bribes and other unethical behavior) and a Compliance Program for the implementation of the Code of Conduct throughout the company;
• the use of arbitration as conflict resolution mechanism and the instance to impose sanctions;
• a pre-announced set of sanctions for any violation by a bidder of its commitments or undertakings, including (some or all);
• denial or loss of contract;
• forfeiture of the bid security and performance bond;
• liability for damages to the principal and the competing bidders, and
• debarment of the violator by the principal for an appropriate period of time.
Above all, the most interesting aspect of the Integrity Pact is that it involves the Civil Society in the process. The Integrity Pact warrants an active and key role by the Civil Society in the form of overseeing and monitoring the correct and full implementation of the Integrity Pact. The legitimate confidentiality of proprietary information, to which Civil Society representatives would gain access, is protected adequately through an appropriate contractual stipulation. As far as ONGC is concerned, the Independent External Monitors (IEM) is appointed in terms of Integrity pact. They are the representatives from the Civil Society. With the integrity pact in place, the bidders are now in a position to raise disputes / complaints, if any, not only with the designated Competent Purchase Authority (CPA) in ONGC or with concerned Director of ONGC but they can do so directly with the nominated Independent External Monitors whose details are provided in the Integrity Pact. No doubt, the Integrity Pact is capable of providing greater transparency in the contracting system which in turn will bring in a sense of accountability which ultimately will lead to prevention of corruption in contracts.
Though the Integrity Pact is focused only on contracting system, it is the first step in ‘integrating integrity’ at global level. India Integrity Campaign is a National level effort initiated by CII-Yi covering all facets of national endeavour. This type of integration of integrity has to be soon made as the way of life. However, everything has to begin with individual integrity and then to societal integrity and then to national integrity and finally to global integrity. This phenomenon could perhaps be termed as the ‘bottom up glory’ of integrity.
Ultimately, it is the Tamil woman Poet Avvayar, who beautifully described this phenomenon of ‘bottom up glory’ thousands of years ago, when she said: When the height of the boundaries of the paddy field increases, the water level in the field increases; when the water level increases, the paddy level increases; when the paddy level increases, the quality of life increases; when the quality of life increases, the quality of governance increases; and when the quality of governance increases, the country flourishes and the greatness of those who govern admired. Thus by taking care of the basics, the glory is achieved. It is high time the ‘bottom up glory’ approach is adopted in integrating integrity..
