Corporate Lobbying In Indian Governance: Analysing The Unregulated Power
- IJLLR Journal
- Mar 2
- 2 min read
Surbhi Kumari, Christ (deemed to be) University, Pune, Lavasa campus
ABSTRACT
Corporate Lobbying in Indian Governance is the act whereby the Industrial giants endeavors to affect the policies, decisions and laws of the Governments to their own benefits. In contrast to the countries where Lobbying has been triggered and controlled in legal framework, in India there is still no particular law that has been put in place to help in regulating the uncontrolled and sometimes obscure and secretive pursuit of power. The ambiguity of the law (and corrupted governmental ruling) tends to result in immorality like nepotism, coercion or even corruption. Corporate lobbying is done via personal contacts and informal relationships with policymakers and not via transparent and ethical ways. This will decrease the healthy competition and erode the trust of the masses in the administration. The paper under research discusses the mechanics of corporate lobbying within the system of administration and politics, the impact it has on the policy framing, and the ethical and legal issues it raises. It seeks to investigate the Grey area in ethical lobbying and unethical manipulation with interest on how powerful companies at times shape up the choices of the populace to their own benefit not the good of the people. The paper also brings out real life examples in various sectors such as telecommunications, coal and pharmaceutical industries where lobbying has influenced the activities of the government. Besides, the paper examines why there are no lobbying laws and regulations in India, its influence on transparency and accountability, and compares the situation across the world to that of India. In the concluding, the research paper is preoccupied with proposal of policy changes and a clear framework to govern the lobbying, which allows corporate control to fall in line with democratic ideals, healthy competition and national and collective interests.
Keywords: Corporate Lobbying, Public Interest, Governance, Policy influence, Policy Reforms, Democratic values, Legal Framework, Transparency and Accountability.
