Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday sought to stem corporate India?s anger over the damage being done to its members? reputation through the leak of the tapes of their telephonic conversations with lobbyist Niira Radia, by asking the Cabinet secretary to look into how it happened.
Though the government can legitimately tap phones in the interest of national security and to prevent tax evasion and money-laundering, the information so gathered should remain within the government?s institutional framework, Singh said.
The PM?s soothing remarks come at a time when several prominent corporate citizens including Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata ?who himself figured in the tapes web-cast by the media?have protested against the invasion of privacy. While Tata?s petition invoking Article 21 of the Constitution that provides for right to life (and hence privacy) is before the Supreme Court, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh and Infosys CMD Kris Gopalakrishnan too have expressed concern over the Radia tapes leak denting the image of India Inc before the domestic and global audience, besides hurting its morale. Inaugurating the India Corporate Week 2010 organised by the ministry of corporate affairs here, Singh said mechanisms meant to deny access to telephonic conversation for systems outside the government?s institutional framework need to be strengthened and enforced more effectively. ?While these powers (to tap phones) are needed in the world that we live in, they have to be exercised with utmost care and under well-defined rules, procedures and mechanisms so that they are not misused,? Singh said.
The government said in an affidavit in SC last weekend that it tapped Radia?s phone suspecting that she indulged espionage and anti-national activities. The suspicion, the government said, was based on a complaint received in November 2007. On Monday, the court asked the government to produce that complaint in a sealed cover.
While the court took the original Radia tapes into its custody, it did not stay further release of the tapes by the media, as sought by Tata. More tapes were subsequently released by sections of the media.
Around 5,800 phone conversations from August 20, 2008 to July 9, 2009 between Radia and a number of politicians, industrialists and journalists were recorded by the directorate-general of Income Tax. The government claimed that the unpublished parts of transcripts of the taped conversations form evidence in the 2G spectrum scam that allegedly caused a loss of Rs 1,76,000 crore to the exchequer.
Dwelling on the ICW?s theme of ?sustainable business,? the PM said the manner in which companies use natural resources and the extent to which they are sensitive to the needs and aspirations of the common man are also critical to their long-term survival and growth.
?Sustainability of business therefore includes not merely economic sustainability in the narrow sense of the term, but social and environmental sustainability as well… I am sure our business leaders are aware that business practices of some corporate houses have recently come under intense public scrutiny for their perceived ethical deficit.? Singh?s comments need to be read in the context of the denial of environmental and other approvals to the mega projects of Vedanta Resources and Posco. What Singh has advocated is a confluence of businesses whose legitimate aim is to make profits with social and ecological concerns. ?Indeed, financial capital needs human, social and ecological capital to be viable in the long-term sense of the term. Market activity that concentrates wealth without empowering the poor and the deprived is also unacceptable ethically,? the prime minister said. Singh commended the companies which have started reporting their actions for ensuring sustainability. ?An increasing number of companies are today bringing out sustainability reports,? he said.