Saturday, December 15, 2012

Re: [prpoint] Lobbying legitimate or not - Let's discuss

 

Way back in 1987, Rajiv Gandhi, as the then Prime Minister, had engaged Alyque Padamsee of the Lintas ,to promote India in the US and France.Lintas had even engaged Edelman associates in the US for this promotion .I was associated with the project for a while. 

The point I am making is that if lobbying was all right then, what is it that we are talking about now. In the project mentioned above ,part of our responsibility was to feed Edelman about developments in India,albeit positive.The US agency ,in turn, was required to lobby with American papers using the same positive stories,even adding value to them.

tyagaraj sharma,
the statesman,bangalore

On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 2:00 PM, BNK 24x7 <mailbnk@gmail.com> wrote:
 

I just fail to understand why these politicians are creating such a ruckus over lobbying. Persuading the authorities and educating them on issues should be considered as legitimate considering the fact that many law makers are not aware of the right and wrong aspects of any policy or government decision. They need not be bribed, but the expenses on banquets, travelling and commissioning of research reports  could all well be considered as expenditure on lobbying which by any stretch of imagination can be termed illegal.

Considering the knowledge levels of our law makers, they need to be constantly educated. They are too  busy either politicking or finding ways to broaden their voter base with little or no time for acquiring knowledge. Looking at their behaviour during sessions, one would wonder if some of them know basic constitutional knowledge  of what is state subject and what is union matter. One sees ministers reminding them of such subjects.
Will these politicians consider as lobbying the media education/awareness exercises that corporates undertake through PR networks targeting the politicians and government?
Journalists like Arnab may even loudly ask: What education?
I am reminded of what late  Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh had one said at the inauguration of the Press Club -Mumbai's new building: "You Press Club members must indulge in some thinking, while indulging in drinking. You must train journalists, particularly the young TV reporters, on how to ask questions." That is the kind of education that I am talking about.
The Defence Ministry used to conduct war correspondents courses - and I had undergone one of them as a journalist - to educate them on aspects of armed forces - the army, air force and navy - so that the scribes could be better equipped to understand and write.
Given an opportunity, the Mani Shankar Prasads of the world would term even such courses as lobbying!
Even the Government of India does lobbying through the diplomatic channels to win over the key influencers not only in various countries, but even at the UN level.
My firm opinion is lobbying should not be considered as something illegitimate.
Request forum members to share their thoughts
Thanks and regards
BNK


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