Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Truth be told

Truth be told

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Aug 11, 2010   modified Modified on Aug 11, 2010


When National Highways Authority of India engineer Satyendra Dubey was killed in 2003 after he wrote a letter to then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was killed for his disclosure, despite the explicit appeal that his identity be kept secret. His death strengthened the growing sense across the world that such truth-tellers needed legislation to keep them safe (Time magazine declared “2002” the year of the whistleblower, after giant corporate scandals at Enron and WorldCom were outed by their own employees, at the risk of great personal cost). Now, after inching along for years, the cabinet has finally passed the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosure Bill, 2010, empowering the Central Vigilance Commission to be shield and sword. It can penalise those who tell on whistleblowers among Central, state and public sector employees. On the flip side, it also has provisions to punish those who make frivolous complaints.

Like the Right to Information Act, which cleared the cobwebs of official secrecy considerably, this public interest disclosure act will have large ramifications. India follows the lead of many other countries that have enacted, or are contemplating, such legislation. There is no question that we need more acts of ethical resistance, and more brave women and men who can expose systemic misdeeds without fear of reprisal or intimidation.

However, it all depends on how this protection is actually implemented. The CVC has been charged with enacting this protection — and its role will be crucial. In the US, where whistleblower protection had been in place since 1989, the office of special counsel entrusted with safeguarding whistleblowers had initially, on occasion, blacklisted them and obstructed promotions and new jobs. The legal process was often tortuous and punishing. As the global experience shows, to make whistleblower protection practical and meaningful, unfettered access to legal help is crucial. In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley bill in the US extended protection to insiders who expose corporate fraud — and these provisions are among the strongest in the world. They include shields against employment discrimination, criminal punishment for discrimination against whistleblowers, internal procedures to make such disclosure possible, and abolishing the organisational code of silence that often gets in the way of disclosure.


The Indian Express, 11 August, 2010, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/truth-be-told/658877/


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close