Talking about ‘lobbying in India’ is kind of a sensitive topic. It is something that is not much spoken about because people consider it similar to bribery.
To start with- Lobbying is ‘the act of attempting to promote third parties legitimate interests, trying to persuade governments to make decisions or support something with the purpose of influencing their decisions.’
However, politicians, journalists, industrialists, and so on are the people who are used by loIn India, lobbying is obtaining help from the public sector in exchange for favors. There is no formal organization for lobbying yet and considered immoral.bbyists to influence the process of government decision making. These people are opposed to the idea of regulating the lobby practice.
‘Radia Tapes’ is one of the examples which have changed the dimension of lobbying as a profession in India. The Radia case controversy happened in 2008-2009, which relates to telephonic conversations tapped by Indian Income Tax Department of a political lobbyist Nira Radia with then Indian telecom minister, politicians, senior journalists, corporate houses. The tax department was doing an investigation on possible money laundering and tapped Radia’s phone for 300days. The tap got leaked in media and everyone was talking about it. The recordings showcased how Radia tried to use media people to influence the decision of people and to appoint A.Raja as a telecommunication minister.
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I would say at the end that making lobbying legal in our country would be legitimate as it is associated with lawmaking. The economy of India is changing which means there is or there might be issues in accepting foreign investments, subjects related to e-commerce privacy, taxation, data and so on due to which the requirement of lobbyists will also grow. It can bring the industry in a light that operates in the shadow.
Lobbying in India is something that is always spoken about behind closed doors and people also take it is as illegal.
So, it is time for the government authorities to start thinking about legalizing lobbying with appropriate rules and regulations.
–Neha Goyal
Neha Goyal is a part of the Class of 2020 of PG Programme in PR and Corporate Communications at SCoRe, Mumbai. She completed her winter internship with Genesis BCW, Mumbai and was recruited by Adfactors PR, Mumbai.
