DUBAI // An Indian minister has said the controversial Lokpal anti-corruption Bill will probably be introduced to parliament next month.
"Now that it is before parliamentary committee we would like to bring the bill, if there is no obstruction, in November," said Dr Veerappa Moily, the Union Minister for Corporate Affairs.
Dr Moily was addressing businessmen and entrepreneurs from the Indian Business Professional Council in Dubai on the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
"The ethos has been created to fight against corruption," he said at the event in Dubai. "But for [Anna Hazare's hunger strike] demonstration, our bill would have been passed in April.
"Because he demonstrated, we thought we could take him into confidence to make the bill more strong."
The bill is to be introduced in parliament in the winter session that begins next month, even as Team Anna Hazare launched a national survey yesterday to boost support for its version of the bill.
Conceding there was a "trust deficit" in the corporate sector, Dr Moily said his ministry was working to boost corporate governance, increase transparency and fight corruption after several corporate scams - notably a telecommunications licensing scandal - rocked the nation.
He said several "outdated systems" had to be dismantled, and new laws and systems put in place to stem corporate corruption.
Dr Moily was optimistic about India's economic growth and the government's stability, despite the widespread anti-graft protests.
He said non-resident Indians were contributing immensely to the economies of India and the Emirates.
pkannan@thenational.ae