More sunlight

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s direction to his ministers to update details of their business interests, assets and liabilities has yielded an interesting profile of his cabinet. The financial status of the powerful — how much wealth they have and how they invest it — always draws curiosity. Dr Singh sticks to fixed deposits, keeping his investment beyond controversy. A.K. Antony’s loan funds a second-hand car. And Kamal Nath’s flamboyance is reflected in his diverse businesses. Tracking updates incrementally serves as a check on their financial integrity. India has been slow to demand lists of ministerial interests, and by all accounts, just as it is with MPs’ disclosures, more rigour is required to elicit enough detail. Therefore, the PM’s well-publicised move, in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Ministers, would be valuable if it’s to be the first step in bringing transparency to governance.

Examples abound around the world in how to proceed. In the UK, a register of ministerial interests is issued at the start of a new parliament, and then on every year of its term. It includes details of their finances and business interests, as well as employment of family members out of their staffing allowance. It is embedded in a ministerial code, periodically updated, to lay out how a minister may conduct herself in diverse situations and also steer clear of conflicts of interest. For instance, David Cameron’s government has included passages dealing with the conduct of the ruling coalition.

The transparency that such disclosures yield is, first of all, critical in maintaining accountability. But it also brings government closer to the people, breaking down the information barrier between them and us. It allows people to ask pertinent and informed questions of the government and its officials. It helps catch violators — it also breaks the mood of “sab chor hain” that opacity in governance breeds. That mood, in fact, prevails in many quarters these days, and is whetting the appetite of some activists for lazily-thought-out and extra-constitutional measures to cleanse governance. It’s time the government joined this debate, and laid out possible reforms — for more detailed disclosure, for blind trusts for a minister’s investment perhaps.