·
.Transparency
in the oil,gas and mining sectors is a growing global concern
·
extractive
sectors generate $3.5 trillion in annual gross revenues,or around 5% of global
GDP
·
Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI),a standard for reporting and managing
revenues from natural resources,is beginning to usher sanity into the sector
·
.It
requires extractive companies,including public sector undertakings,to publish
what they pay governmentsfees,taxes,royalty,profit shares,et al.Governments
also publish what they receive in revenues from companies
·
EITI
is a global,voluntary coalition of governments,companies and civil society
·
An
independent audit,in which civil society is a participant,examines both sets of
revenue disclosures and looks for discrepancies
·
In
2009,Azerbaijan became the first country to become EITI-compliant.Since then,35
countriesthough not Indiaare following the standard
India is reluctant to sign up
·
It insists
the idea of EITI is driven by the West and that India doesnt stand to gain as
its New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) is quite robust
·
It says
EITI serves only the interests of Western oil giants who are finding it
difficult to operate in countries with poor governance structures
·
As a
result Indian companies are beginning to be equated with the Chinese,who have
acquired a despicable record in bribery and corruption in foreign shores
·
EITI
process is not a fool-proof mechanism but ,its better than having nothing at
all
·
India
says An online reporting system is expected to be in place by March 2012
Improvements in EITI
·
There
is increasing international pressure on the EITI to go beyond mere revenue
flows.Today,the process only tells citizens what revenue has been paid by
companies,and doesnt examine whether contracts are fair or whether revenues
from minerals and oil & gas lead to the well-being of the citizenry
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