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The woman who has been given the job of leading UK government efforts to promote sustainable development in developing countries in Asia and elsewhere has criticized both the private and the public sectors over their attitudes.
Malini Mehra, who founded the Centre for Social Markets, was disappointed that individual business people were absent from an International Development Research Centre conference called to discuss private sector development in the world's poorest countries.
She told an interviewer: 'The real people who need to be at this [development] table aren't. And those are the practitioners and the private sector representatives. The private sector representatives who tend to be there tend to be the business associations, who do tend to advance agendas that really appeal to the lowest common denominator of their membership, so they're not innovative, they don't support the maverick, and they're not breaking the stalemate that there is on key international policy issues relating to managing the global commons, and promoting equity and sustainability.'
Indian bureaucratic obstacles to economic growth were another target. Mehra said: 'I think the biggest challenge is the Indian public service, the civil service in particular. It has acquired a reputation for being obstructionist from the private sector, where we've heard a number of complaints, about how difficult it is, without having to stoop to corrupt practices - greasing palms etc - to get a civil and timely response to a request, or a basic request for a permit to open up a business in a particular area, or a request for information from public-interest organizations that want to find out the pollution record of a particular company in a given area.
'Because the bureaucracy isn't attentive, it's not professional. It has created a sophisticated apparatus of corrupt practices which prevent good governance.'
At the same time Mehra urged insurers to offer cover to people with HIV and Aids in India. She announced: 'We're beginning a campaign to make a business case and a moral case for the financial services industry to actually put together life insurance products and policies [for those infected with HIV/Aids]. We're doing that with practitioners who already have experience with that in Thailand and the UK.'
Mehra, whose centre has offices in India and the UK, is now employed at Britain's environment ministry to lead discussions on sustainable development with such countries as India, China, Brazil and South Africa. Her background includes work with Oxfam and Friends of the Earth and membership of the United Nations panel on civil society relations.
Malini Mehra, who founded the Centre for Social Markets, was disappointed that individual business people were absent from an International Development Research Centre conference called to discuss private sector development in the world's poorest countries.
She told an interviewer: 'The real people who need to be at this [development] table aren't. And those are the practitioners and the private sector representatives. The private sector representatives who tend to be there tend to be the business associations, who do tend to advance agendas that really appeal to the lowest common denominator of their membership, so they're not innovative, they don't support the maverick, and they're not breaking the stalemate that there is on key international policy issues relating to managing the global commons, and promoting equity and sustainability.'
Indian bureaucratic obstacles to economic growth were another target. Mehra said: 'I think the biggest challenge is the Indian public service, the civil service in particular. It has acquired a reputation for being obstructionist from the private sector, where we've heard a number of complaints, about how difficult it is, without having to stoop to corrupt practices - greasing palms etc - to get a civil and timely response to a request, or a basic request for a permit to open up a business in a particular area, or a request for information from public-interest organizations that want to find out the pollution record of a particular company in a given area.
'Because the bureaucracy isn't attentive, it's not professional. It has created a sophisticated apparatus of corrupt practices which prevent good governance.'
At the same time Mehra urged insurers to offer cover to people with HIV and Aids in India. She announced: 'We're beginning a campaign to make a business case and a moral case for the financial services industry to actually put together life insurance products and policies [for those infected with HIV/Aids]. We're doing that with practitioners who already have experience with that in Thailand and the UK.'
Mehra, whose centre has offices in India and the UK, is now employed at Britain's environment ministry to lead discussions on sustainable development with such countries as India, China, Brazil and South Africa. Her background includes work with Oxfam and Friends of the Earth and membership of the United Nations panel on civil society relations.
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