Whistleblower, who reports corruption and illegal activities, wrongdoing, and misconduct to the concerned authorities, runs the risk of being exposed to grave danger, physical harm and victimization by the vested interests, accused persons and his team. What policy measures would you suggest to strengthen protection mechanism to safeguard the whistleblower?. UPSC IAS Mains 2022 General Studies (Paper – 4)
The incident of Uber Files reveal has again highlighted the importance of whistleblowing in fighting the menace of corruption. Whistleblowing refers to calling attention to wrongdoing happening in an organization.
Issues with the Whistle-blower protection:
- Physical harm and Victimisation:
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- Murder of Satyendra Dubey
- Since the implementation of the RTI Act, some 100 RTI activists across the country have been killed.
- Livelihood Loss: Whistleblowers are sometimes cornered in an organization and in extreme situations are forced to quit their job.
- Legislative Lacunas:
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- The internal mechanism mandated under the Company Act remains subordinate to the management of the company. A whistle-blower will remain completely prey to the management’s whims.
- The shortcomings in Whistle Blowers Protection Act 2014
- limited to public servants
- the competent authority to receive complaint on victimization is usually the senior official in the hierarchy. This makes it difficult for the informant to receive any protection;
- Does not allow anonymous complaints to be submitted and investigated;
- Failure to operationalize Act by framing the Rules.
Policy measures to improve the whistle blower protection:
- Amend the Whistleblowers Protection Act
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- Provide universal protection: Many States in the US (like Florida, Hawaii,) have include both public and private sector employers under the whistleblower’s protection acts.
- Allowing anonymous complaints
- Robust reward mechanism be created for incentivization. At the same time, fines against false and frivolous complaints also need to be enhanced.
- Formulating the Rules necessary to operationalize the Act.
- Freedom to whistle-blowers to report their complaint to independent authorities rather than senior officials. For instance, in the U.S, there are separate offices established under different laws with neutral investigators who are responsible for investigating any claims submitted to them by a whistle-blower. They are specifically designed to receive and investigate whistle-blower complaints.
Therefore, the whistle-blowers should be given an enabling ecosystem to disclose the illegal practices carried on in any organization in consonance with the mandate of the UN Convention against Corruption to which India is a signatory.
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