Corruption is the worst possible disease which any nation can have. It operates like termites which make a piece of wooden furniture hollow even as people marvel at the outer spit and polish. Unfortunately our country today has reached such a stage that no citizen is left unaffected. In fact an overwhelming majority are participating in this growing creed of greed in some manner, be it active or passive. Where does one begin and where does one end? How much time does one waste in fighting a corrupt official who can stop a very important business project from taking off, just for a few hundred rupees?

Forum for Ethical Business is an initiative which has been on my mind for almost the whole of last decade. I personally made a lot of efforts as the Founding Member of Young Indians, now called YI (a division of CII). I was Chair of the Integrity India initiative of YI and worked directly under the tutelage of Dr. Narayan Murthy. However, except for raising a bit of awareness through various events and conferences we did not achieve much. The reasons can be attributed to the fact that many of the companies which are playing a very important role in the apex industry bodies like CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM may themselves not be fully clean or it can be simply that they have more important things on their agendas. Anyway, I am not one to give up my dreams and vision easily and hence was born the idea of Forum for Ethical Business. It is a forum where likeminded individuals and companies will come together and sign an ‘Integrity Accord’ which will be like a voluntary oath not to indulge in any sort of corruption or bribery to further one’s interest in business.

It’s a small beginning which I believe can change this nation forever. The collective strength of signatories to Integrity Accord can fight the might of the corrupt governing machinery. If we can grow with integrity; I believe we can reclaim India’s dignity.

I invite you to join this Fight for Ethics.

Rajeev Karwal
Founder Director
Forum for Ethical Business