Disclosure of gifts presented by the Prime Minister to Foreign Dignitaries – The Curious stand of MEA
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 7, 2017
There has been a lot of media interest in the Prime Minister’s maiden visit to Israel. Newspapers have also written about the gifts presented by the PM to his Israeli counterpart. But the MEA has time & again refused to disclose details of the type and value of the gifts presented by the PM to his foreign counterpart. We look at MEA’s strange stand and why it doesn’t make any sense.
The Indian media has been agog with the Prime Minister’s maiden visit to Israel. Among other things, the media has reported in detail about the gifts presented by Narendra Modi to his Israeli counterpart. In the past, multiple applications under Right to Information (RTI) have been filed with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) seeking information about the nature & value of gifts presented by the Prime Minister to foreign dignitaries. The MEA, for some strange reason has been refusing to disclose such information citing an exemption clause in the RTI act.
What are the rules governing gifts presented to Foreign Dignitaries?
The foreign recipients of gifts are divided into five categories as per the response to a RTI application by the MEA. The following people could be the recipients of gifts.
Broadly speaking, the five categories of recipients of gifts are Head of State, Minister, Secretary, Official & Pool level. There are monetary ceilings for the purchase of gift items for each category and these ceilings are approved by the Ministry of Finance. These ceilings have been effective since May 2010.
But the MEA has always refused to disclose information on these ceilings. The MEA believes that disclosure of ceilings may cause embarrassment to both India & the receiving government. The MEA does not stop at that and goes onto say that such disclosure will affect bilateral relations.
‘Cannot reveal the value of gifts presented to Foreign Dignitaries’
MEA has a standard response to all such RTI applications seeking information of the type & cost of gifts presented by the Indian Prime Minister to Foreign Dignitaries.
In response to one application, MEA said that disclosure of the value of the gifts presented by the PM would have unintended effects on foreign relations because analysis/scrutiny and comparison between the quantum & value of gifts would be undesirable. MEA adds that such a comparison would defeat the purpose of generating goodwill between countries. MEA cites Sec 8(1)(a) of the RTI act that talks about exemption of any ‘information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence’.
In response to another application, MEA responded similarly refusing to disclose any information with respect to the type/cost of the gifts presented by the PM.
Why MEA’s stand does not make any sense
MEA’s stand on disclosure of gift related information does not make any sense because many countries have a policy of public disclosure of the gifts given & received by their heads of state. In addition, the Government of India itself through press releases discloses the type of gifts presented to foreign dignitaries.
Type of Gifts is already in the Public Domain: Refusing to reveal the type of gifts presented by the PM is silly because such information is disclosed by the government itself through various press releases. The press release about the gifts presented to Israeli Prime Minister is here. Similarly, the details of PM’s gifts to the Supreme Leader of Iran were also released by the government.
Other Countries disclose the value & type of gift: If the disclosure of information about the value of the gifts presented by the PM affects the bilateral relations, then our relations with various nations must be already in trouble. This is because many countries have a policy of public disclosure of the gifts received by their heads of state including the value & source of the gift.
For example, USA has a policy of disclosing the details (including the value) of the gifts received by federal officials including the President. According to the disclosure by US Department of State, below is the list of gifts with value presented by the Indian Prime Ministers to the President of United States & his spouse. The data is available from 2002 to 2015.
Even the United Kingdom has a policy of public disclosure of all the gifts given & received by the Prime Minister of UK.