Ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government have grown richer by an average Rs 10 crore since the 2009 general elections! What about us, the Mulnivasi Bahujan, eighty Percent of the Population?Planning Commision Poverty Line makes us RICH

Ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government have grown richer by an average Rs 10 crore since the 2009 general elections! What about us, the Mulnivasi Bahujan, eighty Percent of the Population?Planning Commision Poverty Line makes us RICH with just Rs Thirty Two!

The exact loss to the state exchequer due to the 2G scam is impossible to be calculated, a Delhi Court today said while giving its green signal to start trial against all the 17 accused in the case.

2G Conspiracy Began After Raja Became Minister: Court


2G: Charges Framed Against Raja and 16 Others

Two G Spectrum Scam Exposure and the most Hyped trial combined EXPOSED Corporate Lobbying and the Crude Cruel faces of LPG Manusmriti Zionist Rule and India incs Governance! Corporate Political NEXUS is the Key of EXCLUSIVE FREE MARKET SENSEX Economy! Global Reistance against Capitalism and Imperialist Corporate GREED, the OCCUPY Wall Street Movement must be seen and RESPONDED! Now the Brahaminical parties and co opted Baffons and Scoundrels are all set to legalise the Corporate Lobbying so that the MONEY Spinning Should Continue! Still the Sensex is Unchallenged and the Prosperity of some TWO Thousand capitalists is defined as Indian GROWTH! SHAME elite Marxists! SHAME Ignorant Ambedkarites!

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, Chapter 699

Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/




http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/

Politician-builder-corporate nexus?

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Two G Spectrum Scam Exposure and the most Hyped trial combined EXPOSED Corporate Lobbying and the Crude Cruel faces of LPG Manusmriti Zionist Rule and India incs Governance! Corporate Political NEXUS is the Key of EXCLUSIVE FREE MARKET SENSEX Economy! Global Reistance against Capitalism and Imperialist Corporate GREED, the OCCUPY Wall Street Movement must be seen and RESPONDED! Now the Brahaminical parties and co opted Baffons and Scoundrels are all set to legalise the Corporate Lobbying so that the MONEY Spinning Should Continue! Still the Sensex is Unchallenged and the Prosperity of some TWO Thousand capitalists is defined as Indian GROWTH! SHAME elite Marxists! SHAME Ignorant Ambedkarites!

Ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government have grown richer by an average Rs 10 crore since the 2009 general elections! What about us, the Mulnivasi Bahujan, eighty Percent of the Population?

Planning Commision Poverty Line makes us RICH with just Rs Thirty Two!

The exact loss to the state exchequer due to the 2G scam is impossible to be calculated, a Delhi Court today said while giving its green signal to start trial against all the 17 accused in the case.

2G Conspiracy Began After Raja Became Minister: Court

The conspiracy to allocate 2G spectrum to ineligible telecom operators for illegal graft began after A Raja became Minister for Telecommunication and Information Technology, said a Delhi court today while putting him on trial along with 16 others, including DMK MP Kanimozhi.

"The conspiracy started after accused A Raja became Minister of Communications and IT on May 16 and its physical manifestation started becoming clear in August-September 2007 on receipt of TRAI recommendations dated August 28, 2007," said Special Judge O P Saini who rejected the defence counsels' contention that there was no conspiracy at all.

"...The conspiracy continued till the last tranche of money, Rs 50 crore, was received by Kalaignar TV on August 7, 2009, as illegal gratification," the judge added.

The court said all the accused in the case knew each other from the beginning, much before the plotting began.

"Accused A Raja was the Telecom Minister from DMK party and M/s Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd was allegedly run by its affiliates," the court said.

"The allegations and the evidence on record prima facie suggest that this amount of Rs 200 crore was meant as bribe for accused A Raja in consideration of issuance of Letters of Intents for allocation of Unified Access Services Licence and allocation of spectrum to Swan Telecom, which was ultimately received by Kalaignar TV," it added.

"...The submission made by accused persons that there is no evidence about existence of any criminal conspiracy is contrary to the record," the judge said.

A Delhi court today said their was no need for sanction from the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha's Chairman for prosecution of former Telecom Minister and sitting Lok Sabha member A Raja and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi in 2G spectrum case.

The court said sanction was not required to prosecute them as Raja had abused the official position as minister and not as a Lok Sabha MP and so was the case for Kanimozhi who did not abuse the office as a Rajya Sabha MP.

"I find myself in agreement with special public prosecutor (U U Lalit) that there are no allegations in the charge sheet that either of the two accused (Raja and Kanimozhi) misused or abused the office of Member of Parliament. The allegations against Raja are that he misused/abused the office of Minister of Communication and Information Technology, government of India, in granting UAS (unified access services) licences and allocation of spectrum.

"Similarly, there are no allegations against Kanimozhi that she misused the office of Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha," Special CBI Judge O P Saini said.

Way was today paved for the trial in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case with a special court framing charges against former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others for offences including criminal breach of trust that entails a maximum punishment of life term.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, corporate honchos-Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's MD Gautam Doshi, Group President Surendra Pipara and Senior Vice President Hari Nair, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra and Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka--are among the other high-profile accused who will face trial, commencing on November 11.

"I hereby direct that you all be tried by this court for aforesaid charges (alleged by CBI)," Special CBI Judge O P Saini, who dealt with offences under thirteen heads in his order, said in the packed courtroom.

There was a pall of gloom in the courtroom as the accused, their family member and relatives heard the judge pronouncing the order allowing trail under all the penal provisions raised by CBI in its two charge sheets.

With an important milestone reached today in the case, the accused can now move for bail even as early as Monday as the Supreme Court had observed on an earlier occasion that the accused could seek for relief after charges are framed.

They have also said they will approach the High Court against today's order.

The court said there was prima facie evidence that Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura and others conspired to allocate "valuable spectrum", entrusted to them in the capacity of being public servants, to Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd in violation of law to cause wrongful gain to the companies and thereby Section 409 (criminal breach of trust) is invoked against them.

The charges framed under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act also dealt with criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, getting bribe and criminal misconduct by public servant.

The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment.

Minutes after the judge pronounced his order, senior advocate Sushil Kumar, representing Raja, objected to certain portions of the order and said "how can the court write, on its own, that too on behalf of the accused that --I plead not guilty and claim trial".

The court offered to rectify the mistake and later Raja, like other accused, also put his signature below the line (written by the judge) which said "I plead not guilty and claim trial."

The court, in its order, discussed the entire sequence of events related to spectrum allocation and attributed "prima facie" culpability of all the accused including Raja.

It said Raja did not pay any heed to the advice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to think of auctioning the spectrum.

"...The Prime Minister also sent you (Raja) a letter dated November 2, 2007 on this issue and you accused A Raja deliberately and dishonestly did not consider auction or revision of entry fee (of Rs 1658 crore), and gave away licenses/spectrum at same fee which was discovered in 2001...," the court said.

The court said Raja and former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura cheated the Department of Telecom (DoT) in issuing the licenses by using a "forged note of the minister".

"You Behura, Secretary (Telecom), you (Behura) attached a draft press release for approval of you (Raja) and this draft press release contained the manner in which the letters of Intent (LoIs) were planned to be issued to applicants and you (Raja) 'approved' the same and asked you (Behura) to obtain the Solicitor General's opinion ....

"But you (Raja) in conspiracy with You (Behura) subsequently struck out the last para of the press release, which mentioned 'However, if more than one applicant complies with LoI conditions on the same date, the inter-se seniority would be decided by the date of application' and you (Raja) struck out the last para of the draft press release..." the court said.

It said Raja unilaterally decided to change the cut-off date to help Unitech group.

"You (A Raja), in pursuance to the conspiracy and for ensuring better prospects for your favoured companies, cut it short and decided the cutoff date to be October 1, 2007, and a press release was issued to this effect on September 24, 2007... Even though this cutoff date of October 1, had been announced, you (Raja) in conspiracy with other accused, had already taken a view to keep the cut-off date as September 25,...," it said.

The court also referred to alleged manipulations with the first-come-first served policy by Raja and others to extend benefits to Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd.

The court's remark assumes significance in light of divergent views on the exact loss to the exchequer. While CAG pegged the loss at Rs 1.76 lakh crore, the CBI estimated it at Rs 30984 crore and recent TRAI report said no loss was caused due to alleged irregularities in spectrum allocation.

"There are allegations of loss to the state exchequer in the charge sheet also of which rough estimates have been arrived at and that too, in my humble view, rightly as in such situation it is not possible for anyone to calculate the exact amount of loss," special CBI judge O P Saini said.

"Though, the exact amount of pecuniary loss to the exchequer, if it could have been determined, is always better, but in such cases it may not be possible to determine it or to say that any loss has been caused to the exchequer, though it may be apparent that undue pecuniary advantage has been gained by the public servant or private person due to misuse of office or due to corrupt and illegal means."

Denying any relief to the accused, the court said, "Loss or quantification of loss in exact term is not the essential requirement of offence of criminal conspiracy to cheat or to commit criminal misconduct."


Ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government have grown richer by an average Rs 10 crore since the 2009 general elections, says a report by an election watchdog.

Among the ministers who have gained the most in the past two years, Dr S Jagathrakshakan of DMK tops the list with an increase of Rs 64.5 crore - from Rs 5.9 crore in 2009 to Rs 70 crore 2011, according to the analysis by by Association for Democratic Research (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW).

Jagathrakshakan, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, is followed by Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel, who has increased his assets by Rs 42 crore - from Rs 79.8 crore in 2009 to Rs 122 crore in 2011.

Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath of Congress is the third richest minister who saw his assets grow by Rs 26 crore - from Rs 14 crore in 2009 to Rs 41 crores in 2011, the report said.

The watchdog said it has derived the figures after comparing the assets declared during the 2009 general elections, which is available in the Election Commission website, and the 2011 declaration put out in the PMO website.

Percentage wise, the highest increase has been for Jagathrakshakan whose assets have grown by 1,092 per cent in the past two years. He is followed by Panabaka Lakshmi of Congress with a growth of 828 per cent in her assets and Tusharbhai Chaudhary, also Congress, with a growth of 705 per cent in his assets.

As per the analysis, a minister in the present UPA government has assets worth over Rs 10 crore, marking an increase by Rs 3.3 crore since 2009.

"This is in spite of the fact that 19 ministers in their 2011 declarations to PMO have not given the value of several of their movable and immovable assets," said the report.

With assets worth 122 crores, Praful Patel tops the list of richest ministers, while Jagathrakshakan ranked second (with assets worth Rs 70 crore) and Kamal Nath (assets worth Rs 41 crore) is at the third place.

The report, however, said that 15 ministers have shown a decrease in their assets compared to that in 2009.

They include Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Foreign Minister S M Krishna.

India's slowing economic growth and elevated inflationary pressures will stretch well into the next year, a Reuters poll showed, even though expectations are for some respite in the hawkish central bank's fight against inflation.

A poll of more than 20 economists, surveyed during October 12-18, showed that most slashed their forecasts to well under 8 per cent for next two years, a sign that Asia's third largest economy will be negatively impacted by the prolonged euro zone debt crisis and weakening investment at home.

"The sentiment is pretty negative," said Bhupesh Bhameta at Quant Capital. "What is happening on the global front now impacts India's export competitiveness and investment."

The consensus is now for India to grow at 7.6 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 2012 and 7.9 per cent the following year, markedly lower than the 7.9 per cent and 8.4 per cent predicted in July's poll.

Consensus forecasts for India's economic growth have fallen in each of Reuters quarterly surveys since October 2010.

For the quarter ended June, India's economy grew at 7.7 per cent, its weakest pace in six quarters.

Average annual growth in India is expected to remain below 8.0 per cent at least until the third quarter of 2012, much slower than growth during the same period a year ago.

India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday he was disappointed with the country's growth components in the last few months.

"It is evident that India's growth rate in 2011-12 will be less than what we presented in February when I presented the budget," Mukherjee told a news conference. The budget had projected economic growth of around 9 per cent this fiscal year.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised interest rates 12 times in 18 months even as other leading emerging market economies such as Brazil and Indonesia have eased policy to combat the global slowdown.

Economists expect one more hike from the RBI next Tuesday, bringing the repo rate to 8.5 per cent - although they see the central bank relaxing monetary policy by the beginning of the next fiscal year, returning to 8 per cent by September.

The RBI has maintained that taming inflation is its priority even at the expense of a growth slowdown.

The Reuters consensus predicted inflation at 8.8 per cent in the year ending March 2012 before easing to 7.0 per cent the following year, both much higher than the 8.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent forecast in July's poll.

China's economy grew 9.1 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter, its slowest pace in over two years, and Beijing is likely to wait before easing policy as it battles stubbornly high inflation.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has warned of another financial crisis brewing, as global liquiditybecomes a concern amidst central banks pegging their lending rates at near zero levels, leaving scope for another asset bubble to take down the global financial system.

"There is, thus, incontrovertible evidence that there is yet again a huge under-pricing of risks in the financial system and, therefore, it is not a question of if, but when, the generic asset bubble caused by manifold increases in balance sheets of central banks will burst," said RBI, executive director, VK Sharma in his address in Singapore on 'Identifying Systemic Risks in the Global Markets - Lessons Learnt from the Crisis'. He spoke about what has been done by Asian central bankers in detecting and mitigating risks of future crises similar to the one in 2008-09.

One of the major worries this time around, which did not exist back then, is global liquidity, Sharma said. Balance sheets of major banks have grown by almost three times from pre-2007 levels, while near-zero policy rates have added $4 trillion in incremental central bank liquidity. Sharma mentioned that the US has been keeping excess reserves of about $1.5 trillion with theFederal Reserve rather than lending it to small businesses and households.

"Alongside, non-financial corporations in the US are reportedly sitting on cash and liquid assets worth $2 trillion which they do not know what to do with it. In this background of huge deluge of global liquidity, there are unmistakable signs of asset bubble inflating again in almost a replay of the last global financial crisis." Sharma said.

"In India, we have had remarkable financial stability, not fortuitously, but thanks to pre-emptively and pro-actively delivered prudential measures like increase in risk weights for exposures to commercial real estate, capital market, venture capital funds and systemically important non-deposit accepting NBFCs.

Former Telecom Minister A Raja deliberately gave dual technology benefits to Reliance ADA Group telecom firm and denied it to Tata Groupcompanies by delaying "in-principle approval" for the Unified Access Services (UAS) licenses, a Delhi court today said.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini said Raja had, in conspiracy with other DoT officials, deliberately delayed the sanction for the Tata Group companies, Tata Teleservices and TTML, after giving green signal to Reliance ADA group.

The court said the then minister by referring to the Law Ministry the issue of according dual technology benefits to Tata created an opportunity which made even ineligible firms -- Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless -- senior in the priority list for grant of licenses.

"You (Raja) accorded in-principle approval for the dual technology spectrum to the Reliance Communications Ltd, HFCL Infotel and Shyam Telelinks Ltd ....and when this request of Tata Teleservices Ltd and TTML was put up for in-principle approval to use GSM technology under UAS licence, you (Raja) dishonestly clubbed this issue also with the letter .. being sent to Ministry of Law and Justice for guidance...," it said.

The court said Raja deliberately did not accord approval to telecom companies of Tata group till January 10, 2008, when LOIs for new licences were distributed to other ineligible firms.

It said the deliberate design of Raja led to a situation where Swan Telecom became eligible for lucrative Delhi circle where only one slot for new player was available.

"Unitech Wireless would not have got any license at all and Swan Telecom would not have got UAS license for Delhi service area...," the CBI Judge said while framing charges against 17 accused including Raja in the case.

The theory of "corporate loan" advanced by the Swan Telecom to counter the charges of giving Rs 200 crore as bribe to the DMK-run Kalaignar TV in connection with the 2G spectrum scam was today brushed aside by a Delhi Court which said the allegations are not "imaginary", "absurd" or "unfounded".

Special CBI Judge O P Saini while framing charges against DMK MP Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar and Swan Telecom in the 2G case, said that there are allegations and evidence regarding transfer of the amount of Rs 200 crore.

"The allegations (of bribe of Rs 200 crore) are not imaginary, absurd or unfounded and, as such, at this stage of the case, shall be taken at their face value. It is purely a question of fact and any observation at this stage may prejudice the parties," the court said.

It rejected the contention of the accused that no one would pay bribe after 16 months of obtaining favour in the form of Unified Access Services (UAS) Licences.

"I do not find any merit in the submissions of the accused, at this stage of the case, that the transaction may be treated as a transaction of loan without any taint of criminality," the judge said.

The court, in its order, noted that the accused persons had said the amount (Rs 200 crore) went from Dynamix Realty Ltd to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd, first with a view to acquire stake, and when that proposition failed, it was decided to convert the amount into inter-corporate deposits. They had said that the same was done and the amount was duly returned subsequently.

Meanwhile, Former Telecom Minister A Raja was today ordered to be put on trial in the 2G case by a Delhi court which said offence of criminal breach of trust, carrying life imprisonment as maximum sentence, is made out against him as he had the dominion over the costly spectrum.

Besides Raja, Special CBI Judge O P Saini framed charges for substantive offence of criminal breach of trust against former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura saying they both were the political and administrative heads of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT).

"I am prima facie satisfied that accused A Raja and Siddhartha Behura, being public servants, that is, political and administrative heads of the DoT respectively, were having dominion over valuable 2G spectrum, which was disposed of by them in violation of law and which resulted into unlawful gain to the accused companies and receipt of bribe of Rs 200 crore by Raja.

"...accordingly charge of conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust by public servant is also made out against all accused and substantive offence of criminal breach of trust is made out only against Raja and Behura," the judge said.

The judge, however, said Raja's former private secretary R K Chandolia, against whom CBI had sought to invoke additional charge of criminal breach of trust, was only assisting the minister in discharge of his duties.

2G scam: Court frames charges against all 17 accused

Times of India - ‎8 hours ago‎
NEW DELHI: The special CBI court on Saturday ordered framing of charges against 17 accused including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi in connection with their alleged roles in the 2G spectrum scam. The court allowed Central Bureau of ...

2G scam: 17 accused chargesheeted

NewsX - ‎8 hours ago‎
Its a big blow to the DMK and the companies fighting the 2G scam case.All the 17 accused - including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi - have been charged for a criminal conspiracy to defraud the exchequer.The most damaging charge is ...

2G scam Court charges Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 other accused

Moneycontrol.com - ‎8 hours ago‎

The Trial Court, hearing the 2G scam case, has charged all the 17 accused with a criminal breach of trust. Former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi along with 12 other people and three companies, who have been accused in the 2G spectrum ...

All 2G accused charged with criminal breach of trust

IBNLive.com - ‎6 hours ago‎
New Delhi: Former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi along with 12 other people and three companies, who have been accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case, will be charged under Indian Penal Code Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by ...

2g scam all 17 accused to be tried for criminal breach of trust

SamayLive - ‎10 hours ago‎

A Delhi court on Saturday found prima facie evidence against all the 17 accused including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi and corporate honchos to frame charges against them in the 2G Spectrum allocation scam case for varying roles. ...

Spectrum of charges against all accused in 2G scam

Newsbullet - ‎3 hours ago‎
New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others including top corporate honchos will be put on trial in the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam with a Delhi Court on Saturday framing charges against them on various counts like ...

2G: Framing of charges against 17 accused today

IBNLive.com - ‎12 hours ago‎
New Delhi: A special CBI court in Delhi is likely to frame charges on Saturday against 17 people accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi. Special Judge OP Saini will decide whether the ...

2G scam: Court to frame charges today

Business Today - ‎14 hours ago‎

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in New Delhi hearing the2G spectrum allocation scam finds prima facie evidence against all 17 accused, including former former communications minister A. Raja, in 2G case. ...

2G case: How the scam unravelled

NDTV.com - ‎11 hours ago‎

The accused involve 14 people, arrested for their alleged involvement in the 2Gtelecom scam, so named because of the type of spectrum involved. They include former minister A Raja; bureaucrats who worked closely with him - RK Chandolia and Siddharth ...

2g scam all accused not plead guilty

SamayLive - ‎7 hours ago‎

All the accused, including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MPKanimozhi, have pleaded not guilty on the charges in the 2G Spectrum Case. All the accused, including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MPKanimozhi, have pleaded not guilty on the ...

Indian court accepts all charges against 2G telecom scam accused

Xinhua - Deng Shasha - ‎5 hours ago‎
NEW DELHI, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- An Indian special court Saturday accepted all charges levelled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against all the accused in the multi-billion- dollar 2Gspecturm scam, including former Telecom Minister A. Raja. ...

Court to decide on charges in 2G scam today

Economic Times - ‎20 hours ago‎
NEW DELHI: A Delhi special court will decide on framing charges against all the 17 accused, including A Raja, RK Chandolia, Siddharth Behura and Kanimozhi, in 2G case on Saturday. Last week, CBI Special Judge OP Saini said he had reserved the order on ...

Court frames charges against 17 including Raja & Kanimozhi in 2G Scam

MediaMughals - Bhaskar Jha - ‎5 hours ago‎
The special CBI court finally framed charges against 17 accused including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi pertaining to their alleged roles in the 2G Spectrumscam today. The court allowed Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) ...

CBI court frames charges against 17 accused in 2G scam case

NetIndian - ‎6 hours ago‎
A CBI Special court today framed charges against all 17 accused arrested in connection with the2G spectrum allocation case, including former Communications Minister A Raja and DMK MP K Kanimozhi. In this matter, 17 accused, including Raja, ...

2G conspiracy began after Raja became minister: Court

Times of India - ‎2 hours ago‎
PTI | Oct 22, 2011, 08.25PM IST NEW DELHI: The conspiracy to allocate 2G spectrum to ineligible telecom operators for illegal graft began after A Raja became telecom minister, said a Delhi court on Saturday while putting him on trial along with 16 ...

2G: Court to pronounce order on framing of charges tomorrow

Economic Times - ‎Oct 21, 2011‎
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court is likely to pronounce tomorrow its order on framing of charges against 17 accused including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi for their alleged roles in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. ...

2G accused charged with criminal breach of trust

TruthDive - ‎6 hours ago‎
New Delhi, Oct 22 (TruthDive): 17 accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case – A Raja, Siddharth Behura, RK Chandolia, Gautam Doshi, Surrendra Pipara, Hari Nair, Sanjay Chandra, Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Sharat Kumar, Kanimozhi, Rajiv Agarwal, ...

2G case: Charges framed against Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 other accused

Times of India - ‎9 hours ago‎
PTI | Oct 22, 2011, 01.58PM IST NEW DELHI: The 2G spectrum case on Saturday reached an important milestone with a Delhi court framing charges against all the 17 accused including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi and corporate honchos ...

2G Scam: Accused Charged With Criminal Breach of Trust

International Business Times - ‎9 hours ago‎

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | October 22, 2011 4:02 AM EDT On Saturday, a special court in Delhi charged all 17 accused in the 2G scam, including former telecom minister A. Raja and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi, ...

2G case: Charges framed against A Raja and 16 other accused

IBNLive.com - ‎8 hours ago‎
PTI | 02:10 PM,Oct 22,2011 While framing charges against Kanimozhi, the court said she had been "in regular touch" with Raja to serve the cause of party-run Kalaignar TV."You Kanimozhi Karunanithi had also been in regular touch with accused A Raja ...

India ex-minister faces trial in telecom scam

AFP - Penny MacRae - ‎4 hours ago‎

Judge OP Saini set the start of the trial for November 11 after concluding there was enough "prima facie" evidence against detained former telecom minister A. Raja and the 13 others to be prosecuted in the so-called "2G scam". ...

Bail or jail? Kanimozhi is test case, and court will be on trial

Firstpost - ‎8 hours ago‎
Special Judge OP Saini sent shockwaves among the 2G scam accused when he announced on Saturday that all 17 accused would be charged under section 409 of the Indian Penal Code IPC), which deals with criminal breach of trust. ...

2G case conspiracy began after A Raja became minister: Court

Daily News & Analysis - ‎3 hours ago‎
Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI The conspiracy to allocate 2G spectrum to ineligible telecom operators for illegal graft began after A Raja became Minister for Telecommunication and Information Technology, said a Delhi court today while putting him on ...

Put Rs 32 where your mouth is - Can you live on the sarkari magic figure? Back from America, two young professionals try it out in a village in Kerala

K.M. RAKESH

* Oct. 21: Graduates from top US universities with job experience in Wall Street shouldn't be haggling at a roadside eatery over the price of two plates of chicken noodles. But Mathew Cherian and Tushar Vashisht, both well-heeled 26-year-olds, were doing just that in Bangalore last week. The bill had to be brought down from Rs 60 to Rs 40. After all, they had to survive on Rs 100 a day each. Cherian and Vashisht aren't victims of the global economic slowdown. They are aspiring entrepreneurs from Bangalore who, late last month, decided to learn more about India by living on Rs 100 a day for three weeks which, by their reckoning, was what the average Indian subsisted on. And then, to top it off by surviving one more week on just Rs 32 a day — the notorious below-poverty limit recently cited in a Planning Commission declaration (the government later said it would not be used as a cut-off for welfare benefits). The first three weeks ended on October 17, by when Cherian and Vashisht had lost 2kg and 4kg respectively and often felt dizzy from their protein-deficient diet. It was time to embark on the Rs 32-a-day regime, living like India's poorest two-fifths. It also meant shedding their lone luxury so far: the street-side chicken noodles. This last leg was to be carried out in Kottayam, Cherian's home district in south Kerala where he had done his schooling before joining his parents in Boston. Where, more important, prices would be cheaper compared with Bangalore. The friends, who had met while they both worked for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in Bangalore, therefore boarded the general compartment of a train, buying two tickets at Rs 140 each. That took care of most of the Rs 350 they had saved during the Rs 100-a-day regime. Cherian's family connections helped find the duo accommodation with a household in Karukachal, a small town known for rubber plantations, latex tappers and its migrants working in the Gulf and the West. In the past four days there, the master's in computer science from the Massachusetts of Institute of Technology has learnt one thing. "Rupees 100 is tough enough; Rs 32 is a non-starter," Cherian, who once worked as a hardware engineer with a multinational in America, said today. "We pretty much have to survive on carbohydrates and whatever vegetables we can get from our host's kitchen garden. It's mainly root vegetables like potatoes, tapioca and yam." Onions? "Sparingly." You don't have to be a former Wall Street investment banker, which Vashisht is, to be able to do the math. Onions are Rs 50 a kilo. The only delicacies the friends can occasionally indulge in are the cucumber and papaya, besides the handful of black channa they bought from the local grocer the other day. But the tea is black: milk costs Rs 28 a litre. During their Rs 100 days in Bangalore, eggs were affordable at Rs 3 each. But at Rs 32, the entire breakfast is budgeted at Rs 4 per head. As for dal (Rs 38 a kilo), meat or even packed soy nuggets (Rs 50 to Rs 70), even thinking about them is a sin. "It's a no-brainer for us why manual labourers in our country are so bone thin," said Vashisht, wiping his plate clean of the roti-and-potato stew lunch he and Cherian were sharing with their hosts. "It's a curse to be born poor, and then you get stuck in a kind of inter-generational cycle," said the University of Pennsylvania graduate who worked for assets management firm BlackRock in Wall Street and later for Deutsche Bank in San Francisco and Singapore. Why the experiment at all? It had to do with the duo's decision to quit their UIAI jobs and start a company selling education and health-care content to India's over 60 crore mobile phone users. Living in poverty seemed a good way to try and better understand the average Indian's choices. From their Bangalore apartment, the friends moved into a 10ft-by-6ft room used by their landlord's help. To calculate how much they should live on, they took India's average per capita income of Rs 4,500 a month and subtracted the Rs 3,000 rent (Rs 1,500 for each). That left each of them with Rs 3,000 a month, or Rs 100 a day. From their old lifestyle, they kept the clothes they were wearing, their laptops and a badminton set. At Rs 100 a day, they could still use talcum powder but not deodorant, dental floss or toilet paper. In Kottayam, they use a half each of a Rs 10 Lifebuoy soap and wash their own clothes. Yet all this, Vashisht says, is nothing compared to what India's poor must be experiencing. The two of them now get by on Rs 24.65 a day each, but this is mainly because unlike a poor family, they don't have to spend on transport, education or health care. Not even on rent — the landlord is treating them as guests — or clothes or, say, gifts for offspring. Vashisht and Cherian have been tracking their "lifestyle experiment" on a Facebook page and a blog that breaks down their spending into pie-charts and graphs, and tracks their grocery shopping and caloric intake. Their insights into the life of the average Indian so far: A manual labourer gets a lot less than the 3,000 calories he needs a day, and is especially deprived of protein, which is "ridiculously expensive"; While Cherian's motorbike that did 50-60km per litre was a blessing in Bangalore, their Rs 32 budget does not allow much mobility in Kerala. "Travelling anywhere beyond a 5km circle (to work, shop or attend school) can be unaffordable for the poor," Cherian said; Addiction can cost dearly. A bidi, gutka or alcohol addiction can add Rs 30-50 in daily costs and decimate the food budget. Even during the Bangalore leg of their experiment, the duo could afford just 30ml of Old Monk rum each during visits by friends; Any kind of economic shock, such as medical expenses, can be devastating; Closer to their point of departure, the duo have found that mobile phones are an essential part of even the rural poor's lifestyle. "We wonder why it was not considered while setting the Rs 32 limit," Vashisht said. Cherian had the last word: "Remember, we are in an experiment that will end one day. But think about those who live poor for eternity...."

Additional reporting from New York Times News service

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111022/jsp/frontpage/story_14654706.jsp

• 2G Scam: The Untold Facts

• Flip Flop in case of Loop-Essar: Who is influencing the investigation?

• How Loop escaped 1st CBI Chargesheet?

• CBI Press Releases naming Loop

• Evidences against Loop-Essar

• Is the CBI Charge-sheet of the 2G scam another scam?

• Only 22% of the companies mentioned in the CAG Report are getting chargesheeted by CBI. Who are the rest?

• (Editor's Choice)

• 2G Scam Sistema Shyam & Admiral Gorshkov submarine deal connection

• Did the companies that were granted 2G Spectrum licencessell their stake sale or issue fresh equity? How does it matter?

• 2G Scam: Power of having big "Surname" in India like Tata, Birla and Ambani

• (2G Alert)

• Monetary Benefit to Consumers due to reduced tariffs of 2G scam accused telecom players : Rs 72,500 crore

• 2G Scam Investigations : TheThird CBI Chargesheet

• A clear Example of the Political Clout of Ambanis, Dhoots, Ruias & Tatas with CBI

• Sad Learnings from 2G Scam Case: Punishment precedes Trial

• Is the 2G Spectrum Scam a 'Tool' initiated by the corporate high and mighty in the telecom arena to harass new rivals?

• Is Rs 1.76 lac crores a loss to the exchequer or a gift that has been passed on to the public?

• The Indian Telecom Sector -Was it Ever 'Clean'?

• Additional Revenue deprivedto the Government Exchequer

• The Truth about the 'Loss to the Exchequer'

• Beneficiaries of undue favors by DOT

• Undue favours and benefits to Systema Shyam

• Uncaught 2G Scam Beneficiaries

• Vodafone Essar - Beneficiary of undue favours byf the DoT

• Maxis has 99.3% stake in Aircel - Violation of FEMA Reddy Family is "Front" for Maxis Group to hold 26% stake

• Datacom Solutions (now Videocon), acquired UASL license fraudulently Net worth of Oswal Group was used to camouflage eligibility criteria

• Hutchison Essar's foreign holdings was beyond the then stipulated threshold of 49%

• Loop Telecom acting as Front of Essar Group

• S-Tel benefited by over Rs. 6,000 crore at the cost of public exchequer

Of late, we have been flooded with a wave of articles that question the very premise of the 2G scam. So we decided to bring to you the other aspect of the 2G scam story.

Whether or not you flip the coin on to the other side is your choice.

" What is clear is that the CAG did not merely commit a huge mistake in calculating the 'loss' figures but that it also suppressed all dissenting voices in this regard. All this could not have been done without some underlying reason. Probing further in this direction would not just bring out the whole truth but also clearly show the truth behind the CAG Scam. "

Alert:

Only 22% of the companies mentioned in the CAG Report are getting chargesheeted by CBI. Who are the rest?

The Truth Hardly Matters Now...The Damage by CAG has Been Done

The truth hardly matters now….. the damage has been done. The 2G spectrum allocation policy of 2008 has been condemned, & the 2G accused have been damnnified beyond repair. The 2G scam monster has been created & fattened to scary proportions.

And worse, in this kind of a poisonous vitreous environment, the 2G trial is proceeding, and charges to be levied on the 2G scam accused will be be decided on 15th September, 2011.

The 2G accused have diligently & painstakingly argued how they are being made scape goats in this matter. But to no avail. However legally sound they might sound, "corrupt and guilty" has already been jammed into the public minds due to the aggressive n relentless coverage of the media on the 1.76 lac crore loss to exchequer report created by CAG.

Who is CAG? Audit of government accounts (including the accounts of the state governments) in India is entrusted to the CAG of India who is empowered to audit all expenditure from the revenues of the union or state governments, whether incurred within India or outside.

The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India is appointed by the President of India[1] following a recommendation by the Prime Minister. On appointment, he/she has to make an oath of affirmation before the President of India.

[edit] Oath of affirmation

I, <name>, having been appointed Controller and Auditor-General of India do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my ability, knowledge and judgment perform the duties of my office without fear or favour, affection or ill-will and that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws

— Constitution of India, Third Schedule, Part IV

The current CAG of India is Vinod Rai, who was appointed on 7 January 2008. He is the 11th CAG of India. "We need such examples so that outstanding civil servants, with the courage of their conviction, can still influence the course of governance in these difficult times." Said TSR Subramanian, a former cabinet secretary, about Vinod Rai.

Well, what is the boundary upto which 'CAG', in particular Vinod Rai, should indeed 'influence the course of governance', one may ask?

Shockingly, in recent news, it was revealed that the second in command to CAG, R.P. Singh, Director General of Audit (post and telecommunications) – the man who actually led the audit of the 2G licensing process – was not in favour of making any estimation of the losses suffered by the government on account of the First Come First Served policy it followed. The man was of the opinion that it was impossible to know what the spectrum would have costed if it had been auctioned. He was uncomfortable with the methods that were being suggested to bring up a loss figure, any figure for that matter. The S Tel offer for a pan-India 2G license was meaningless since an offer made unsolicited and out of the sky in this manner has no sanctity in a government process. And also because the offer was later withdrawn.

Page 1  |  Page 2

• The Zero Loss 2G Scam:

• The Untold Facts

• Memo from Ministry of Finance dtd 25th March,'11

• The Truth Hardly Matters Now...The Damage by CAG has Been Done

• How CAG arrived at 'loss to exchequer' figure

• Dr. Manmohan Singh criticizes the role of present CAG

• Reasons for issue of 2G licenses in 2008 at 2001 price

• Consequences of issue of 2G licenses in 2008 at 2001 price

• TRAI letter to the CBI dtd 20th Aug, 2011

• CBI reply to TRAI dtd Aug 29th, 2011

• The truth in the 2G scam is slowly emerging.....

• Is this a zero loss scam indeed?

• Counter affidavit filed by DoT (Government of India) in Supreme Court saying 'zero' loss to the government from issuance of licenses in 2008.

(New!)

2G Scam News

• (New!)
• CBI law officer takes belated recusal in loop case
• (New!)
• As innocent as PC - Raja tells court
• (New!)
• Maybe CBI should investigate the CAG now.....
• 2G case is crumbling
• Math behind the 2G scam gets curiouser
• CBI moves court for fresh charges against all 2G scam accused
• The PM, the CBI and the 2G scam
• CBI to approach Attorney General GE Vahanvati for fresh opinion following differences
• 2G Scam - Subramanian Swamy Vs Chidambaram starts
• Pranab says Chidambaram didn't press for 2G auction

View Archive

2g Scam News Analysis

• Are we - The people percieving the denial of bail in 2g scam case as punishment being meted out?
• 2G Alert: The CBI excemption from the RTI
• The Demerits of Cancellation of 2G Licenses
• 2G Scam 'Clean Chit' Club & Tata DoCoMo: Does Stake Sale Matter?
• Will Ruias & the Khaitans be charged for Criminal Conspiracy? Ministry of corporate affairs changes stance! Foul play at work...

• View Archiv

http://www.2gscam.co.in/

The A to Z of the 2G scam Aditya Sinha | Sunday, July 10, 2011
* Comments  |  Post a comment  |   Share this article  |   Print  |   Email
* Aditya Sinha A is for Anil Ambani After MD Gautam Doshi and other ADAG honchos, will it be the younger brother's turn to go to Tihar (while Mukesh moves into Antilla)? That's the Rs28,000-crore question various banks are asking. B is for Black Money Article continues below the advertisement... Like the air it's everywhere but you can't see it: in real estate, in the stock market, in Mauritius, in mattresses… everywhere but in the bank, accounted for. C is for Cabinet Reshuffle The political equivalent of premature ejaculation (or, as the smarter set say, "Betrayal to KL"). Every year, the build-up to a cabinet reshuffle is heightened by anxiety, fear, greed, slobbering, brown-nosing and lies; yet it all ends with a fizzle. D is for DB Realty Actually, the DB in DB Realty does not mean "Dynamix Balwa's" or even "Dubai-Baramati" but Delly Belly — what you get from staying in Tihar Jail — or even D(K) Bose, as in "bhaag, minister saheb, bhaag"! E is for Ethics This is one of those mysterious unknowable metaphysical concepts of Indian political life. F is for "First come, first serve", sort of. Our ministers take it to mean, first come and serve me, and then you'll get to lick the crumbs from whatever slice of public cake I'm gorging on. G is for Gandhi What a powerful name this is, and how it has been appropriated from the Mahatma! He was a man who wanted to clean up after other Indians, while the appropriators wish to clean out other Indians. H is for half of whatever you're making The basic formula for some of our heftier politicians. I is apparently not for India For our politicians, I stands for me, myself and I. J is for Jayalalithaa The woman who's prospered most from the 2G scam (electorally, not monetarily). Amma is one person capable of taking on Sonia, because she's so unpredictable; she's the one person capable of giving Indian politics that 'TV reality show' quality. As they say, it ain't over till the fat lady sings. K is for Kanimozhi Poor sweetie baby. Don't cry. Remember, there's Rs200 crore waiting when you finally get out of the north Indian jail. L is for Loop This refers not to a method of contraception, but to the telecom company going down in the next CBI 2G charge sheet. M is for Maran Neither Kalanithi nor Dayanidhi are going to sit quiet; they've got Sun TV. When granduncle Kalaignar said the media was capable of marring anyone's reputation, he may have been darkly threatening Sonia. N is for Niira Radia Would-be airline owner and high-profile spin doctor who looks kind of like would-be IPL-team-owner Sunanda Pushkar and also kind of like would-be high-society lady Rakhi Sawant. O is for Ostrich An animal which buries its head in the ground when ministers in its cabinet are looting the country blind. P is P Chidambaram Despite his 180+ IQ (he's likely to use words like "balderdash!"), Subramanian Swamy says this dude is going to Tihar in August for the 2G scam. Q is for Quit: As in when will this goddamn corrupt government quit so that another goddamn corrupt government can take over? R is for Raja Ek tha raja/ ek thi rani/dono Tihar gaye/khatam kahani. S is for Sharad Pawar In a race against time, or actually, against Sonia. Will he get the Jagan Mohan Reddy MPs, the DMK, Mamata and Mulayam to withdraw support to the UPA-2 and replace it with a government supported (from outside) by both the Left and the BJP? Or will she send his daughter Supriya Sule to jail first? As Green Day sings, Wake me up/When September ends. T is for Tihar Jail An enclosed space in West Delhi which houses rapists and killers and drug-dealers, and where your freedom is snatched from you, and where there is no air-conditioning or kebabs on the menu or even Wi-fi. U is for UPA and its sequel, son of UPA (also known as UPA-2) It ranks truly amongst the more mindlessly frightening movies of our time, like Murder-2 orTransformers-3. V is for Vigilance Which is being exercised on the government not by the chief vigilance commissioner, not by the CBI, and not even by the CAG, but by TV news warlord Arnab Goswami. W is for War Coming soon (see S is for Sharad Pawar). X is for Xenophilia Some Indians particularly seem to suffer this malaise, which is a love for things foreign. Like foreign bank accounts, foreign telecom companies, foreign girlfriends, foreign vacations, foreign lifestyle, foreign education, etc. All while living it up in India. Y is for Y S Jaganmohan Reddy Did his father fund the Congress in the last two Lok Sabha elections? Who knows, but Jagan is the man with the MPs, the MLAs and the bucks to initiate the downfall of UPA-2. Z is for Zeroes Oof which there are ten in Rs17,60,00,00,00,000. This was the amount of money the government did not make from 2G spectrum allocation. Never forget that.

http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_the-a-to-z-of-the-2g-scam_1564170

Indian black money overseas exceeds combined deposits of other nationals: Advani
RAIPUR: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said here Saturday that Indian black money in overseas banks was more than the combined deposits of other nationals and asked the government to have these amounts repatriated.

"As per my information, an estimated Rs.25 lakh crore of black money is lying in Swiss and other foreign banks, which is more than the combined black money put by nationals of all other countries," the BJP veteran said at a public meeting here.
Kejriwal siphoned off Rs 80 lakh donations, alleges Agnivesh

Activist Swami Agnivesh today alleged that Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal has siphoned off over Rs 80 lakh donated by people for Anna Hazare's agitation by diverting it to a trust run by him.

"All the donations which were made for the India Against Corruption (IAC) were diverted to Public Cause Research Foundation run by Kejriwal," he said, alleging that Kejriwal was delaying the opening of a bank account in the name of IAC.

Kejriwal could not be reached for comments and there was no reply to a text message sent to him.

Agnivesh was ousted from Team Anna following the surfacing of a video clip during the August agitation of Hazare in which he was purportedly shown asking a person, suspected by Team Anna to a Union minister, to deal strongly with the crusader.

He said Hazare himself had asked Kejriwal to put on website the details of donations received by them in the core committee meeting. Hazare had announced that he had asked his associates to conduct a mini-audit and put the statement on website.

"Lakhs and lakhs of rupees have come. Where have they gone," Agnivesh asked.

On being questioned how he arrived at this figure of over Rs 80 lakh, he said one of the organisers had announced in Ramlila Maidan that they had already received Rs 50 lakh and urged no more donations. "Even after this, they received donations," he alleged.

"I demand from the Prime Minister to bring the money back as early as possible to use it for providing electricity, drinking water, health services and roads in country's six lakh villages," Advani said in the capital of the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh.

Advani reached here Saturday afternoon by plane as part of his ongoing anti-graft roadshow popularly called the Jan Chetna Yatra.

Meanwhile, some 50 Congress leaders including state president Nandkumar Patel and opposition leader Ravindra Choubey courted arrest after police denied them permission to hand over a memorandum to Advani.

In the memorandum, they alleged corruption scandals, amounting to Rs.20,000 crore, engineered by the BJP government in Chhattisgarh since the party returned to power in December 2003.
Occupy Wall Street movement
The Occupy Wall Street protest, a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan's Financial District, has gathered steam for a month and spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. As the Anti-greed protesters rallied globally denouncing bankers and politicians over the international economic crisis, it remains to be seen whether the movement will succeed in bringing changes.
22 October 2011 Last updated at 23:07 GMT

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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/fullcoverage/occupy-wall-street-movement

Radia tapes controversy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Radia tapes controversy relates to the telephonic conversations between Nira Radia, a professional lobbyist[1] and an acquaintance of the (then) Indian telecom minister A. Raja, with senior journalists, politicians, and corporate houses,[2] taped by the Indian Income Tax Department in 2008-09. The tapes led to accusations of misconduct by many of these people. Nira Radia runs a public relations firm namedVaishnavi Communications,[3] whose clients include the Tata Teleservices[4] and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries.[5]

Contents  [hide] 1 The Radia Tapes 1.1 Politicians 1.2 Journalists 1.3 Industry Heads 1.4 Others 2 Political lobbying 3 Alleged media blackout and reactions in social media 4 Protests and developments 5 References

[edit]The Radia Tapes

After getting authorization from the Home Ministry, the Indian Income Tax department[6] tapped Radia's phone lines for 300 days[7] in 2008-2009 as part of their investigations into possible money laundering, restricted financial practices, and tax evasion.
In November 2010, OPEN magazine[8] carried a story which reported transcripts of some of the telephone conversations of Nira Radia with senior journalists, politicians, and corporate houses, many of whom have denied the allegations.[9] The Central Bureau of Investigation has announced that they have 5,851 recordings of phone conversations by Radia, some of which outline Radia's attempts to broker deals in relation to the 2G spectrum sale.[10] The tapes appear to demonstrate how Radia attempted to use some media persons to influence the decision to appoint A. Raja as telecom minister.[11]
In the recorded conversations between Nira Radia and prominent figures, referred to as the Radia Tapes, several prominent figures are heard in conversation with Radia:[12][13]

[edit]Politicians

• A. Raja, Telecom minister at that time
• Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP
• Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons;

[edit]Journalists

• Barkha Dutt, Group editor, English news, NTV
• M.K. Venu, senior business journalist
• Prabhu Chawla[14][2], editor of India Today magazine
• Rajdeep Sardesai[15] [16]
• Shankar Aiyar, then with India Today Group
• Vir Sanghvi, HT advisory editorial director

[edit]Industry Heads

• Ratan Tata
• Tarun Das, former CII head

[edit]Others

• Ranjan Bhattacharya[1] (foster son-in-law of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee)[17][13]
• Suhel Seth[18], management guru and columnist

[edit]Political lobbying

According to the transcripts of the tapes, Radia lobbied against the reappointment of Dayanidhi Maran to the post of Union IT and Communications minister.

• Radia spoke with Ms. Barkha Dutt at 0948 IST.

Dutt: 'The stalemate (between Congress and DMK) continues, ya
Radia: 'my honest advice is that you tell them (Congress) that they need to tell him (Karunanidhi) directly ..
Dutt: 'OK, let me talk to them'.[19]
In a later conversation at 1047 IST, Barkha says that it (conveying the message to Congress) was 'not a problem' and that she would talk to Ghulam (Nabi Azad).[20]

• Radia, in a later conversation with Ranjan Bhattacharya, who also appears to be acting as a conduit to the Congress,[1] mentions the above conversation, where she says, 'I made Barkha call up Congress, and get a statement from Congress whether the Prime Minister has actually said that he doesn't want Baalu, which she carried that he had never said it'. She also mentions to Bhattacharya, that 'your friend Sunil Mittal, has been lobbying against Raja (for Maran).'[21]

[edit]Alleged media blackout and reactions in social media

The news gained prominence following sustained pressure on social networking sites Twitter[22][23] and Facebook[24] against an attempted blackout orchestrated by many prominent Indian TV channels and newspapers.[25][17] #barkhagate has been trending as number one topic on Twitter in India for more than a week, since the breakout of the news.[26] According to the Washington Post, "Twitter has played an important role in launching what has become an international conversation on the issue, with the Indian diaspora weighing in".[27]
Initially, only a handful of the mainstream newspapers in India, like The Deccan Herald,[28] Indian Express[2] had openly written about the tapes. Some newspapers like HT Media, Mint (the business newspaper also owned by HT media)[29] and NDTV said "the authenticity of these transcripts cannot be ascertained".[26][30] CNN-IBN's Sagarika Ghose discussed with a panel of experts, if the corporate lobbying is undermining democracy, on the Face the Nation programme on the channel.[31] The Radia tapes is seen to have also made a dent in the image of the media in the country.[32][1][17][33][34][25][35] "The complete blackout of the Nira Radia tapes by the entire broadcast media and most of the major English newspapers paints a truer picture of corruption in the country," wrote G Sampath, the deputy editor of the Daily News and Analysis (DNA) newspaper. [36][17]. After it became an international news, more and more media houses covered the story. The Deccan Chronicle commented, "The 'Radia tapes' may have torn the veil off the nexus between information hungry journalists, lobbyists and industrialists, and opened everyone's eyes to what has long been suspected — the ability of a small but powerful group to use their connections to influence policy."[37] The largest circulated english newspaper in the India and the world, The Times of India finally opened up on November 25, 2010, commenting "The people are showing who the boss is. The weapon in their hands is the internet, ... has seen frantic activism against "power brokering" by journalists in collusion with corporate groups and top government politicians..."[38]

[edit]Protests and developments

Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi, and others have refuted the allegations.[9][39][40] Open Magazine maintained that the conversations were carried as they appeared in the recordings.[41] Dutt defended her reputation through her Twitter account. "Struck by the bizarre irony of being accused of favouring a man i have never met (raja) and have always attacked in print and on TV. Gnite!," she said via one of her tweets on Twitter.[27]
New Delhi Television Limited posted a strong rebuttal on its website terming the insinuation that Barkha lobbied for A Raja as "unsubstantiated, baseless and defamatory" and threatened action against Open Magazine.[30][42][6]
Hindustan Times cited Sanghvi's clarifications on his website, and stated that the authenticity of these transcripts cannot be ascertained.[43]
On 26 November 2010, Barkha Dutt released an detailed statement, addressing questions raised by the tapes, which she claims were edited.[44]
On 27 November 2010, Vir Sanghvi released a detailed statement, clarifying his role. [45]
Nira Radia has served a legal notice on The Pioneer, on the report titled "Tapped and Trapped" published by the newspaper. The notice asserted that The Pioneer's report regarding corruption and manipulation in the allotment of 2G spectrum to telecom operators, in so far as it referred to Radia's connections with Telecom Minister A Raja, are "absolutely false, baseless and malicious and constitute gross defamation".[46]
The original tapes are now annexures in a Supreme Court petition seeking Raja's prosecution. The opposition parties in India have demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum scam, which could also to be extended to include a probe into the Radia tapes to ascertain the media's role in the controversy.[11] The Government is also accused of selectively releasing merely 10 hours of the 2000 hours recorded of the Radia tapes.[47]
The CBI in its affidavit in the Supreme Court in the 2G spectrum allocation case, on Nov 22 2010, had stated that Radia will be approached for investigation at an appropriate time.[4] and that the probe would be completed latest by March 2011.[48] On 24 November 2010, Nira Radia was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials[49][50] and recorded her statements in relation to the 2G scam probe.[51]

[edit]References

1. ^ a b c d "The spotlight is on the media now : The Niira Radia episode raises questions about the boundary between legitimate news gathering, lobbying and influence peddling.". The Hindu. November 24, 2010.
2. ^ a b c "Radia tapes featuring senior scribes create stir". The Indian Express. Express Buzz. 20 Nov 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
3. ^ November 23, 2010. "Indian media's mighty stand exposed on wrong side of 2G spectrum scam". International Business Times.
4. ^ a b "2G: 'Lobbyist' Nira Radia under ED scanner". Zee News. November 24, 2010.
5. ^ "Queen of connections : First a quiz. What connects Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal? Nira Radia.". E Jayakrishnan, India Syndicate,. MSN India. 22 November 2010.
6. ^ a b "Does media follow unethical, biased journalism?".Oneindia.in. November 21, 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
7. ^ "'Radia lobbied to get Raja telecom ministry'". Headlines Today. India Today. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
8. ^ "Some Telephone Conversations: Inside the networks of lobbyists and power brokers that dictate how this country is run.".OPEN Magazine. 20 November 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
9. ^ a b "Barkha, Sanghvi in damage control mode after Open allegations". Tehelka. November 19, 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
10. ^ "Leaked tapes: CBI says it has 5,851 recordings". Daily News and Analysis.
11. ^ a b "JPC on Radia tapes?". Mail Today. India Today. November 23, 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
12. ^ "Phonegate: India Inc tapped? Copy of a purportedly leaked report says conversations of topmost industrialists, two senior journalists, were tapped with home secretary's permission".Mid-day. 2010-04-29. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
13. ^ a b "All Lines Are Busy : There was not one pie Niira Radia didn't have her hand in nor any area—media, corporate or government—she didn't have a contact in". Outlook. Nov 29, 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
14. ^ "Prabhu Chawla Gas judgement discussion". Outlook.
15. ^ "Audio: Rajdeep-MM visits IBN". Outlook. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
16. ^ "The Power Tapes : The other big 'national resource' story involves the virtual who's who: Ambani V/s Ambani V/s Tata, gas and power sector war involving big name journos, politicians, babus, corporates". Outlook. Nov 18, 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
17. ^ a b c d G Sampath (20 November 2010). "When Radia killed the media star". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
18. ^ "I am there... you want me to speak to anyone" | OPEN Magazine
19. ^ http://business.outlookindia.com/view.aspx?vname=Barkha--18-188819-0-10-20090522-094851.wav
20. ^ http://business.outlookindia.com/view.aspx?vname=Barkha%20Dutt-02-188819-0-01-20090522-104733.wav
21. ^ http://business.outlookindia.com/view.aspx?vname=Tarun%20Das-13-188819-0-07-20090522-165535.wav
22. ^ "#barkhagate: Protests in 140 characters leave no space for gray areas". DNA. Nov 24, 2010.
23. ^ "Twitter world abuzz over Radia-Barkha tapes". rediff.com. Mynews.in. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
24. ^ "Barkhagate". Facebook. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
25. ^ a b "Those living in glass houses...". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
26. ^ a b "2G scam: Netizens bark at Barkha, Vir Sanghvi". CIOL. November 22, 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
27. ^ a b Emily Wax (22 November 2010). "Indian journalists accused of secretly helping politicians, businesses". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
28. ^ "Anchored in mire : Journalists are only exp-ected to be witnesses.". The Deccan Herald. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
29. ^ Sukumar Ranganathan (Nov 19 2010). "Editor's note: Why we are quiet on the Open magazine story". Mint. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
30. ^ a b "NDTV on defamatory remarks against Barkha Dutt". NDTV. November 18, 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
31. ^ "FTN: Is corporate lobbying undermining democracy?". CNN-IBN. 22 November 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
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38. ^ "2G scam sideshow: Netizens lambast high-profile journalists". The Times of India. Nov 25, 2010.
39. ^ http://bhadas4media.com/article-comment/7449-2010-11-20-02-28-02.html Article by Amitabh Thakur
40. ^ http://www.newspostindia.com/2010-11-20-until-barkha-dutt-vir-sanghvi-resign-boycott-ndtv-hindustan-times Until Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi resign, boycott NDTV & Hindustan Times?
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49. ^ "2G spectrum scam: Lobbyist Nira Radia being questioned".The Economic Times. 24 November 2010.
50. ^ IMRAN AHMED SIDDIQUI (Nov. 24, 2010). "Radia takes 7-hour ED test — Lobbyist leaves smiling after telecom quiz". The Telegraph.
51. ^ "ED questions Niira Radia on 2G scam". The Times of India. 25 November 2010.

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Categories:

• 2010 in India
• Political scandals in India

The unconscionable hotness of Niira Radia

Lakshmi Chaudhry May 12, 2011
#Close Encounter #Niira Radia #ToTheContrary
EmailShareinShare1466 Comments

ALSO SEE

• An inside look at the life and loves of Niira Radia

• How Niira Radia cosied up to BJP's Ananth Kumar

• Radia headhunted the right policy-influencers

Scandals are the stuff of Indian politics. Each day brings news of misdoings, great and small. And for the most part, they confirm what we already know: greed is king; and our leaders are the greediest of them all.  A Suresh Kalmadi, Karunanidhi, or Yeddyurappa are merely par for the course. What creates outrage is the perception of extreme incompetence matched only by extent of the rot.
As ex-CII chief Tarun Das said of Kamal Nath, Mr. Fifteen Percent: "You can do national service and also make money… and do really something worthwhile here." The kickbacks don't bother us quite as much the inability, nay unwillingness to actually do the job.
No wonder then that we can't quite bring ourselves to be mad at Ms. Radia. When the tapes were leaked and published, many reader responses were admiring. "Man you got to agree that she has stuff!" wrote one. "I say Niira Radia for foreign minister," rooted another. But this guy best mirrored the upbeat assessment: "What a cracker of a story and a cracker of a lady!"

Reuters

The rest of us may not like her quite as much, but we can't quite summon up the required bile. Here's a woman who gets the job done.
To shake us out of our amoral stupor comes Close Encounters with Niira Radia penned by RK  Anand, a criminal lawyer with his own colourful history.  This expeditiously timed book's message: behold the ruthless conniving siren who seduced hapless politicians and businessmen to line her foreign bank accounts.
And yet for all the salacious details – close-dancing with BJP minister Ananth Kumar, ohmigod! – and overheated prose, there is little here to raise more than an amused titter. In the grand scheme of Indian politics, Radia crimes seem routine and unexceptional for a top-notch middleman — except for the unforgivable fact of her gender. And that surely is her biggest crime.
To be fair, let's first review  Anand's compelling chargesheet:
Charge number one: Niira is hot, hot, hot. And this very hotness is a damning sign of her venal nature. There's her "large, smiling yet deep-set eyes, a full lip-glossed mouth, and frizzy hair that fell about her shoulders in a loose Joan Baez kind of free fall…"
She is a "bewitching, handsome woman looking way younger than her early 40 years of age" – a consequence of a Dorian Gray-like pact with the devil, no doubt. More ominous is her "capacity to be at ease and relax every muscle in her face. No wonder she began getting her way."
And yet I do wonder. Is she woman or python?
Charge number two: Powerful men found her hot, hot, hot!  Or as Anand puts it: "[W]ithin a span of seven years, politicians, government officials, the police, media stars, top businessmen were putty in her hands and her wealth grew by leaps and bounds."
These poor little innocents, mesmerized no doubt by her devil-like ability to speak in tongues – English, "girlie talk", Punjabi! – fell victim to her predatory ways. For years she lurked in the non-existent bushes of Prithviraj Road, as she "increased her knowledge and observed, like a panther looming for prey from high ground, potential people to satiate her personal business appetite."
She is both cat and reptile. Both ichhadari saanp and billi….no wonder Bollywood is already working on a Radia flick. Hisss Two: Snakes in South Block.
Charge number three: She's had sex, with at least two men, perhaps with unnamed more. Shock and horror! Never mind that she is an adult single woman – while both men in question were married at the time of their respective dalliances.  And no matter that neither was quite heart-broken when she decided to move on (Dheeraj Pratap Singh merrily got remarried right after being dumped).
Niira's greater crime: sleeping with men who were good for her business. Who cares if both were equal partners in her various crimes – or that they too lined their deep pockets with ill-gotten wealth. She, dear citizens, is the true villain, using her bed-fellows to further her "personal business appetite."
Charge number four: She's very smart. Damn her "technical proficiency," excellent eye for talent, and "knowledge, poise and command of herself, her presentation skills" – talents that "would make any Indian Prime Minister sit up and listen to her and take her seriously."
And it is these dark talents –  usually admired as virtues in a man – that she turned to evil, feminine ends. Namely, seducing Ananth Kumar:
She knew more about the aviation industry than half of Ananth Kumar's own top bureaucrats. Kumar, himself a neophyte, a rookie minister in the NDA government, found in Niira a good teacher about the intricacies, pitfalls and vicissitudes of the powerful aviation sector. Needless to say, he was also smitten by the femme fatale who was now so sure of her magic with men.
The poor man never stood a chance!
So let's review the evidence: she's hot, had sex with powerful, unattractive men, got rich by breaking the rules. Her 'victims' were so not hot, had sex with sexy, sexy Niira, got rich breaking the rules. Surely it's Niira who got the raw end of this deal.
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/the-unconscionable-hotness-of-niira-radia-8589.html

NARENDRA BISHT

RADIA TAPES
All Lines Are Busy
There was not one pie Niira Radia didn't have her hand in nor any area—media, corporate or government—she didn't have a contact in

Hear it as they said it: The 2G Tapes

India, the republic, is now on sale. Participating in the auction is a group of powerful individuals, corporate houses, lobbyists, bureaucrats and journalists. Just before the 2G spectrum allocation scam became breaking news, the Income-Tax department was busy tapping the phones of Niira Radia, a lobbyist whose clients, the Tatas and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd, have interests in several key sectors such as telecom, petroleum and natural gas.

Radia's conversations show how even cabinet berths can be decided by this select oligarchy. Her interface with discredited (now former) telecom minister A. Raja, DMK mp Kanimozhi and Ranjan Bhattacharya, the foster son-in-law of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, shows how she successfully lobbied for several cabinet berths. The transcripts suggest that journalists Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt also lobbied for Raja with the Congress party. However, both journalists, in separate statements, decried the use of the label "lobbyist" and termed their conversation with Radia as part of their normal journalistic duties. Other journalists such as Prabhu Chawla, G. Ganapathy Subramaniam and M.K. Venu also had elaborate conversations with Radia on issues ranging from telecom to the Ambani brothers' dispute on gas pricing. At times they proffer advice and trade information.

The more than 140 conversations involving Radia that were tapped by the I-T department expose a systemic rot. These tapes are now annexures in a Supreme Court petition by lawyer Prashant Bhushan seeking Raja's prosecution.

The reaction of the Congress leadership is surprising since all these tapes were available to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as Pranab Mukherjee and P. Chidambaram in their capacity as finance ministers in the two UPA governments. Regardless of the existence of the tapes, the Congress leadership agreed to reinduct Raja with the telecom portfolio into the UPA-II cabinet.

The tapes also paint a dismal picture of how everything—from cabinet berths to natural resources—is now available for the right price. The now controversial 2G allocation was just one of the many manipulations orchestrated by players in high places. There are conversations on civil aviation with 1980-batch IAS officer Sunil Arora, publicist Suhel Seth and many others which have not been included here. The worst fallout, however, is that it has besmirched the hitherto 'fair' name of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who agreed to take Raja back in the same ministry that now stands exposed in the biggest scam in independent India, despite knowledge of the tapes.

---

Niira Bhajan

"When it came to spectrum, they went to Raja and paid him a bribe and got spectrum allocated."

"Uddhav's already taken funding from both groups. I'd suggest, tell Krishna Kumar to talk to Uddhav."

"Otherwise I will tell them to tell Uddhav to go after them. I don't think Congress will do much."

"I believe Maran has given about 600 crores to Dayalu, Stalin's mother."

Mere client Tatas bhi bahut beneficiary thhe (in the 2G spectrum allocation)."

"Senthil, Rahul Joshi, maine donon ki le li. You can't run stories against my clients and get away with it."

"I have a note, no, a whole dossier, on Praful Patel on the last five years jisme ye poora aspect hai."

"Inka pichhle paanch saal mein yahi attempt to tha, inko destroy karo, donon careers ko."

"Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu, ye sab coterie hain na of Advani."

"Naresh wants to kill it (Air India), Vijay wants to kill it and Praful is not really interested."

"Raja has promised me that he will not do anything in a hurry. I made Kani speak to him as well. "

"The solicitor general, Gopal Subramaniam, I am gonna go and brief him. He hates them."

---

Key excerpts of the conversations, finally in the public domain, are available from the links at the bottom of this story.

The print version referred to "104 conversations" by mistake whereas 140 conversations were put on the website.

Hear it as they said it: The 2G Tapes

TEXT SIZE    * * * * *	* PRINT SHARE COMMENTS

ALSO IN THIS STORY

RADIA TAPES 'I Know Who Planted In Congress That Azhagiri Knows No English' A. Raja, Former telecom minister

RADIA TAPES 'How Do I Make Dad Understand? He Doesn't Understand...' Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP

RADIA TAPES 'I Am Surprised Raja After All You Did For Him Is Playing This Game' Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons

RADIA TAPES 'What Do You Want Me To Tell Them (The Congress)? Tell Me. I'll talk To Them.' Barkha Dutt, Group editor, English news, NDTV

RADIA TAPES 'Who Do You Want Congress To Talk To? Karunanidhi? I'll Speak To Ahmed Patel.' Vir Sanghvi, HT advisory editorial director

RADIA TAPES 'Give Your Story To A Paper Which Will Carry It As A Lead Flyer. Isko CNBC Ko Do.' M.K. Venu, Senior business journalist

RADIA TAPES 'So, How Did You Find Sunil (Mittal)? What Did You Think Of Him?' Tarun Das, Former CII honcho

RADIA TAPES 'Mukesh Said, Haan Yaar, Ranjan, Congress To Ab Apni Dukaan Hai' Ranjan Bhattacharya, Former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee's foster son-in-law

THE PM The Truth Conditions Manmohan Singh's time, strangely, has seen more scams than any of his predecessors. What price the 'Mr Clean' image? SABA NAQVI

THE PM There Was A Swan, It Had A Tale Media grandstanding aside, it was the Pioneer that broke open the 2G scam DEBARSHI DASGUPTA

CAG REPORT Those Missing Zeroes What punishment awaits the guilty? And can the loss be recouped? ARINDAM MUKHERJEE

FILED IN:
PEOPLE:  A. RAJA | MANMOHAN SINGH | NIIRA RADIA
TAGS:  CORRUPTION | SPECTRUM SALE AND SCAMS | INCOME TAX | CONGRESS | UPA | DMK |TELECOM | LOBBYISTS | SCAMS/FRAUDS/RACKETS | MEDIA | CORPORATES | PHONE TAPPING & SURVEILLANCE
SECTION:  NATIONAL | BUSINESS
SUBSECTION:  COVER STORIES
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268071

Karthi's Saguni throws light on Nira Radia episode

Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 13:08 [IST]
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Karthi's forthcoming movie Saguni not only takes potshot at the current political affairs but also on the corruption. Well, the movie will particularly throw light on corporate lobbyist Nira Radia's role in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

It is said that director Shankar Dayal has included Nira Radia's 2G episode in Saguni. The story reveals the nexus between politician and businessmen. Sources add that how the alleged deals were struck with journalists, telecom companies will be shown in the forthcoming Tamil movie.

Talking about Karthi's character, Shankar Dayal said that the actor's role has negative shades but he is a do-gooder and wants to work for the change in the society. However, the filmmaker says that even though Saguni  is a political satire, yet it has all the commercial elements.

Saguni also features Pranitha, Santhanam, Raadhika Sarathkumar, Manobala, Kota Srinivasa Rao and others in the cast.

http://entertainment.oneindia.in/tamil/news/2011/karthi-saguni-nira-radia-episode-121011.html

1. 2G scam: Karunanidhi meets Kanimozhi in Tihar jail ‎ Times of India - 1 hour ago A Delhi court today found prima facie evidence against Kanimozhi and 16 others and framed charges against them in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case. ... 2G scam: Charges framed and politics begins; Varun Gandhi fires ...‎ Daily Bhaskar Karunanidhi meets Kanimozhi in Tihar Jail‎ IBNLive.com Karunanidhi meets Kanimozhi in Tihar jail‎ Hindustan Times TruthDive - Economic Times all 142 news articles » हिंदी में

   * Moneycontrol.com

2. 2G scam: Chronology of events ‎ Hindustan Times - 6 hours ago PTI The 2G spectrum case on Saturday reached an important milestone with a Delhi ... Aug, 2007: Process of allotment of 2G spectrum for telecom along with ... Video: All 2G accused to be tried for criminal breach of trust IBNLive Spectrum of charges against all accused in 2G scam‎ Newsbullet 2G conspiracy began after Raja became minister: Court‎ Times of India Firstpost - Economic Times all 219 news articles » हिंदी में

   * Firstpost

3. PM cannot escape responsibility in 2G scam: Gadkari ‎ Hindustan Times - 3 hours ago PTI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cannot "escape" responsibility in the 2G spectrum scam for which only the alliance partners should not be blamed, ... Manohan Singh has lot to explain in 2G scam: BJP‎ Parda Phash all 17 news articles » हिंदी में

   * Parda Phash

4. Counsels hope 2G accused will get bail ‎ The Hindu - 5 hours ago With a Delhi court on Saturday framing charges against the accused, including former Telecom Minister A Raja and others, in 2G spectrum allocation case and ... 2G scam: A Raja and 16 other accused to be on trial‎ IndiaPost.com After framing of charges, 2G scam accused hope for early bail‎ Daily News & Analysis all 8 news articles » हिंदी में

   * Indian Express

5. 2G accused resent as court pleads not guilty on their behalf ‎ Indian Express - 17 minutes ago While ordering the trial of the 2G spectrum allocation case accused from November 11, a Delhi court today went on to plead "not guilty and claim trial" on ... 2G accused resent as court pleads not guilty on their behalf‎ MSN India all 3 news articles »

6. 2G scam: Charges framed against A Raja, 16 others ‎ Indian Express - 6 hours ago Now the common man tries to see a ray of light through the darkened tunnel 2G SPECTRUM SCAM HEARING BEGINS IN COURTBy: Indianglobal | Saturday , 22 Oct '11 ...

7. Chidambaram HAS TO step down over 2G scam: BJP ‎ Rediff - 2 hours ago "This implies that decisions in the 2G spectrum allocation were taken with the consent of the Cabinet, the finance minister and the prime minister. ... It's purely a process of law: Congress‎ The Hindu all 19 news articles »

   * Rediff

8. 2G scam: No sleep till Chidambaram's arrest, says Subramanian Swamy ‎ Daily News & Analysis - 2 days ago By DNA Correspondent | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might have given him a reprieve in the 2G spectrum scam, ... 'That's a Closed Chapter': PM on Finance Min 2G Note‎ Outlook all 3 news articles »

9. 2G court finds evidence against all 17 accused ‎ The Statesman - 9 hours ago PTI NEW DELHI, 22 OCT: The 2G spectrum case today reached an important milestone with a Delhi court framing charges against all the 17 accused including ...

10. PM asks Pranab, PC to run govt in his absence ‎ Hindustan Times - 4 minutes ago After their reported differences over the finance ministry's background note on 2G spectrum scam, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and home minister P ...

    * Rediff

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  BSNL prop for spectrum sale

  JAYATI GHOSE

  * New Delhi, Oct. 21: BSNL wants to surrender spectrum in some 20 telecom circles allotted to it last year and if the proposal goes through, the government will have 20Mhz of broadband radiowaves ready for auction and a chance to reap an unexpected bonanza. BSNL had paid Rs 8,313.8 crore to get 20MHz of broadband spectrum, or radio waves through which voice and data calls travel, but has been unable to generate revenues from that asset. At present, the DoT does not have broadband spectrum in all the 22 telecom circles (giving pan-India coverage) and has, therefore, not given a timeline for auction. While spectrum is available in the lucrative circles of Delhi and Mumbai, it is not available in Calcutta, Punjab and Rajasthan. "We have received BSNL's proposal and will decide on the issue soon. If it is accepted there can be a spectrum sale within this fiscal," said telecom secretary R. Chandrashekhar. The government, which was depending on revenue inflow through spectrum sale to cap its fiscal deficit at the projected 4.6 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of March next year, was disappointed as the DoT was unable to give a concrete spectrum auction plan for this fiscal as radio waves were not readily available. Last year, the government had received Rs 38,540 crore by selling pan-India broadband spectrum to six private operators, which reduced fiscal deficit to 4.7 per cent of GDP in 2010-11 from the originally planned 5.5 per cent of GDP. This year's budget estimates revenues of Rs 15,000 crore from auction of broadband spectrum. Currently, there are two private players in each of the 22 telecom circles holding 20 Mhz of broadband spectrum each. MTNL is the third player in Mumbai and Delhi circles, while BSNL has spectrum in the 20 other circles.

  
  
  http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111022/jsp/business/story_14654417.jsp
  
  

  What is 2G spectrum scam?

  NDTV Correspondent, Updated: May 05, 2011 23:46 IST
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  New Delhi:  From the time allegations of misappropriation during the bidding for allocation of 2G spectrum surfaced, till Telecom Minister A Raja's ouster, high drama charged both politics in Delhi and Tamil Nadu. So what exactly is the Spectrum Scam that led to all this?
  
  
  WHAT IS SPECTRUM SCAM?
  
  • 2G licenses issued to private telecom players at throwaway prices in 2008
  • CAG: Spectrum scam has cost the government Rs. 1.76 lakh crore
  • CAG: Rules and procedures flouted while issuing licenses
  
  
  
  WHAT ARE THE CHARGES ON FORMER TELECOM MINISTER A RAJA?
  
  CHEAP TELECOM LICENSES
  
  • Entry fee for spectrum licenses in 2008 pegged at 2001 prices
  • Mobile subscriber base had shot up to 350 million in 2008 from 4 million in 2001
  
  
  NO PROCEDURES FOLLOWED
  
  • Rules changed after the game had begun
  • Cut-off date for applications advanced by a week
  • Licenses issued on a first-come-first-served basis
  • No proper auction process followed, no bids invited
  • Raja ignored advice of TRAI, Law Ministry, Finance Ministry
  • TRAI had recommended auctioning of spectrum at market rates
  
  
  
  FAVOURITISM, CORPORATES ENCASH PREMIUM
  
  • Unitech, Swan Telecom got licenses without any prior telecom experience
  • Swan Telecom given license even though it did not meet eligibility criteria
  • Swan got license for Rs. 1537 crore, sold 45% stake to Etisalat for Rs. 4200 crore
  • Unitech Wireless got license for Rs. 1661 crore, sold 60% stake for Rs. 6200 crore
  • All nine companies paid DoT only Rs. 10,772 crore for 2G licences
  
  
  OTHERS IN THE NET
  
  • DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter and MP Kanimozhi who has been named by the CBI as a co- conspirator with A Raja
  • Shahid Balwa, the promoter of Swan Telecom, who the CBI believes had a central role in the 2G spectrum scam. He has been accused of colluding with former Telecom Minister A Raja by allegedly channelising kickbacks Raja got from the spectrum sale into the real estate
  • Unitech chief Sanjay Chandra and DB Realty founder Vinod Goenka who have been chargesheeted for cheating and conspiracy
  • Three senior executives of Anil Ambani controlled ADAG, Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara. All these are currently lodged in Tihar Jail
  • Former telecom secretary Sidharth Behura, who allegedly shut counters to physically block other telecom companies, faces the same charges as Raja. And so does Raja's Personal Secretary RK Chandolia
  
  
  THE ROLE OF KALAIGNAR TV
  
  One of the companies named by the CBI in the 2G scam - Swan Telecom - allegedly sent Mr Raja a Rs. 214-crore kickback that was routed through a maze of companies but rested finally with Kalaignar TV channel in Chennai that is owned mainly by Kanimozhi and Dayalu Ammal. Together, they have 80% stake in the company. Sharad Kumar, the Managing Director of Kalaignar TV, owns the balance and has also been accused of conspiring with Mr Raja.
  
  
  
  For NDTV Updates, follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook
  
  Story first published:
  November 15, 2010 08:34 IST
  
  

  Tags: 2G spectrum scam, A Raja, Spectrum scam

  • Also See
  • 2G case: How the scam unravelled
  • 2G scam: Charges against Raja, others
  • 2G scam: Raja, Kanimozhi to be tried for criminal breach of trust
  • Court to frame charges in 2G case today
  • Review: Kannada film Puthra
  • 2G: Prime Minister's letter to A Raja2G charges framed: Time for accused to get ba ...2G scam: Raja, Kanimozhi to be tried for crim ...DMK: CBI will find it difficult to prove char ...Harish Salve reacts to framing of charges in ...2G scam: All 14 accused charged with criminal ...Court to frame charges in 2G spectrum scam ca ...PM has 2G amnesia: Yashwant SinhaPranab on his resignation: 'All bunkum!'Did CAG hike 2G loss estimate?Raja takes exception to CBI's new charges
  
  http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/what-is-2g-spectrum-scam-66418
  
  

  2G spectrum scam

  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  The 2G spectrum scandal involved officials in the government of India illegally undercharging mobile telephony companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they would use to create 2G subscriptions for cell phones. The shortfall between the money collected and the money which the law mandated to be collected is 1,76,379 crore (1.763 trillion) rupees (roughly equivalent to 39 billion US dollars). The issuing of licenses occurred in 2008, but the scam came to public notice when the Indian Income Tax Department was investigating political lobbyist Nira Radia.
  The government's investigation and the government's reactions to the findings in the investigation were the subject of debate, as were the nature of the Indian media's reactions. The discussion around the reactions to the 2G spectrum scam became known in the media as theNira Radia tapes controversy.
  Much of the credit of bringing this whole scam into public light goes to Dr. Subramanian Swamy who is the chief petitioner for this case in the court of law. [1]

  Contents  [hide] 1 Parties accused of involvement 1.1 Politicians involved 1.2 Corporations accused 1.3 Media persons accused 2 Shortfall of money 3 Relationship between media and government 3.1 Ratan Tata petitions over leak 4 Response to scam 5 References 6 External Links

[edit]Parties accused of involvement

The selling of the licenses brought attention to three groups of entities - politicians who had the authority to sell licenses, corporations who were buying the licenses, and media professionals who mediated between the politicians and the corporations.

[edit]Politicians involved

• A. Raja, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology who sold the licenses
• M. K. Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP

[edit]Corporations accused

• Unitech Group a real estate company entering the telecom industry with its 2G bid; sold 60% of its company stake at huge profit toTelenor after buying licensing[2]
• Swan Telecom sold 45% of its company stake at huge profit to Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) after buying licensing[2]
• Loop Mobile
• Videocon Telecommunications Limited
• S Tel
• Reliance Communications

[edit]Media persons accused

• Nira Radia, a corporate lobbyist whose conversations with politicians and corporate entities were recorded by the government and leaked creating the Nira Radia tapes controversy
• Barkha Dutt, an NDTV journalist alleged to have lobbied for A. Raja's appointment as minister
• Vir Sanghvi, a Hindustan Times editor alleged to have edited articles to reduce blame in the Nira Radia tapes

[edit]Shortfall of money

A. Raja arranged the sale of the 2G spectrum licenses below their market value. Swan Telecom, a new company with few assets, bought a license for Rs. 1537 crore.[3] Shortly thereafter, the board sold 45% of the company to to Etisalat for Rs. 4200 crore. Similarly, a company formerly invested in real estate and not telecom, the Unitech Group, purchased a license for Rs. 1661 crore and the company board soon after sold a 60% stake in their wireless division for Rs. 6200 crore to Telenor.[3] The nature of the selling of the licenses was that licenses were to be sold at market value, and the fact that the licenses were quickly resold at a huge profit indicates that the selling agents issued the licenses below market value.
Nine companies purchased licenses and collectively they paid the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology's telecommunications division Rs. 10,772 crore.[3] The amount of money expected for this licensing by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India was 1,76,700 crore.[4]

[edit]Relationship between media and government

Media sources such as OPEN and Outlook reported that Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi knew that corporate lobbyist Nira Radia was influencing the decisions of A. Raja.[5] The critics alleged that Dutt and Sanghvi knew about corruption between the government and the media industry, supported this corrupt activity, and suppressed news reporting the discovery of the corruption.[5]

[edit]Ratan Tata petitions over leak

The tapes leaked to the public include conversations between Nira Radia and Ratan Tata. Tata petitioned the government to acknowledge his right to privacy and demanded accountability for the leak, with the Minister for Home Affairs, CBI, Indian Income Tax Department, theDepartment of Telecommunication, and the Department of Information Technology as respondents in the petition.[6]

[edit]Response to scam

In early November 2010 Jayalalithaa accused the state chief minister M Karunanidhi of protecting A. Raja from corruption charges and called for A. Raja's resignation.[7] By mid November A. Raja resigned.[8]
In mid November the comptroller Vinod Rai issued show-cause notices to Unitech, S Tel, Loop Mobile, Datacom (Videocon), and Etisalat to respond to his assertion that all of the 85 licenses granted to these companies did not have the up-front capital required at the time of the application and were in other ways illegal.[9] Some media sources have speculated that these companies will receive large fines but not have their licenses revoked, as they are currently providing some consumer service.[9]

[edit]References

1. ^ http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/subramaniam-swamy-busted-the-2g-scam/1/153417.html
2. ^ a b Shafi Rahman (6 Nov 2008). "Big scam in 2G spectrum allocation: CPI-M". India Today. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
3. ^ a b c "What is 2G spectrum scam?". NDTV.com. NDTV. 16 Nov 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
4. ^ "2G scam: 'Raja to blame for losing Rs 1.76L cr'". The Times of India. The Times Group. 10 Nov 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
5. ^ a b Amol Sharma (1 Dec 2010). "Wait a Minute, What Exactly Is Barkha Dutt Accused of?". IndiaRealTime. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
6. ^ "Government orders probe into leaking of Niira Radia tapes". The Economic Times. 29 Nov 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
7. ^ Sathyalaya Ramakrishnan (2 Nov 2010). "2G Spectrum Scam: Karunanidhi protecting union minister Raja for extraneous reasons- Jayalalithaa charges". Asian Tribune. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
8. ^ "Telecom Minister A Raja resigns". The Indian Express. 14 Nov 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
9. ^ a b Joji Thomas Philip (18 Nov 2010). "2G scam: Govt to pull up five telcos". The Economic Times. The Times Group.

[edit]External Links

• How Swamy busted the 2G scam

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2G scam: Chronology of events
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, October 22, 2011
First Published: 17:15 IST(22/10/2011)
Last Updated: 17:25 IST(22/10/2011)

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The 2G spectrum case on Saturday reached  an important milestone with a Delhi court framing charges against all the 17 accused including former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and corporate honchos.
Special CBI judge O P Saini also ordered that trial in the case
will commence from November 11 with all the accused refusing to plead guilty to various offences.

"You all committed an offence punishable under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) 468 and 471 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 or in alternative Section 11 read with Section 12 and 13(2) read with 13 (1b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and within my cognisance," the judge said in his 700-page order.
Following is the chronology of the events related to the 2G spectrum allocation scam case in which Raja is the main accused:

May, 2007: A Raja takes over as Telecom Minister.
Aug, 2007: Process of allotment of 2G spectrum for telecom along with Universal Access Service (UAS) Licences initiated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
Sept 25, 2007: Telecom Ministry issues press note fixing deadline for application as October 1, 2007.
Oct 1, 2007: DoT receives 575 applications for UAS licences of 46 companies.
Nov 2, 2007: The Prime Minister writes to Raja directing him to ensure allotment of 2G spectrum in a fair and transparent manner and to ensure that licence fee was properly revised. Raja writes back to the Prime Minister rejecting many of his recommendations.
Nov 22, 2007: Finance Ministry writes to DoT raising concerns over the procedure adopted by it. Demand for review rejected.
Jan 10, 2008: DoT decides to issue licences on first-come-first-serve basis, preponing the cut-off date to September 25, from October 1, 2007. Later on the same day, DoT posted an announcement on its website saying those who apply between 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm would be issued licences in accordance with the said policy.
2008: Swan Telecom, Unitech and Tata Teleservices sell off a part of their stakes at much higher rates to Etisalat, Telenor and DoCoMo, respectively.
May 4, 2009:  An NGO Telecom Watchdog files complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on the illegalities in the spectrum allocation to Loop Telecom.
May 19, 2009: Another complaint was filed to the CVC by Arun Agarwal, highlighting grant of spectrum to Swan Telecom at throwaway prices.
2009: CVC directs CBI to investigate the irregularities in allocation of 2G spectrum.
July 1, 2009: Delhi HC holds advancing of cut-off date as illegal on a petition of telecom company S-Tel.
Oct 21, 2009: CBI registers a case and files an FIR against "unknown officers of DoT and unknown private persons/ companies under various provisions of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.
Oct 22, 2009: CBI raids DoT offices.
Nov 16, 2009: CBI seeks details of tapped conversation of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to find out involvement of middlemen in the grant of spectrum to telecom companies.
Mar 31, 2010: CAG says that there was large scale irregularities in the spectrum allocation.
Apr 2, 2010: CBI DIG Vineet Agarwal and DG I-T Milap Jain, who were investigating the case, transferred.
May 6, 2010: Telephonic conversation between Raja and Niira Radia made public by the media.
May, 2010: NGO Centre for Public Interest litigation moves the Delhi High Court seeking investigation into the scam by SIT or CBI.
May 25, 2010: Delhi HC dismisses the petition.
Aug, 2010: Appeal filed in the Supreme Court against the High Court's order.
Aug 18, 2010: HC refuses to direct the Prime Minister to decide on a complaint by Janata Party chief Swamy seeking sanction to prosecute Raja for his involvement in 2G scam.
Sept 13, 2010: SC asks government, Raja to reply within 10 days to three petitions filed by CPIL and others alleging there was a Rs 70,000 crore scam in the grant of telecom licences in 2008.
Sept 24, 2010: Swamy moves SC seeking direction to the PM to sanction prosecution of Raja.
Sept 27, 2010: Enforcement Directorate informs SC of probe against firms suspected to have violated FEMA. Says can't deny or confirm now Raja's involvement in the scam.
Oct 8, 2010: SC asks government to respond to CAG report about the scam.
Oct 21, 2010: Draft reports of CAG placed before the Supreme Court.
Oct 29, 2010: SC pulls up CBI for its tardy progress in the investigations into the scam.
   
Nov 10, 2010: CAG submits report on 2G spectrum to government stating loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to exchequer.
Nov 11, 2010: DoT files affidavit in SC saying CAG did not have the authority to question the policy decision as per which licence were issued to new players in 2008.
Nov 14, 2010: Raja resigns as Telecom Minister
Nov 15, 2010: Kapil Sibal given additional charge of Telecom Ministry.
Nov 20, 2010: Affidavit on behalf of PM filed in Supreme Court. Rejects charge of inaction on Swamy's complaint.
Nov 22, 2010: CBI tells SC it will file charge sheet in the case within three months.
Nov 22, 2010: CBI tells SC role of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia would be questioned by it.
Nov 24, 2010: SC reserves verdict on Swamy's plea seeking direction to PM for grant of sanction to prosecute Raja.
Nov 25, 2010: SC ticks off CBI for not questioning Raja.
Nov 29, 2010: CBI files status report on 2G spectrum scam probe.
Nov 30, 2010: SC questions CVC P J Thomas's moral right to supervise CBI's probe into 2G spectrum scam as he himself was Telecom Secretary at that point of time.
Dec 1, 2010: SC directs original tapes containing conversation between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others be handed over to it.
Dec 1, 2010: Raja questions CAG findings in the SC.
Dec 2, 2010: Government places recorded tapes in the SC.
Dec 2, 2010: SC comes down heavily on Raja for bypassing and overruling PM's advice to defer allocation of 2G spectrum by a few days.
Dec 8, 2010: SC favours including in the probe period since 2001 when first-come-first-serve was the norm for spectrum allocation.
Dec 8, 2010: SC asks Centre to consider setting up of a special court to try 2G spectrum scam case.
Dec 8, 2010: ED submits report. Says money trail covers 10 countries, including Mauritius.
Dec 14, 2010: Another PIL in SC seeking cancellation of new telecom licences and 2G spectrum allocated during Raja's tenure.
Dec 15, 2010: Swamy files petition in a Delhi court seeking his inclusion as a public prosecutor in 2G spectrum case.
Dec 15, 2010: Swamy mentions in complaint that Raja favoured "ineligible" private companies Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd and Unitech Wireless Ltd in allocating the spectrum.
Jan 4, 2011: Swamy moves SC seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum licences.
Jan 10, 2011: Supreme Court issues notice to Centre on the plea seeking cancellation of 2G licenses. Also issues notices to 11 companies which allegedly did not fulfill the roll-out obligations or were ineligible.
Jan 30, 2011: Government's decision to regularise licences of the companies which failed to meet the deadline for roll-out obligation challenged in the Supreme Court.
Feb 2, 2011: Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura and Raja's former Personal Secretary R K Chandolia arrested and next day they were remanded in CBI custody.
Feb 8, 2011: Raja remanded to two more days of CBI custody. Behura and Chandolia sent to judicial custody.
Feb 8, 2011: Shahid Usman Balwa, promoter of Swan Telecom, arrested by CBI.
Feb 10, 2011: SC asks the CBI to bring under its scanner corporate houses which were beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum. Raja remanded to CBI custody for four more days by a special CBI court along with Balwa.
Feb 14, 2011: Raja's CBI custody extended for three more days. Balwa's custody extended for four days.
Feb 17, 2011: Raja sent to Tihar Jail under judicial custody.
Feb 18, 2011: Balwa sent to judicial custody.
Feb 24, 2011: CBI tells a Delhi court that Balwa facilitated transaction to Kalaignar TV.
Feb 28, 2011: Raja seeks judicial proceedings through video conferencing stating that he faces threat to life from
fellow prisoners.
Mar 1, 2011: CBI tells SC that 63 persons are under scanner. Raja allowed by CBI court to appear before it via
video-conferencing.
Mar 14, 2011: The Delhi High Court sets up special court to deal exclusively with 2G cases. Balwa also allowed to
appear via video-conferencing.
Mar 29, 2011: SC permits CBI to file charge sheet on April 2 instead of March 31. Two more persons -- Asif Balwa
and Rajeev Agarwal -- arrested.
Apr 2, 2011: The CBI files its first charge sheet in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Apr 25, 2011: CBI files second charge sheet and court issues summons to Kanimozhi, Sharad Kumar and Karim Morani
taking congizance of the charge sheet.
May 6, 2011: Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar appears before court and files bail pleas while Morani sought exemption from
appearance on medical ground.
May 7, 2011: Court reserves order on Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar's bail applications.
May 14, 2011: Court defers order on their bail pleas for May 20.
May 20, 2011: Court rejects bail pleas of Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar and orders their forthwith arrest.
June 20, 2011: SC rejects Kanimozhi's bail plea
July 25, 2011: Arguments on Charge begins. Raja seeks to make Prime Minister and former finance minister P Chidambaram
as witness.
Sept 22, 2011: CBI defends Chidambaram in SC, blames DoT for all wrongs.
Sept 26, 2011: CBI moves plea for framing fresh charge for criminal breach of trust against Raja, Chandolia and
Behura.
Sept 29, 2011: CBI says role of Anil Ambani being probed, gives a virtual clean chit to Tata and Videocon group.
Oct 9, 2011: CBI files FIR against Maran and his brother.
Oct 22, 2011: Court finds prima facie evidence to put on trial all 17 accused including Raja on various counts like criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, cheating and forgery.

more from this section

• 2G: Kanimozhi, Raja charged with criminal breach of trust
• Woman delivers baby on Air India flight
• Karunanidhi meets Sonia Gandhi

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/2G-scam-Chronology-of-events/Article1-760323.aspx

Corporate – Political Nexus And Entrepreneurship In India

Posted on 10 January 2009
Over the last few days, there has been so much of attention given to Satyam, Ramalinga Raju, his admission, his arrest etc.  The entire corporate world is speaking their heart out against Satyam and its founder.
One aspect that received less attention is the Corporate Political nexus.
A controversy not so long ago in rewarding the Hyderabad Metro project was brought to everyone's notice and Mr.E Sreedharan had quite famously said about the rewarding of the contract as
"Making available 296 acres of land to BOT to Maytas consortium was like selling the family silver"
It is a known fact that without the politicians, the corporate honchos are helpless in getting contracts after contracts. And without the contributions from the corporate, large scale spending on elections and self progress can never be achieved.
While it may be extremely difficult to prove, given the fact that everyone connected to the Satyam scam would have washed off their hands and destroyed all or any of the remaining evidence so, the existence of relationship between big businesses and the politicians can not be denied. This nexus has only seen the common man suffer.
So who are these sufferers?
The worst sufferers are definitely the employees and the shareholders of the company.
Spare a moment also for the hundreds (if not thousands) of future entrepreneurs who would not even dare to start a venture in India, knowing very well what they will have to compromise on their ethics and morality to be rewarded contracts.
How often do you see the likes of a Narayana Murthy or an Azim Premji emerge victorious without actually paying heed to the politician's demands.  And if you dare to be different from the rest, you are often harassed mentally and in some cases physically until you succumb to the political pressures.
Given such environment to do business, it will be indeed surprising that how many small businesses and entrepreneurs will be able to make it big in India.
A dream will remain a dream if the lawmakers in India do not make exclusive provisions to severely punish those politicians and the corporate who indulge in unfair practices. There has to be a fear for the law of the land.
Last decade saw India leaping after the economy liberalized.  Now that some of the moles are out, the government should take extreme measures to ensure that the future years will be profoundly remembered as an age of trust, honesty and transparency where a rejuvenated India will emerge and a common man can dream…and dream big!
http://indiaspecial.net/featured/corporate-political-nexus-and-entrepreneurship-in-india/
22 OCT, 2011, 12.39PM IST, SATISH JOHN & LISON JOSEPH,ET BUREAU

Politician-corporates nexus greatest threat for Indian economy

22 OCT, 2011, 12.39PM IST, SATISH JOHN & LISON JOSEPH,ET BUREAU

Politician-corporates nexus greatest threat for Indian economy

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Read more on »Supreme Court|Political nexus|National Advisory Council|ICICI bank|HDFC|

Politician-corporates nexus greatest threat for Indian economy

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MUMBAI: Even a year ago, many Indian businessmen believed a combustible combination of derring-do and political connections could be an unchallengeable mix for creation of wealth in India.

In a recent open letter, the second in nine months, drafted by senior business leaders such as Deepak Parekh, chairman of HDFC, and N Vaghul, who built institutions such as ICICI Bank from ground up, expressed concern over what they describe as a growing nexus between corporates and politicians. That nexus, the 14 signatories fear, "is one of the greatest threats for the Indian economy".

Is that nexus crumbling?

A combination of a vigilant judiciary, activists wielding tools such as the Right to Information Act and public interest litigation; frenetic, and some argue, over-the-top media coverage; and investors wreaking retribution in the stock markets have abruptly halted their dream run.

"The system got so saturated with corruption that the system itself became a whistleblower. Somebody who did not get a project started ratting on the one that did," says Santosh Hegde, the former Lokayukta of Karnataka whose investigations exposed the iron ore barons in Karnataka - the Reddy brothers - who have become symbols of an allegedly corrupt business-politics nexus. G Janardhana Reddy, Karnataka's former minister of tourism and head of the Obulapuram Mining Company, finds himself behind bars for alleged illegal mining.

Years ago, before the current backlash against corruption, the real estate developer of a listed firm boasted of winning projects much before the government awarded them to his group. This was at an overseas road show, where investors were from a different part of the world and not used to such chutzpah from an entrepreneur.

For sure and much to their amazement, they later found out that the industrialist was on the ball and the projects were eventually won by his group.

But the real estate baron as well as several other politicians and businessmen are now cooling their heels in the Capital's Tihar jail, accused of one scam or the other.

Several influential and ambitious industrialists with dreams of turning their businesses into global-scale enterprises now find themselves hitting a wall, having broken some law of the land.

MARKETS PUNISH POLITICAL CONNECTIONS

"Because of all the recent arrests and incarceration of politicians and businessmen, it appears that the politician-businessmen nexus is breaking down," said veteran journalist and political analyst Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who is closely associated with the making of the documentary 'Blood & Iron - A story of the convergence of crime, business and politics in southern India's ignored fault zone'.

"One of the critical links that need to be broken is around the issue of election funding. If corrupt businessmen are funding the election of politicians of dubious record, they are going to expect returns on that investment," said Thakurta, who is one of the petitioners in the PIL filed in the Supreme Court in connection with the 2G scam.

The market is taking note of the troubles of politically well-connected companies.

"Investors are increasingly realising that factors like political connections can have significant impact on the earnings of the companies they invest in," says Gaurav Mehta of Ambit Capital.

Increasingly, brokerages such as Ambit Capital are giving significant weightage to risks arising from political connections, poor corporate governance and suspect accounting policies while issuing investment recommendation on stocks.

According to an April 2011 report from Ambit Capital, 'A New Dawn in India', businesses with strong political connections have underperformed the broader market by 14% in the year to April 2011, when the study was undertaken. Presumably, the underperformance could have only aggravated.

"Whilst the recent spate of corruption scandals has soured investor sentiment regarding India, it has had a salutary effect in forcing investors to focus on fundamentally high-quality companies," noted Saurabh Mukherjea and Gaurav Mehta of Ambit Capital. "For the first time in five years, we now have a situation where politically well-connected companies are no longer outperforming the market."
Check out Brand Equity's Most Trusted Brands List 2011
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/political-nexus-now-a-millstone-for-businessmen/articleshow/10447063.cms

India becomes better place to do business: Survey
WASHINGTON: With the second best performance after Sri Lanka in South Asia, India climbed seven places to be ranked 132nd best place to do business, according to new global survey.

China, India, and the Russian Federation are among the 30 economies that improved the most over time as 163 economies made their regulatory environment more business-friendly over the past six years, noted the survey by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and World Bank.

"Recently implemented mandatory electronic filing and payment for value-added tax made paying taxes easier for Indian firms," according to "Doing Business2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World" report released Thursday.

The report assesses regulations affecting domestic firms in 183 economies and ranks the economies in 10 areas of business regulation, such as starting a business, resolving insolvency and trading across borders.

The survey found that Sri Lanka implemented the most reforms of any of the eight economies in South Asia, helping to create a better environment for entrepreneurs.

It rose nine places in the global ranking to 89, partly by strengthening investor protections and reducing taxes on business. Among the region's economies, the low- and lower-middle-income economies of Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, and Nepal also improved business regulations for local firms, the report noted.

Bhutan, rising four places to 142, recently launched a public credit registry and streamlined business start-up while Afghanistan, ranked 160, made it easier for local businesses to get an electrical connection.

The global report shows that governments in 125 economies out of 183 measured implemented a total of 245 business regulatory reforms-13 percent more reforms than in the previous year.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a record 36 out of 46 economies improved business regulations this year.

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India's top 500 companies held a cash pile of 4.7 lakh crore ($96 billion) at the end of March, showing rude health for the corporate sector while underscoring a reluctance to utilise it on expansion in an uncertain business climate.

This cash hoard, enough to build 18,000 km of six-lane expressways or 27 mega power plants, was double what it was at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008, growing at 22% compounded annually for the three years to end-March 2011, an analysis of BSE-500 firms by the ET Intelligence Group showed.

Banks and finance companies were excluded from this analysis, reducing the list to 408 firms. The list was led by Coal India, which had the biggest cash pile, and included companies such as Reliance Industries,Infosys, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, TCS and Ranbaxy Labs.

Industrialists and analysts said the analysis of the cash pile indicates that while corporate balance sheets are healthier, companies are being forced to stack up a mountain of cash instead of deploying on fresh investment opportunities.

The data comes out at a time there is widespread talk and anecdotal evidence of Indian corporates either conserving cash or investing it overseas, with the domestic economy hobbled by political challenges and in the grips of a slowdown.

Several corporates have complained of difficulties in securing land and environment clearances amid widespread perception of a policy drift. A group of business leaders and other eminent citizens, which included HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and Wipro chief Azim Premji, noted last week that "fresh investments are not forthcoming at the pace required for a rapidly growing economy like ours".

The ETIG analysis showed the companies increased their investments in securities by over a third since FY08, a compounded annual growth rate of 8.4%. The total cash balance and investments of the sample amounted to 8.2 lakh crore, or $167 billion, twice the Centre's planned borrowings of 3.7 lakh crore for FY12.

Cash and investments of these companies add up to close to 11% of India's gross domestic product of 75.8 lakh crore ($1.5 trillion).

The trend of companies hoarding cash is similar to that in the US. A report by S&P Valuation and Risk Strategies research group in August this year said non-financial S&P 500 companies collectively held cash and short-term investments of more than $1.1 trillion.

An analysis of the cash position alone will not reflect the true picture of a company's health since the cash could be boosted by higher borrowings, making it critical to look at cash and investments in relation to long-term borrowings.

While India Inc fares well on this count, the proportion of long-term debt supporting every rupee in cash has been rising. In FY11, the cumulative debt of the sample stood at 1.1 times cash and investments, up from a multiple of 0.8 in FY08.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/indias-top-500-companies-like-coal-india-limited-ril-ongc-ntpc-sail-nmdc-infosys-oil-india-tata-motors-tata-steel-and-others-sit-on-cash-pile-of-rs-4-7-lakh-crore-instead-of-investing/articleshow/10381333.cms

EU debt crisis, US slowdown impacting India: Pranab Mukherjee
Debt crisis in Europe and slowdown in the US are having an adverse impact on India, but the fundamentals of the country's economy remain intact, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.

Addressing the National Development Council (NDC) meeting here, he said "while there may be some moderation in growth in the current fiscal, the fundamentals of the economy are intact and the medium-term growth prospects remain buoyant".

However, Mukherjee said as the country has become increasingly globalised, it means that "when the world sneezes, India runs risk of catching a cold.

"Not surprisingly, the economic crisis in Europe and the slowdown in the US are impacting us adversely".

Indian economy, which recorded a growth rate of 8.5 per cent in 2010-11, is expected to moderate to about 8 per cent during the current fiscal. In the April-June period of 2011-12 the growth slipped to 7.7 per cent, slowest in six quarters.

Mukherjee further said that unlike in 2008-09, the government doesn't have an elbow room for economic stimulus as it committed towards fiscal consolidation.

In the Budget 2011-12 the government has envisaged a fiscal consolidation path and aims to bring down fiscal deficit to 4.6 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal.

"As Finance Minister, I stand committed to this path of fiscal consolidation," Mukherjee said adding "The quality of expenditure and its multiplier effect on growth must get our attention".

The Prime Minister, senior central cabinet ministers and most of the chief ministers are attending the NDC meet, which is considering the blueprint or Approach Paper for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17).

PM Manmohan Singh wonders if 9% growth feasible over next five years
Prime Minister Manmohan Singhquestioned on Saturday whether Asia's third-largesteconomy will meet an average growth target of 9 per cent annually over the next five years, given economic volatility around the globe.

India has been forced to pare growth forecasts this year as high inflation and interest rates hit industry, adding to chill winds from the euro zone and the United States. The government now expects growth of close to 8 per cent this fiscal year.

In a speech discussing preparations for India's next five-year economic plan, which runs from 2012, Singh said long-term economic prospects remained good.

"The approach paper proposes a growth target of 9 per cent per year. It is relevant to ask whether this is feasible since the economy is currently slowing down," he said.

"The current slowdown is a matter of concern. But it should seem a short-term phenomenon, reflecting highly unsettled conditions in the world economy," he said.

All major economies were reducing their growth expectations given the debt problems in Europe and the United States, he said.

Singh, who in the 1990s ushered in market reforms credited with unleashing India's economic potential, added the country had not done enough to bring the benefits of growth to the poor.

India's ranking improves 7 notches in Doing Business Index
India has climbed up seven notches in the IFC-World Bank's 'Doing Business Index' indicating market improvement in the business environment, though its ranking remained well below those of the neighbours like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

India has been placed at 132nd position, up from 139th in previous year, in the Index prepared by the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank.

While getting electricity connection and paying taxes have become easier in India, parameters pertaining to obtaining credit, protecting investors and registering property got poor ranking in the Index, according to the report.

The report also welcomed the government's recent decision to introduce mandatory electronic filing and said it has made payment for value-added taxes easier for Indian firms.

The report which ranks countries on the basis of ease of doing business has placed Sri Lanka above India at 89th position, Nepal at 107th, Bangladesh at 122nd and Pakistan at 105th in the overall ranking.

Singapore was ranked the best place for doing business, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, the US and Denmark.

The annual World Bank report takes into account regulatory changes in 183 countries for starting and doing business by local firms.

It ranks the economies in 10 areas of business regulation such as starting a business and resolving insolvency and trading issues across borders. This year, the ranking also include indicators on getting electricity.

The survey found that Sri Lanka rose nine places in the global ranking to 89, partly by strengthening investor protection and reducing taxes on business.

The Doing Business Report said it takes 29 days to set up a business in India, 19 days in Bangladesh and 35 days in Sri Lanka. Interestingly, the report added that an entrepreneur can start a business in 7 days in Afghanistan, 9 days in Maldives, and 21 days in Pakistan.

It said over the past six years, all eight economies in South Asia have made their regulatory environment more business-friendly, but Sri Lanka implemented the most reforms, thereby helping to create a better environment for entrepreneurs.

21 JUL, 2011, 09.49AM IST, SUROJIT GUPTA & SIDHARTHA,TNN

Government to launch new index to improve India's perception

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NEW DELHI: If you can't get the world to change its perception of India, launch your own measure. That seems to be the mantra for the government which has started working on a new Perception Index to counter the impact of the Doing Business Report ofInternational Finance Corporation (IFC), which ranksIndia below Pakistan, Samoa and Mongolia.

Top government officials said work on the new index was at preliminary stages but India was keen that the facts were taken on board while preparing the list. The proposed measure is in a long list of new indices, ranging from services price index to retail sector tracker, that are in the pipeline. In the latest Ease of Doing Business rankings of IFC India was placed 134th among 183 countries and has remained around these levels for several years.

Officials complain that IFC, the World Bank arm, has not updated several developments that have taken place in recent years to ease the overall business environment. They also questioned the methodology and assumptions of the authors, including the measure of gross domestic product. "We have raised the issue with them but there has been no response so far. A team was to come to India in June but that visit was postponed," said an official.

IFC could not be immediately reached for comment. But sources in the government did admit that the framework in India on enforcement of contracts and closure of business was weak. For instance, on closure of business, India ranked 182 with only Timor-Leste placed lower at 183. In closing business, India was ranked 134 though it takes several years and multiple processes to wind up business.

On paying taxes, a major focus area for the government, India was ranked 164 while it was placed at 177 in getting construction permits. Officials said simultaneously, the government was working to improve the business climate through steps such as easier winding up at least in designated areas such as the proposed manufacturing zones. On enforcing contracts, they said that it was still some time before an improved climate would emerge.

While the government has been talking about improving the business climate for several years and a special cell was also set up in the department of industrial policy and promotion to improve the ranking, there has not been much headway as various ministries are yet to sort out their differences.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/Government-to-launch-new-index-to-improve-Indias-perception/articleshow/9307101.cms

22/10/2011

2G scam: Court frames charges against all 17 accused

A Delhi court on Saturday found prima facie evidence against all the 17 accused including former telecom minister A. Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi and corporate honchos to frame charges against them in the 2G Spectrum allocation scam case for varying roles.

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The court found prima facie evidence to frame charges against Raja's former private secretary R.K. Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura.
In addition, it said there was evidence for framing of charges against Raja, Behura and Chandolia under section 409 of the IPC for the offence of breach of trust against them which attracts maximum punishment of life term.
With an important milestone crossed in the case, the accused can now now move for bail as observed by the Supreme Court during the hearing of bail petition by Kanimozhi earlier.
Special CBI judge O.P. Saini said evidence is there for framing of charges against telecom firms Reliance Telecom Ltd, Swan Telecom and Unitech (Tamil Nadu) Wireless Ltd.
The judge also said CBI has also brought evidence to frame charges against corporate executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's managing director Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara, Group's President and Hari Nair, senior vice-president.
Others against whom charges will be framed are Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, his cousin Asif Balwa, their colleague Rajeev Agarwal, Unitech Ltd's MD Sanjay Chandra and DB Realty MD Vinod Goenka.
The judge said there was prima facie evidence for framing charges also against Kalaignar TV's MD Sharad Kumar and Bollywood filmmaker Karim Morani.
The court wanted to frame the charges today itself but all the accused said they need time to go through the over 700-page order on charges to be framed later.
The court found prima facie evidence to frame various penal charges including cheating, forgery, abetment and criminal conspiracy against the accused.
It also found prima facie evidence of abuse of official position by Raja, Chandolia and Behura.
The court had reserved its order on October 14 after hearing day-to-day arguments on behalf of accused and the CBI for nearly two months.
The trial of the accused would begin after the court pronounces its order on framing of charges in the case.
The CBI, in its first charge sheet filed on April 2, had charged Raja and others with causing a huge loss of Rs. 30,984 crore to the exchequer by allocating spectrum to ineligible operators as per a criminal conspiracy among themselves.
Special CBI prosecutor U.U. Lalit had argued that there was "sufficient prima facie" evidence against all the accused to proceed with the trial as everyone of them was part of the conspiracy and the intent to commit offence "may be inferred from their knowledge".
On the other hand, all the accused including Raja had vehemently opposed the framing of charges and the plea of CBI that they caused a loss to the state in the grant of spectrum licenses.
Raja, during the arguments, sought to drag names of the Prime Minister and then finance minister P. Chidambaram in the case saying they were kept apprised about the developments in the 2G sepctrum allocation.
Source: PTI
22/10/2011

With Yeddyurappa in jail, Advani roadshow to skip Bangalore

Bangalore: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani has dropped plans to address an anti-graft rally in Bangalore Oct 30 even as several state BJP stalwarts find themselves in a legal bind over corruption charges, party sources said.

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However, he will continue with his Jan Chetna Yatra, a roadshow to mobilize people's support against corruption, as scheduled in the coastal districts of the state on Oct 31, sources clarified. Advani's dropping the Bangalore plan has not come as a surprise as the party's first chief minister in Karnataka, B.S. Yeddyurappa, is in jail here in two corruption cases and Home Minister R. Ashoka is facing a police probe into land grab charges.
Besides Yeddyurappa, three other former ministers -- mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy, Katta Subramanaya Naidu and S.N. Krishnaiah Shetty -- are also in jail. Reddy is in Hyderabad's Chanchalaguda jail for illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh while Naidu and Shetty are in prison in Bangalore for corruption.
Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani will know Monday whether he too will face police probe on land grab charges. A court is to give its decision.
The BJP veteran's yatra is scheduled to enter Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district on the west coast Oct 30 from Kasargod in neighbouring Kerala. He was to fly to Bangalore from Dakshina Kannada's main town Mangalore, about 350 km away, to address a public meeting in the evening.
Now he will continue the yatra by addressing meetings in Mangalore and several other places on the west coast Oct 31 and go on to neighbouring Goa the same day, sources said. Advani had often expressed his displeasure over the way his party was running its first government in Karnataka, which it had once hailed as gateway to rule southern India.
Source: IANS
Image Source: AFP
22/10/2011

Shed pessimism, Indian economy intrinsically strong: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said there was no need for pessimism over the fundamentally-strong Indian economy, with the current slowdown just a short-term phenomenon due largely to the ongoing turmoil in the Western world.

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"The current slowdown is a matter of concern. But it should be seen as a short term phenomenon, reflecting highly unsettled conditions in the global economy. Growth rates are being revised downwards in all countries," the prime minister said.
"We must guard against the mood of negativism that seems to have gripped the country. Recently a distinguished business leader said in India the business is better than the mood," the prime minister told the 56th meeting of the National Development Council.
In this light, he said, nine percent growth for the next five years was certainly feasibly, though difficult, if some concerted action was made at all levels. "I have absolutely no doubt that our country's longer term prospects are very good."
The economy has been facing a number of challenges this fiscal, notably the slowing of the growth in industrial output and high inflation.
Factory production has been sluggish in the past quarter with data for August showing output at 4.1 percent, while in July it had slumped to 3.8 percent -- the lowest in almost two years.
On the other hand, inflation, based on wholesale prices, has been hovering close to double-digits for 10 months now. For September, annual inflation was registered at 9.72 percent. Latest data showed food inflation crossing double digits.
The prime minister, however, told the council, which is the highest decisionmaking body on matters pertaining to central and state finances, which also approve the Five Year Plans, that the situation was not as bad as it seemed.
"Investment is, after all, a reflection of the animal spirits of enterprise," the prime minister said, drawing from John Maynard Keynes' book, "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" that describes it as an emotion that influences human behaviour into spontaneous action.
The council, chaired by the prime minister, was attended by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, some key central ministers and chief ministers. They discussed the approach to the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-13 to 2016-17)
The prime minister, an economist of repute himself, and a former central bank governor and finance minister, had absolutely no doubt that India's longer term prospects were sound.
"Twenty years ago, in my first budget speech as finance minister, borrowing a phrase from Victor Hugo, I had said: 'No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come'. I went on to say 'the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea'."
Accordingly, he said, this line of thinking has spread across the political spectrum.
"I am happy to say that in the past two decades, different political parties, ruling in different times, in different states, and also in the centre, have pushed in the same general direction to ensure that my prediction is now a widely accepted reality."
Source: IANS
22/10/2011

Maoists' West Bengal bandh today

Jhargram: Security has been heightened across Junglemahal with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's seven-day deadline to Maoists for laying down arms coming to an end on Saturday and the ultras calling a 24-hour bandh in defiance.

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Joint forces intensified patrol with some entering on motorcycles in interior areas in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts, the forested areas of which are collectively known as ''Junglemahal'', police said.
Maoist posters have appeared at Lodhasuli market, Lalgarh and Belpahari in West Midnapore district calling for isolating the "anti-people" Trinamool Congress, its "boycott" and "defeat".
In some posters, the Maoists decried the recent suspension of some Indian Reserve Battalion personnel for going on hunger-strike in their camps in Junglemahal against prolonged posting in hazardous areas and the alleged apathy of superiors.
The posters also protested the rape of a housewife allegedly by the joint forces.
Trinamool Congress MP Subhendu Adhikary said the posters were a desperate attempt by the Maoists, who were isolated from the people.
PHED minister and Trinamool leader Subrata Mukherjee said in Kolkata that such posters would hinder the development process and restoration of peace in Junglemahal by the state government.
Source: PTI
21/10/2011

Partial lifting of AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir: Omar

The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to lift the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act [AFSPA] from some parts of the state, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said here Friday.

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"Within some days, AFSPA will be removed from some areas. I am, however, not in a position to disclose the names of those areas right now," Abdullah said at the police commemoration parade in this summer capital.
Abdullah had said on microblogging site Twitter Friday morning: "For some it will be too much, for others not enough, but the way I see it, it will be a significant beginning however small."
The decision was taken after the chief minister met union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, sources said.
There has been a widespread demand from various rights groups and social activists for the removal of AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir, which gives sweeping powers to security forces dealing with insurgency.
Social activist Medha Patkar and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey started an anti-AFSPA journey from Srinagar to Imphal Sunday. In Imphal, activist Irom Sharmila has been fasting for the last 11 years for the repeal of AFSPA from Manipur.
Security forces and intelligence agencies have favoured a cautious approach.
"Its removal will have to be cautiously calibrated with the security situation in a particular area. An overview will also have to be taken to ensure that areas from where the act is removed do not become safe havens for insurgents as powers of the security forces to operate in those areas would be limited after AFSPA is repealed there," said an intelligence official.
The chief minister has been committed to the reduction of security forces from areas where normalcy has returned and militancy-related incidents have come down significantly.
"The legal way out has finally to be agreed upon between the state and centre. The revocation of the disturbed areas act by the state government would result in automatic repeal of AFSPA.
"Once AFSPA is removed from parts of the state, the exercise would be gradually extended to other parts depending upon the security scenario," an official told IANS on the condition of anonymity.
Source: IANS
20/10/2011

Money from business class tickets goes for cause: Kiran Bedi

New Delhi: Organisations that invited her "voluntarily" paid her for business class tickets but she travelled economy and the money saved went to her NGO India Vision Foundation, Team Anna member and former cop Kiran Bedi said Thursday.

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Responding to a news report that she charges inflated travel expenses from NGOs and other institutions that invite her for seminars or meetings, Bedi said that it was all for a cause.
Responding to a report in the Indian Express, Bedi told reporters: "The organisations voluntarily pay me for business class tickets but I duly inform them and save money for travels which are for good causes but cannot provide remuneration... there is no personal gain."
Stating that it was "saving for a cause", Bedi added: "I make a choice to save money so that it can be used for a good cause by not travelling in business class."
She also tweeted: "Its very interesting to see how saving for CAUSES by choosing to travel economy makes a headline in a news paper!"
"Travelling economy in reasonable discomfort despite (higher) entitlement is to ensure that savings remain with the NGOs. No personal gain here," said another tweet.
The daily claimed to be in possession of bills, invoices and copies of cheques which show that Bedi, who is entitled to a rebate on Air India tickets as a gallantry award winner, pays discounted fares but charges her host institutions the full fare.
She has also, at times, claimed business class fare while flying economy, the report said.
The report went on to cite government guidelines of February 2001 that all gallantry award winners are entitled to 75 percent discount on economy class tickets on Air India.
Source: IANS
20/10/2011

Jayalalithaa arrives in court amid high security

Bangalore: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa arrived here on Thursday morning to appear before a trial court in connection with a disproportionate assets case.

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Bangalore had unprecedented security cover with over 1500 security personnel deployed across the city for Jayalalithaa's visit. Section 144 has also been imposed across the city.

Meanwhile, only Jayalalithaa's lawyers will be allowed inside the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison due to security concerns. She will record her statement before the special trial court located inside the Bangalore Central Jail.

Jayalalithaa's court appearance comes after the Supreme Court dismissed her plea not to appear before the court personally.

Her lawyers have been seeking exemption from personal appearance for security reasons. The Supreme Court first refused that request a few weeks ago, stating it was a "tactic by the accused to delay proceedings."

The court then asked the Karnataka government to ensure that special protection is organized for Jayalalithaa's hearing.

The trial of the disproportionate assets case, allegedly involving accumulation of assets worth over Rs 66 crore by Jayalalithaa when she was chief minister between 1991 and 1996, was shifted earlier to Bangalore by the apex court on her fears that she might be denied a fair trial in Tamil Nadu due to state''s erstwhile DMK government. The AIADMK chief had accused DMK of implicating her in false cases.
Source: ANI
Earlier, rejecting the AIADMK chief's plea to defer her hearing on the ground that the Karnataka government had failed to provide sufficient security, a Bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Dipak Misra asked Jayalalithaa to appear in the Bangalore court as scheduled.
The apex court's order came after Karnataka's chief secretary and its director general of police both filed affidavits assuring the apex court of foolproof security measures in tune with her Z plus status and NSG cover.
The trial of the disproportionate assets case, allegedly involving accumulation of assets worth over Rs 66 crore by her between 1991 and 1996, was shifted earlier to Bangalore by the apex court on her fears that she might be denied a fair trial in Tamil Nadu due to the state's erstwhile DMK government, which she had accused of implicating her in false cases.
When senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi persisted with his apprehensions over her safety, the Bench remarked, "You are a public figure. How can you remain away from people?"
The Bench also turned down Jayalalithaa's plea to at least shift the venue of her trial closer to the airport.
"What more do you want? The helipad has been prepared. Once the hearing is over, fly back home," the Bench observed.
Jayalalithaa's counsel had earlier contended her safety and security might be rendered vulnerable since the trial court was 65 km from the airport.
The apex court, however, was assured by both Karnataka government's counsel Anita Shenoy and Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra that adequate security measures had been taken to protect Jayalalithaa.
But despite their assurances, Rohtagi submitted the chief minister was "under a threat perception" and hence sought deferment of the hearing by at least a few days.
He, however, failed to convince the apex court which said, "Please be reasonable. We are also concerned about the security. After these affidavits and the Supreme Court's directions, there cannot be any fears."
The apex court reiterated that the state shall provide adequate security to Jayalalithaa from the time of her arrival till her departure to Tamil Nadu.
The Karnataka chief secretary and its police chief , in sworn affidavits faxed from Bangalore to the Supreme Court registry, explained the various steps taken by the state to provide security to Jayalalithaa right from her arrival till her departure.
The affidavits also said the state had no problem in ensuring security as it has been regularly ensuring the same to various national and international dignitaries visiting the state.
The affidavits also contradicted Jayalalithaa's claim that no prior intimation was provided to her either about the security arrangements or the venue for hearing.
The affidavits said Karnataka was in constant touch with the Tamil Nadu's State Intelligence Bureau since September 24 on the issue.
The apex court had earlier asked the Karnataka government to explain steps taken to protect Jayalalithaa during her hearing in the trial court.
The apex court had on September 12 dismissed Jayalalithaa's plea for exemption from personal appearance owing to the threat perception.
Jayalalithaa in her fresh application has submitted that even the NSG which is normally given advance notice of the security arrangement made for the protectee has not been given any intimation on either the venue or the measures taken to protect her by the local police.
She had further submitted she was apprehensive of a hostile atmosphere in Bangalore from organisations like the 'Al Mun Thameen Force' which had vowed to avenge the killing of its cadre Imam Ali and others in an encounter with the Tamil Nadu police in Bangalore during 2002.
Besides, she said there were a number of other threat perceptions to her. "Grave prejudice and irreparable loss and hardship would be caused to the applicant if this application is not allowed," the application stated.
Source: PTI

AMENITIES FOR MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

---

After election to Parliament, the members become entitled to certain amenities. These amenities are provided to members with a view to enable them to function effectively as Members of Parliament.

Broadly speaking, the amenities provided to the members relate to salaries and   allowances, travelling facilities, medical facilities, accommodation, telephones, etc. These are governed by the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954 and the rules made thereunder.

Salary and Daily Allowance

With the commencement of Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Act, 2001, the amount of salary has been increased from rupees four thousand to rupees twelve thousand per mensem for a period of five years w.e.f. 14 September 2001. Similarly, the amount of daily allowance has been increased from rupees four hundred to rupees five hundred for each day of residence on  duty at a place where a session of a House of Parliament or a sitting of a Committee thereof is held. After the expiry of the period of five years, the above amount may be determined by the Government by introducing an amendment in the above provision.

Provided that no member shall  be entitled to the aforesaid allowance unless he signs the register, maintained for this purpose by the Secretariat of the House of the People or, as the case may be, Council of States on all the days (except intervening holidays for which no such signing is required) of the session of the House for which the allowance is claimed.

A member is also entitled to daily allowance for a period of such residence, not exceeding three days immediately preceding or succeeding the session of the House and not exceeding two days preceding or succeeding the sitting of a Committee, or for the purpose of attending to any other business connected with his/her duties as a Member ofParliament.

Constituency Allowance

A member is entitled to receive the constituency allowance at the rate of rupees ten thousand per mensem.

Office Expense Allowance

Every member is entitled to office expense allowance @ Rs. 14,000 per month out of which Rs. 3,000 is for meeting expenses on stationery items etc.; Rs. 1000 for franking the letters; and Rs. 10,000 is paid by the Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha Secretariats direct to the person(s) as may be engaged by a member for obtaining secretarial assistance.

Travelling Allowance/Travel Facilities

A member is entitled to the following travelling allowances for the journey performed by him for attending a session of the House or a sitting of a Committee or for the purpose of attending to any other business connected with his/her duties as a member from his/her usual place of residence to the place where the above-mentioned business is transacted and for return journey from such place to his/her usual place of residence:

(a) If the journey is performed by rail, an amount equal to one first class fare plus one second class fare irrespective of the class in which the member actually travels.

(b) If the journey is performed by air, an amount equal to one and one-fourth of the air fare for each such journey.

(c) If the journey or any part thereof cannot be performed by rail or air—

(i) Where the journey or any part thereof is performed by steamer an amount equal to one and three-fifths of the fare (without diet) for the highest class in the steamer.

(ii) Where the journey or any part thereof is performed by road, a road mileage at the rate of rupees eight per kilometre.

Provided that where a member performs journey by road in Delhi from and to an aerodrome, he shall be paid a minimum amount of one hundred and twenty rupees for each such journey.

A member is entitled to receive road mileage for the journey performed by road between the places not connected with the superfast/express/mail train. However, the members  belonging to north-eastern States are entitled to road mileage from the usual place of residence to the nearest airport even if the places connected by superfast/express/mail train.Similarly a member whose usual place of residence is within the radius of 300 kms. from Delhi is entitled to receive road mileage for the journey performed by road even if the place is connected with superfast/express/mail train.

For the purpose of claiming travelling allowance for attending a session of Parliament or a sitting of a Committee, members are required to travel only after the issue of Summons for attending a session or after the issue of notice of meeting for attending the meeting of a Committee. Besides, a member is also entitled to receive travelling and daily allowances in respect of a journey performed by him/ her in the course of a tour outside India, undertaken in the discharge of his/her duties as such member. If, during a session of the House or a sitting of a Committee thereof, a member absents himself/herself for less than 15 days for visiting any place in India, he/she is entitled to receive the following travelling allowance:

(a) If the journey is performed by rail, an amount equal to one first class fare of each such journey, irrespective of the class in which the member  actually travels.

The travelling allowance admissible in respect of such journey is limited to the total amount of daily allowances  which would have been admissible to such member for the days of absence if he/she had not so remained absent.

(b) If the journey being a journey during a sitting of a committee is performed by air, an amount equal to one  fare by air for each such journey but not more than once for visiting any place in India.

When a House of Parliament is adjourned for a fixed period during Budget Session, a member is entitled to receivetravelling allowance for every journey performed by air for visiting any place in India during interval not exceeding seven days between two sittings of a Departmentally Related Standing Committee. But the total amount of travelling allowance, excluding air fare, is restricted to the amount of daily allowance which would have been admissible to him for the days of absence if he had not remained absent.

Every member has been given the facility of 32 air journeys during a year to be availed of during session/inter-session period with the spouse or any number of companions or relatives. The spouse/companion of a member may travel alone by air eight time to meet the member out of the 32 air journeys available to a member in a year. The newly elected  member may also avail of the journey before the publication of Notification by Election Commission. Any journeyperformed by the spouse, companions or relatives shall be added in computing the limit of 32 air journeys. Further, the balance of unused air journeys shall be carried over to the following year. A member who performs air journey out of 32 air journeys to his usual place of residence or any place situated within his constituency during session period would be entitled to claim to and fro TA by air upto the airport nearest thereto and also TA for rail/road journeys, if any, beyond the airport. A member performing a journey by air out of 32 air journeys to any place other than the usual place of residence or any place situated within his constituency during session period would be entitled to only to and fro TA by air only upto the farthest point travelled by the direct route and also TA for the road mileage at Delhi and at the city of the said farthest point travelled by air, from and to airport to city at both places. A member performing a journey by air out of 32 air journeys during inter-session period for visiting any place in India would be entitled to only to and fro TA by air only upto the farthest point travelled by the direct route and also TA for the road mileage at Delhi and the city of the said farthest point travelled by  air, from and to airport to city at both places. Every member who has his ordinary place of residence inthe Ladakh area of the State of Jammu & Kashmir is entitled to an amount equal to the fare by air for each single journey by air performed by him from any airport in Ladakh to  the airport in Delhi and back at any time. In addition to the air travel provided to a member, he is also entitled to an amount equal to the fare by air for each single journey by air performed by the spouse, if any, of the member or one person to accompany such member from any airport in Ladakh area to the airport in Delhi and back at any time.

Rail Travel Facilities Every member is provided with—

(a) One free non-transferable first class air-conditioned or executive class of any train pass which entitled him to travel at any time by any railway in India;

(b) One free non-transferable air-conditioned two-tier railway pass for one person to accompany the member when he travels by rail; The spouse of every member is entitled to—

(a) One free non-transferable railway pass to travel in first class air conditioned or executive class in any train, and if travelled by air, an amount equal to the air fare, from the usual place of residence of a member to Delhi and back once during every session and twice in Budget Session but not exceeding 8 single journeys in a year. The spouse can travel from the usual place of residence of the member to Delhi at any time after the issue of Summons and can return back any day before the commencement of the next session.

(b) The spouse is also  entitled to travel in first class air conditioned or executive class in all the trains with the Memberfrom any place in India to any other place in India. A member having no spouse is entitled to accompany with any other person in lieu of spouse in any train in first class AC or executive class from any place in India to any other place in India in addition to the facility available to him in respect of one companion in AC-II tier. The spouse of the Member is allowed road mileage for the journey or part thereof performed by road if unaccompanied by the Member. Where during any part of a year the usual place of residence is inaccessible by rail, steamer or road, due to climatic conditions and where air service is available, a member is entitled to travel by air to and from his usual place of residence upto the nearest airport outside his constituency having rail service.

Steamer Pass

Every member representing the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep Islands is provided with one free non-transferable pass to travel in the highest class of Steamer (excluding diet charges) to and from any part of his constituency and any other part of his constituency or the nearest port in the mainland of India. Such pass is valid for the term of his/her office and on the expiration of the term, the pass is required to be surrendered to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Members representing these Islands can also use the pass  before taking their seat in the House, to utilise the same for the purpose of attending a session of the House for taking his/her seat therein.

Where a member has not been provided with such a pass he/she will be entitled to receive an amount equal to one fare (without diet) for the highest class by steamer for any journey referred to above.

Every such member is entitled to an amount equal to the fare by air from his usual place of residence to the nearestairport in the mainland of India and back.

Companion or spouse of the member representing the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands or the Union Territory of Lakshadweep is entitled to travel by the highest class (without diet) by steamer between the Island and mainland of India on the authority of the steamer pass issued to the spouse or companion of the member accompanying the member.

Every member is entitled to an amount equal to the fare by air, for the spouse, if any, of the member, or for one person to accompany him/her from the usual place of residence in the Island to the nearest airport of the mainland of India and back.

Accommodation

In order to meet adequately the needs of members for residential accommodation a separate pool of residences for members has been established and allotment of residences to members from this pool is made by the Accommodation Sub-Committee of the House Committee, Lok Sabha. Arrangements for accommodation are made according to the criteria laid down by the House Committee.

Each member is entitled to a licence-fee free flat or hostel accommodation throughout his term of office. Where a member is allotted a housing accommodation in the form of a bungalow at his request, he shall pay full normal licence fee, if he is entitled to such accommodation.

Every member is entitled without payment of charges to the supply of water upto 4000 kl per annum and electricity upto50,000 units (25,000 units measures on light meter and 25,000 units on power meter or pooled together) per annumbeginning from 1st of January every year in respect of residence allotted to him in Delhi. The above facilities are extended to a member residing in a private accommodation in Delhi.

Other facilities enjoyed by members include washing of sofa covers and curtains every three months; furniture within the monetary ceiling of Rs. 24,000 in respect of durable furniture and Rs. 6,000 for non-durable furniture; and also 25 per cent remission in the rents on account of any improvement or addition made to it or any additional service provided thereto by way of furniture, electrical equipment and other services.

Telephone Facilities

No charges shall be payable by a member in respect of the installation and rental of one telephone installed either at his residence or at his office in Delhi or New Delhi, and no member shall be liable to make any payment in respect of the first 50,000 local calls made from the telephone during any year. However, Chairmen of Parliamentary Committees are exempted from payment of any charges for local calls made from the telephone installed at their residences in Delhi/New Delhi.

In addition to above, no charges shall be payable by a member in respect of the installation and rental of one telephone installed either at his usual place of residence, or a place selected by him being a place— (i)  situated within the State which he represents, or within the State in which he resides in the case of member of the Council of States other than a member nominated to that House; (ii) situated within the State in which his constituency is or within the State in which he resides in the case of a member of the House of the People, other than a member nominated to that House; and (iii) approved by the Chairman of the Council of States or the Speaker of the House of the People, as the case may be, in the case of nominated members.

No member shall be liable to make any payment in respect of the first 50,000 local calls made from that telephone during any year:

Provided that the place selected by the member or approved by the Chairman or the Speaker, as the case may be, shall be within the area of operation of an existing telephone exchange.

Every member is also entitled to one additional telephone either at his residence in Delhi/New Delhi or at his usual place of residence or at the place selected by him within the State in which his constituency is or in the State in which he resides and 50,000 free local calls during a year for  Internet  connectivity purposes.

The trunk call bills of the members may be adjusted within the monetary equivalent of the ceiling of one lakh fifty thousand local calls per annum as aforesaid.

In addition, 20,000 additional calls are also allowed to the members whose constituencies are 1000 km. away from Delhi.

Further, every member is entitled to one mobile phone of MTNL, New Delhi with the  adjustment of calls from the existing 1,50,000 local calls available to them for 3 telephones.

Excess telephone calls made over and above the pooled total of one lakh fifty thousand free local calls per annum in respect of the three telephones installed under sub-rule (1), sub-rule (3) and sub-rule (5) of Rule 4 of the Housing and Telephone Facilities (Members of Parliament) Rules, 1956 are adjusted against the one lakh fifty thousand free local calls allowed on the three telephones for the next year.

Medical facilities Under the Central Government Health Scheme as extended to members, a member and his/her family are entitled to free medical treatment on a monthly contribution of Rs. 150. Dispensaries for providing treatment mainly to members exist in the North Avenue, South Avenue, Telegraph Lane, Pandara Road, Dr. Zakir Hussain Road, Constitution Club and First Aid Post in V.P. House. A First Aid Post in Parliament House and a Medical Centre in Parliament HouseAnnexe are also functioning for rendering medical aid to members in cases of emergency or sudden illness.

 Advance for the purchase of conveyance A member is entitled to an advance not exceeding rupees one lakh or the actual price of the conveyance intended to be purchased, whichever is less. However, no advance is dmissible when a conveyance has already been purchased and paid for in full.

Provided further that where such payment has been made in part, the amount of advance shall be limited to the balance to be paid as certified by the member. Advance granted together with interest thereon is recoverable from the salary  bill of the member concerned in not more than sixty equal monthly installments, which shall not extend beyond the ensure of his membership.

Facilities to Members of pre-maturely dissolved Lok Sabha

If a Lok Sabha is dissolved pre-maturely, the members of the dissolved Lok Sabha are entitled to consume the unutilised telephone calls, electricity units and water units from the date of dissolution of the Lok Sabha to the constitution of subsequent Lok Sabha. Further, if a member is re-elected in subsequent Lok Sabha, he is entitled to adjust the excess telephone calls, electricity/water units consumed during the intervening period from the quota for the first year of the subsequent Lok Sabha.

FACILITIES TO EX-MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

Pensionary Benefits

Every person who has served as a member of the Provisional Parliament or either House of Parliament for any period is entitled to a pension of rupees three thousand per mensem. Provided further that where any person has served for a period exceeding five years, he shall be paid an additional pension of rupees six hundred per mensem for every year in excess of five years. For the purpose of calculation of years for determination of additional pension, the period of nine months or more shall be treated as one complete year.

Free Rail Travel Facility

Under Section 8AA of the MSA Act, an ex-member of Parliament is entitled to travel in any train in AC-II tier classalongwith a companion in AC-I class, if travels done, on the strength of ex-MP Identity Card issued to him by Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Medical Facilities

CGH Scheme is applicable to ex-members of Parliament residing in cities covered by CGH Scheme on payment of contribution at the same rate as they were paying as Members of Parliament. This facility is obtained by an ex- MP direct from Director-General (CGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi.

Family Pension to Spouse

In case a member dies during his term of office, his spouse/dependent is entitled to a pension of rupees one thousand and five hundred per mensem for a period of five years from the date of death of such member.

http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/intro/p8.htm

1. MPs' pay hike deadlock ends in Parliament

2. www.ndtv.com › India

3. 21 Aug 2010 – On Friday, the Cabinet had approved a 300 per cent hike in the MP's ...(BSP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members on Friday forced adjournment of ....We as Indian tax paying citizen do not mind the pay hike we demand. ...

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6. 31 Aug 2010 – The Salary, Allowance and Pension of Members of Parliament ...member Charandas Mahant had recommended a hike in salary from Rs ...

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9. 20 Aug 2010 – The Union Cabinet on Friday, Aug 20 accepted the proposal of salary hike for the Members of Parliament from ... India's #1 Language Portal ...

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12. 23 Aug 2006 – MPs to get salary hike: Bill introduced ... MP( Member of Parliament): 50 L (5 Million Rupees) 3. ... Parliament Elections: 50L(5Million Rupees) ...

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15. 23 Aug 2010 – Last week members of the national Parliament in New Delhi turned ....However, in lieu of that, the editorial talks about the Indian MPs pay hike. ...

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18. 30 Jun 2010 – Indian MP's – Member of Parliament want 5 times salary hike. June 30, 2010 vivchavan Leave a comment Go to comments. Indian MP's ...

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    Corporate lobbying and democracy

    SHARE  ·   COMMENT (5)   ·   PRINT   ·   T+  
    The economic stimulus packages initiated in several countries have given fresh momentum to corporate lobbying, in which powerful companies spend tens of millions of dollars ensuring that legislation and policy are drafted to favour their area of business. Enormous sums are spent on this and on contributions to campaign funds. In the U.S., the major banks spent $56 million in the 2007-08 financial year; the mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spent $180 million over a period of eight years. Figures for 2009 show that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America have lobbied to the tune of over $6 million; Monsanto have paid out over $2 million, while the U.S. defence manufacturers have spent over $17 million. Also in the U.S., Political Action Committees (PACs) have become the biggest sources of campaign funding for candidates; corporate PAC spending increased from $15 million in 1974 to over $220 million in 2005. In India, corporate lobbying, in the form of intensive briefings and presentations to ministers and senior civil servants, is expanding; the current political climate also makes ministers, officials, and legislators more receptive to it.
    For big business, lobbying works. Published research shows a significant positive correlation between lobbying and financial performance, and lobbying by firms or by lobbying agencies often produces policies tailored to their own requirements. In 2005, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin's attempt to tighten the law on mortgages failed after intensive lobbying by lenders. Almost no major countries require oversight, transparency, or accountability in lobbying. It has even been said that in India the paucity of high-quality research centres makes officials vulnerable to slick lobbying and instant publicity countering allegations by, for example, environmental and other activists. There are, however, signs of concern about lobbying. On March 20, President Obama signed an executive order requiring government agencies involved in the stimulus package to report all contact with lobbies. But the response has been poor, and businesses have evaded the rules by delegating the work to staff who are not registered as lobbyists. Although some major corporations are coming under shareholder pressure to provide detailed information on their lobbying, an early change in the lobbying culture is unlikely. Critics say that what is called lobbying in the west is called corruption in developing countries; and one Indian campaigner says corruption stinks but it is at least a stink that everyone knows. There can be no doubt that lobbying will continue to pose a serious threat to democratic processes around the world.
    Keywords: Economic stimulus packages, corporate lobbying, legislation and policy, campaign funds, banks, mortgage lenders\, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
    http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article26238.ece
    
    
    October 3, 2009
    

    Companies Bill & social accountability

    MUKUL SHARMA
    SHARE  ·   COMMENT   ·   PRINT   ·   T+  
    The HinduUnion Minister for Corporate Affairs Salman Khurshid and Minister for Major Industries K. Laxmi Narayana during a conference on corporate governance in Hyderabad on August 21, 2009. Photo: H. Satish
    Environmental concerns, social diversity and similar issues within a company must be seen as its core, interrelated elements.
    The introduction of the Companies Bill 2009 in the Lok Sabha on August 3, 2009 was an important step. First introduced in 2008, it lapsed because of the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha. The new Bill is meant to address issues of corporate governance and accountability. Companies are accountable for their financial performance as well as social impact. Thus, the Companies Act should be defined broadly, obliging companies to take stock of their business activities and their effect on employees, communities and the environment. This Bill, coming after more than 50 years, deserves much better understanding and broader coverage.
    Companies are a powerful force for the good — they provide jobs, boost economies and help to protect the environment — but they can also cause serious problems. There are too many instances in which irresponsible behaviour by companies has harmed poor communities, undermined workers' rights and damaged the environment. Voluntary measures such as codes of conduct or voluntary social and environmental reporting have failed to address these issues and deliver real change. There are too many documented cases in which companies have signed up for such voluntary codes but have failed to deliver.
    During discussions last year on the need for a new Bill, there were concrete demands for changes in the law which would ensure that companies became:
    http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article28102.ece
    

    How lobbyists are poisoning democracy in India

    by Praful Bidwai Tuesday 18 May 2010
    
    May 17, 2010
    Several recent developments, including the release of intercepts of a telephone conversation between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP, a Parliament uproar over the underselling of telecommunications spectrum, and media stories on the growing power of the lobbyist–politician–policymaker nexus, have highlighted a major affliction of the Indian polity which should concern all conscientious citizens. Lobbyists have come to acquire enormous clout, to the point of influencing the choice of Cabinet minister, nominating key bureaucrats, and formulating economic and industrial policies at the nuts-and-bolts level.
    Indeed, the tapped telephone conversation shows that Ms Radia played a pivotal role in ensuring that the telecommunications portfolio would go to the DMK's A Raja in the second government formed by the United Progressive Alliance, and that he would be elevated to Cabinet rank. Also discussed was the power struggle within the DMK, which saw Mr M Karunanidhi's immediate family loyalists outmanoeuvre their cousins, in particular Mr Dayanidhi Maran, who was moved from the communications portfolio he held in UPA-1 to textiles. There are other instances too of lobbyists intrusively interfering with policymaking processes, political party affairs and parliamentary dynamics in ways which would have been unthinkable only years ago.
    Corporate lobbyists have become important mediators—and sometimes active players—in business-government relations in a number of areas, including the infrastructure (highways, ports and huge projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission in 63 cities), energy (including gas, oil and energy), telecom (where the 3G auction bids show that the earlier 2G-spectrum were sold at a fraction of the market price), and mining (where global conglomerates have developed stakes running into billions of dollars in India's tribal heartland). Not to be ignored is the clout that lobbyists wield in military contracts, agribusiness, seeds, civil aviation, and opening up retail trade to organised business, including multinational hypermarket chains like Metro, Carrefour and Wal-Mart.
    Corporate lobbying has become the highest embodiment of crony capitalism in India. It has developed into a formidable industry, with at least 30 major firms based in New Delhi alone. Each of them appoints dozens of "facilitators", "account executives", point-persons and lawyers, all dedicated to securing sweetheart deals and licences for their clients, and just as importantly, ensuring that their clients' rivals don't get them.
    Some of these companies, such as Integral PR, Perfect Relations and Genesis PR, started as straightforward public relations firms, but have diversified into corporate advocacy and lobbying. Others, like Niira Radia's Vaishnavi, Neucon and Noesis, Suhel Seth's Counselage, or Deepak Talwar's DTA Associates, were launched with corporate lobbying as their core business.
    Unlike advertising agencies, which offer certain services to whoever is willing to pay, lobbying companies are intimately allied in what may be called political ways with specific business groups. Since they have access to business secrets, including knowledge of malpractices, their loyalty to individual industry magnates is all-important. In addition, there are individual entrepreneur-lobbyists like MPs Amar Singh and NK Singh, who work for different clients.
    Common to them are all the slick techniques and skills that successful, if unscrupulous, lobbying requires, including ability to cherry-pick facts that suit/favour the client; make attractive PowerPoint presentations that suggest familiarity with the subject, if not mastery of it; determination not to be fazed by hostile interactions; knowledge of which keywords to use and which buttons to press.
    What matters above all is the ability to do social networking, spend lavishly, throw dazzling parties and please industrial magnates, politicians and key bureaucrats by finding out their strengths and weaknesses and shamelessly exploiting them to the point of blackmail. The lobbyists aren't "the hidden persuaders" of the advertising world. They are typically flamboyant people, high-profile, even exhibitionist.
    In some cases, e.g. Mr Talwar's, success in swinging spectacular deals for his clients like Coca-Cola depends on personal proximity to key bureaucrats, such as former principal secretary to the Prime Minister AN Varma during the 1990s. (Mr Talwar has recently cultivated civil aviation minister Praful Patel, allegedly to promote his own interests in duty-free shopping at airports.)
    In many cases, it's the sheer number of people on their payroll which give lobbyists the enormous reach and influence they wield—ranging from business journalists to TV anchors, from personal assistants to middle-level bureaucrats all the way to top-ranking ministers, and from law firms (who can deliver subtle threats) to key officials in the income-tax department, who can be used to coerce and cajole decision-makers. Some TV anchors were implicated in lobbying for high berths in UPA-2 for certain MPs. Corporate lobbyists assiduously cultivate the media, which duly returns the favour.
    As many journalists well know, the second mode of operation is typical of some of India's biggest corporate conglomerates, who plant their loyalists in every major media outlet and agency. Their key personnel get to know—typically in advance of the news editor—just which stories are set to appear in all the relevant papers which might affect their interests or their rivals'. They work in a mafia-style manner to kill the story if it's inconvenient or "hostile", and to have it played up if it favours them. This doesn't have to be done at the state, divisional or district level. Controlling the top papers and channels at their headquarters and influencing other key agencies is effective enough. If all else fails, what always works is the threat of withdrawing advertising support.
    The reach, political influence and financial power of the corporate lobbyists, as well as the fervour of their activity, has acquired wholly new and menacing dimensions in the past decade or so. It's not that there were no lobbyists earlier. There were—from individual influence-peddlers like SK Patil and Rajni Patel in the 1960s and 1970s, to the organised "liaison agents" of the 1980s who hung around Udyog Bhavan and Raksha Bhavan, the headquarters of the industry and defence ministries. But the business didn't have an organised character, a sharp enough focus, concentration of high-level manpower, and even one-hundredth of the ability to secure shady deals.
    Precisely because India is furiously globalising and energetically pursuing neoliberal policies, Big Business today has an incomparably bigger stake than in the past in securing windfall contracts for highway, airport and flyover construction and special economic zones; in privatising natural resources and obtaining leases on land, water, minerals and forests; in rigging the capital markets; in opening up foreign air travel routes to private airlines; in helping multinational corporations to penetrate retail trade; in taking over city bus transportation at assured super-profits; and in invading the public sphere so that foodgrains can be diverted to alcohol production, and pricey, artificially flavoured biscuits can displace wholesome, nutritious, freshly cooked food in mid-day meal schemes for schoolchildren. So much for the much-vaunted "free market"!
    Such blatant manipulation of the entire policy-making apparatus makes old-style "licence-permit Raj"—always exaggerated for its supposedly debilitating impact on the economy, and forever deftly manipulated by business groups—pale in comparison. Then, the bureaucrat had to be influenced and induced to open up a partially-closed system. Now, the bureaucrat is an already-willing ally of Big Business. The contest is over who will secure the favour first to keep the rival out.
    Secondly, lobbying is about recruiting as many retired top-ranking public servants as possible so they can influence their former colleagues and juniors on their clients' behalf. Thus, private oil, gas and electricity companies, steel producers, telecom corporations and airlines have all recruited retired bureaucrats or public sector executives. This pernicious practice should be banned and punished. No retiree should be allowed to accept any position in a related company for 10 years.
    Another characteristic of the new-generation corporate lobbyists is their strong global connections. They work closely with organisations like the US-India Business Council and with major Western lobbying firms like Patton Boggs and Burson-Marsteller, which are big players in Washington. The US capital is said to be crawling with 17,000 registered lobbyists. It won't be an exaggeration to say that the US-India nuclear deal would probably not have gone through the US Congress without the efforts of the USIBC, Patton Boggs and the American-Israeli Political Action Council.
    Corporate lobbying is far more insidious and commercially collusive than the politician-criminal nexus. It's also much more damaging at the national level. Lobbyists exert the most pernicious conceivable influence on policy-making and corrupt the process of democracy. They introduce irrational and extraneous elements in decision-making and subvert the public interest. They add uniquely to sleaze, venality, cynicism and corruption in the entire polity.
    Way back in the 1980s, the Indian political class acknowledged the corrosive role of lobbyists in military contracts and altogether banned middlemen from defence purchase negotiations. But now it has succumbed to that very influence on a gigantically greater scale—not just in military contracts, but in every sphere. Unless this toxic influence is removed, and lobbying is outlawed and punished, it will undermine and hollow out Indian democracy, our most precious possession. Democracy must be defended against business manipulation and predatory corporate lobbying.
    [see also the sacw compilation "India: The Influence of Big Business Lobby on Government and its Implications"
    http://www.sacw.net/article1429.html
    

    OWS Protesters Join Verizon Workers in March Against Corporate GreedPrint Version E-Mail Article Reprints

    By Erika Morphy
    E-Commerce Times
    Part of the ECT News Network
    10/22/11 6:00 AM PT
    Verizon enjoyed a healthy third-quarter, with profits almost doubling, but too many of those profits are lining the pockets of its top executives and too few are trickling down to workers, say the labor unions representing them. Thousands of the company's workers marched against Verizon's "corporate greed" on Friday, circling Zuccotti Park, the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
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    Verizon delivered excellent news to its shareholders on Friday: Third-quarter earnings rose to US$1.38 billion from $659 million a year earlier. A jump in subscribers -- it signed on 882,000 new wireless customers for the quarter -- and smartphone sales led to the doubling in profits.
    Another group looked on with interest as Verizon unveiled its earnings: its many disgruntled workers.
    Some 1,000 of them were expected to march on Friday in a sideshow to the Occupy Wall Street protest. By the time it began, however, the number of marchers was an estimated 2,000, according to Bob Master, a political director for the Communications Workers of America. Master participated in the event, which was organized by the CWA.
    Hundreds of OWS protesters joined the Verizon group when the march began at the company's headquarters, Master told the E-Commerce Times, with more swelling their ranks as it proceeded, circling Zuccotti Park and ending at a Verizon Wireless store on Broad Street.
    The march went very smoothly. There was a "very heavy police presence," noted Master, but there were no disruptive incidents of any kind.
    The march's purpose was to call attention to the Verizon workers' grievances against the company. "Verizon and Verizon Wireless are emblematic of all the issues of corporate greed and unfairness that have been at the heart of the Occupy Wall Street message for the last five weeks," said Master. "Our members are at the front line of the fight against corporate greed."
    *
    

    A Short-Lived Strike

    Verizon and its workers have been at odds over several issues, including their contributions to pensions and healthcare plans. This summer, 45,000 union workers went on strike after failing to reach agreement with the company.
    Three weeks later, the workers returned to Verizon. Though they did not have a new contract, the union believed progress had been made in defining the contours of the debate.
    By joining their cause with Occupy Wall Street, the workers hope to kick up some public support for their positions as negotiations proceed.
    The march is "misdirected outreach," according to Verizon.
    "We hope the Occupy group stays clear of the union's labor campaign that is only trying to spread inaccurate, disparaging and misleading information," Verizon spokesperson Rich Young said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times.
    "I'm sure that Occupy Wall Street is very anxious for the advice of the five verizon executives who made $258 million over the last four years on the direction their movement should take," retorted Master in response to the Verizon comment.
    

    OWS' Wagon

    Verizon does have reason to worry. Occupy Wall Street has captured the imaginations of many, and media interest is high. The movement has spread to major cities around the world.
    Any cause that succeeds in linking itself to OWS' wagon gains a ready-made audience. Even with its aggressive marketing and PR department, Verizon could find itself hard-pressed to put a favorable spin on such a turn of events.
    That, however, appears to be the worst-case and least-likely scenario, according to Arthur "Jerry" Kremer, chairman of Empire Government Strategies.
    "My gut tells me that this march is not going to help them except maybe get some temporary support," he told the E-Commerce Times. Kremer is a former New York state assemblyman who chaired the Ways and Means Committee for several years.
    "There is so much going on the New York city area that this story just won't have any legs," he added.
    Going back to work without a contract may have been a tactical error, he suggested. "There are plenty of instances of labor disagreements being settled after people have gone back to work, yes, but generally the workers lose their leverage when they do so."
    Chris Rhomberg, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Fordham University, was a bit more optimistic about the Verizon workers' prospects.
    "I wouldn't say going back to work was a bad move -- they were able to get some movement from the Verizon side before they returned," he told the E-Commerce Times. "What they are trying to do now is bring the public spotlight back to their cause. This could keep the pressure on Verizon to come back to the negotiating table with a decent offer."
    The workers are going to continue to mobilize, said Master. They plan to leaflet at Verizon Wireless and Apple Stores, asking people not to upgrade to the just-released iPhone 4S until Verizon stops downgrading workers' benefits.
    They're also planning to organize more rallies, he said, and "if necessary, another strike."
    http://www.technewsworld.com/story/73570.html
    
    Updated 10/21/2011 10:21 PM
    

    Occupy Wall Street protests continue

    By: Michael Herzenberg
    The Occupy Wall Street movement continues in New York City. As Our Michael Herzenberg reports, protesters are not only focusing on corporate greed, but also on the improving the quality of life.
    NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. -- Hundreds of protesters marched downtown against the common theme of corporate greed. The target company this time was Verizon.
    Earlier, dozens of Muslims took to their knees in prayer to support Occupy Wall Street's message against the growing divide between rich and poor.
    "I realize I'm part of the 99 percent."
    This Brooklyn 18-year-old joined the pilgrimage of sorts to pray in Zuccotti Park.
    "I'm a college sophomore. When I graduate, I want to get a career, not a job," Sajdah Elvuluk said.
    A Jewish group also held a celebration. For them, it's Simchah Torah, an annual holiday.
    "We're here to support justice for all. It's not us or them, it's just one circle one community one people."
    A community of mothers and fathers brought their children to the park, not for prayers, but more for the message.
    "It is safe for children. I brought my children here before and we want families to see that this movement represents them as well."
    They want to focus the discussion on the need for better education, more health care and fewer families living in poverty.
    "Children don't have a say to the families they're born into, they don't have a say to the country they're born into and we have a responsibility all of us to take care of every child."
    Scattered through the messages of tolerance and community is one of peace. Plenty of people are fighting against America's wars. They are relieved to hear from President Obama Friday that the last American troops should leave Iraq by the end of the year.
    "I'm elated. We put too many in the body bags while we were over there."
    http://hudsonvalley.ynn.com/content/politics/561255/occupy-wall-street-protests-continue/

    1. Group Decries Corporate Greed ‎ The Sag Harbor Express - Karl Grossman - 1 day ago At the foot of historic Long Wharf, corporate greed was being decried along with the massive redistribution of wealth in the United States in recent decades ...

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       * The Guardian

    3. Noy makes pitch vs corporate greed ‎ Philippine Star - Aurea Calica - 2 days ago ... Aquino on Wednesday made a pitch against corporate greed as he paid tribute to six companies that received awards for corporate social responsibility. ... Aquino: Most Philippine, Asian firms not the 'bad guys'‎ Inquirer.net Be good guys, companies told‎ Manila Bulletin all 7 news articles »

    4. India's problem is graft, not corporate greed: Industry ‎ Times of India - 3 days ago MUMBAI/KOLKATA/AHMEDABAD: The Occupy Wall Street movement against corporate greedhas spread to other parts of the world. With the list of billionaires from ...

    5. Corporate protest resumes peacefully ‎ Sydney Morning Herald - Joel Cresswell - 10 hours ago Occupy Melbourne protesters resumed their campaign against corporate greed on Saturday with a series of largely peaceful marches through the city, ... Corporate protest resumes peacefully‎ The Age Protesters threaten legal action over 'police brutality'‎ ABC Online 'Occupy Wall Street' protests: Riot police arrest activists in ...‎ NDTV.com all 399 news articles »

       * NEWS.com.au

    6. Corporate Greed: The World Is A Wall Street ‎ Asian Image - 3 days ago For too long have they been willing fodder for the corporate machine in the fond ... itself as an extreme corporate greed and power in the present times. ...

    7. T V Mohandas Pai Capitalism without compassion ‎ Business Standard - 23 hours ago The middle class is now striking back with the Occupy Wall Street movement with demonstrations in over 80 countries, showing its disgust at corporate greed ...

    8. Corporate greed ‎ Hindu Business Line - 5 days ago The new global movement against corporate greed and budget cuts has the potential to muster further strength. We are reminded of the famous quote of the ...

    9. Across the world, the indignant rise up against corporate greed ... ‎ The Independent - David Randall - Matt Thomas - 6 days ago Protests against corporate greed, executive excess and public austerity began to gel into the beginnings of a worldwide ... Video: Rome protest against corporate greed turns violent Police Rome ... YouTube Rome Protest Against Corporate Greed Turns Violent‎ NPR Protesters March Globally Against Corporate Greed‎ RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty The Australian - Newser all 1362 news articles »

    
    
    

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Palash Biswas
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http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/