Government, Opposition & Corruption

http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=10453

by Rajinder Puri
January 13, 2012

The most damaging weakness of India’s political class is its lack of credibility. Regardless of the truth, people at large are convinced that the entire political class is corrupt. The government covers up corruption cases. The opposition dares not pursue them even when those in the government are involved. The Scorpene deal, the Koda mining scam, the Raja Spectrum scam, the IPL scam – the list of unresolved cases that do, or will, gather dust seems endless. The highest leadership in both the government and the opposition lacks public credibility. This is because of the curious inertia displayed by these leaders even after circumstances cloud their reputations. The biggest scam currently on the radar is of course the Hassan Ali Khan Hawala scam.

Corruption has become so widespread and brazen that it is destroying the foundations of the Indian Republic. India can stand on the roof and watch its neighbour’s house in flames. Why doesn't it look below its feet to realize that its own house is burning?

Readers will recall this scribe had earlier drawn attention to the Hassan Ali scam and the government’s brazen cover up to bury the truth. Hassan Al is the owner of a Pune stud farm. He has 10 known illegal Swiss bank accounts, probably more in other tax havens. His money stashed abroad is astronomical. According to the government's statement he owed Rs 50,345 crore to the tax department as on 31 March 2009. According to accountants that sum would have escalated to approximately Rs 100,000 crore by when Budget 2010 was presented. On October 20, 2009 this scribe pointed out how according to Swiss authorities while the Indian government publicly sought help in probing Hassan Ali’s Swiss account, privately it sabotaged the probe by submitting “forged” documents asked for by Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice. Swiss authorities wanted to help, but Indian authorities withheld proper documentation. Since April 2007 the Indian government has kept mum on the Swiss request for proper documents.

On March 18 2010 this scribe drew attention to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s statement to the media that the government had recovered the tax dues from Hassan Ali. But the revised estimates for 2009-10 did not accommodate the Rs 100,000 crore due from Hassan Ali in the Budget figures. Further, the existing Income Tax Act was amended to waive impediments for tax defaulters like Hassan Ali to approach the Settlement Commission for resolving tax disputes. If Hassan Ali Khan approaches the Commission it would enable the government to evade sharing information about Hassan Ali’s undisclosed foreign assets with foreign governments as required by the international tax treaties entered into by the government.

Clearly, Finance Minister Mukherjee is covering up the Hassan Ali probe. Why? The answer may have been given in the Maharashtra Assembly. On April 13th a CD showing Hassan Ali was laid on the table of the House by BJP MLA Devendra Phadnavis. The CD contained Ali's statement to police in which he mentioned names of former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil and Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel. In the CD Ali claimed a meeting involving RR Patil and Ahmed Patel at Juhu Centaur Hotel on 11 August 2008 to approve Hasan Gafoor’s name as Mumbai’s police commissioner. Home Minister Patil vehemently denied any association with Ali. "I have never met Ahmed Patel and never spoken to him face to face. The CID will probe if the motive of the CD was to harm Gafoor, me, Ahmed Patel or anybody else", Patil told the assembly.

The government ordered an inquiry conducted by Additional Director General, Crime Investigative Department (CID) and SP, S. Yadav. The CD was prepared by the use of spy cam by Deputy Police Commissioner Ashok Deshbhratar. Predictably, the politicians named have not been questioned. Their denials have been accepted at face value. Instead the CID charged IPS officer Ashok Deshbhratar who produced the CD with trying to extort money from Hasan Ali! In its 15 page report the CID stated that Hasan Ali’s confession has been selectively edited. The CID had sent the CD to the forensic lab at Chandigarh. Its report said the audio-visual pieces of interrogation were not inter-linked, but joined together in sequence to appear as if they are part of continuous interrogation. Inter-linked or not, the forensic report does not deny that it was Hassan Ali himself speaking the “disjointed” narrative. CID investigations confirmed that one meeting did take place involving Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ahmed Patel at Juhu Centaur on March 15, 2008. But CID comforted itself with the fact it could not have discussed Gafoor’s appointment because by then Gafoor had already been appointed Mumbai Commissioner of Police. Never mind the Police Commissioner’s appointment, how is Hassan Ali’s proximity to Congress politicians including the political secretary of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, to be explained?

Circumstantial evidence reveals therefore that Hassan Ali, the nation’s biggest money launderer, is protected by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. And Hassan Ali has links with senior Congress politicians including Sonia Gandhi’s trusted political secretary, Ahmed Patel. During his interaction with Ali was Ahmed Patel representing himself or his boss, Sonia Gandhi? If he was representing himself why has Sonia Gandhi not sacked him? If he was representing the Congress President how does Sonia Gandhi explain her party’s links with the nation’s biggest money launderer who is being protected by the Finance Minister?

Connect the dots and the picture that emerges is not pretty. Either the Congress is so stupid that it deserves to be removed from power, or it is so corrupt that it deserves to be removed from power. Wittingly or otherwise the BJP until now has served only Hassan Ali’s interests. Publicizing the CD will act as a powerful disincentive for the government to act against Hasan Ali. By not pursuing the matter at the national level the BJP has failed to serve its own interests. Therefore the BJP is either so corrupt that it deserves to perpetually remain out of power. Or it is so stupid that it deserves to perpetually remain out of power.

Corruption has become so widespread and brazen that it is destroying the foundations of the Indian Republic. India can stand on the roof and watch its neighbour’s house in flames. Why doesn't it look below its feet to realize that its own house is burning?

---

Democracy without dissent?

Once in a while we get some sensible voice speaking on a contentious issue, in a very balanced way. Here Santosh Desai gives a much needed advice to our media and press, who clamor to a sound bite from the Diggy idiot.

Democracy without dissent?

Santhosh Desai - 30th October, 2011

If the RSS supports vegetarianism, will all vegetables become communal? Absurd as that might sound, it is pretty much the argument some critics of the Anna Hazare-led movement are making when they seek to tar it with the RSS brush. The notion that since the RSS is a communal organisation, anything it touches becomes communal is not an argument that rests on logic but superstition built on an idea of sympathetic magic. Nothing in the Jan Lokpal bill suggests an agenda with a communal element; there has admittedly been a visible presence of religious leaders around the movement but this has in no way influenced the draft of the bill itself. The argument is nothing but an exercise in name calling, and uses voodoo logic to make its case.

The lack of logical rigour is a running feature of the UPA's effort to attack the Jan Lokpal movement. For instance, if one were to accept that the RSS was backing the cause, would it not imply that it was more serious about getting rid of corruption than the Government, which is doing everything in its power to discredit the protest? Or for that matter, if we were, for the sake of argument, to accept that all members of Team Anna are corrupt in one way or another, does their version of the bill become flawed as a result? Does it mean that we don't need to do anything about corruption, given that even the anti-corruption activists are not completely clean themselves? It is striking that we are seeing little debate on the bill itself, but only a sustained campaign of superficial name calling that has virtually no implications on any core issue at stake. The issue is no longer the Jan Lokpal bill; Team Anna is being taught a lesson for having the temerity to rise against the political establishment

Troubling as this is, the real problem lies much deeper. The fact that the state is able to use its vast powers to single out each member of Team Anna and do so as deliberately and openly as it has tells us that any form of dissent is likely to attract fierce retribution. And the media, far from protecting us against such attacks might well become an instrument in the hands of the powerful, both deliberately in some cases and unwittingly in others.

This pattern is not restricted to this case alone. We saw it at work in as naked a form when the Vajpayee government went after Tehelka and everyone it could associate with it in the aftermath of the sting operation. We see it when a Narendra Modi repeatedly goes after dissenters who are inconvenient. We see it in the way the Congress turned the CBI loose on Jagan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh when he became troublesome. Indeed, it has become standard practice to use the machinery of the government to attack dissenters in unrelated cases so as to undermine them personally instead of trying to rebut the argument they make. The brazenness of the actions taken by the state is what is deeply troubling for it suggests that tomorrow anyone in a position to challenge the state will face all-out attacks of similar ferocity.

This is where the role media plays needs to come under greater scrutiny. When it allows itself to be diverted every time a Digvijay Singh says something outrageously provocative or when an IT case against Arvind Kejriwal is dug up, it is following a baser instinct and sacrificing a larger principle. It can be nobody's case that media should not have reported or commented on the Kiran Bedi episode, for instance. Of course, the fact that she was presenting bills of a higher amount than what she spent was newsworthy given that she is such an impassioned anti-corruption crusader, but it is equally important to acknowledge that in the overall context of corruption in India, this can only be a minor footnote, an interesting sidelight if you will. Padding travel bills is not the same as the CWG scam, and Kiran Bedi, however visible she might be as a person is not accountable to the public in the same way as an elected representative or a minster is; these are false equivalences that must be exposed. There is a difference between the interesting and the important, the distracting and the dangerous and a key role of media is to accord differential priorities to events rather than paint them all with a uniform brush. The revelation that a self-righteous crusader is less than transparent in her personal dealings is interesting, but not earth-shakingly important. But the manner in which she and others have been targeted is not only important but dangerous in a way that goes way beyond this specific case.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the price that is being extracted for dissent is the absence of an independent voice that rises above ideological considerations and works towards upholding the key principles that every democracy must cherish. In this case, for instance, those opposed to Team Anna's methods tend to make light of the state's deliberate and unprincipled targeting of key individuals just as in the case of Sanjiv Bhatt and other dissenters in Gujarat, the supporters of Narendra Modi justify the need for the state action. Increasingly, ideology tends to overwhelm principle; the desire to support any action, however unsavoury if it happens to be aligned to one's own views, is visible on both sides. The result is that the political system feels free to take revenge for any act of dissent, secure in the knowledge that it will receive some support for its actions.

In a court of law in the US, illegally obtained evidence, what ever it might be, is generally not admissible on grounds of being the 'fruit of a poisonous tree'; the idea being that the individual must be protected against acts of bad faith. When the state dredges up unrelated cases against a dissenting individual, it is acting in bad faith. By engaging in a discussion about what it finds as a result of its fishing expeditions, we end up legitimising its actions. And the consequences of that are far more severe than a mere bill, no matter where one stands on its merits.

---

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Citycitybangbang/entry/democracy-without-dissent

TI-India condemns Anna arrest

Transparency International India condemns the arrest of Anna Hazare
Delhi, 16 August 2011

Anti Corruption watchdog, Transparency International India (TII) , has condemned the arrest of Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and other members of India Against Corruption, this morning.

Terming the arrest, unconstitutional and violation of civil liberties of ordinary citizen of this country, TII Executive Director, Anupama Jha said, “Government has not been able to check rising corruption in the country and is trying to muzzle the voice of those who raise their voice against corruption. This is undemocratic and injustice to the people of this nation”, she said.

Chair of TII, P. S. Bawa said, “Government should not ignore the criticisms being levelled against them with regard to the Lokpal Bill. Rather they should consider some valid points being raised by the Anna team.” Mr Bawa pointed out that certain clauses including action against the Ministers and MPs and procedure with regard to enquiry and investigation in the Government Lokpal Bill was too vague.

“We very strongly feel that the Government should attempt a reconciliatory talks with the civil society leaders , instead of stifling the voice of the people who are in no mood to tolerate corruption any more. We also feel that since the monsoon session of the Parliament is going on, the Government should reconsider its draft bill and include the points raised by the civil society leaders”, spokesperson from TII said.

Media contact(s):
Transparency International India

---

Furtive Visits, Pertinent Questions

rajinder puri, statesman: What is Sonia Gandhi hiding? - Rajeev's podcasts on posterous

By Rajinder Puri

On Monday, Tamil Nadu chief minister Miss Jayalalithaa visited Delhi. She met her Delhi counterpart Mrs Sheila Dikshit. India’s biggest TV channel blared: “Will Jaya also meet Sonia?” Was the channel unprofessionally ignorant or was it colluding with the exercise to hide the furtive movements of Mrs Sonia Gandhi?

Earlier on the same day, there was a statement issued by Mrs Gandhi deploring the murder of a prominent journalist in Mumbai. Was all this being done to create the illusion in the public mind that Mrs Gandhi was in India while she was not? This is not the first time that Mrs Gandhi has silently gone abroad in a manner best described as being furtive. Why the secrecy? What is the purpose of Mrs Gandhi’s undisclosed visits abroad?

An RTI applicant, Mr Ramesh Verma, had sought from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) details of the foreign visits of the Chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC) and Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The Central Information Commission (CIC) forwarded the application to the PMO. “It seems the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry had informed that the Central government had incurred no expenditure on the foreign visits Sonia Gandhi during the last 10 years,” CIC commissioner Mr Satyananda Mishra has stated.

The application to the PMO was received on 26 February, 2010, transferred to the external affairs ministry on 16 March, 2010 and then forwarded to the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry on 26 March, 2010. However, it was not known by the Cabinet secretariat whether the RTI applicant had been provided with the information that was sought. The CIC commissioner criticised the PMO for its casual approach. The PMO did not obtain the information from the appropriate ministry after the query was specifically directed to it.

Congress leaders are frothing at the mouth demanding total transparency from members of civil society. Probes have been launched against some of them. Should not the government display equal transparency pertaining to India’s most powerful politician who is the chairperson of the ruling UPA coalition as well as the chairperson of the government’s NAC? They need to answer the following questions:

Did Mrs Gandhi travel abroad on an airline or by a private jet? If the latter, whose jet was it?

What was the purpose of the foreign visit made by the Chairperson of the NAC and the UPA?

What is the itinerary of the NAC Chairperson? Which countries and cities did she, or will she, visit?

And while they are at it, our worthy Congress leaders may as well also address these ancient and perennial questions:

Why does not the government refute the allegation made by a former member of the Soviet government’s official KGB Commission, confirmed by the official spokesman of the Russian government addressing the media, that the KGB had been donating funds to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s family, including her mother, since 1971? Why does the government not demand an apology from the author of the allegation and failing its receipt launch a defamation case against the author and the Russian government?

Why do the government and the Congress party not explain the purpose of the meeting between accused money launderer Hasan Ali and the political secretary of the Congress president, Mr Ahmed Patel, that was investigated and confirmed by Maharashtra police?

The public awaits from Congress leaders Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Digvijay Singh, Mr Kapil Sibal, Mr Chidambaram and the rest, answers to these questions. Transparency, like charity, should begin at home.

The writer Rajinder Puri, is a veteran journalist and cartoonist

http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=373111&catid=39&Itemid=53

17-06-2011

---

Annexation Through Technicalities

Annexation Through Technicalities by Arun Shourie
  

Arun Shourie

  

The day I entered Indiraji's household I became an Indian, the rest is just technical -- that is Sonia Gandhi's latest explanation for not having acquired Indian citizenship till fourteen years after her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi.   First the facts. Surya Prakash, the Consulting Editor of The Pioneer, has documented these in detail. Sonia married Rajiv on 25 February, 1968. Under section 5(c) of the Indian Citizenship Act she became eligible to register herself as a citizen of India on 25 February, 1973. She chose to continue as a citizen of Italy. She applied for Indian citizenship only ten years later, on 7 April, 1983.   A foreigner seeking Indian citizenship has to state on oath that he or she has relinquished his or her citizenship of the original country. This requirement was all the more necessary in the case of an Italian citizen: under Italian law, an Italian taking citizenship of another country continues to retain his or her Italian citizenship. Sonia Gandhi's application did not have the requisite statement, nor did it have any official document from the appropriate authorities in Italy. The omission was made up in a curious way: the Ambassador of Italy stepped in, and wrote to the Government saying that Sonia Gandhi had indeed given up her citizenship of Italy. He did so on 27 April, 1983. Sonia got her citizenship forthwith -- on 30 April, 1983.    Another nugget Surya Prakash has unearthed is that while Sonia became a citizen on 30 April, 1983, her name made its way to the electoral rolls as of 1 January, 1980! In response to an objection, it had to be deleted in late 1982. But sure enough, it was put back on the electoral roll as of 1 January, 1983. She hadn't even applied for citizenship till then.    All technicalities! If any ordinary person were to proceed in the same way, he would be up for stern prosecution.    Maruti was one of the most odious scandals connected with Mrs Indira Gandhi and her family. The Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice A C Gupta recorded that, though she was at the time a foreigner, Sonia Gandhi secured shares in two of their family concerns: Maruti Technical Services Pvt. Ltd. (in 1970 and again in 1974), and Maruti Heavy Vehicles (in 1974). The acquisition of these shares was in contravention of the very Act that Mrs Gandhi used to such diabolic effect in persecuting her political opponents, the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973. Just another technicality!    But the Mother of Technicalities, so to say, is to be found in the way Sonia Gandhi, without having any known sources of income, has become the controller of one of the largest empires of property and patronage in Delhi. The Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Library and Museum is one of the principal institutions for research on contemporary Indian history. It is situated in and controls real estate which, because of its historical importance, cannot even be valued. The institution runs entirely on grants from the Government of India. Sonia Gandhi has absolutely no qualification that could by any stretch of imagination entitle her to head the institution: has she secured even an elementary university degree, to say nothing of having done anything that would even suggest some specialization in subjects which the institution has been set up to study. But by mysterious technicalities she is today the head of this institution. So much so that she even decides which scholar may have access to papers -- even official papers -- of Pandit Nehru and others of that family, including, if I may stretch the term, Lady Mountbatten.    Real estate, only slightly less valuable, has been acquired on Raisina Road. The land was meant to house offices of the Congress. A large, ultra-modern building was built -- the finance being provided by another bunch of technical devices which remain a mystery. The building had but to get completed, and Sonia appropriated it for the other Foundation she completely controls -- the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. The Congress(I) did not just oblige by keeping silent about the takeover of its building, in the very first budget its Government presented upon returning to power, it provided Rs 100 crores to this Foundation. The furore that give-away caused was so great that the largesse had to be canceled. No problem. Business house after business house, even public sector enterprises incurring huge losses, coughed up crores.    The Foundation has performed two principal functions. The projection of Sonia Gandhi. And enticing an array of leaders, intellectuals, journalists etc. into nets of patronage and pelf.    But the audacity with which the land and building were usurped and funds raised for this Foundation falls into the second order of smalls when they are set alongside what has been done in regard to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.    This Centre was set up as a trust in 1987 by a resolution of the Cabinet. The Government of India gave Rs. 50 crores out of the Consolidated Fund of India as a corpus fund to this Centre. It transferred 23 acres of land along what is surely one of the costliest sites in the world -- Central Vista, the stretch that runs between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate -- to this Trust. Furthermore, it granted another Rs. 84 crores for the Trust to construct its building. The land was government land. The funds were government funds. Accordingly, care was taken to ensure that the Trust would remain under the overall control of the Government of India. Therefore, the Deed of the Trust provided, inter alia, Every ten years two-thirds of the trustees would retire. One half of the vacancies caused would be filled by the Government. One half would be filled by nominations made by the retiring trustees. The Member Secretary of the Trust would be nominated by the Government on such terms and conditions as the Government may decide. The President of India would appoint a committee from time to time to review the working of the Trust, and the recommendations of the committee would be binding on the Trust. No changes would be made in the deed of the Trust except by prior written sanction of the Government, and even then the changes may be adopted only by three-quarters of the Trustees agreeing to them at a meeting specially convened for the purpose. Now, just see what technical wonders were performed one fine afternoon.    A meeting like any other meeting of the trustees was convened on 18 May, 1995. The minutes of this meeting which I have before me list all the subjects which were discussed -- the minutes were circulated officially by Dr Kapila Vatsyayan in her capacity as the Director of the Centre with the observation, "The Minutes of this meeting have been approved by Smt Sonia Gandhi, President of the IGNCA Trust."    What did the assembled personages discuss and approve? Even if the topics seem mundane, do read them carefully -- for they contain a vital clue, the Sherlock Holmes clue so to say, about what did not happen.    The minutes report that the following subjects were discussed: 1: Indira Gandhi Memorial Fellowship Scheme and the Research Grant Scheme. 2: Commemoration volume in the memory of Stella Kramrisch. 3: Sale of publications of the IGNCA. 4: Manuscripts on music and dance belonging to the former ruling house of Raigarh in M P 5: Report on the 10th and 11th meetings of the Executive Committee. 6: Approval and adoption of the Annual Report and Annual Accounts, 1993-94. 7: Bilateral and multilateral programmes of IGNCA, and aid from U N agencies, Ford Foundation, Japan Foundation, etc. 8: Brief report on implementation of programmes from April 1994 to March 1995. 9: Brief of initiatives taken by IGNCA to strengthen dialogue between Indian and Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, China. 10: Documentation of cultural heritage of Indo-Christian, Indo-Islamic and Indo-Zoroastrian communities. 11: Gita Govinda project. 12: IGNCA newsletter. 13: Annual Action Plan, 1995-96. 14: Calendar of events. 15: Publications of IGNCA. 15: Matters relating to building project. 16: Allocations/release of funds for the IGNCA building project. There is not one word in the minutes that the deed of the Trust was even mentioned.    This meeting took place on 18 May, 1995. On 30 May, 1995 Sonia Gandhi performed one of technical miracles. She wrote a letter to the Minister of Human Resources informing him of what she said were alterations in the Trust Deed which the trustees had unanimously approved. Pronto, the Minister wrote back, on 2 June, 1995: "I have great pleasure in communicating to you the Government of India's approval to the alterations."    The Minister? The ever-helpful, Madhav Rao Scindia. And wonder of wonders, in his other capacity he had attended the meeting on 18 May as a trustee of the IGNCA, the meeting which had not, according to the minutes approved by Sonia Gandhi, even discussed, far less "unanimously approved" changes in the Trust Deed.    And what were the changes that Sonia Gandhi managed to get through by this collusive exchange of two letters? She became President for life. The other trustees -- two-thirds of whom were to retire every ten years -- became trustees for life. The power of the Government to fill half the vacancies was snuffed out. The power of the Government to appoint the Member Secretary of the Trust was snuffed out; henceforth the Trust would appoint its own Member Secretary. The power of the President of India to appoint a committee to periodically review the functioning of the Trust was snuffed out; neither he nor Government would have any power to inquire into the working of the Trust. A Government Trust, a Trust which had received over Rs. 134 crores of the tax-payers' money, a Trust which had received twenty three acres of invaluable land was, by a simple collusive exchange of a letter each between Sonia Gandhi and one of her gilded attendants became property within her total control.    The usurpation was an absolute fraud. The Trust Deed itself provided that no amendment to it could come into force -- on any reasonable reading could not even be initiated and adopted -- without prior written permission of the Government. Far from any permission being taken, even information to the effect that changes were being contemplated was not sent to Government. An ex post "approval" was obtained from an obliging trustee.    That "approval" was in itself wholly without warrant. Such sanctions are governed by Rule 4 of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961. This Rule prescribes that when a subject concerns more than one department, "no order be issued until all such departments have concurred, or failing such concurrence, a decision thereon has been taken by or under the authority of the Cabinet." Other departments were manifestly concerned, concurrence from them was not even sought. The Cabinet was never apprised.    The rule proceeds to provide, "Unless the case is fully covered by powers to sanction expenditure or to appropriate or re-appropriate funds, conferred by any general or special orders made by the Ministry of Finance, no department shall, without the previous concurrence of the Ministry of Finance, issue any orders which may... (b) involve any grant of land or assignment of revenue or concession, grant... (d) otherwise have a financial bearing whether involving expenditure or not..."    And yet, just as concurrence of other departments had been dispensed with, no approval was taken from the Finance Ministry.    The Indian Express and other papers published details about the fraud by which what was a Government Trust had been converted into a private fief. Two members of Parliament -- Justice Ghuman Mal Lodha and Mr. E. Balanandan -- began seeking details, and raising objections.    For a full two and a half years, governments -- of the Congress(I), and the two that were kept alive by the Congress(I), those of Mr. Deve Gowda and of Mr. I. K. Gujral -- made sure that full facts would not be disclosed to the MPs, and that the concerned file would keep shuttling between the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Law.    As a result, Sonia Gandhi continues to have complete control over governmental assets of incalculable value -- through technicalities collusively arranged.    A latter-day Dalhousie -- annexation of Indian principalities through technicalities!

India Connect

September 13, 1999

---

A ship about to sink

A ship about to sink : Politics : Pritish Nandy : TOI Blogs

I like Manmohan Singh. He has immaculate credentials. It’s these credentials that have seen the UPA through its most stormy years. If Singh wasn’t Prime Minister, the Government would have collapsed a long time back. No, not because of its inherent coalition contradictions but because it’s simply not possible for so many crooks with conflicting agendas to loot the country together, almost as if in perfect unison. The Indian Political Philharmonic Orchestra must be the world’s most amazing cacophony of rogues, rascals and robbers.

Luckily for the UPA, there was always Singh to fall back on. Most middle class Indians refuse to be cynical. We know exactly what’s happening around us, we criticise it constantly, but when it comes to the crunch we all rally around the nation and the flag. We are not bat-brained paranoids. Neither are we wide-eyed innocents ready to buy into every ridiculous explanation thrown our way to explain the loot that’s taking place in broad daylight. But the latest season of scams has flummoxed all. This is not just Alibaba and his chaalis chors. Everyone among the chaalis chors is another Alibaba with his own chaalis chors. That’s the way the pyramid of crime operates today. But because Singh, soft spoken and self effacing, is the face of this Government, India has kept faith.

But now, enough is enough. Neither Singh nor Pranab Mukherjee, nor anyone else is capable any more of saving this Government. It’s neck deep in its own sticky sleaze. What’s worse, you haven’t seen anything yet. All these scams are but the tip of the iceberg. Talk to anyone and you will get an instant dhobi list of scams in queue to break. No, I am not saying this. Congress leaders are, in private. Look at Singh, wan and waylost. Or Mukherjee going apopleptic in faux anger because he has to defend what he knows is indefensible. They look less convincing than Rakhi Sawant playing Joan of Arc.

The problem is: We have voted into power the stupidest bunch of thieves. They are such losers that they can’t steal a hamburger without leaving ketchup stains all over. Yet they are constantly trying to pull off the biggest scams in history. From Rs 64 crore in Bofors, they have upped the ante to Rs 170,0000 crore in 2G and no, I am not including hundreds of aircraft Air India bought while sinking into bankruptcy and preposterous sums spent on arms deals that have made India the world’s second largest arms buyer when we can’t provide food and healthcare to 60% Indians. Our leaders are making deals on the sly with greedy builders, land sharks, illegal mining companies, corporate fixers, shady arms dealers and, O yes, US diplomats who want to manipulate our political choices. And, what’s more amazing, they do it like bungling idiots. Even Inspector Clouseau can outwit them.

But that doesn’t mean they are not malevolent. These are people who are destroying India from within. They are not just robbing you, me, and the exchequer. They are destroying institutions, subverting laws, vandalising our heritage and history, and trying to build a dazzling, amoral edifice of crime and corruption unprecedented in the nation’s history. It’s a scary scenario that could turn the land of the Mahatma into one gigantic Gotham City with a flyover to hell.

But my question is more basic: Can we trust these idiots to run this great nation? If you travel and meet people across India, you will realise that for every scam that breaks—and currently there’s one breaking every week—there are ten more waiting in line. The media has never had it so good! And it’s the same gang whose names keep coming up. Kalmadi, Satish Sharma, Sant Chatwal, Ashok Chavan. The NCP lot. The DMK. And everyone, in private, is protesting his own innocence, pointing fingers at someone else. It’s a sure sign of a collapsing regime. It’s what happened when Rajiv with a staggering majority in parliament lost his mandate to govern. Rats alone don’t leap off a sinking ship. So do everyone else.

So even though Singh, like Pontius Pilate, may wash his hands off every scam that hits the headlines, the fact is: The longer this Government stays, the more compromised the Congress will be, and the less capable of coming back to power. You can’t allow the sovereignty of a nation to be compromised just to win a confidence vote. You can’t bribe MPs to get your way in parliament. You can’t allow a shady hotelier, with CBI cases against him, to play roving diplomat and, worse, give him a Padma Bhushan for it. You can’t appoint a tainted bureaucrat as the nation’s CVC. You can’t file a FIR against a corrupt CM and then allow him to melt away. You can’t let the prime witness to the nation’s biggest scam, who offered to turn approver, be murdered in broad daylight and pretend it’s a suicide.

If this is the best this Government can do, it’s time to step down.

A ship about to sink : Politics : Pritish Nandy : TOI Blogs

---

India in bad company

India is in bad company when it comes to corruption. This is according to the data from 2010. With all the scams that has come to fore in recent times, we will be excelling in this department. Shame to our politicians and our people who now treat this as a necessary evil - and even accept it. That's becoming the culture, sadly.

Click here to see how we compare in the interactive map
http://www.reuters.com/article/interactive/idUSTRE69P0X620101026?view=small&type=domesticNews

---

Anti-Corruption Day

On 31 October 2003, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The Assembly also designated 9 December as International Anti-Corruption Day, to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the Convention in combating and preventing it.  The Convention entered into force in December 2005.

"I call on business leaders worldwide to denounce corruption and to back their words with strict prohibitions against it. They should adopt anti-corruption policies in line with the United Nations Convention and put in place the necessary checks to strengthen integrity and transparency. I also urge corporations to work more closely with the United Nations on this issue." - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Let’s have a look at what people say. Not surprisingly many have little trust in the institutions that are supposed to help and protect them. TI’s Global Corruption Barometer, released today is a public opinion survey that covers people’s experiences and perceptions of corruption in their country. The results show us that people do not trust their governments to fight corruption. It also shows that poor people are more frequently penalised by corruption, especially when they try to get basic services such as water or electricity, or when trying to get access to healthcare or the education system.

One out of four people worldwide said they paid a bribe in the past 12 months for one of nine public services.

The good news, and I think this is really very good news, is that people are willing to engage in the fight against corruption. More than two thirds of those surveyed believe that people can make a difference. And about half of all people that were asked could imagine themselves becoming involved in the fight against corruption. So Anti-corruption Day provides a great opportunity for people to raise their voice against corruption. You are not alone. There are people around us that are eager to stand up and demand a life without corruption, a better life.

Thought : 

If we in India, leave our politicians and bureaucrats out of this equation, we could have been very favourably placed in the chart above.  Unfortunately we can't do much about it now, but come election time, we need to seriously ponder on this burning issue and make few course corrections, necessarily. Do what we must, in whatsoever or whichever way we can, each one of us has a responsibility to get us out of this shamefully uncomfortable situation. I hope, we all agree on that? As it is, I am not liking the company we are keeping!

---

Black Money

Illegal financial flows: the great drain robbery

Black money accounts for 50% of GDP, the report says

India has lost more than $460bn since Independence because of companies and the rich illegally funnelling their wealth overseas. The actual figure could be much more, as it did not include smuggling and cash transfers outside the financial system. (For a general perspective - $1billion is equal to about Rs.4600 crores)

The illegal flight of capital through tax evasion, crime and corruption had widened inequality in India. According to the report from US-based group Global Financial Integrity, the illicit outflows of money increased after economic reforms began in 1991. Many also accuse governments and politicians of corruption in India.

Global Financial Integrity, which is based in Washington, studies and campaigns against the cross-border flow of illegal money around the world. It said that the "poor state of governance" had been reflected in a growing underground economy in India since Independence in 1947.

Global Financial Integrity director Raymond Baker said the report "puts into stark terms the financial cost of tax evasion, corruption, and other illicit financial practices in India".

Some the main findings of the report are:

• India lost a total of $462bn in illegal capital flows between 1948, a year after Independence, and 2008.
• The flows are more than twice India's external debt of $230bn.
• Total capital flight out of India represents some 16.6% of its GDP.
• Some 68% of India's capital loss has happened since the economy opened up in 1991.
• "High net-worth individuals" and private companies were found to be primary drivers of illegal capital flows.
• The share of money Indian companies moved from developed country banks to "offshore financial centres" (OFCs) increased from 36.4% in 1995 to 54.2% in 2009.

The report's author, Dev Kar, a former International Monetary Fund economist, said that almost three quarters of the illegal money that comprises India's underground economy ends up outside the country.

India's underground economy has been estimated to account for 50% of the country's GDP - $640bn at the end of 2008.

According to Hindu :  India is losing nearly Rs.240 crore every 24 hours, on average, in illegal financial flows out of the country.

---

Foot note : (another report)

The Swiss Justice Department on Friday said that the Government of India was dragging its feet on the black money issue.

In a Headlines Today exclusive, the department also said the Indian government had submitted forged documents to Swiss authorities in the $ 8-billion Hassan Ali money laundering case in January 2007. Stud farm owner Hassan Ali had illegally transferred $ 6 billion to UBS accounts and came under the Enforcement Directorate's radar.

Swiss government spokesman Folco Galli told Headlines Today that the Indian government was informed about the fake documents by Swiss authorities in January 2007 itself. Further, the Swiss claimed to have submitted certain queries to the Indian government in April 2007 but New Delhi has not bothered to file a reply even 24 months later.

Since the black money issue became a major election plank for the Lok Sabha polls, the Centre claimed in the Supreme Court that it has been doing what it can to bring back the black money stashed in Swiss banks. The Centre's affidavit in the SC however fails to mention that the Swiss have questioned the authenticity of the documents.

In fact, the Swiss spokesman's answer seems to suggest there has been little or no action from the government's side for the last two years in seriously pursuing the probe against Hassan Ali Khan.

The last sentence in the response of the Swiss is telling. Galli says, "India makes only few requests per year to Switzerland for legal aid in tracking down black money."

Given the black economy is considered much bigger than the Indian economy, the UPA government has a lot to answer for.

The Centre has been claiming that Swiss domestic laws don't allow them to access their bank accounts.

---

The Shame of India - 3

Talking about "Swiss Bank Accounts", today I tweeted (in two parts), "Offshore banking is a 11 trillion dollar industry. It encourages massive tax evasion and instead of investment into development ... it creates avenues for money laundering, terrorism, drug trade, weapons dealing, sex trafficking, and other international crimes".

These facts and figures are sourced from Financial Taskforce, and are put out by researchers who have done their homework very well. Since they go by available records, we can safely assume that the actual figures could be more but, certainly not less.

A figure of 1 trillion is difficult to visualise. Here are some other ways to think about it :

• $1 trillion was a little less than half of the entire developing worlds’ government revenue in 2007 ($2.5 trillion), which means that for every $2.50 those governments earned, $1 crept out of their countries.

• $1 trillion was about 8% of the entire developing worlds’ income or $181 per person.  This is particularly significant given the fact that the average annual income of the developing world is only $2,366 per year.

• $181 per person is more than the developing world’s total health spending per person ($114 per person)

• $1 trillion is 500 times what the World Bank will spend on emergency food aid in the next two years

• If the $1 trillion had been taxed, it would have generated an additional $144.5-$170 billion in government revenue for the developing world, in 2006 alone (assumes an average 17% tax rate).

1 trillion dollars is not very easy to put into perspective. Especially for us Indians. Our reach only goes just over a billion in population - and that too is very hard to visualise, isn't it? So, let us put our Indian caps and see what a trillion dollar mean.

As I said, India's population crossed 1 billion over a decade back. Now what is 1 billion? It is one thousand million - and each million is thousand thousand or 10 Lakhs. Now reverting to US$ @ Rs.50 for convenience (actual is approx. 46), we have $1 million as Rs. 500 lakhs - or 5 crores. And, 1 billion is 5000 crores, and a trillion is thousand times 5000 crores.

Our Government does not want to know, but we are told that corrupt Indians own at least US$1.4 Trillion of that 11 Trillion - if not more! These are figures till 2007. Remember these figures does not include the massive moneys siphoned in the 2G Spectrum scam, CWG scam and other's yet to be reported scams including hundreds of smaller scams.

Just imagine what India could have done if all that money was available for development?  

(Rajeev Gandhi, as a politician, speaking the truth on a rare occasion,  had said, "out of every Rs.100 spent for development, only Rs.15 reached the people")

---

The Shame of India-2

NEW DELHI: Former Law minister Shanti Bhushan has submitted a list of 16 former Chief Justices of India saying that 8 of them were definitely corrupt. Bhushan has also dared the apex court to send him to jail for contempt of court. 

Bhusan, who was Law minister in the Morarji Desai government, claimed six of the CJIs were honest and he could not comment on the remaining two judges. He submitted the name of eight "corrupt judges" to the Supreme Court. 

Bhushan had written an article in 'Tehelka' magazine about the corrupt judges in Supreme Court after which the apex court started a contempt proceeding against him.

Read more: The eight allegedly corrupt CJIs feature among a list of 16 prepared by Bhushan—comprising Justices Ranganath Mishra, K N Singh, M H Kania, L M Sharma, M N Venkatachalliah, A M Ahmadi, J S Verma, M M Punchhi, A S Anand, S P Bharucha, B N Kirpal, G B Patnaik, Rajendra Babu, R C Lahoti, V N Khare and Y K Sabharwal. Terming eight among the list as "definitely corrupt", Bhushan put their names in a sealed cover and submitted it to the Supreme Court and virtually dared it to open it and read out the contents.

He said of the 16 on his list, "six were definitely honest and about the remaining two, a definite opinion cannot be expressed whether they were honest or corrupt"

Classic case of the fence eating the garden? (Just confirms my earlier blog)

---

The Shame of India

Pratyush Sinha, Chief Vigilance Commissioner, retired last week. Very few people are aware of what he did while in office, or more precisely what he was allowed to do while in office. Not many people care either, because there is very less hope of correcting this setup, as it exists.

After coming out of office, after a lifetime spent in babudom, he made an interesting observation. In a speech, he said that one-third of Indians were "utterly corrupt" and half were "borderline" while a fifth cannot be corrupted under any circumstance.

To put it in proper order, it means :

20% of Indians are not corrupt, meaning they cannot be easily lured.
50% are borderline, meaning they don't mind being corrupt "if the price is good" while
30% are utterly corrupt, meaning they will steel from their mother's corpse, even while people are looking.

To an average Indian, this is something that he has always known. It is no secret that India is 84th in the "Transparency International Index" - which rates us as one of the most corrupt countries of the world. So, I don't know anyone who can dispute the statement of the ex-CVC. Some may want to upgrade the figures - as per their own experiences. But remember, this is from a babu who has been in the thick of things within the system and was appointed to be vigilant about it! I must say he has been vigilant, so he should be an authority on this.

Yesterday, speaking at a national convention of Central Information Commission, Veerappa Moily, one of the ministers overseeing corruption in the present cabinet, was very critical of the ex-CVC. He called for action to be taken against the ex-CVC for this "travesty of truth" and said the official owed an apology to the nation, because he has "shamed" the nation!

Now, Moily believes that he and his colleagues can live in eternal corruption, supporting each other. He is not bothered of what the world thinks of us - because on every index we fail. Only, he doesn't want the truth to be told loudly - because that shames the nation. It does not shame him and his colleagues nor are they willing to do anything to eradicate corruption! Easier to eradicate people like the ex-CVC? And so, in blissful ignorance, life goes on for the corrupt in this shamed nation!

---