EDITORIAL
Friends
We are well in to the new year, with January having gone and traditional budget month coming. Hopefully unlike the winter session, which was washed off, the budget session of parliament shall go smoothly to pass both Railway Budget and the Union Budget 2010/2011.
Month began with Justice Sri Krishna Commission presenting its report on the feasibility of Telengana State creation. As we are all privy, the commission has left the issue in a bit of limbo, advocating primarily status quo with some regional authority to see the growth of Telengana region within the greater Andhra Pradesh. Like all Commissions, this too was constituted primarily to buy time to dampen the passion. Having succeeded in its objective to buy time and douse the heat, the central government is left with, not many options. While it will keep dragging its feet, it may have to ultimately accede to the demand for Telengana. Of course the contentious issue of Hyderabad has to be amicably solved. Telengana has to accept to either share the capital with the other state or lose it to an union territory, and no other way shall be equitable. Like in life, in politics too, give and take should be the basis of all settlement. In the larger socio-economic scenario, smaller states shall continue to be the sine-quo-non of better economic justice for all under-developed areas of the country. This is the truth and hopefully all shall accept it and get going.
The reported government stand that Central Vigilance commissioner’s appointment is beyond the ambit of court intervention, is pure and simple, a joke. It flies in the face of the government, when it talks about “impeccable integrity” of CVC who still faces answerable questions. Suddenly the central government appears to be standing up for its decision to appoint the CVC Thomas. At one stage, the government lawyer even refused to take the notice from apex court on behalf of CVC, wanting to dump him. Its sudden volte-face is surprising. While it may be within its legal ambit to question the judiciary, how can it handle a public query? As Indians are not happy with the appointment of Thomas as CVC, they have a right to go to court, and court has to take a stand, as it deems fit. Like it or not court will have its own take, which, the government feels may not be to the liking of the appointing authority. Under the circumstances it is an open and shut case, and government has to eat the humble pie.
Death of 100+ devotees visiting the Sabarimalai shrine in Kerala has, as usual, left many questions unanswered. Tragedy was just waiting to happen. Time and again, court had observed that infrastructure needs to be improved. Whether it is the responsibility of Temple management or the State is not relevant. As a nation we have always acted when its late. Sabarimalai is a shrine where lakhs of devotees come from all over India. Since the temple is on a hill, the roads leading to the temple has to be improved besides other infrastructure to take the crowd. The crowd management is another issue which requires constant monitoring. Of course all these need outlay of huge funds. But then the temple gets huge collections on offerings and donations. Surely good part of these collections should go to the improvement of facilities for the devotees, who are true stake holders. Can a shrine function and sustain for long, if devotees do not come to the shrine. Lets go back in time. In Malayalam, a film was made by name ‘Nirmaalyam’. The archaka, the priest, complaints to the god in the sanctorum, that “no devotee has come for many days. So no offerings and therefore the whole family is going hungry. Now my wife too has left me to live with the local grocer. At least he can feed her. Can I blame her? I gave all my life to you, what did you give me? You couldn’t even save my marriage?” he bemoans.
Yes, too many uncomfortable questions. Least what man can do is to avert tragedies by responding to situations with means at his command. Hopefully all will fall into its slot for a synchronised movement of the larger scheme of things.
Assemananda Swami has been in the news, for, it looks like, all good reasons. If his confession can prove right, at least those who are detained and arrested on suspicion can be released. Some of them have been in detention without charge sheet for years. The state must expeditiously look into the confessions of Swami, to redress the wrongs committed by the police in arresting wrong persons on mere suspicion. Even court can take up suo moto, the issue to correct the injustice done to these detainees. At least a conditional bail should be given without delay. In a recent meeting of Human Rights activists in Mangalore, while condemning right wing radicals for their violence, called Assemananda Swami a good soul, who had felt bad about the languishing innocent victims in jail and hence confessed to the crime. But the fact of the matter is, these radicalised right wing groups are probably swayed because of the attacks on their community and are primarily not violent. By recognising that Assemanand is a good soul, a space is created, why such souls do not crop-up on the other side of the social divide. Doesn’t this aspect become a serious food for thought?
The cases involving Aadarsh Housing Scam and Lavasa City development violations is getting intriguer by the day. While MoEF has ordered the demolition of Aadarsh building, the Lavasa has been stopped on its tracks for lot of irregularities. Likes of Aadarsh, there must be many all over India. Riches of politicians and babus in this country is a long story of breaking the law of the land with impunity for their selfish ends. This selfish nexus has to end, if the country has to improve the lot of common man. Lavasa too is another dimension of our development. How rich become richer, that too by breaking the law of the land. They buy the system, the babus and politicians. It was Pawar & Co with Narayan Rane and his Revenue ministry who joined HCC group at Lavasa to make themselves richer at the cost of the nation. Of course the demolition of Aadarsh, although very sad if it really happens, may become a test case and also may be necessary in the larger national interest. But the Lavasa development has taken thousands of crores of rupees of the HCC. It could be quite true that Lavasa developer has violated lots of state rules and regulations for which the company has to be made accountable. They have to be slapped with a huge fine equal to what state has lost by way of land price, and as punishment of breaking statutory provisions. This should drive sense to both the politician as well as trade lobby.
Yes, CBI is indeed having a problem of plenty as some media reported about the shortage of expert manpower available in-house and the increasing number of scams by the day. If CBI is suffering from the large number of unsolved cases of the past, there are newer ones getting added almost every fortnight, since last few months. The latest irritant of course is the disclosure of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) about the income tax due from the infamous late Win Chadha on the commission earned by him from the equally infamous Bofors deal. But what irked the CBI most is the inclusion of another MIP-that is Most Important Player-in the Bofors deal – and a fugitive from the Indian laws, the infamous Ottavio Quattrochhi. It was really embarrassing particularly for CBI, which has been trying rather hard, under political compulsions, to close the Bofors file citing lack of evidence. Would CBI do something, at least now, since they have the evidence from ITAT, and no less? Here it is very significant to note that, while CBI says it has no evidence, the ITAT says that tribunal had relied on the documents collected by the CBI to assess the taxability of Chadhas. According to ITAT sources, it has gone through the whole set of documents and has found that the Swedish firm has indeed paid an estimated 242.62 million Swedish Kroners to Quattrocchi and Chadha for securing the 400 guns deal. Here it needs to be reiterated that it was a tax evasion case of Win Chadha, but the tribunal, on its own professional obligation, looked into the culpability of other recipients involved. That is where this MIP Ottavio Quattrocchi got caught. Of course, it is evident that ITAT did not know the CBI programme of allowing this MIP to escape, both physically and legally, from India and its laws. Yes it is indeed true, “Satyameva Jayathe”, truth has its own ways to come into public domain. So now they have the evidence. Would CBI do something, at least now, to not only keep the Bofors file open but also ask for the fugitive Italian to be brought back to India to face Indian law? No never, it looks like. CBI answered a court summon to inform the court that the demand for Income Tax by ITAT and the criminal case against the Italian is not the same and believe it or not, the session court judge readily agreed. Income Tax Department, are you listening? Tax evasion is not a crime, according to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, Vinod Yadav!. This is Yeh Mera India.
The recent developments in the Afro-Arab world is likely to send its positive signals across the Arabic speaking Muslims world. Positive for its ‘aam aadmi’, rather than its political masters. “An Arab Nation wakes up, says enough” was the headline to describe the overthrow of the president of Tunisia, a North African Arab country. Quoting a famous Tunisian poet, “And the people wanted life, and the chains were broken”, the Lebanese broadcaster, in a triumphal tone, announced that president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country after huge and persistent popular uprising. The lady broadcaster went on to say that “it would serve as a lesson for countries where presidents and kings have rusted on their thrones” As a Paris professor paid his tribute to the spirit of freedom “A salute to Tunis, which has opened the road to freedom in an Arab world devastated by years of waiting on the curb”, lets hope a lasting democratic solution fills the passing void.
Another far happier news is the possible secession of South-Sudan from its northern part. After over two decades of civil war between north and south ended in 2005 with a peace agreement, this week-long referendum in the south, as reliably learnt, have overwhelmingly voted to go separate, as a new nation. North is mainly Arab and Muslim, and south is mainly Christian. Issue is why is it difficult for certain sections of human civilisation to co-habit with each other without violence? This is a question that stares at the entire humanity, as it tries to come to terms with the changing dogmatic preferences. Lets welcome the new member to the Comity of Nations and wish it all the very best in its vision of peace and prosperity.
There are any number of so-called secularists who want to keep the Indian society divided and keep those past issues alive and help continue the division within the body politic of the country. On 19th Jan., the print media reported “New Deoband chief praises Modi’s Gujarat, No Bias Against Muslims, says Darul Uloom V-C”. The news appeared on the front page of ‘The Hindu’. It was indeed a very pleasant news. But come Sunday, the 23rd Jan., Darul Uloom V-C, Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, an MBA, who spearheaded the changes in its educational curriculum was apparently forced to back track his paeans on ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ and it was back to square one, reported electronic media, CNN/IBN. Then there was this report “Gujarat poet lose grant for critique on Modi”. According to media, state run Urdu Sahitya Academy has asked poet Aqueel Shatir to return with interest a Rs: 10,000/- grant given to him claiming, his poetry showed C.M. Modi in poor light. But Shatir disputes the whole allegation by pointing out that it is not the government or Modi, who is irked, but it is the Urdu Sahitya Academy, which in unhappy with Shatir for his fight against corruption in the Academy. So its another attempt at keeping the untruth alive. Why a section of society makes it difficult for society to co-exist peacefully?
The ongoing fracas between the Karnataka Governor Bhardwaj and the government led by B S Yediyurappa culminated with Governor granting permission to prosecute the Chief Minister BSY. Now it is no holds barred. There are two aspects of the case, as all know and they are, (A) Government is of BJP and (B) the Governor is a Congress man by political affiliation and appointed by the UPA government at Delhi led by Congress party. It is clearly snake and mongoose. It was very apparent from beginning that, the relationship between the two had to be daggers drawn. In any system, if it has to work, there should be overall bonhomie, but the government in Bangalore was destined to be on the tenterhook all the time, with BJP managing to wrest the power in the corridors of Vidhana Saudha.
Of course, it is to the credit of BJP, that as per available report, it managed to become the most corrupt. It began with open buying of MLAs to augment its numbers to stake the first ever BJP government in Bangalore. The exercise remained almost continuous. And being first time, some of the MLAs and even children and relatives of BSY used the opportunity to make fast buck. BSY even managed to have a running battle with the Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santhosh Hegde. Of course, this is not to suggest that those in the present opposition, the Congress and JD (S) MLAs are Dharmaraayas. They have had their share of the loot, but they are unhappy that the BSY regime is probably better than them in the game. So they are creating all kinds of hurdles for the smooth running of the government, and the Governor became an easy tool to be used by the opposition. Since the governor was evidently a willing partner, he jumped head long to irritate the government. If the idea was to have a performing and reasonably transparent government, being a seasoned politician Governor Bhardwaj had the opportunity to do so. But he opted for a course of open confrontation by clearly going with the opposition. Thus, for the crisis in Bangalore both the Governor and the BSY & Company are responsible. Now only court shall decide who is right and who is not right.
There was this interesting headline in the press “India Inc. wants govt. to go all out against graft”. Instantly a thought crossed the mind “Is it the case of Kettle calling the stove black.” Or vice versa.
We are in a living, dynamic and supposedly on a race for super power status for India, and too many things are happening. Some right some not so right, and some patently wrong.
It was reported that some 14 eminent businessmen met in New Delhi wrote an “Open letter to our leaders,” and ostensibly demanded urgent steps to check the “malaise of corruption which is corroding the fabric of the nation”.
Quite frankly there is nothing extra-ordinary that the report informed. Most Indians are a concerned-lot about the degeneration in public life.
Also somewhere else in New Delhi, our activist minister Jairam Ramesh was addressing the media after his tête-à -tête with the industry captains of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) made a snide attack on the questionable practices of the corporate world saying “I can control the demand for corruption but what about the supply of corruption. I cannot stop that”
Thus isn’t giving bribe is as bad as taking? These captains of industry before lecturing should control their greed for making many, more money and still more money. Aren’t there examples replete in our socio-economic life, where the big money bought over the entire system itself. Hence before blaming the other side, shouldn’t we see inward. Of course there would be many in industry and trade who are clean, but then there are equally many bad apples. Industry must address that.
Anil Verma an IAS by attainment, a diplomat to boot, beats his wife in their London home, where he is posted at the Indian Embassy and barks at her “I have diplomatic immunity, you can’t do a thing”. His mistake was, he showed his animal streak in the UK, and not in India or
Pakistan or probably even in the Middle-East. The wife, Paromita Verma could escape to the wider world to tell her story and the police in London came calling and asked India to revoke Anil Verma’s diplomatic immunity. It was his luck that Indian government declined to act on the request of London police, and instead informed that Verma shall be tried under Indian Law. Try, surely, the govt. would. But, it’s a matter of shame and serious concern that such a thing should have happened and committed by a career diplomat in a foreign country. Not only the Indian govt. should sack this fellow, Anil Verma, but should also consider grounds under which immunity may be revoked. A country wanting a global role simply cannot afford to have on its roll, characters like Anil Verma. They should be booted out without mercy.
It’s a well known truth that no two lawyers will agree on the same clause of a law with one and the same interpretation and better pleader normally carries the day, when not necessarily the truth shall prevail. Thus a good lawyer can always try to confuse the judge in a bad case, as bad as 2G spectrum allocation. That’s what Kapil Sibal tried as new Telecom Minister. When offence is a form of defence it does make people sit up and take note. But it is the innate strength of the opposite side which can still hold on and that’s what happened. Kapil Sibal misjudged his ebullient self's ability to score over the CAG by attempting to throw the report on 2G scam, as if, out of the window. That was a brazen attempt to undermine the credibility of a very important constitutional authority like Comptroller and Auditor General of India. CAG had observed a maximum of Rs. 1.76 lakh crores loss and Sibal dismissed it as zero loss. But the truth may be some where in the middle, which too is a huge loss. Clearly Sibal was reading without books. No wonder apex court admonished the minister to control himself.
Who said that IPL is cricket ‘Extravaganza’, its pure and simple business of making money, more money and still more money. The never ending greed, or could it be ever increasing greed. The greed need not be only for money, its also for boosting ones ego. Surely Vijay Mallya and Nita Ambani were not looking for money. For them it is name and fame. Don’t they have both name and fame already? They do have but they want more. Yes "Knight Riders buys Gambhir for a record Rs: 11 crores” was the head line after the IPL auction at Bangalore. So cricketers are bought and sold like a commodity in the market, where a slightly rotten or old one remain unsold. Poor ‘Daada’, was completely left in the lurch. Oh yes, Bengali pride was badly hurt. Yes Shah Rukh Khan was responsible for deliberately ignoring him. Why was Saurav Ganguli omitted is a question only he can answer himself. Although for the world, media snidely remarked about his supposedly arrogant exterior.
But, by hindsight, this whole exercise of buying cricketers is a bit crazy. Come to think of it that a senior seasoned cricketer is sold for a little over Rs. 2 crores, an almost debutant young Sourabh Tiwary was bought for over Rs: 7 crores. But one fellow who really kept his dignity is Anil Kumble, who announced that he will not be available for IPL, the moment Vijay Mallya announced that he is retaining only Virat Kohli in his last year’s team of 11 men. Yes Anil Kumble decided not to sell his soul for a ‘few dollars more’, but Rahul Dravid? Wasn’t he treated badly even earlier by money bag Mallya? May be Dravid knows his priorities best.
Issue of black money stashed away in tax havens and other secret fund managers abroad has been a disturbing subject of discussion in public domain in India. In the past, its been always blow hot and blow cold. But this time round, its been getting more heated up both in media and in public debate because of the visible all round corruption reported all over the country. The incumbent union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, not known to be straight forward, has been saying all kinds of things on behalf of the government. He is known to be beating about the bush, whether it is infamous Hassan Ali case or others holding stolen national wealth in foreign countries.
The recent list of 26 Indians who have money in Liechtenstein, given to the Supreme Court, has a proviso saying names cannot be disclosed due to the terms of Double Taxation Agreement. According to Finance Minister this information is available only to recover the income tax due on the money held by these 26 Indians. But a former income tax commissioner rubbished the entire argument. According to him the very action of having a foreign a/c without the government’s knowledge is an economic offence and a crime. Not only the a/c holder has to declare the source of income and is fully liable for tax evasion. This is crime where a/c holder should not only pay tax and fine but should also undergo jail. In U.S. it is 10 years jail term said the commissioner. Thus as usual this Mr Pranab Mukherjee is at his old game of hoodwinking the gullible public and help these 26 criminals get away from public scrutiny. There has got to be a media uproar and public outcry to make public all the names of illegal a/c holders and their ill gotten financial details.
A Pakistani national identified as Abdulla Ali, was reportedly arrested by Bangladesh authorities in Dhaka, with Rs. 1 crore of fake Indian currency notes. On the face of it, this is a very significant development. The menace of Indian counterfeit notes from Pakistan has a history of long years. But India could not really get to the source of supply so far, except arresting occasionally the circulators. There is always a possibility that the people behind this fake note network could be from ISI or the fugitive criminal Dawood Ibrahim, a Mumbai police constable’s son. This latest cache has been possible due to the Bangladeshi participation, which in recent days have been actively co-operating with Indian authorities to help nab cross border criminals. Ever since Sheikh Hassina has taken over the reigns of power in Dhaka, bilateral relations have seen better days. She is keen to co-operate with India for mutual benefit, without the Muslim fundamentalist baggage of earlier regime. This is a development India must pro-actively pursue in the larger interest of peace and progress in the sub-continent. It is hoped that MEA will measure up in good measure to reach out to all Bangladeshi socio-economic concerns, without any mental blocks, as a true well-wisher and friend.
There was this small news “IMA against 4 years Rural Health Course”. But then IMA, being allopath controlled, they were always against integrated medical practices and most MBBS were not prepared to go to rural areas. But to encourage rural medical practitioners, who are mostly ayurvedic practitioners with knowledge of allopathy, government of India proposed a truncated course in allopathy to enable these existing practitioners to provide better services to rural folks. The present excuse of IMA that MBBS doctors do not go to the villages due to lack of facility is all hogwash. This 4 years course is certainly an attempt by the govt. to address shortage of doctors to rural areas and therefore should be given a go-ahead by the government for the greater good of our rural society.
The killing of Salman Taseer the former Governor of Punjab in Pakistan, is a reminder of the state of chaos the country is getting into with right-wing hate mongering. Reportedly Taseer was a liberal progressive man wanted to bring about reforms in the religious dictats in the country, like blasphemy laws. In Pakistan, especially blasphemy laws are greatly misused to settle personal enmity. It certainly needed changes since a long time. Unfortunately, the law makers, the elected representatives didn’t very seriously look into the issue, although minority in Pakistan were living in a constant fear of being caught in the wrong foot.
These right-wing hate mongers from the clergy to the common men and women, in the name of Quran, Prophet & Islam, were only usurping the tenets of a great religion to their petty programme of annihilating the so-called Kafirs, or non believers.
And it is unfortunate that the civil society there is only making a feeble noise that is lost in the cacophony of rabble rousing by these hate mongers. The news that 100 Hindus have applied for Indian citizenship is a sad commentary on the state of human rights in Pakistan, and Indian government is painfully unmindful of its duties in such situations.
Being in government service, with opportunity to make money on the sly, how much you think one can make? Can you hazard a guess? Rs: 10 crores! Rs: 50 crores! Rs: 100 crores! Well. Joshis, Arvind and Tinoo, a 1979 batch IAS couple, in Madhya Pradesh, have beaten all your guess. If Income Tax Deptt estimate is right, it’s a mind boggling Rs: 300 crores, in unaccounted worth. According to the deptt., they own some 24 flats, in Assam, Bhopal and New Delhi and have some 400 acres of land in different parts of Madhya Pradesh. It was last year that the couple was found with cash of Rs: 3 crores, during an I.T. raid, in their residence in Bhopal.
So can you imagine the infinite possibility of ‘making hay while sun shines’. These babus are better paid and better looked after, by the very nature of governance in the country, yet how greed can overtake them to amass wealth through all kinds of questionable means. These are the very people who are custodians of national resources where national wealth is kept for safe keeping. Misusing this trust, these highly educated people, have cheated and looted the public money for their private gain. They should be jailed without bail. If this is the case of one couple, what about the others all over the country? May be more or less, but still could be a humongous total. Oh poor Indians and poorer mother India!
While BJP may have scored some political points by attempting to unfurl tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, it should have instructed to all its cadres to be peaceful and not to cause law or order problem, should they be detained. Since the central government had instructed to all state governments to stop these cadres literally on the tracks, a token shouting could have been good enough. After all, the BJP move was more political rather than emotional, making some right noises should have been the only course. Hence the violence by its cadres is not acceptable at all. No action of any political party should lead to law and order problem. Mercifully nothing serious happened and 26th Jan. went off well as hoped, without any anti-national activity or terror attacks.
Pilferage is a sub-continental pastime, and Pakistan proved to be better than India. They did it on a massive scale as reported in the media. Between 2007 and 2010, NATO and U.S forces in Afghanistan were to receive exactly 306, 267 containers with logistical supplies, as per their supply source. But according to sources within Pak government, if in 2009, it was 36%, in 2010 pilferage touched a record 60%. In number terms, sources claimed that over 50,000 containers didn’t reach the destination, as it travelled from Karachi, the port of receipt, to different destination in Afghanistan. The Pakistani authorities are not confirming the exact number since Afghan authorities have not provided the exact number of container received by them despite request by Pak sources. Being country cousins, could Afghans be far behind in derailing the trailers transporting these containers? So, its been a massive theft of billions $ worth of supplies of all kinds. Another price the U.S. and its allies are paying to be in Afghanistan. Could it be some ways of fleecing the U.S. and its involvement in the regional one-up-man-ship with the active participation of the powers that be in these countries, Pak-Afghan?!
From April onwards, we hope to start a legal column by renowned
Supreme Court advocate Mr M.V. Kini, who has offered his legal acumen to be of help to our readers. Do make use of his magnanimous offer. Should you have queries on legal matters, do write to us to be forwarded to him for further action.
For the importance it deserved, as a prisoner of conscience, we have taken up the issue of Dr Binayak Sen under Focus. Hope readers shall find it illuminating. Do revert with your input. We do value them. Rest are as usual.
We are well in to the new year, with January having gone and traditional budget month coming. Hopefully unlike the winter session, which was washed off, the budget session of parliament shall go smoothly to pass both Railway Budget and the Union Budget 2010/2011.
Month began with Justice Sri Krishna Commission presenting its report on the feasibility of Telengana State creation. As we are all privy, the commission has left the issue in a bit of limbo, advocating primarily status quo with some regional authority to see the growth of Telengana region within the greater Andhra Pradesh. Like all Commissions, this too was constituted primarily to buy time to dampen the passion. Having succeeded in its objective to buy time and douse the heat, the central government is left with, not many options. While it will keep dragging its feet, it may have to ultimately accede to the demand for Telengana. Of course the contentious issue of Hyderabad has to be amicably solved. Telengana has to accept to either share the capital with the other state or lose it to an union territory, and no other way shall be equitable. Like in life, in politics too, give and take should be the basis of all settlement. In the larger socio-economic scenario, smaller states shall continue to be the sine-quo-non of better economic justice for all under-developed areas of the country. This is the truth and hopefully all shall accept it and get going.
The reported government stand that Central Vigilance commissioner’s appointment is beyond the ambit of court intervention, is pure and simple, a joke. It flies in the face of the government, when it talks about “impeccable integrity” of CVC who still faces answerable questions. Suddenly the central government appears to be standing up for its decision to appoint the CVC Thomas. At one stage, the government lawyer even refused to take the notice from apex court on behalf of CVC, wanting to dump him. Its sudden volte-face is surprising. While it may be within its legal ambit to question the judiciary, how can it handle a public query? As Indians are not happy with the appointment of Thomas as CVC, they have a right to go to court, and court has to take a stand, as it deems fit. Like it or not court will have its own take, which, the government feels may not be to the liking of the appointing authority. Under the circumstances it is an open and shut case, and government has to eat the humble pie.
Death of 100+ devotees visiting the Sabarimalai shrine in Kerala has, as usual, left many questions unanswered. Tragedy was just waiting to happen. Time and again, court had observed that infrastructure needs to be improved. Whether it is the responsibility of Temple management or the State is not relevant. As a nation we have always acted when its late. Sabarimalai is a shrine where lakhs of devotees come from all over India. Since the temple is on a hill, the roads leading to the temple has to be improved besides other infrastructure to take the crowd. The crowd management is another issue which requires constant monitoring. Of course all these need outlay of huge funds. But then the temple gets huge collections on offerings and donations. Surely good part of these collections should go to the improvement of facilities for the devotees, who are true stake holders. Can a shrine function and sustain for long, if devotees do not come to the shrine. Lets go back in time. In Malayalam, a film was made by name ‘Nirmaalyam’. The archaka, the priest, complaints to the god in the sanctorum, that “no devotee has come for many days. So no offerings and therefore the whole family is going hungry. Now my wife too has left me to live with the local grocer. At least he can feed her. Can I blame her? I gave all my life to you, what did you give me? You couldn’t even save my marriage?” he bemoans.
Yes, too many uncomfortable questions. Least what man can do is to avert tragedies by responding to situations with means at his command. Hopefully all will fall into its slot for a synchronised movement of the larger scheme of things.
Assemananda Swami has been in the news, for, it looks like, all good reasons. If his confession can prove right, at least those who are detained and arrested on suspicion can be released. Some of them have been in detention without charge sheet for years. The state must expeditiously look into the confessions of Swami, to redress the wrongs committed by the police in arresting wrong persons on mere suspicion. Even court can take up suo moto, the issue to correct the injustice done to these detainees. At least a conditional bail should be given without delay. In a recent meeting of Human Rights activists in Mangalore, while condemning right wing radicals for their violence, called Assemananda Swami a good soul, who had felt bad about the languishing innocent victims in jail and hence confessed to the crime. But the fact of the matter is, these radicalised right wing groups are probably swayed because of the attacks on their community and are primarily not violent. By recognising that Assemanand is a good soul, a space is created, why such souls do not crop-up on the other side of the social divide. Doesn’t this aspect become a serious food for thought?
The cases involving Aadarsh Housing Scam and Lavasa City development violations is getting intriguer by the day. While MoEF has ordered the demolition of Aadarsh building, the Lavasa has been stopped on its tracks for lot of irregularities. Likes of Aadarsh, there must be many all over India. Riches of politicians and babus in this country is a long story of breaking the law of the land with impunity for their selfish ends. This selfish nexus has to end, if the country has to improve the lot of common man. Lavasa too is another dimension of our development. How rich become richer, that too by breaking the law of the land. They buy the system, the babus and politicians. It was Pawar & Co with Narayan Rane and his Revenue ministry who joined HCC group at Lavasa to make themselves richer at the cost of the nation. Of course the demolition of Aadarsh, although very sad if it really happens, may become a test case and also may be necessary in the larger national interest. But the Lavasa development has taken thousands of crores of rupees of the HCC. It could be quite true that Lavasa developer has violated lots of state rules and regulations for which the company has to be made accountable. They have to be slapped with a huge fine equal to what state has lost by way of land price, and as punishment of breaking statutory provisions. This should drive sense to both the politician as well as trade lobby.
Yes, CBI is indeed having a problem of plenty as some media reported about the shortage of expert manpower available in-house and the increasing number of scams by the day. If CBI is suffering from the large number of unsolved cases of the past, there are newer ones getting added almost every fortnight, since last few months. The latest irritant of course is the disclosure of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) about the income tax due from the infamous late Win Chadha on the commission earned by him from the equally infamous Bofors deal. But what irked the CBI most is the inclusion of another MIP-that is Most Important Player-in the Bofors deal – and a fugitive from the Indian laws, the infamous Ottavio Quattrochhi. It was really embarrassing particularly for CBI, which has been trying rather hard, under political compulsions, to close the Bofors file citing lack of evidence. Would CBI do something, at least now, since they have the evidence from ITAT, and no less? Here it is very significant to note that, while CBI says it has no evidence, the ITAT says that tribunal had relied on the documents collected by the CBI to assess the taxability of Chadhas. According to ITAT sources, it has gone through the whole set of documents and has found that the Swedish firm has indeed paid an estimated 242.62 million Swedish Kroners to Quattrocchi and Chadha for securing the 400 guns deal. Here it needs to be reiterated that it was a tax evasion case of Win Chadha, but the tribunal, on its own professional obligation, looked into the culpability of other recipients involved. That is where this MIP Ottavio Quattrocchi got caught. Of course, it is evident that ITAT did not know the CBI programme of allowing this MIP to escape, both physically and legally, from India and its laws. Yes it is indeed true, “Satyameva Jayathe”, truth has its own ways to come into public domain. So now they have the evidence. Would CBI do something, at least now, to not only keep the Bofors file open but also ask for the fugitive Italian to be brought back to India to face Indian law? No never, it looks like. CBI answered a court summon to inform the court that the demand for Income Tax by ITAT and the criminal case against the Italian is not the same and believe it or not, the session court judge readily agreed. Income Tax Department, are you listening? Tax evasion is not a crime, according to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, Vinod Yadav!. This is Yeh Mera India.
The recent developments in the Afro-Arab world is likely to send its positive signals across the Arabic speaking Muslims world. Positive for its ‘aam aadmi’, rather than its political masters. “An Arab Nation wakes up, says enough” was the headline to describe the overthrow of the president of Tunisia, a North African Arab country. Quoting a famous Tunisian poet, “And the people wanted life, and the chains were broken”, the Lebanese broadcaster, in a triumphal tone, announced that president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country after huge and persistent popular uprising. The lady broadcaster went on to say that “it would serve as a lesson for countries where presidents and kings have rusted on their thrones” As a Paris professor paid his tribute to the spirit of freedom “A salute to Tunis, which has opened the road to freedom in an Arab world devastated by years of waiting on the curb”, lets hope a lasting democratic solution fills the passing void.
Another far happier news is the possible secession of South-Sudan from its northern part. After over two decades of civil war between north and south ended in 2005 with a peace agreement, this week-long referendum in the south, as reliably learnt, have overwhelmingly voted to go separate, as a new nation. North is mainly Arab and Muslim, and south is mainly Christian. Issue is why is it difficult for certain sections of human civilisation to co-habit with each other without violence? This is a question that stares at the entire humanity, as it tries to come to terms with the changing dogmatic preferences. Lets welcome the new member to the Comity of Nations and wish it all the very best in its vision of peace and prosperity.
There are any number of so-called secularists who want to keep the Indian society divided and keep those past issues alive and help continue the division within the body politic of the country. On 19th Jan., the print media reported “New Deoband chief praises Modi’s Gujarat, No Bias Against Muslims, says Darul Uloom V-C”. The news appeared on the front page of ‘The Hindu’. It was indeed a very pleasant news. But come Sunday, the 23rd Jan., Darul Uloom V-C, Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, an MBA, who spearheaded the changes in its educational curriculum was apparently forced to back track his paeans on ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ and it was back to square one, reported electronic media, CNN/IBN. Then there was this report “Gujarat poet lose grant for critique on Modi”. According to media, state run Urdu Sahitya Academy has asked poet Aqueel Shatir to return with interest a Rs: 10,000/- grant given to him claiming, his poetry showed C.M. Modi in poor light. But Shatir disputes the whole allegation by pointing out that it is not the government or Modi, who is irked, but it is the Urdu Sahitya Academy, which in unhappy with Shatir for his fight against corruption in the Academy. So its another attempt at keeping the untruth alive. Why a section of society makes it difficult for society to co-exist peacefully?
The ongoing fracas between the Karnataka Governor Bhardwaj and the government led by B S Yediyurappa culminated with Governor granting permission to prosecute the Chief Minister BSY. Now it is no holds barred. There are two aspects of the case, as all know and they are, (A) Government is of BJP and (B) the Governor is a Congress man by political affiliation and appointed by the UPA government at Delhi led by Congress party. It is clearly snake and mongoose. It was very apparent from beginning that, the relationship between the two had to be daggers drawn. In any system, if it has to work, there should be overall bonhomie, but the government in Bangalore was destined to be on the tenterhook all the time, with BJP managing to wrest the power in the corridors of Vidhana Saudha.
Of course, it is to the credit of BJP, that as per available report, it managed to become the most corrupt. It began with open buying of MLAs to augment its numbers to stake the first ever BJP government in Bangalore. The exercise remained almost continuous. And being first time, some of the MLAs and even children and relatives of BSY used the opportunity to make fast buck. BSY even managed to have a running battle with the Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santhosh Hegde. Of course, this is not to suggest that those in the present opposition, the Congress and JD (S) MLAs are Dharmaraayas. They have had their share of the loot, but they are unhappy that the BSY regime is probably better than them in the game. So they are creating all kinds of hurdles for the smooth running of the government, and the Governor became an easy tool to be used by the opposition. Since the governor was evidently a willing partner, he jumped head long to irritate the government. If the idea was to have a performing and reasonably transparent government, being a seasoned politician Governor Bhardwaj had the opportunity to do so. But he opted for a course of open confrontation by clearly going with the opposition. Thus, for the crisis in Bangalore both the Governor and the BSY & Company are responsible. Now only court shall decide who is right and who is not right.
There was this interesting headline in the press “India Inc. wants govt. to go all out against graft”. Instantly a thought crossed the mind “Is it the case of Kettle calling the stove black.” Or vice versa.
We are in a living, dynamic and supposedly on a race for super power status for India, and too many things are happening. Some right some not so right, and some patently wrong.
It was reported that some 14 eminent businessmen met in New Delhi wrote an “Open letter to our leaders,” and ostensibly demanded urgent steps to check the “malaise of corruption which is corroding the fabric of the nation”.
Quite frankly there is nothing extra-ordinary that the report informed. Most Indians are a concerned-lot about the degeneration in public life.
Also somewhere else in New Delhi, our activist minister Jairam Ramesh was addressing the media after his tête-à -tête with the industry captains of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) made a snide attack on the questionable practices of the corporate world saying “I can control the demand for corruption but what about the supply of corruption. I cannot stop that”
Thus isn’t giving bribe is as bad as taking? These captains of industry before lecturing should control their greed for making many, more money and still more money. Aren’t there examples replete in our socio-economic life, where the big money bought over the entire system itself. Hence before blaming the other side, shouldn’t we see inward. Of course there would be many in industry and trade who are clean, but then there are equally many bad apples. Industry must address that.
Anil Verma an IAS by attainment, a diplomat to boot, beats his wife in their London home, where he is posted at the Indian Embassy and barks at her “I have diplomatic immunity, you can’t do a thing”. His mistake was, he showed his animal streak in the UK, and not in India or
Pakistan or probably even in the Middle-East. The wife, Paromita Verma could escape to the wider world to tell her story and the police in London came calling and asked India to revoke Anil Verma’s diplomatic immunity. It was his luck that Indian government declined to act on the request of London police, and instead informed that Verma shall be tried under Indian Law. Try, surely, the govt. would. But, it’s a matter of shame and serious concern that such a thing should have happened and committed by a career diplomat in a foreign country. Not only the Indian govt. should sack this fellow, Anil Verma, but should also consider grounds under which immunity may be revoked. A country wanting a global role simply cannot afford to have on its roll, characters like Anil Verma. They should be booted out without mercy.
It’s a well known truth that no two lawyers will agree on the same clause of a law with one and the same interpretation and better pleader normally carries the day, when not necessarily the truth shall prevail. Thus a good lawyer can always try to confuse the judge in a bad case, as bad as 2G spectrum allocation. That’s what Kapil Sibal tried as new Telecom Minister. When offence is a form of defence it does make people sit up and take note. But it is the innate strength of the opposite side which can still hold on and that’s what happened. Kapil Sibal misjudged his ebullient self's ability to score over the CAG by attempting to throw the report on 2G scam, as if, out of the window. That was a brazen attempt to undermine the credibility of a very important constitutional authority like Comptroller and Auditor General of India. CAG had observed a maximum of Rs. 1.76 lakh crores loss and Sibal dismissed it as zero loss. But the truth may be some where in the middle, which too is a huge loss. Clearly Sibal was reading without books. No wonder apex court admonished the minister to control himself.
Who said that IPL is cricket ‘Extravaganza’, its pure and simple business of making money, more money and still more money. The never ending greed, or could it be ever increasing greed. The greed need not be only for money, its also for boosting ones ego. Surely Vijay Mallya and Nita Ambani were not looking for money. For them it is name and fame. Don’t they have both name and fame already? They do have but they want more. Yes "Knight Riders buys Gambhir for a record Rs: 11 crores” was the head line after the IPL auction at Bangalore. So cricketers are bought and sold like a commodity in the market, where a slightly rotten or old one remain unsold. Poor ‘Daada’, was completely left in the lurch. Oh yes, Bengali pride was badly hurt. Yes Shah Rukh Khan was responsible for deliberately ignoring him. Why was Saurav Ganguli omitted is a question only he can answer himself. Although for the world, media snidely remarked about his supposedly arrogant exterior.
But, by hindsight, this whole exercise of buying cricketers is a bit crazy. Come to think of it that a senior seasoned cricketer is sold for a little over Rs. 2 crores, an almost debutant young Sourabh Tiwary was bought for over Rs: 7 crores. But one fellow who really kept his dignity is Anil Kumble, who announced that he will not be available for IPL, the moment Vijay Mallya announced that he is retaining only Virat Kohli in his last year’s team of 11 men. Yes Anil Kumble decided not to sell his soul for a ‘few dollars more’, but Rahul Dravid? Wasn’t he treated badly even earlier by money bag Mallya? May be Dravid knows his priorities best.
Issue of black money stashed away in tax havens and other secret fund managers abroad has been a disturbing subject of discussion in public domain in India. In the past, its been always blow hot and blow cold. But this time round, its been getting more heated up both in media and in public debate because of the visible all round corruption reported all over the country. The incumbent union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, not known to be straight forward, has been saying all kinds of things on behalf of the government. He is known to be beating about the bush, whether it is infamous Hassan Ali case or others holding stolen national wealth in foreign countries.
The recent list of 26 Indians who have money in Liechtenstein, given to the Supreme Court, has a proviso saying names cannot be disclosed due to the terms of Double Taxation Agreement. According to Finance Minister this information is available only to recover the income tax due on the money held by these 26 Indians. But a former income tax commissioner rubbished the entire argument. According to him the very action of having a foreign a/c without the government’s knowledge is an economic offence and a crime. Not only the a/c holder has to declare the source of income and is fully liable for tax evasion. This is crime where a/c holder should not only pay tax and fine but should also undergo jail. In U.S. it is 10 years jail term said the commissioner. Thus as usual this Mr Pranab Mukherjee is at his old game of hoodwinking the gullible public and help these 26 criminals get away from public scrutiny. There has got to be a media uproar and public outcry to make public all the names of illegal a/c holders and their ill gotten financial details.
A Pakistani national identified as Abdulla Ali, was reportedly arrested by Bangladesh authorities in Dhaka, with Rs. 1 crore of fake Indian currency notes. On the face of it, this is a very significant development. The menace of Indian counterfeit notes from Pakistan has a history of long years. But India could not really get to the source of supply so far, except arresting occasionally the circulators. There is always a possibility that the people behind this fake note network could be from ISI or the fugitive criminal Dawood Ibrahim, a Mumbai police constable’s son. This latest cache has been possible due to the Bangladeshi participation, which in recent days have been actively co-operating with Indian authorities to help nab cross border criminals. Ever since Sheikh Hassina has taken over the reigns of power in Dhaka, bilateral relations have seen better days. She is keen to co-operate with India for mutual benefit, without the Muslim fundamentalist baggage of earlier regime. This is a development India must pro-actively pursue in the larger interest of peace and progress in the sub-continent. It is hoped that MEA will measure up in good measure to reach out to all Bangladeshi socio-economic concerns, without any mental blocks, as a true well-wisher and friend.
There was this small news “IMA against 4 years Rural Health Course”. But then IMA, being allopath controlled, they were always against integrated medical practices and most MBBS were not prepared to go to rural areas. But to encourage rural medical practitioners, who are mostly ayurvedic practitioners with knowledge of allopathy, government of India proposed a truncated course in allopathy to enable these existing practitioners to provide better services to rural folks. The present excuse of IMA that MBBS doctors do not go to the villages due to lack of facility is all hogwash. This 4 years course is certainly an attempt by the govt. to address shortage of doctors to rural areas and therefore should be given a go-ahead by the government for the greater good of our rural society.
The killing of Salman Taseer the former Governor of Punjab in Pakistan, is a reminder of the state of chaos the country is getting into with right-wing hate mongering. Reportedly Taseer was a liberal progressive man wanted to bring about reforms in the religious dictats in the country, like blasphemy laws. In Pakistan, especially blasphemy laws are greatly misused to settle personal enmity. It certainly needed changes since a long time. Unfortunately, the law makers, the elected representatives didn’t very seriously look into the issue, although minority in Pakistan were living in a constant fear of being caught in the wrong foot.
These right-wing hate mongers from the clergy to the common men and women, in the name of Quran, Prophet & Islam, were only usurping the tenets of a great religion to their petty programme of annihilating the so-called Kafirs, or non believers.
And it is unfortunate that the civil society there is only making a feeble noise that is lost in the cacophony of rabble rousing by these hate mongers. The news that 100 Hindus have applied for Indian citizenship is a sad commentary on the state of human rights in Pakistan, and Indian government is painfully unmindful of its duties in such situations.
Being in government service, with opportunity to make money on the sly, how much you think one can make? Can you hazard a guess? Rs: 10 crores! Rs: 50 crores! Rs: 100 crores! Well. Joshis, Arvind and Tinoo, a 1979 batch IAS couple, in Madhya Pradesh, have beaten all your guess. If Income Tax Deptt estimate is right, it’s a mind boggling Rs: 300 crores, in unaccounted worth. According to the deptt., they own some 24 flats, in Assam, Bhopal and New Delhi and have some 400 acres of land in different parts of Madhya Pradesh. It was last year that the couple was found with cash of Rs: 3 crores, during an I.T. raid, in their residence in Bhopal.
So can you imagine the infinite possibility of ‘making hay while sun shines’. These babus are better paid and better looked after, by the very nature of governance in the country, yet how greed can overtake them to amass wealth through all kinds of questionable means. These are the very people who are custodians of national resources where national wealth is kept for safe keeping. Misusing this trust, these highly educated people, have cheated and looted the public money for their private gain. They should be jailed without bail. If this is the case of one couple, what about the others all over the country? May be more or less, but still could be a humongous total. Oh poor Indians and poorer mother India!
While BJP may have scored some political points by attempting to unfurl tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, it should have instructed to all its cadres to be peaceful and not to cause law or order problem, should they be detained. Since the central government had instructed to all state governments to stop these cadres literally on the tracks, a token shouting could have been good enough. After all, the BJP move was more political rather than emotional, making some right noises should have been the only course. Hence the violence by its cadres is not acceptable at all. No action of any political party should lead to law and order problem. Mercifully nothing serious happened and 26th Jan. went off well as hoped, without any anti-national activity or terror attacks.
Pilferage is a sub-continental pastime, and Pakistan proved to be better than India. They did it on a massive scale as reported in the media. Between 2007 and 2010, NATO and U.S forces in Afghanistan were to receive exactly 306, 267 containers with logistical supplies, as per their supply source. But according to sources within Pak government, if in 2009, it was 36%, in 2010 pilferage touched a record 60%. In number terms, sources claimed that over 50,000 containers didn’t reach the destination, as it travelled from Karachi, the port of receipt, to different destination in Afghanistan. The Pakistani authorities are not confirming the exact number since Afghan authorities have not provided the exact number of container received by them despite request by Pak sources. Being country cousins, could Afghans be far behind in derailing the trailers transporting these containers? So, its been a massive theft of billions $ worth of supplies of all kinds. Another price the U.S. and its allies are paying to be in Afghanistan. Could it be some ways of fleecing the U.S. and its involvement in the regional one-up-man-ship with the active participation of the powers that be in these countries, Pak-Afghan?!
From April onwards, we hope to start a legal column by renowned
Supreme Court advocate Mr M.V. Kini, who has offered his legal acumen to be of help to our readers. Do make use of his magnanimous offer. Should you have queries on legal matters, do write to us to be forwarded to him for further action.
For the importance it deserved, as a prisoner of conscience, we have taken up the issue of Dr Binayak Sen under Focus. Hope readers shall find it illuminating. Do revert with your input. We do value them. Rest are as usual.
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