Two-G (2G) Spectrum Scam Tapes and follow-up

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 18 Sep 2013 01:25

X-post....

Pranav wrote:2 new scams in past 4 or 5 days -

CAG unearths Rs 17,000 crore scam in railways - http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... test-audit

CAG reports major forest land scam - http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/ca ... 103010.ece

... involving large-scale misuse of funds leading to a loss to the government running into thousands of crores ...

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 15 Oct 2013 12:29

Coal scam: Case registered against Kumar Mangalam Birla, former coal secretary

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 16 Oct 2013 07:00

It seems former coal secretary is a genuine person and a whistleblower, so they are now going after him. Reminds of the hindi saying "Andher Nagari Chaupat Raja", punish the honest reward the corrupt!

Coal scam: If CBI smells a rat, PM should be accused No. 1, former coal secretary PC Parakh says

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 16 Oct 2013 15:03

Coalgate: logic of naming Birla is to tar system and maybe save PM

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Oct 2013 20:48

Pratyush, Its other way round. PM is taking on the 2G backers.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 17 Oct 2013 06:37

^^^
We will have to wait and see, how things turn up. 6 months down the line.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 17 Oct 2013 21:29

https://www.facebook.com/fakeindianmedi ... 7453642336

The Common Wealth Games Audit Report Page. 200 & 201 mention in detail how a contract was awarded to HT-Hungama irregularly. Page. 221 of the report mentions how contracts were awarded to CNN-IBN & NDTV on ad hoc basis. Full CAG Audit Report:...

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 18 Oct 2013 20:39

ASI digs for gold in Unnao Fort

ASI digs for Unnao Fort gold

Instead of such silly enterprises the UPA should try to get the Swiss bank loot. Even if they find the gold its not the GOI's baap ka maal to dig it out. It belongs to the country and not those who run it.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 21 Oct 2013 10:36

Why PM’s statement is not the last word on Coalgate scam

Quoting from the article

Conspiracy theorists speculate that naming Parakh as a potential accused was crucial to taking the spotlight off the PM because he was the one who knows why the recommendation to auction coal blocks got scuttled. But, by making him a potential accused, any testimony he can give in the Coalgate scam will be discounted. An accused’s testimony is not considered valuable since it is assumed that he will say things to benefit himself.

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 21 Oct 2013 10:46

MMS wouldn't have been appointed if he couldn't be controlled. IMO, he is just as guilty as Sonia.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 21 Oct 2013 20:42

Google News headline

'FIR against Birla doesn't mean govt targeting industry'
Moneycontrol.com - ‎19 minutes ago‎

Montek agreed that the issue has caused a huge damage to the reputation of Kumar Mangalam Birla and retired Coal Secretary P C Parakh.

Looks like Montek is also into Potemkin speak. Havent hear a more duplicitous statement from a GOI official.

On the contrary the chargesheets have shown what a terrible track record there is in UPA govt!

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 28 Oct 2013 11:51

2G scam: DMK chief's wife, Dayalu Ammal, testifies at her home

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 29 Oct 2013 14:56

The Radia Tremor 4: The Ankua mine conundrum for Tata Steel
business-standard.com | Oct 26th 2013

After the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the conversation recorded in the Niira Radia tapes suggested illegal gratification or favours to public servants on allotment of iron ore mines at Ankua in Jharkhand to Tata Steel, the Supreme Court said the issue called for an inquiry.

The conversation had allegedly suggested that the then Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda, had asked for Rs 150 crore for granting an iron ore licence (Koda was later jailed for a multi-crore money laundering scam and is out on bail). As per the tapes, Tata Steel refused to pay the money to Koda. When the conversation came to light, the company and its then communications agency, Vaishnavi, had strongly denied grant of any licence to Tata Steel against payoffs.

But in a conversation with an editor of a TV channel, Radia was heard talking about how Koda was asking for Rs 150 crore bribe to allot a mine. The call was recorded by the income tax department on June 16, 2009. The Income tax department had kept Radia’s phone under surveillance for suspected tax evasion.

In another conversation with an editor of a South-based daily, Radia is heard saying she had a meeting in Ranchi with Koda who asked for a bribe to grant the Ankua mine to Tata Steel. The former corporate lobbyist then says she went to the Governor after President’s rule was declared in the state and appealed to get the mine. After the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the conversation recorded in the Niira Radia tapes suggested illegal gratification or favours to public servants on allotment of iron ore mines at Ankua in Jharkhand to Tata Steel, the Supreme Court said the issue called for an inquiry.

The conversation had allegedly suggested that the then Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda, had asked for Rs 150 crore for granting an iron ore licence (Koda was later jailed for a multi-crore money laundering scam and is out on bail). As per the tapes, Tata Steel refused to pay the money to Koda. When the conversation came to light, the company and its then communications agency, Vaishnavi, had strongly denied grant of any licence to Tata Steel against payoffs.

But in a conversation with an editor of a TV channel, Radia was heard talking about how Koda was asking for Rs 150 crore bribe to allot a mine. The call was recorded by the income tax department on June 16, 2009. The Income tax department had kept Radia’s phone under surveillance for suspected tax evasion.

In another conversation with an editor of a South-based daily, Radia is heard saying she had a meeting in Ranchi with Koda who asked for a bribe to grant the Ankua mine to Tata Steel. The former corporate lobbyist then says she went to the Governor after President’s rule was declared in the state and appealed to get the mine.
"The Ankua deposit is not a very big one, it has reserves of around 100 million tonnes and Tata Steel is yet to convert it to get the mining lease. It is still in the PL stage," a Tata Steel official had said in an earlier interaction.

Analysts say captive raw material resources are crucial for a company's competitiveness. Iron ore and coking coal are key input materials for a steel company, accounting for 75-80 per cent of the total raw material cost. Tata Steel's iron ore units are located in Noamundi, Joda and Katamandi in Jharkhand and Odisha that feed the 9.7 million tonne steel plant at Jamshedpur.

In 2008, the company had said that it had iron ore reserves of around 300 million tonnes in India, which would last another 20 years. But that was in the context of Jamshedpur. However, with no mines allotted for the Kalinga Nagar project in Odisha, which was expected to commission the first phase next year, Tata Steel may have to service it from its iron existing mines.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Nov 2013 03:35

Singha wrote:cartoon from niticentral

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 14 Nov 2013 06:05

Sushupti wrote:Ex-CBI chief: Rajiv told me should use arms deal payoffs for party funds

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/excbi ... s/1194313/

ramana wrote:
matrimc wrote:Using commissions and "dO numbri" paise for party funds had been going for eons. Nothing new.
Yes Nehruji used to have third parties take the cut: Krishna Menon in Jeep Scandal, TTK in Mundhra scandal, Dr Dhrama Teja in Jayanthi Shipping Corporation etc. Mrs G used to use the SBI for her treasury: Malhotra SBI Bank Mgr got heart attacked after Nagarwala sammed hm to give Rs 60 lakhs on her behalf. And allowed K Brahmanada Reddy to print Rs 2 notes via Coimbatore connections. Everyone knew all this was for party work and turned to look away.

The precedent is the EIC officials used to have private accounts into which commissions were deposited.

Rajiv took it to new level. He had the funds deposited in his personal account. That is where he lost the trust of the Congresswalas.

syele · Post by **syele** » 14 Nov 2013 06:20

Rumor was YS Rajashekar Reddy outsourced currency printing to the twin in the west. At its height 6/10 notes in Andhra ATMs was foreign exchange.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 11 Dec 2013 03:19

Looks like the 6 Congress MPs from AP have struck at the Tirpurantaka moment

Looks like General Elections are sooner than later:

UPA seeks vote on account in January-Polls in lae march or early April

MMS sees the writing on the wall.
Congress Mukht Bharat maybe sooner than later.

NEW DELHI: The fractious 15th Lok Sabha, marked by UPA-opposition clashes over cases of corruption in high places like 2G, Commonwealth Games and Coalgate, will meet for the last time in mid or end-January to pass a vote on account, clearing the way for Lok Sabha elections by late March or early April.

Sources said the government is planning to take the vote on account next month, with January 13-17 being seen as a likely window. Polls can be held by late March or early April. The 2004 and 2009, elections were held between mid-April and mid-May.

The move to be done with the vote on account and set the stage for the next Lok Sabha polls comes in the backdrop of an increasingly dysfunctional Parliament and feverish lobbying for a no-trust motion submitted by six Congress MPs.

A sense of uncertainty and the perception that Congress's rout in four north Indian states has left the embattled Manmohan Singh government further enfeebled, encouraging the Seemandhra MPs to defy the party authority.

The assembly poll results rattled Congress and a review meeting on Monday saw functionaries point to high inflation — seen to be the Centre's failing — as an important reason for the debacle. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is learnt to have agreed with the assessment

The no-confidence motion could not be taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar due to lack of order in the House, but it continued to be intensely discussed with political parties weighing the merits of supporting the motion.

While Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee ruled out supporting the no-confidence move, Biju Janata Dal's 14 MPs will support the motion when the admission of the motion is considered.

As of now, the motion does not have the backing of 50 MPs that are required to rise in support when the Speaker seeks the opinion of the House and Congress managers are going all out to ensure that the move fizzles out.

While the motion has been submitted by Congress MPs, TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu contacted Opposition leaders like Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy also met several leaders, including Banerjee, to seek support for the no-trust motion submitted by Congress MPs from the non-Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.

Banerjee told Reddy she did not see merit in a no-confidence motion as Congress would survive the vote with the support of outside allies like SP and BSP leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati who have always bailed out the UPA.

Reddy did manage to get Yadav to submit an adjournment motion on Telangana on Tuesday but most leaders do not believe the SP chief will back a no-trust, particularly after the Muzaffarnagar riots.

Given reports of intense polarization on religious lines in western UP and BJP leader Narendra Modi's forays into Uttar Pradesh, the SP boss is unlikely to attract the charge that he weakened "secular forces" at the Centre.

But though the government is not considering curtailing the winter session, it seems clear that not much business is likely to be transacted going by current trends. The final session of the current Lok Sabha is likely to be convened ahead of the usual mid-February date so that elections can be called any time thereafter.

The 2009 Lok Sabha elections were held from April 16 to May 13 and the results were declared on May 16. In 2004, the results were declared on May 13 after elections were held from April 20 to May 10.

Government floor managers have so far been unable to persuade the Congress MPs who submitted the motion for a no-trust vote to withdraw their initiative. The MPs, driven by constituency concerns, have also been encouraged by the uncertainty and flux following the assembly polls.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 30 Dec 2013 08:15

Compare whats happening in Turkey!

chanakyaa wrote:http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_g ... sId=335096

Iran's Turkish gold rush

Turkey's Islamist government is being rocked by the most sweeping corruption scandal of its tenure. Roughly two dozen figures, including well-connected business tycoons and the sons of top government ministers, have been charged with a wide range of financial crimes. The charges ballooned into a full-blown crisis on Dec. 25 when three ministers implicated in the scandal resigned, with one making a dramatic call for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to step down as well. An exhausted-looking Erdogan subsequently appeared on television in the evening to announce a cabinet reshuffle that replaced a total of 10 ministers.
The drama surrounding two personalities are particularly eye-popping: Police reportedly discovered shoeboxes containing $4.5 million in the home of Süleyman Aslan, the CEO of state-owned Halkbank, and also arrested Reza Zarrab, an Iranian businessman who primarily deals in the gold trade, and who allegedly oversaw deals worth almost $10 billion last year alone.

The gold trade has long been at the center of controversial financial ties between Halkbank and Iran. Research conducted in May 2013 by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Roubini Global Economics revealed the bank exploited a "golden loophole" in the US-led financial sanctions regime designed to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. Here's how it worked: The Turks exported some $13 billion of gold to Tehran directly, or through the UAE, between March 2012 and July 2013. In return, the Turks received Iranian natural gas and oil. But because sanctions prevented Iran from getting paid in dollars or euros, the Turks allowed Tehran to buy gold with their Turkish lira -- and that gold found its way back to Iranian coffers.

This "gas-for-gold" scheme allowed the Iranians to replenish their dwindling foreign exchange reserves, which had been hit hard by the international sanctions placed on their banking system. It was puzzling that Ankara allowed this to continue: The Turks -- NATO allies who have assured Washington that they oppose Iran's military-nuclear program -- brazenly conducted these massive gold transactions even after the Obama administration tightened sanctions on Iran's precious metals trade in July 2012.

Turkey, however, chose to exploit a loophole that technically permitted the transfer of billions of dollars of gold to so-called "private" entities in Iran. Iranian Ambassador to Turkey Ali Reza Bikdeli recently praised Halkbank for its "smart management decisions in recent years [that] have played an important role in Iranian-Turkish relations." Halkbank insists that its role in these transactions was entirely legal.

The US Congress and President Obama closed this "golden loophole" in January 2013. At the time, the Obama administration could have taken action against state-owned Halkbank, which processed these sanctions-busting transactions, using the sanctions already in place to cut the bank off from the US financial system. Instead, the administration lobbied to make sure the legislation that closed this loophole did not take effect for six months -- effectively ensuring that the gold transactions continued apace until July 1. That helped Iran accrue billions of dollars more in gold, further undermining the sanctions regime.

In defending its decision not to enforce its own sanctions, the Obama administration insisted that Turkey only transferred gold to private Iranian citizens. The administration argued that, as a result, this wasn't an explicit violation of its executive order.

It's possible that the Obama administration didn't have compelling evidence of the role of the Iranian government in the gold trade. However, the president may have also simply sought to protect his relationship with Ankara and didn't want to get into a diplomatic spat with Erdogan, who he considers a key regional ally.

If the administration didn't feel that the sanctions in place at the time were sufficient to take action against Halkbank, after all, it could have easily shut down the gold trade by amending its executive order. But at the time, Turkey was also playing a pivotal role in US policy in Syria, which included efforts to strengthen the more moderate opposition factions fighting President Bashar Assad's regime.

It's also possible, however, that the Obama administration's decision had less to do with Turkey, and more to do with coaxing Iran into signing a nuclear deal. In the one-year period between July 2012, when the executive order was issued, and July 2013, when the "golden loophole" was closed, the Obama administration's non-enforcement of its own sanctions reportedly provided Iran with $6 billion worth of gold. That windfall may have been an American olive branch to Iran -- extended via Turkey -- to persuade its leaders to continue backchannel negotiations with the United States, which reportedly began as early as July 2012. It could also have been a significant sweetener to the interim nuclear deal eventually reached at Geneva, which provided Iran with another $7 billion in sanctions relief.

Indeed, why else would the administration have allowed the Turkish gold trade to continue for an extra six months, when Congress made clear its intent to shut it down?

This brings us back to the current corruption drama in Turkey. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been claiming that it is a victim of a vast conspiracy, blaming everyone from Washington to Israel to US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen for its woes. Some Turkish media have pointed a finger at David Cohen, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, who happened to be in Turkey as the news began to break. Erdogan even raised the possibility of expelling the US ambassador to Ankara, Francis Ricciardone.

But if the charges stand against the panoply of well-connected figures fingered, the AKP will have only itself to blame. While the gas-for-gold scheme may have been technically legal before Congress finally shut it down in July, it appears to have exposed the Turkish political elite to a vast Iranian underworld. According to Today's Zaman, suspicious transactions between Iran and Turkey could exceed $119 billion -- nine times the total of gas-for-gold transactions reported.

Even if the Turkish-Iranian gold trade represents only a small part of the wider corruption probe, the ongoing investigation could provide a window into some nagging questions about the relationship between Ankara and Tehran. Perhaps we will finally learn why the Turkish government allowed Iran to stock up on gold while it was defiantly pursuing its illicit nuclear program -- and whether the Obama administration could have done more to prevent it.

Schanzer and Dubowitz work at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 15 Jan 2014 18:08

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/abhishek-singhvis-telecom-connection-lawyer-in-all-major-cases-for-past-20-years/articleshow/28769965.cms

For almost four years in the run up to last Monday's Delhi High Court ruling
that allowed the Comptroller and Auditor General of India ( CAG) to audit telecom companies, Abhishek Manu
Singhvi was senior counsel marshalling arguments against this. "There is no easy
set of simple answers; there are highly debatable legal and constitutional
issues and a definitive apex court judgement is the only thing that will provide
uniformity, stability and certainty," he says, not unduly perturbed by the temporary set back.

The High Court ruling is a rare one
that went against the senior counsel who has been involved in most significant
telecom litigations—and there have been plenty—over the past two decades.
Broadly speaking, four big issues—CDMA and GSM technology related arguments,
revenue share and one-time spectrum charge related cases, the Vodafone tax imbroglio
and the 2G scam—have shaped the course of the telecom industry over 20 years.

Singhvi, 55, has been at the forefront of the court proceedings in all these
issues, mostly on the side of various leading private telecom companies. Today,
he is representing Bharti, Vodafone and Idea Cellular on three major issues: charge of
one-time spectrum fees, 3G intra-circle roaming agreement and license renewals.
The combined financial impact of these cases may accrue to over Rs 1,00,000
crore.

Other lawyers including Harish Salve, Iqbal Chawla, Soli Sorabjee are also equally active and influential in the
telecom space. But Singhvi - with earnings of more than Rs 70 crore in FY13 -
pays more tax than any lawyer in the country. Singhvi is also the spokesman of
the Congress party, a
role he has handled for 13 years. Ironically, in many of his recent telecom
cases Singhvi has fought against the government, led by the very political party
he represents. "The legal profession is different from my political career," different from my political career," he says. "A practitioner of law should be
able to argue on any side that appoints him, irrespective of the lawyer's
personal stance or leanings."
BJP's Piyush Goel, also the opposition
treasurer, comes to Singhvi's defence: "There is no reason to point a finger at
Mr. Singhvi if he represents against the government. He is an officer of the
Court and he has to argue for whoever appoints him."

Shaping the
industry
Over the years, Singhvi's arguments have influenced the way the industry has
evolved. TV Ramachandran, former secretary of the Cellular Operators Association
of India, recalls one incident where Singhvi contributed to the birth of TRAI,
the industry regulator. "(In 1996) the DoT lumped up a 25 times higher charge
for calling a landline from a mobile. The judge said that there should be a
techno-economic regulator to decide this," recalls Ramachandran.

"Singhvi, who was counsel for the government, didn't argue the point. Lordship, he said, I ask my
client to get the bill formed." The TRAI bill was passed three months later.
"(Before the case) we had been trying for the bill for a good three to four
years," recalls Ramachandran, who has been interacting with Singhvi since 1996.

The world of fat cat lawyers-Piyush goel and Abhishek Singhvi are two sides of the same coin.There are issues like licensing,scarce resources which are going to be huge challenge for BJP-a challenge for capitalist democracies,transparency,corruption,public 'servants'-the Symantaka mani redux between the vaishya and kshatriya or all these meaningless in modern age?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Jan 2014 21:05

Really belongs here. For the 2G scams brought down MMS and showed his real roop as a used sock-puppet.

The Eminence Grise of the UPA speaks in Delhi on his way to Jaipur Literary Festival

Amartya Sen on India's Failure of Public Reasoning

Indian economist Amartya Sen, whose latest book discusses India’s deep basic weaknesses.“How Is India Doing?” is the title of an essay by economist Amartya Sen that appeared in the New York Review of Books in December 1982. Mr. Sen’s answer, at the time, was that India had made “quite remarkable” achievements in the 3½ decades since independence. Economic opportunity had increased enormously for much of the population, and the pace of GDP growth, at 4-6% per year, had become “internationally respectable.”

But at the same time, Mr. Sen wrote, life was still wretched for a large portion of Indians. The country was striding boldly onto the world stage, yet deprivation and injustice remained widespread at home, intolerably so. “Indian society,” he wrote, “is a deeply troubled one.”

“It hasn’t changed much since then, you know?” Mr. Sen told The Wall Street Journal in an interview this week.

Mr. Sen, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for economics and now teaches at Harvard, was in Delhi on his way to the Jaipur Literature Festival, where on Friday he will give the keynote address. His latest book, “An Uncertain Glory,” was written with economist Jean Drèze and addresses the uncomfortable distance between India’s successes and its deep basic weaknesses. The book ignited controversy in India when it came out last year, but its arguments seem only to have grown in relevance as economic growth wobbles and national elections approach.

Mr. Sen made clear Wednesday that he believes there has been progress in India since 1982. Health care is improving, sort of. More Indians are receiving schooling.

“The quality of education is basically pretty abysmal,” Mr. Sen said. “That has not changed. The fact that it has not declined much may be some consolation.”

Yet there’s one area, he said, in which things have gotten decidedly worse in the last three decades: India’s politics. “None of the parties look any good at this time.”

There has been a “genuine loss of options” for Indian voters both left and right, he said. On the right, “lots of people who are pro-business end up voting for people whose communal and divisive politics they don’t like,” referring to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which advocates Hindu nationalism.

“The right of a secular kind has gone,” Mr. Sen said. “The right of the Hindu kind is strong, no matter how much they play up the development agenda. The party’s base comes from Hindu support.” Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in this spring’s polls, has a reputation as a skillful manager who can attract and encourage investment in India.

On the left, Mr. Sen said, the governing Congress party is “certainly not pro-business.” “The left secular parties remain secular, but I think they’ve lost their brain in many ways.”

“This election will be, in my mind, quite a sad one,” Mr. Sen said.

“An Uncertain Glory” documents the inequities—poverty, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, gender and caste inequality—that have persisted in India despite the last decades’ economic growth. But India’s deeper failure, Messrs. Drèze and Sen argue, is one of public reasoning: Democracy and free discourse, however vibrant in India, are not transmitting the interests of the poorest Indians to the broader consciousness.

“The fact that the deprivations of the people are not taken up in the media,” Mr. Sen said Wednesday, “prevents India from using its muscle to deal with the problem. Whenever it’s taken up, it does something.”

He cited polio eradication and last October’s cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, which, as a result of swift government action, killed far fewer people than a storm of that magnitude might once have. Ten years ago, Mr. Sen pointed out, there were fears India would be the next center of the global AIDS epidemic.

“It became a big issue,” he said. “And things happened. More things ought to happen.”

Even when things do happen, he said, the media sometimes miss the deeper issue: “On the 31st of July, a year and a half ago, when 600 million people lost power, the newspapers grumbled, rightly, that 600 million people didn’t have power—overlooking the fact that 200 million of these 600 million never had any electric connection at all.”

Mr. Sen also lamented the prevalence of what he said is misinformation in India, especially when it comes to government social expenditures. India spends about 1% of gross domestic product on food security and employment guarantees for the poor. It spends three times as much on electricity, fuel and fertilizer subsidies, whose benefits accrue disproportionately to the non-poor, Mr. Sen said.

Most people, he said, would say the opposite was true, that spending on the poorest far exceeded other subsidies. “I think that it is a lapse of journalistic responsibility that I—as a professor at Harvard, visiting India, giving a lecture at Jaipur—have to give these numbers, [that] they are not on the tips of people’s tongues.”

“An Uncertain Glory” draws frequent comparisons between China and India, showing that despite its authoritarian political system, China has focused on providing basics like electricity, health care, education, immunization.

But Mr. Sen said he didn’t think the India-China parallels contained easy lessons about democracy and economic progress. His regular visits to China—he is affiliated with Peking University and Renmin University—show him that the country is starting to change, he said.

“I’ve seen that the freedom of discussion is greater now. I would like it to be more. Whether it will happen, I don’t know. But if it does happen, will it cut down the growth rate or anything like that? No. Will it cut down social expenditure? I see absolutely no reason why it should.”

Likewise, Mr. Sen continued, “If India were authoritarian, I don’t have any reason to think that its performance in these areas would be greater.”

When asked about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who announced this month that he won’t seek a third term, Mr. Sen said first that Mr. Singh is an old friend from his undergraduate days. “So I’m not entirely unbiased.”

Mr. Singh is leaving office with a reputation for ineffectiveness and with India’s economic prospects in serious doubt. “Can I understand why the press doesn’t judge him so kindly today?” Mr. Sen asked. “Yes, I do understand. Was he in a difficult wicket? Yes, he was.”

Mr. Sen said that India’s 1991 economic liberalizations shouldn’t be written out of the prime minister’s legacy—Mr. Singh was finance minister at the time—and that his 10 years as head of government saw a boom without precedent before it turned to bust.

“So I give him much higher marks than the media does. But I recognize that for various reasons, mostly not very much within his control, the achievements which were very great at one stage have been far less in recent years. The last two years have been pretty bad.”

Amartya Sen is the keynote speaker at this year’s Jaipur Literary Festival which takes place between Jan.17 and 21. Wall Street Journal reporters will be live tweeting from sessions at the event. Follow them @WSJIndia, @jhsugden, @A4iti and @zhonggg for the notable and quotable from South Asia’s best-known literature event.

India's weakness is fake intellectuals with Western halos diverting the public mind from progress.

How does economist Sen reconcile that Indian economic growth rate since 2006 is 1/3 greater than EU while China is a bit more at 1/2 greater than EU as stated by UK Chancellor of the Treasury? That is while India was embroiled in thick of UPA scams.

So all that authoritarian rule of China has given ~16% more growth! That too starting from a larger and longer economic base. Favorable trade status with US.
Not 100% more.

At heart most of Indian economists are lefties and it shows when the mask drops.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 27 Jan 2014 03:56

This article shows the effects of the Bofors scam which at the core was a move by Rajiv Gandhi to siphon off commissions from defence deals.

A Sharma wrote:Desi Bofors howitzer to be tested again, Army keeps fingers crossed

and

Rajiv Gandhi wanted Bofors money to run Congress:Ex-CBI chief

And this man had no problem with that!!!!

Now I would have bought the pious story if Rajiv Gandhi did not have the Bofors money remitted to a Swiss Bank account which was in his name!

So how can anyone buy this story of the Ex CBI chief. And even then how legitimate is it to siphon government funds to fund his party for Bofors whould have upped the price to account for this money!

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 04 Feb 2014 17:18

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/2G-scam-AAP-comes-out-with-fresh-charges-against-Karunanidhi-Kanimozhi/articleshow/29860740.cms

The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday claimed fresh tapes revealed a cover-up attempt in the 2G scam to save DMK's first family. AAP leader Prashant Bhushan claimed DMK chief Karunanidhi was 'fully in the know of things' .

Prashant Bhushan has come out with fresh charges against Karunanidhi, his daughter Kanimozhi in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation case.

The AAP leader said a fresh conspiracy is being hatched to save DMK leaders in the 2G scam. He said that he would upload tapes containing conversations between Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi's PA and Jafer Sait, an IPS officer close to the family. These tapes show that Karunanidhi was aware of all the dealings that took place, Prashant Bhushan said.

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 05 Feb 2014 13:55

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/everything-is-a-lie-karunanidhi/article5654007.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/kalaignar-tv-disowns-2g-tapes/article5655853.ece

gandharva · Post by **gandharva** » 14 Feb 2014 03:36

Certainly more than zero gain.

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 14 Feb 2014 04:56

svenkat wrote:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/2G-scam-AAP-comes-out-with-fresh-charges-against-Karunanidhi-Kanimozhi/articleshow/29860740.cms

The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday claimed fresh tapes revealed a cover-up attempt in the 2G scam to save DMK's first family. AAP leader Prashant Bhushan claimed DMK chief Karunanidhi was 'fully in the know of things' .

Prashant Bhushan has come out with fresh charges against Karunanidhi, his daughter Kanimozhi in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation case.

The AAP leader said a fresh conspiracy is being hatched to save DMK leaders in the 2G scam. He said that he would upload tapes containing conversations between Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi's PA and Jafer Sait, an IPS officer close to the family. These tapes show that Karunanidhi was aware of all the dealings that took place, Prashant Bhushan said.

Who gave this mickey mouse the tapes?

gandharva · Post by **gandharva** » 06 Mar 2014 06:33

Pic of Mrs Tharoor doing rounds on twitter, retweeted by S Swamy.

Full article
http://www.scribd.com/doc/210466395/Ind ... 2014-Issue

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 13 Mar 2014 21:59

Narayana Rao wrote:JUST IN - TIMENOW TV REPORTING - A. RAJA - FIRST INTERVIEW ON TV. PM UNSIGNED NOTE ASKED HIM TO PROCEED AGAINT TELECOM NATION POLICY.

Looks like MMS learnt how to send unsigned notes to leave no trace!!!!

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 29 Aug 2014 11:02

Aircel-Maxis case: CBI can charge Dayanidhi Maran, Supreme Court says

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to restrain CBI from filing chargesheet in the Aircel-Maxis case while rejecting former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran's plea to direct the agency to complete the probe in Malaysia before filing the chargesheet.

It was an unprecedented plea by a possible accused to restrain CBI from filing chargesheet as investigation into the case is incomplete.

Citing statements of CBI officials on the status of investigation into the case, Maran's counsel CA Sundaram said the premier investigating agency was not expected to file a half-baked chargesheet.

Maran's plea amused a bench of justices HL Dattu, SA Bobde and AM Sapre, which told him, "Can we restrain CBI from filing the chargesheet even if the investigations are not complete? If for any reason CBI files an incomplete chargesheet, you can approach the Supreme Court seeking its quashing."

"In November 2006, DoT issued 14 LoIs to Aircel, and all of them were converted into licences in December 2006. Within three months of this, Maran's family-owned business (Sun TV) received substantial investment from Maxis group (Aircel) by taking just 20% equity in Sun Direct which did not have much business at that time," the NGO had alleged.

Maxis group had allegedly invested Rs 599.01 crore in Sun Direct between December 2007 and December 2009, in addition to another investment of Rs 111 crore in the FM radio operations controlled by the Maran group, it had said.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 29 Aug 2014 11:05

CBI books ex-disinvestment secretary Pradeep Baijal for cheating

NEW DELHI: Twelve years after he superannuated, former chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and then disinvestment secretary Pradeep Baijal has been booked by the CBI for alleged cheating in the strategic sale of ITDC-owned Laxmi Vilas Palace hotel in Udaipur.

The CBI, which had first registered a preliminary inquiry into the case, has alleged that the public-owned Laxmi Vilas Palace hotel spread over 29 acres with an estimated value of Rs 151 crore was sold to Bharat Hotels for 7.52 crore causing loss to the public exchequer.

Baijal was the disinvestment secretary when the NDA government with Arun Shourie as the disinvestment minister and the-then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee heading the disinvestment commission took the decision to sell the Udaipur hotel as part of a policy decision to get rid of loss-making units.

Apart from Baijal, those named in the FIR include Ashish Guha, the-then managing director of Lazard India, Kantilal Karamsey Vikamsey, owner of Kanti Karamsey and Co and authorized representative of Bharat Hotels, owned by Jyotsna Suri.

CBI's move comes after its FIRs against retired bureaucrats — former coal secretary PC Parakh and former Sebi chairman CB Bhave — left the bureaucracy rattled, leading PM Narendra Modi, in his maiden interaction with top secretaries, to say that the bureaucracy will be buffered against the threat of being hauled up for decisions which they took with the right intent.

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 02 Sep 2014 15:01

Did Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) officials try to influence CBI in 2G case?

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) group executives call on Ranjit Sinha regularly for 15 months. Two ADAG officials met CBI chief 50 times
..............
If one goes by the diary, it becomes clear the two have been visiting Sinha’s residence almost every week between May 2013 and August 2014. The frequency of their visits increased this year when Sinha moved a proposal to re-investigate the case against Reliance Telecom and Swan Telecom on grounds that some new facts have come to light. Tony and Sethuraman met Sinha 27 times this year so far. The guest list reveals that the duo used to visit Sinha together and separately.
............
CBI chief Ranjit Sinha strongly objected to dna’s questions.“How can you ask such questions? I am a public person and people from all levels of society come to meet me. How could you peep into my personal life? With what right have you checked my daily diary? {what an contradiction}You can print whatever you want.”

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 02 Sep 2014 16:58

I am beginning to think that sufficient grounds exist for the removal of the CBI director. Or at least for the issuance of a Show cause notice against him.

gandharva · Post by **gandharva** » 10 Nov 2014 19:00

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 20 Nov 2014 16:21

SC removes CBI chief Ranjit Sinha, says don't interfere in 2G scam probe

The headline is misleading. Sinha has merely been removed from the 2g probe and not from the CBI.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 20 Nov 2014 17:34

^He has been asked by the SC to recuse himself from the 2G probe, as ToI says.

vivek.rao · Post by **vivek.rao** » 20 Nov 2014 19:04

Why is he still heading CBI? Why is he not suspended?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 Nov 2014 19:59

The SC order on CBI director is good grounds to dismiss the turd. How come he was meeting ADAG 50 times at his own home. Can't be because of his kitchen skills or chai biskoot! Unless its gold biskoots in Swiss banks.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 21 Nov 2014 09:31

The govt of India to launch a probe against the CBI chief.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 07 Jan 2015 21:26

Muppalla. You were right about Sunanda Tharoor's murder. I apologize to you for not having allowed the thoughts to be discussed. No hard feelings.

ramana

Forum Adminstrator.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 10 Feb 2015 23:16

X-Post....

vivek.rao wrote:Forget it all yaar

Largest Indian Swiss account trail leads to Andheri based software company, promoted by RIL

The maximum amount of money associated with a client connected to India in the HSBC Bank in Geneva is some $467 million. It belongs to MoTech Software Private Limited, promoted by Reliance Industries Limited, a company with a postal and legal address in Andheri (East) in Mumbai, India’s business capital. In 2009, the company had an authorized capital of Rs. 50,000,000.

The News Minute (TNM) has reviewed some documents from #SwissLeaks which hit global headlines on Monday. They provide irrefutable documentary evidence of fraud perpetrated and promoted on a global scale by HSBC in Geneva.

Motech 1

Bank documents which The News Minute (TNM) has seen show that three deposits in the name of three different companies were made into MoTech’s HSBC account in Geneva between 2006 and 2007.

The three companies are Infrastructure Company Limited which deposited $ 400,000,558.00 (bank profile created on 02/06/2004, client code 5091399730), HRJ Holdings N.V which deposited $59,685,304.00 (bank profile created on 13/04/2005, client code 5091434683) and Aberdeen Enterprises N.V. which brought up the rear with $8,283,320.00 (bank profile created on 13/04/2005, client code 5091434632), totaling to $467 million. All three companies have Swiss IBAN numbers and are registered in the Netherlands Antilles.

($467 million was about Rs 2073 crores in 2006 at the then dollar rate.)

MoTech is a company promoted by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). Set up by Mukesh Ambani, MoTech was run by Sandeep Tandon and Congress leader Annu Tandon. Sandeep Tandon was a former officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) who worked with the Enforcement Directorate looking into foreign front companies including RIL. Subsequently, he resigned from Motech as its director in 2009, a year before he passed away in Switzerland in 2010.

According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ (MCA) filings, Annu Tandon also resigned from MoTech on January 3, 2008.
A Congress MP from Unnao in UP, Tandon did not respond to calls from TNM today. Both the Tandons – Annu and her late husband – are listed as having hefty amounts in HSBC Geneva.

While information about the HSBC names and numbers have been doing the rounds for the past few years, SwissLeaks, an initiative of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is the first global effort to provide a comprehensive analysis of documents connecting the HSBC dots. It has brought together 154 journalists and 55 media organisations from 47 countries in a spectacular display of journalistic solidarity against tax evaders, arms dealers and drug peddlers. The ICIJ of which the Indian Express is a part posted the SwissLeaks series online on Monday. Faced with a barrage of questions, HSBC said some of its compliance and checks and balances were lax, a position most find laughable when viewed against the magnitude of the problems.
Will NaMO and Jailtely go after these Tandons? If NaMo is real, he will kick out Jaitley and bring another person to hold this enquiry. Why are they afraid?

I don't think we need a new thread for the HSBC scams.

The key to understand is HSBC type Swiss bank accounts is not only about tax evasion/avoidance but also about looting and corruption that gnaws the foundations of the nation state.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 10 Feb 2015 23:45

ramana wrote:The SC order on CBI director is good grounds to dismiss the turd. How come he was meeting ADAG 50 times at his own home. Can't be because of his kitchen skills or chai biskoot! Unless its gold biskoots in Swiss banks.

Keep in mind this person/ group was involved in buying equipment for Border fencing in Billions of $$$.
The man used to boast in usual gathering that "hum"BJp Sarkar Nahi baanney Denge.