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

[ShivaS]

Yes it take s balls to run a scam, Dhiru Bhai riding cycle, selling smuggled Chifon sarees supplied by Haji Mastan in Surat and still dreaming big then joining the club with Jinnah's grandson of Bombay Dying (Nusli Wadia), Muffat Lals, Tata Textiles, Siya Rams, Gaya Rams, Singhania's and then shutting them down with complete stravation of Polyester and Ryon raw materials..,,,

You got to loot to become big.

"behind every great fortune there is a crime" Mario Puzo, The Godfather

No wonder the bacchas of DHirubahi claim Congress (and Desh) apana hi dukaan hai... was true has been true and is true...
yes will be true in future...

[shiv]

One of the most flawed lessons we are taught is that it is easy to make money or become great as a criminal. In fact it is easy to remain poor and anonymous. Most people spend their lives remaining poor and anonymous. It is not at all easy to rise to the top with honesty and hard work. It is even more difficult to be a criminal and remain free. So the greatest people are the criminals who are walking free.

[arjunm]

ALL ABOUT SONIA GANDHI- FROM BAR MAID TO HEIRESS OF MOTHER INDIA BY SUBRMANIAM SWAMY

http://rajivsonia.blogspot.com

[ramana]

So when Vir Singvi writes op-eds in Hindustan Times (a Birla owned and INC support paper) how much of it is his own thoughts and how much of it is INC inner kites?

[Yayavar]

from Vir's own pen: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Setting-t ... 31776.aspx

The footnote states that 'views expressed by the author are personal'.

[chetak]

from Vir's own pen: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Setting-t ... 31776.aspx

The footnote states that 'views expressed by the author are personal'.

This guy is just another tired old hired gun.

just like the rest of the burqa brigade.

Now we all know and they know that we know.

Precipitous loss of influence and loss of income as well as face.


The finagled padma shris are coming home to roost.

Can anyone even imagine burqa and turdeep as padma shris??? slanted, motivated and biased as they are, frequently even to the extent of being very economical with the truth.

[saket]

Arun Shourie confirms Nira Radia tapes leak

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie claimed that senior party leader Venkaiah Naidu was lobbied, to ensure the BJP wouldn't oppose 2009 Budget proposals that allegedly favoured billionaire businessman and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Shourie confirmed Nira Radia tape revelation to Karan Thapar on 'Devil's Advocate' on CNN-IBN This is the first concrete proof that Nira Radia's influence extended to the Opposition ranks as well. Here's a brief transcript:

Karan Thapar: Let's start with the Nira Radia tapes, you yourself are a subject of discussion. The voice speaking to Nira Radia reveals that he has arranged for you to be replaced by Venkaiah Naidu as the lead speaker from the BJP side in the Rajya Sabha on the 2009 Budget. Let me first ask you did this actually happen?

Arun Shourie: Yes, there is no doubt in that. I was asked to open the debate on the budget, I worked for one week to speak of the matter and at the last minute after I reached the house I was told that the previous night Mr Venkaiah Naidu had decided to speak suddenly. Therefore as he had been party president he will speak first. My turn would come after all the 13-14 speakers have spoken and then I would be the second speaker for the party.

Karan Thapar: Now the second thing that the tape suggests that if you would have been the lead speaker you might have taken a hard position on a proposal in the budget which was going to help Mukesh Ambani hugely. But by replacing you with Mr Venkaiah Naidu the person had ensured that the line taken by the BJP would be more accommodating and understanding?

Arun Shourie: Yes, it was certainly their objective, I mean its clear from the tapes that was the objective. They may have apprehended this because I had spoken about that particular proposal in an adverse way in a party meeting...I may or may not have spoken about this on the floor of the house.

Karan Thapar: But this was their fear?

Arun Shourie: This was their fear.

Karan Thapar: Now the voice speaking on the tape speaking to Nira Radia, who I have been referring to all along hasn't been identified. Have you recognised that voice?

Arun Shourie: No doubt everybody who listens to the tape and I hope that everyone listens to the tape will know that it is my good college friend NK Singh. What is the problem with that?

Karan Thapar: The gentleman who was secretary to the Mr Vajpayee at one point of time?

Arun Shourie: He was secretary to the Prime Minister, he was I am sure finance secretary at one stage, he was a member of the Planning Commission and my college friend.

Watch the entire interview on 'Devils' Advocate at 8:30 PM on Sunday only on CNN-IBN.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/arun-shourie ... ml?from=tn

OK so, is Arun Shourie a crook or isnt he? Either way he has no place in the BJP, doesnt seem to take one for the party.

[chetak]

Arun Shourie confirms Nira Radia tapes leak

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie claimed that senior party leader Venkaiah Naidu was lobbied, to ensure the BJP wouldn't oppose 2009 Budget proposals that allegedly favoured billionaire businessman and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Shourie confirmed Nira Radia tape revelation to Karan Thapar on 'Devil's Advocate' on CNN-IBN This is the first concrete proof that Nira Radia's influence extended to the Opposition ranks as well. Here's a brief transcript:

Karan Thapar: Let's start with the Nira Radia tapes, you yourself are a subject of discussion. The voice speaking to Nira Radia reveals that he has arranged for you to be replaced by Venkaiah Naidu as the lead speaker from the BJP side in the Rajya Sabha on the 2009 Budget. Let me first ask you did this actually happen?

Arun Shourie: Yes, there is no doubt in that. I was asked to open the debate on the budget, I worked for one week to speak of the matter and at the last minute after I reached the house I was told that the previous night Mr Venkaiah Naidu had decided to speak suddenly. Therefore as he had been party president he will speak first. My turn would come after all the 13-14 speakers have spoken and then I would be the second speaker for the party.

Karan Thapar: Now the second thing that the tape suggests that if you would have been the lead speaker you might have taken a hard position on a proposal in the budget which was going to help Mukesh Ambani hugely. But by replacing you with Mr Venkaiah Naidu the person had ensured that the line taken by the BJP would be more accommodating and understanding?

Arun Shourie: Yes, it was certainly their objective, I mean its clear from the tapes that was the objective. They may have apprehended this because I had spoken about that particular proposal in an adverse way in a party meeting...I may or may not have spoken about this on the floor of the house.

Karan Thapar: But this was their fear?

Arun Shourie: This was their fear.

Karan Thapar: Now the voice speaking on the tape speaking to Nira Radia, who I have been referring to all along hasn't been identified. Have you recognised that voice?

Arun Shourie: No doubt everybody who listens to the tape and I hope that everyone listens to the tape will know that it is my good college friend NK Singh. What is the problem with that?

Karan Thapar: The gentleman who was secretary to the Mr Vajpayee at one point of time?

Arun Shourie: He was secretary to the Prime Minister, he was I am sure finance secretary at one stage, he was a member of the Planning Commission and my college friend.

Watch the entire interview on 'Devils' Advocate at 8:30 PM on Sunday only on CNN-IBN.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/arun-shourie ... ml?from=tn

OK so, is Arun Shourie a crook or isnt he? Either way he has no place in the BJP, doesnt seem to take one for the party.

Arun Shourie is not a crook. He is a maverick.

Many political parties don't know the difference to their very own detriment.

[Raghavendra]

ED soon to summon officials, including Raja aides, in 2G probe
http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20101128/14 ... din_1.html

[Rahul Mehta]

Only Subramanian Swamy and/or SC has to do something. The Government will not do anything. By the way the newly appointed and tainted CVC who is also chided by SC is on the panel to select next CBI chief.

SCjs are bigger crooks than Raja. If you are hoping that SCjs will save us commons from scams, then you are wasting away all the hopes. SCjs since 1948 have been British implants and IG tried to change that, but judges unstabilized her before she could do so.

==

Being corrupt is not only about accepting bribes, but also when you shut your eyes while bribes are being distributed around you and you don't stop it even when you are in a position to stop corruption.

All of us are in position to reduce corruption in Ministers, IAS, IPS, SCjs, HCjs, RBI etc. By spending 1 hour a week, we campaign for laws that can reduce corruption.

===

... is Arun Shourie a crook ...?

He runs only mega-scams, deals directly with few corporate honcho only, will never talk to loggyists and small fixers, doesnt put fingers in small scams at all. The scams he runs are big well-organized (like many disinvestment he did) and he asks beneficiaries to give crores of rupees to mediamen to create "Arun is tiger", "Arun is sage", "Arun has 4 digit IQ" image so that he can become FinMin, PM. In this respect, he as crook or as Mahatma as Mahatma MMS. The mega-scamster business houses like him, because he is cheaper than Pramod or even NaMo, and is baseless, cadreless. All in all, he has no aversion to any BJP (or for that matter Congress leader) looting India, as long as cut goes to mediamen who praise Arun. Which is why he never spoke against mega scams of Yashwant, Jaswant, Pramod, ABV, NaMo et al. He speaks against Congress scams, as after all, something has to be said to stay in light.

====

Rahul Mehta: And more question to all Shourie Worshipers. Care to explain why the Knight in Shining Armor, never compromising, always crusading against corruption, Shri Shouriejee never spoke against corruption of Pramod? Was it because Pramod was giving him cut in cash or kind?

JwalaMukhi: .... Your broadbrushing of anyone and everyone will not help in getting to the analysis of corruption. Hence, once again,
1) Can you name 10 politicians of significance at the national level, who are not corrupt?
2) Can you name 5 politicians of significance at the Gujarath level, who are not corrupt?
3) If you cannot, it is a valid data point saying that being corrupt is a pre-requisite to have any success in politics in real world.

1. Not just 10, I know many politicians of significance, who are non-corrupt. My rough estimate is - there are some 71 crore non-corrupt politicians of significance. They are called as "us commons".

2. My rough estimate is - there are 3.8 cr are non-corrupt politicians in Gujarat. Again, they are called as "us commons".

3. Hence it is possible to stay in politics and yet be non-corrupt.

Rahul Mehta's world tries to deal with after the fact, what is more important is to how to reduce avenues for corruption, instead of punitive sword after the fact. One can deal a situation with intimidation and threat, but surely there are definitely more civilized ways to deal with corruption? P.S: I hold no brief to Shourie. Only this post of yours was picked up so we can analyze the root cause, instead of just pulling out of the hat, execution by majority vote and other mercurial suggestions.

So please propose the DRAFTS of the Govt Notifications that IYO will "reduce avenues for corruption". I am less interest in "root cause", as I believe that to understand root cause, one need an intellect that I surely lack. My intellect is low, and I can barely understand DRAFTS of Govt Notification. So I confine my interest to the DRAFTS of Govt Notifications that can reduce corruption. So based on root causes as given by you (or uncle Shourie, who as per legend has 4 digit IQ and so must be knowing all the root causes), what Govt Notifications do you or uncle Shourie propose?

The Govt Notification I have proposed for Right to Recall PM, Ministers etc , Govt Notification I have proposed for "Execution by Majority Vote" are 100% Constitutional. (see http://rahulmehta.com/301.pdf for the drafts). Whether they are mercurial or civilized is something only with profound knowledge can say, not me. The only trivial question I would try to answer is : will these GNs to the job? Will RTR reduce corruption without reducing efficiency? Will "Execution by Majority Approval" reduce corruption without reducing inefficiency? If yes, I would not care much about being mercurial and uncivilized. To me, a corrupt Minister, IAS, IPS, judge is not much different from terrorist coming from Pakistan into JK and killing some people. And I am no Arundhati Roy who believe in human rights for terrorists. I dont want to punish a non-corrupt Minister, IAS, IPS, judge. But dont want to show too much civility to corrupt Minister, IAS, IPS, judge either. Would you show much civility to paki terrorists?

[Tanaji]

I support all Rahul Mehta's proposals. Their aim is to create anarchy and confusion, and out of chaos shall come order, a new beginning. I wish there are a thousand more Rahul Mehtas that propose their versions of such laws and all should be adopted. The resulting anarchy will cause the downfall the current corrupt setup...

Rahul Mehta aage badho, hum tumhare saath hai

[sanjeevpunj]

The day when all these corrupt people will be brought to book, is not near. We as a nation of honest beings, have not arrived.Inspect your own mind, each one who reads this.Recall the number of times you have paid a bribe (I recall I paid Rs 50/= bribe to get a ticket from Delhi to Bangalore, in 1976) because I was stranded alone at Delhi, at night,and couldn't afford a single extra day stay at Delhi-still this was a bribe). Though lesser of the evil, a man who gives a bribe actually encourages corruption. I have been careful after that one incident, though.I could perhaps have taken a general ticket and entered a general compartment that is always overcrowded.Anyway I wanted to reach Bangalore in one comfortable state of mind. Never again did I make this mistake, of bribing. I would choose not to travel if I didn't have a ticket.I also learnt to book in advance.Well I am a small fry. It is these scamsters, who unflinchingly bribe corrupt officials with millions, who are really worsening the system.Imagine if everyone stopped paying them bribes.Work can also be done more directly, without bribing.I have tried it many times and succeeded.You have to put the fear of being apprehended, into the minds of these corrupt karamcharis, then they do it, but all that was small insiginificant stuff.Nothing running into crores or even lakhs.

Here's a hypothetical situation.Imagine if I were to get a Rs 1000 Crore project sanctioned.Practically, If I really wanted this project to move,I would immediately think of a 50% bribe headroom, and over-budget my project to 2000 Crores,get my 1000 Crores and pay 1000 Crores in bribes, then surely the project would pass.What if I didnt? The project file would remain locked.No minister would see it, forget about sanctioning it.Secretary level goons would send me letters, cajoling me to come and meet them and discuss the hidden aspects (bribes of course). When the government appoints people with criminal charges as heads of the CVC, we can see where the country is going. I am not at all surprised we have maoists and others going into jihad mode against the government.Its only a poorly coordinated effort though, and the players are weak.What if someday a section of the Indian Army enters into a deal with them and joins them? There are many disgruntled people in the Armed Forces, and the top bosses are always fearing such reprisals.Never know when the tide will turn. Police are supposed to protect themselves first and then protect the public too.They instead get gang banged by maoists and die, sadly.
No one calls them heroes,as they were either corrupt, or were henchmen of political goondas.
One by one, corrupt people have to be eliminated from this country,mercilessly, something like what Parashuram did with the Kshatriya Armies.Only then will India change forever.The decline has not been stemmed even, yet.We are only speculating about how to go about it.When a resurgence takes shape, it will embrace all religions,all castes,all colors and creeds.If anyone asks for a bribe, give him a silver bullet ...nay a normal bullet should do.Shoot in the leg once.He will remember never to ask again for a bribe.
I recall my stay at India's famous veterinary institution (IVRI,Izatnagar,Bareilly - Indian Veterinary Research Institute). A den of corruption in the name of animal care.Dr Ghooslekar Naach Butthead (name changed) , once a Director of this famed institute, now retired, ordered 300 goats for experiments. After the accounts were checked, 75 goats were unaccounted for.Fridges of many of his colleagues were full of goat meat for a week. This man grew fat to the point of obesity,and later did the slimming course at VLCC, and even dared to do a before/after ad for them.He had 16 vigilance cases against him which were stifled because he bribed someone Rs 40,000 in ICAR,New Delhi, to transfer my dad,then Chief Administrative-cum-Vigilance Officer, who had raised those cases against him.I was young and aware of what was happening, but had no idea how to tackle this then.Today I might have perhaps got the briber and the bribed exposed in the press.Tomorrow I might even get tougher than that, as the press is also corrupt.
A lot depends on the individual will to oppose and fight corruption. I am proud of my dad, who at this ripe age of 80, doesn't own a house he can call his own,doesn't have even more than a couple of Lakhs as a Bank Balance, and yet, leads a life with smiles, no regrets and austerity that befits a man I can call my father.If he wished, he could have been a millionaire, as many retired officers of the government are. He chose to be like this, honest and straight, and I am proud of that.At this note, I end with a JAI HIND.

[JwalaMukhi]

1. Not just 10, I know many politicians of significance, who are non-corrupt. My rough estimate is - there are some 71 crore non-corrupt politicians of significance. They are called as "us commons".

2. My rough estimate is - there are 3.8 cr are non-corrupt politicians in Gujarat. Again, they are called as "us commons".

3. Hence it is possible to stay in politics and yet be non-corrupt.

So please propose the DRAFTS of the Govt Notifications that IYO will "reduce avenues for corruption".

Thanks Rahul Mehta for a reply (that would make every politico Public Relations Officer proud). So, your answer is commons are not corrupt and currently commons are not in positions of power in the political set up. Because you are tapping the commons to represent non-corruption, and they will cease to be commons if they gain any significant power in the political setup.

Here is the quandary,
" us commons == non-corrupt!"
Powerful politicos != "us commons".

Hence, "us commons" can only remain "us commons" if they have to be non-corrupt, because "us commons" is the pool you are tapping to name non-corrupt. If otherwise, you would and could have tapped some non-commons.

The question is how to tap "us commons" to gain political power and still not cease being "us commons"? Let me make a quick note, that you are depending on passage of the Drafts that you propose by the politically powerful and corrupt, who gives a nod to that curtails self. My guess is if you would like those to be passed by the corrupt politicians, judges, IAS, IPS etc., you would be better off by offering them bribes to pass it (in the process becoming corrupt yourself),since they are corrupt. So it is better not to depend on Govt Notifications, because govt is being manned and run by non-commons. Better to take it to people directly and not depend on Govt. Notifications. Hence propose manifestos and "us commons" have seen manifestos that are dime a dozen. Good luck on that. Hope you continue to remain "us commons" even after gaining political power.

IMVHO people do not have time to RTR for every local babu/politician that has gone wrong. It is humongous waste of time on the part of people to hand hold babus and politicos to do their jobs. Even a causal laborer does not need such hand holding to do his/her job. Why politicos and babus are so incompetent, that they need "us commons" to keep constantly monitoring over their shoulders and lend helping hand often.
Make occupation of top three positions (PM, Defence Minister and Home Minister) by direct elections by the "us commons". That will put a stop to most of the tamasha. Cost effective and more fruitful and productive usage of "us commons" time.

[JwalaMukhi]

One political reform that would go a long way is not going to be liked by politicians but very much by "us commons". First best option is direct elections.
2nd best option is: announce pre-polls the cabinet by the contesting parties (including coalitions). That means, now people are aware of the size of the cabinet and who is going to be ministers before entering the poll booth. In a sense, people actually have appointed and selected the ministers directly, because they have seen before hand. Now, they can do RTR. Recall can be done, when something was done in the first place by us commons. Else it is mere RTD, which is Right to Dismissal.
Horse trading and other things will be cleaned up, because before one goes to poll one knows who is going to be where after the poll, if "us commons" choose to provide them an opportunity.
P.S: If 25% of the proposed cabinet do not get elected because commons do not elect them, then it shows the hollowness of the party and it will be a recipe for banana republic (which commons will know).
OTOH, if the chosen members of the cabinet do not even dare to contest the elections, then it shows the power of the extra-constitutional authority in appointing people in prime positions, which is a blue print for banana republic.

[James B]

Arun Shourie confirms Nira Radia tapes leak

video link to the show. There was also discussion about Vir Sanghvi and Burqa's role in 2G scam.

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/136034/dev ... tapes.html

[RamaY]

^ Jwalamukhi garu,

That is the core of democracy. Be a non-corrupt person and do good to the society. The non-corrupt commons will elect you as long as you non-corrupt and will take you out of power when you become corrupt.

I like RajaBose-ji's approach. I too will join a political party of my liking when I RTI and do whatever I can to the nation while remaining non-corrupt. I will stop growing if I have to use corrupt methods to make that political gain.

[sanjeevpunj]

Arun Shourie confirms Nira Radia tapes leak

video link to the show. There was also discussion about Vir Sanghvi and Burqa's role in 2G scam.

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/136034/dev ... tapes.html

Interesting discussion, heard it all through.I like Arun Shourie's remark "Sunlight is the best disinfectant" let the sunlight in, and I like Karan's remark "We are the best judge of ourselves".
Yet, this is only the view of two journalists.its good they openly want to discuss things (they probably must be reading BRF forums ).

[Rahul Mehta]

Got news from an old timer local BJP guy, who was in Delhi most of the time during 1998-2004. Radia got prominence because of ABV-EnronPurush and Pramod-SevenStarPurush. She was a frequent visitor to ABV's residence, and security staff was told not to make her entry in visitor's register !! We all know that ABV and N D Tiwari had many things in common. As per Pramod, we all know that he enjoyed more in 1998-2004 than what we would in 7 lives. All in all, it is not coincidence that Radia is successful in political circles, and has stunning ... brains. Please note that none of my sentences make any allegations on ABV's character. So pls dont waste admin's time by throwing complaints against me for this post.

====

One political reform that would go a long way is not going to be liked by politicians but very much by "us commons". First best option is direct elections.

2nd best option is: announce pre-polls the cabinet by the contesting parties (including coalitions). That means, now people are aware of the size of the cabinet and who is going to be ministers before entering the poll booth. In a sense, people actually have appointed and selected the ministers directly, because they have seen before hand. Now, they can do RTR. Recall can be done, when something was done in the first place by us commons. Else it is mere RTD, which is Right to Dismissal.

Horse trading and other things will be cleaned up, because before one goes to poll one knows who is going to be where after the poll, if "us commons" choose to provide them an opportunity.

P.S: If 25% of the proposed cabinet do not get elected because commons do not elect them, ....

Pls propose the DRAFTS of the Legislations (or Executive Notifications ) needed to bring the abive changes in existing system. Till you give drafts, your proposals are alsways going to sound better than any drafted proposal which gives all nuts and bolts details (like pay Rs 3 fee ; goto Patwari's office etc) .

As per comments on whether title of a law should be RTR or RTD etc, titles of laws are non-issue and waste of time for us commons, though they are of immense importance for gyaani people. And I am no gyaani, I am a mere common.

====

..... that you are depending on passage of the Drafts that you propose by the politically powerful and corrupt, who gives a nod to that curtails self. My guess is if you would like those to be passed by the corrupt politicians, judges, IAS, IPS etc., ...

No. My proposal is that we commons should threaten PM, CMs, Mayors to RTI2 draft as listed in one page at http://rahulmehta.com/002.pdf and explained in 4 pages in http://rahulmehta.com/001.pdf . Once we commons manage to force PM to sign this Govt Notification, we commons can get MRCM, RTR and many other drafts signed in just 3-4 months.

... It is humongous waste of time on the part of people to hand hold babus and politicos to do their jobs. ..

In RTR, we commons wont need to expel even 0.01% officials. The threat of expulsion and resulting punishments etc is a powerful deterrent. eg out of 200-300 Governors US saw in past 230 years, only 2-3 got expelled. Out of 10000-20000 police chief US districts saw in past 230 years, less than 4 ever got expelled by people. But threat of expulsion (recall) has always acted as powerful deterrent. Other punitive law-drafts I have proposed are of similar nature - they will act as so powerful threat that Nbjprie will lear to walk in a straight line and so they will never be invoked. Consider the draft of Government Notification E-PM aka "Executing PM by Majority Approval" listed in section-27.1 of http://rahulmehta.com/301.pdf . Once we commons force PM to sign RTI2 using mass-movement, we commons can force PM to sign the draft of E-PM aka "Executing PM by Majority Approval" in 3 months. And once this E-PM draft is signed, no PM will dare to be even 1% as corrupt as ABV or MMS. And so we commons will never need to use this draft. If the hanging sword is sharp enough, we dont need to make it actually fall.

Whether it will take humongous time or small time depends on procedure code, not titles. None of the 50 RTR drafts I have proposed take "humongous" time. eg in RTR-PM, a citizen needs to spend less than 15-30 minutes of his time. And when ATM and SMS interface becomes available, RTR-PM will need only 2-3 minutes for a common. So your claim that RTR would take humongous time is a false.

[ShivaS]

ABV you mean Akhand Bumbling like ND Tiwari, a men! looks like Pfizer products do work...hmm Or was it Eli Lilly product?

[JwalaMukhi]

No. My proposal is that we commons should threaten PM, CMs, Mayors to RTI2 draft as listed in one page ... Once we commons manage to force PM to sign this Govt Notification, we commons can get MRCM, RTR and many other drafts signed in just 3-4 months.

Please explain few of the highlighted items.
Please explain the words threaten, (sounds like an empty threat, what is the backing to carry out the threat if there is no compliance?). Please explain Government Notification. Why it becomes Government Notification, unless it is proposed and released by the Government. So did commons usurp power and become Government for the day to enact Government Notification? Currently within the existing system commons cannot even select/elect who the PM can be, how does commons all of sudden are empowered to manage and force PM to sign the dotted line. This is defying logic. Please explain how and why PM is needed in the picture. If commons are powerful, why even force someone as PM who will be unwilling to do commons bidding? Why not bypass PM, because commons are being empowered by your logic to threaten and force PM.

Once we commons force PM to sign RTI2 using mass-movement, we commons can force PM to sign the draft of E-PM aka "Executing PM by Majority Approval" in 3 months. And once this E-PM draft is signed, no PM will dare to be even 1% as corrupt as ABV or MMS. And so we commons will never need to use this draft. If the hanging sword is sharp enough, we dont need to make it actually fall.

Such mass movements cannot impose anything on the PM. PM is answerable to the Lok Sabha. Commons better hurry and get a mass movement to have commons in Lok Sabha, to bring about this legislative procedure. Your proposal has the power of legislative changes, but lacks the legislature? Please reconcile.

As per comments on whether title of a law should be RTR or RTD etc, titles of laws are non-issue and waste of time for us commons, though they are of immense importance for gyaani people.

Fundamentals are quite important. The basics have to be right, especially when power is being sought to execute a human being. Building superstructure on flimsy foundation is recipe for disaster.

Till you give drafts, your proposals are alsways going to sound better than any drafted proposal which gives all nuts and bolts details (like pay Rs 3 fee ; goto Patwari's office etc) .

Again, the strategy needs to be correct, before working on tactics. Brillant tactics is poor substitute for non existing or incorrect strategy.

[Mauli]

We all know that ABV and N D Tiwari had many things in common.

i hear you Mehta ji.

[shiv]

No. My proposal is that we commons should threaten PM, CMs, Mayors to RTI2 draft as listed in one page at http://rahulmehta.com/002.pdf and explained in 4 pages in http://rahulmehta.com/001.pdf .

Rahul these are excellent ideas. I would support them wholeheartedly.

[arjunm]

deleted

[arjunm]

5 dodgy firms received Rs 26,000-cr bank loan

According to the documents available with The Pioneer, Swan Telecom got Rs1,917 crore from the Punjab National Bank and the Bank of Baroda. Shockingly, Swan — currently known as Etisalat DB India — managed to get around Rs 2,000 crore in loans even before it was awarded the telecom licence. The company’s statements to the Registrar of Companies show that the SBI provided to it the maximum loan of Rs 747 crore, followed by Punjab National Bank (`500 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 400 crore), IDFC (Rs 200 crore) and IL&FS (Rs 70 crore).

In a clear indication that strings were pulled to manage these loans, records show that when the banks funded Swan between October 20 and October 24, 2007, the company had not even received the licence and spectrum.

The final allotment of spectrum and licence came three months after last instalment of the loan amount was disbursed.

Incidentally, these loans were granted within days of the DB Reality owners, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, taking control of Swan from Anil Ambani’s Reliance Telecom.

In the ongoing investigation of loan-for-bribery scam, the CBI is also probing into the loans provided to DB Reality. The agency has not yet linked this case with the huge loans to the spectrum-tainted companies by the public sector banks.

The Pioneer had on Sunday reported that Unitech got a loan of Rs 10,000 crore from various pubic sector banks, including the SBI which doled out more than Rs 8,000 crore.

The Unitech also made hypothecation agreement with SBI Cap Trustee Company, a Government of India company, for Rs 2,500 crore in November 2009. Another company, STel, got the loan from IDBI and its associates for Rs 1,538 crore.




http://www.dailypioneer.com/299944/5-do ... -loan.html

[Rahul Mehta]

Jwalamukhi,

Replied your post in Neta-Babu thread at http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 99#p986199

===

Rahul Mehta: My proposal is that we commons should threaten PM, CMs, Mayors to RTI2 draft as listed in one page at http://rahulmehta.com/002.pdf and explained in 4 pages in http://rahulmehta.com/001.pdf .

shiv: Rahul these are excellent ideas. I would support them wholeheartedly.

Shiv, Dear all,

AWMTA

And shiv, yours is the best (THE BEST) post posted in the entire history of BR.

Please see 40 small steps mentioned in http://rahulmehta.com/003.pdf . Using these steps, you can campaign for RTI2-draft by spending as little as 1 hour a week and zero donations.

And shiv, can you become admin again, and use BR to propagate RTI2-draft? Thanks in advance.

[Tanaji]

That Rahul Mehta is a "common" has been disproved many times in other threads. As per his own admission, he owns assets greater than 1 crore, has bank balances in lakhs, and uses commercial flights.

That alone, is enough to not make him a common.

He is an elite neta, maybe not corrupt yet, but narcissist and anarchist.

Rahulji, I think we need RTI3... maybe a combination of RTI2 + Right to Recall + Jury system. I am sure you can figure a way to combine all 3. aage badho, I am with you...

[Gus]

Jaya TV (of ADMK) news was saying that nira radia confessed to accepting money.

Subramanyam Swamy was going on about Syed Salahuddin mixed up in this..not sure in what context...could not hear everything.

[Rahul Mehta]

That Rahul Mehta is a "common" has been disproved many times in other threads. As per his own admission, he owns assets greater than 1 crore, has bank balances in lakhs, and uses commercial flights. That alone, is enough to not make him a common. He is an elite neta, maybe not corrupt yet, but narcissist and anarchist.

Rahulji, I think we need RTI3... maybe a combination of RTI2 + Right to Recall + Jury system. I am sure you can figure a way to combine all 3. aage badho, I am with you...

I haven't used flight in past 10 years. My assets are > 1 cr because of real estate bubble. Even slum dwellers in Mumbai are worth more than me. I am 100% common, because I earn money by writing code, which is hard labor, not by fixing deals.

RTI2, Jury, RTR-PM, RTR-SCj, MRCM etc are all part of my agenda. One by one --- first one is RTI2. Once we commons manage to force PM to sign RTI2-draft, all law-drafts will get signed in 5-6 months.

Btw, if you are RTI2 supporters, please execute small steps mentioned in http://rahulmehta.com/003.pdf and please sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/rti2en/ . Thanks.

[Pranay]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 010565.cms

Makes one wonder, who is working for whom...

In a new development to the 2G spectrum allocation scam, the govt has ordered a probe into the leak of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia's conversations with her clients and certain journalists, sources said.

Sources said the ministry has asked the Intelligence Bureau and the Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to inquire into how Radia's conversations were leaked.

The order to initiate a probe into the matter comes on the day when Tata group chief Ratan Tata approached the Supreme Court seeking action against those involved in the leakage of tapes containing his conversation with Radia.

Tata, in the petition, has contended that the leakage of the tapes containing intercepts of his conversation with her because they violated his privacy. In the petition, Tata has asked the Centre to probe the leak of the tapes and take action accordingly.

Incidentally, the CBDT had conducted the phone tappings over a period of time for which the sanction was given by the ministry, sources said.

Tata has also made the central government a party in his petition. Prashant Bhushan, a well-known lawyer who has filed a public interest litigation seeking the prosecution of former telecom minister A Raja, said he would robustly contest any injunction sought by the 72-year-old industrialist.

"We are seriously considering filing an application in the SC to ensure there is no injunction against these tapes and these recordings are put out in the public domain."

[SSridhar]

Why did the Government wait for Ratan Tata's case in order to order a probe into the leaks ? Is it not in Government's interests to find out how secret government info can leak like that ? At least the GoTUS knows that it was a 22-year old rookie intel analyst that copied all these millions of cables that WikiLeaks is now disgorging on unsuspecting public. Shouldn't the GoI at least know who was leaking CBDT's phone taps ? The tapes have been public knowledge for two weeks now.

[Tanaji]

http://www.rediff.com/news/column/colum ... 101129.htm

There is little doubt that the lobbyist Niira Radia would have carried on her activities undisturbed were it not for a bitter fight between two brothers over the carving of the huge industrial empire left behind by the founder.

Since she represented the interests of one of the brothers, the other is alleged to have used his superior connections in the bureaucracy to have her phones tapped.

By the time Radia and her business clients discovered this, the damage was done. Subsequently, a Deputy Inspector General of Police-level officer in the Central Bureau of Investigation was transferred.

First time someone has said who is behind the leak. Who is the DIG that was transferred?

[Muppalla]

Swamy's letter to PM - may be pure mud slinging ?

Dr Swamy exposes 'Seedy' Home Minister
29/11/2010 06:08:24

Dr.Manmohan Singh,
Prime Minister
South Block,
New Delhi.

Dear Prime Minister:

I am happy that you finally acted and went over the head of your Home Minister P.Chidambaram (who malafide vacillated), to order the arrest of Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry Mr.Ravi Inder Singh IAS., for betraying the country.


It is now high time for you to consider all my earlier letters regarding Mr.Chidambaram, regarding his being guilty of conduct unbecoming of a Minister. I had written to you earlier about his visiting massage parlours in a seedy Government hotel where Uzbeki girls frequent, driving off in jeans and dark glasses without a driver or anyone else to Greater Kailash in New Delhi-- without informing anyone, and beating up a Times of India photographer for taking pictures of him late night in a Bangalore discotheque and thereby fracturing his own toe in the scuffle. You may also be aware of what I wrote to you about a lady IAS officer in Finance Ministry whose husband (also IAS) had requested her transfer of posting because she was being harassed.

I have been recently informed by my friends in London that the British Intelligence MI-6 had video photographed Mr.Chidambaram while he in the company of an escort service European girl provided by an Indian company with which he has had a formal fiduciary relation, as a paid Director. You also must know that his 2009 elections to Lok Sabha is a complete fraud. His certificate of election from the Returning Officer was extracted under duress by the DMK CM, Mr.Karunanidhi despite Mr.Chidambaram losing the election by 7000 votes to the AIADMK candidate.

But now, it is disturbing to learn that your Government has through Mr.Chidambaram conveyed approval to J&K CM Omar Abdullah to allow return from PoK of all those who had left the troubled State since 1989.

This is a dangerous step that seems to have been decided by a back channel person who has been hell bent on India parting with J&K by hook or crook. It seriously undermines and jeopardizes the national security of the nation. It will help the ISI of Pakistan to better co-ordinate subversive and terrorist activities in India. The agencies of Pakistan have been meeting Omar Abdullah in Dubai and London. I never thought this promising youngster will go to seed like this. Who has been the baneful influence on him? In any case, I urge you overturn this decision.

Most of all, as a safeguard, I urge you to obtain the resignation of Mr.Chidambaram because has de-facto become a national security risk. He has consistently failed to concentrate on the work of the Ministry.

Yours sincerely,

(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)

[sanjeevpunj]

First of all, pushing 2G Technology into the gaping mouths of tech-hungry Indians was not a great idea at all, considering the fast developing world of communications. 3G technologies and 4G Technologies are now working all over the world, Middle East, Europe, US.While Nokia boasts of selling over 200 million Nokia 1100 handsets, most of which probably are in India, in every village by now,the demand for 3G/4G technologies is quite limited in India even today, though picking up gradually. It would have been a good idea to wait for a higher and stabler technology that offers more bandwidth, than to rush into 2G which has a limited bandwidth.In less populous areas,(that's where India really lives) the weaker digital signal may not be sufficient to reach a cell tower. This tends to be a particular problem on 2G systems deployed on higher frequencies, but is mostly not a problem on 2G systems deployed on lower frequencies. National regulations differ greatly among countries which dictate where 2G can be deployed.We didn;t even have a clear policy on that. 2G was not a good choice to start with.With EDGE(2.5G) and GPRS(2.75G) following in the wake of evolution of the telecom technologies, it was way back in 2008 that after 3G(UMTS) had already made its debut worldwide was introduced in India too.Companies launching 3G phones were itching to have 3G already, and 2G was definitely headed to fail, but spunky technocrats were out to make money from India, stealing crores off the country's recources.Technically ill-informed Dr Singh was not able to foresee this situation, it wasn't his job to asess 2G anyway.he was looking at putting Indian Telecoms on the world map.He was in fact cheated out by those technocrats who touted 2G.We could easily have waited for 4G technology to evolve to a stable state ( today the state of development is reaching a saturation point) and then go for it. However sadly those greedy people in the technology market, politicians, technocrats and the like, are always planning ahead on how to earn more wealth, and so Indian Government became a sucker for it. In my opinion, like we nationalised the banks way back, we must nationalise telecom service providers under one policy and ensure uniformity of services.4G services would boast of a 1GBps peak download, and a 500 MBps peak upload. What we get today on the 2G is a mere 0.384 mbps peak download! Or shall I say a shitload of data.Frozen videos would be a common sight. 3G could at least boast of upto 2.5mbps peak downloads! and with 4G things would be slick and effortless. No wonder the choice of 2G networks dumped on the masses backfired so badly as to turn into a major scam, perhaps the biggest in Indian Scam History.2010 will go down in Indian History as the year of scams perhaps.Its not even over yet.

[Tanaji]

^^

You are of course aware that 2G and 3G systems are on different frequencies? i.e. its not an either-or thing?

[svenkat]

Swamy's letter to PM - may be pure mud slinging ?

Dr Swamy exposes 'Seedy' Home Minister
29/11/2010 06:08:24

Could not find the release on Janatha Party website.Seems to be the fertile imagination of a blogger.

[Pranay]

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268199

A look at Niira Radia...

The 2G scam tapes are a superb lesson in dialectology, loosely the study of speech styles. PR lady Niira Radia’s accent varies in practically each conversation with politicians, business leaders, bureaucrats and top TV and print editors. She’s matter-of-fact in some, husky in others; she’s abusive in Hindi while speaking about some journalists to her staffers, she’s assured while explaining extremely technical matters to business honchos, retired bureaucrats and editors; and has a schoolgirl-like British accent while conversing with Ratan Tata: “I hope the bad times are behind us,” she tells the Tata Group chief at the end of a conversation.

Well, the bad times do not seem to be ending for Niira Radia. As the Enforcement Directorate launches an investigation into the 5,800 reported taped conversations from Radia’s phone over a six-month period in 2009, all transactions with tax implications will be looked into. Home secretary G.K. Pillai tells Outlook that it was his predecessor Madhukar Gupta who had sanctioned the phone-tapping on the request of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, which was investigating suspicious fund transfers. These will be investigated now.

Since Outlook published extracts from the CD of Radia’s phone conversations (submitted to the court) taped by the I-T department—and put the 104 conversations up on its website—there has been a raging debate. On what they tell us about the role of lobbyists in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, how the media interplays in such a system, and how our political class and retired bureaucrats are more often than not willing partners in the game. These debates do not detract from the aim of punishing the guilty behind the 2G scam; rather they raise disturbing questions we all have to answer. Who is this woman who can speak to the “highest and mightiest” in this country in this way? From where does she draw her power? And what does it tell us about our society? When Outlook asked her whether she would like to give her version of these recent events, Radia SMSed back: “No. Thank You."

Ratan Tata had, in a hand-written letter to Tamil Nadu CM M. Karunanidhi in December 2007, reportedly praised Raja’s “rational, fair and action-oriented” leadership. As a no-holds-barred corporate battle lies at the heart of the scramble for scarce spectrum, the Tata Group’s proximity to the telecom minister put it head to head against Airtel’s Sunil Mittal, who was unhappy with Raja in the seat. The stakes became bigger when Radia brokered Mukesh Ambani’s open support for Tata in the Singur controversy. By getting the PR mandate for Mukesh Ambani’s business empire in 2008, she would have found herself in the hit-list of Anil Ambani, who is also Tata’s competitor in telecom. It is believed that Ratan Tata told Mukesh Ambani to take on Radia as a client (it is reported that these two of India’s largest corporate groups pay Rs 30 crore per annum each for Radia’s services). Given that the Ambani brothers’ fight was still raging, it was a natural alignment—both the Tatas and Mukesh had a common enemy.

“One person thwarted our efforts to form the airlines,” Tata said recently. The reference was to Naresh Goyal.

The battle in Singur was a case in point of how Radia made friends across the spectrum. She was close to Left leaders—and was apparently working on other business deals with them—but moved quickly to shift the Nano plant to Sanand in Gujarat (see box). As the 2G scam tapes reveal, she was close to N.K. Singh of the JD(U); and even talks about telling Uddhav Thackeray what to do. She also mentions Madhu Koda, then Jharkhand’s chief minister, saying in one conversation that “I know what we fought in Jharkhand. I have been to Ranchi and I have met Madhu Koda. He won’t agree on anything less than (Rs) 150 crore. We had to go to court. He said you pay me (Rs) 150 crore, you tell Ratan Tata to pay me through his contractors.” Tata Steel says it has never got any mining lease during Koda’s tenure.

As the spotlight intensifies on Niira Radia, senior retired bureaucrats working for her are facing some uncomfortable questions. A senior former bureaucrat recalls that former trai head Pradip Baijal and ex-economic affairs secretary C.M. Vasudev told him they were joining the “lady who handles the advertisements for Tatas...Baijal seemed to know Radia better. They mentioned that the offer was very good as no investments would be required—yet after two years they would be partners in the company by virtue of sweat equity”. Ajay Dua, former secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, who took premature retirement to join Niira Radia’s team, is denying having done any lobbying “whether in my advisory or director’s capacity nor am I inclined to do it”. Dua, however, points out that “in India, lobbying has not been declared illegal”. Similarly, C.M. Vasudev has said that he is no longer associated with Radia as “I did not opt for sweat equity”. He does, however, admit the tapes do “create (a) reputation issue”.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268203

A recent blog post by Kingshuk Nag—the then resident editor of the Times of India’s Ahmedabad edition—refreshes our memories about those days. Nag writes that Radia had requested him on two occasions to “go soft” on Modi. His piece quotes Radia as saying, “You guys have made life hell for Narendra Modi. Why can’t you be more understanding of him and his policies?” When Nag asked Radia if Modi had become her client, her response, he writes, was that, “No, only as a Gujarati bahu, she ‘felt a responsibility towards the state’.”

[Jarita]

^^^ Swamy validated that he wrote that letter.
Also, his assertions are not new. This has been the buzz in Delhi circles for some time now. He is also reputed to have had a "relationship" with a famous journo/lobbyist.
What is more worrisome is the news about Omar. A few months ago there was an article doing rounds about the same. I have no reason not to believe Swamy.

[sanjeevpunj]

^^

You are of course aware that 2G and 3G systems are on different frequencies? i.e. its not an either-or thing?

Yes, of course they are on different frequencies. 2G operates in the (900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands) and 3G operates in the (2100 MHz frequency band).

[Mauli]

[chetak]

^^^ Swamy validated that he wrote that letter.
Also, his assertions are not new. This has been the buzz in Delhi circles for some time now. He is also reputed to have had a "relationship" with a famous journo/lobbyist.
What is more worrisome is the news about Omar. A few months ago there was an article doing rounds about the same. I have no reason not to believe Swamy.

Could you perchance provide a link to that article, Jarita ji