Ratan Tata Letter

Ratan Tata was leading business and highly respected person in India. When he mentioned about the alleged bribe asked by Union Minister for starting an airlines and  forced him to abandon the project made me proud of him. It all started changing when the  Nira Radia tapes was leaked.

Indian Express released the hand written letter by Ratan Tata to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi.

The letter was written on November 13, 2007 about five months after Dayanidhi Maran was forced out. of cabinet. There were reports that Dayanidhi Maran wanted 30% stake from Tata Sky DTH service at par value for Sun TV. Obviously Tata was not happy with this demand and was being cornered. The Karunanidhi's internal family fight forced Dayanidhi Maran out of cabinet which came as relief to Tata.

A. Raja was appointed as Telecommunication Minister as successor to Maran. This was great relief to Tata. Ratan Tata wrote this letter praising Raja less than six months since Raja took over the new role in Sanchar Bhavan. Certainly this is a great relief to Tata and DMK internal family fight helped him as well. In this letter Tata praised Raja saying "rational", "fair", "action-oriented" leader. He went on to say, on most part Raja's policies on spectrum are "legally sound" and "rational". (We now know rational to whom and how much it is legal).

Ratan Tata also praised Karunanidhi by saying, the history praises the vision, creativity, high growth achieved by Karunanidhi and his party. (The Vision is to make money for themselves, Creativity  in investing the looted money, high growth in Kalignar TV). Tata mentioned that DMK possibly can take credit for the great achievement and significant contribution to the country (Certainly Rs 1760000000000 crore loss to exchequer is great achievement and reinvesting them in other sectors through back channel is significant contribution).

Ratan Tata praised  Karunanidhi for his great vision (may be Free TV which is expected to help Tata Sky) and great equity (may be refering to Dalit card to support A.Raja as Judicial fairness ).He also confirmed that Raja works under the direct instruction of Karunanidhi by saying "can be delivered under your leadership by Mr.Raja". He also requested Nira Radia to deliver this letter in person.

It is very clear that Ratan Tata is happy with Raja and do not want Dayanidhi to get back in Sanchar Bhavan. It is obvious that Tata lobbied for A.Raja since it benefited in 2G spectrum and want to keep it that way. Tata gifted Voltas land to Rajathi Ammal to achieve this goal. I hope CBI extends his investigation to Tata group as well.

Your comments and suggestion are most welcome.

Kalaignar TV - Unanswered Questions?

A.Raja arrest has given a new dimension to 2G spectrum scam. Media reported 2G spectrum money invested in Kalaignar TV and CBI is investigating the money trail. In my view this goes much beyond this and proper investigation will bring them out. Here are some unanswered questions.

1. Kalaignar TV went live from concept (to live) in less than four months. Is it possible without misuse of power? (Note that Maran resigned from Cabinet on May 16, 2007 and Kalaignar TV inaugurated on Sep 15, 2007) It is also important to note that A.Raja was replaced as communication Minister after Maran's resignation.

2. The initial investment made to Kalaignar TV is mere one crore rupee with Dayalu 60%, Kanimozhi 20% and Sharad Kumar 20%. Is it sufficient capital? Where did they get the rest of the investment without equity interest? If they acquired non secured  loan and what the loaners got in return?

3. Nira Radia alleges that Maran brothers paid 600 Crores to Dayalu. Maran brothers haven't denied this yet. Is that money found the way into Kalaignar TV?

4. DB Realty funneled money to Kalaignar TV through three legged transactions of 294 Crores  for 30% stake which was latter converted to non secured Loan in 2009-10 which was paid back. Note that 294 Crores figures is reported by various media in wide range of 210 crores to 294 crores). DB Realty is beneficiary of 2G spectrum should be noted here. Why is this?

5. The 30% stake for 210 Crores (lowest number picked here) puts the Kalaignar TV value at 700 Crores in 2009-10. The deal fell through because they could not reach the agreeable price as per report. It may be because the valuation from Kalaignar TV side is much higher. This means one crore investment grown over 700 folds in two years time. Wow, how may of us will get this opportunity. In general, it takes few years to see any profit in high capital business like this.

6. Raj TV helped them to put together the infrastructure. They did not get any equity stake. What Raj TV got in return?

7. The Kalaignar TV bought the Rajinikanth movie "Sivaji" in May 2007 for 4 Crores even before TV was inaugurated.  They bought Kamal movie "Dasavatharam" in the same year for similar amount. This is again with One Crore initial investment.

8. Kalaignar claims he owns only the house in which he lives. Dayalu Ammal is a house wife. If Karunanidhi did not provide her money, where she got the money for investment?  Is it a Benami transaction? If so for whom?

9. Karunanidhi spent lot time defining the programs. If he is not having any vested interest, why should he do that. Chief Minister role is highly time consuming job and requires lot of time to administer. Is he investing time for his personal/family not focusing on public interest? Is it ethical even if it is legal?

Reforms for Corruption Free India

Corruption is the major issue facing India at present. This could potentially derail our growth and put us decades back. As stated by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, corruption engulfing India like cancer. This must be treated before it turns into terminal disease. I believe the following reforms are needed to treat this cancer as a starting point. I welcome any comments and suggestion to improve this proposal.

1.       The punishment in India for corruption (for that matter any criminal activities) are less in comparison with developed nations. The law must be strengthened to deter anyone from being corrupt.  The punishment should be in the range of 20 years to 35 years. Multiple counts should be sequential instead of parallel. This will pretty much lock them for life. Any ill earned asset should be recovered.

2.       The punishment should be progressive. Meaning that higher official such as police officers, judges, ministers will attract highest punishment in comparison with lower level employees.

3.       All the corruption cases should be completed within one year.

4.       The appointment of anti-corruption wing should be based on their service records. The individuals must be impeccable. They should be independent from any interference from political appointees or higher ups from external organization. Any such interference should able be reported to CVC for action. CVC should be empowered to take action.

5.       The appointment of constitutional positions such as CVC, Election Commissioner and others should be vetted thoroughly. The Committee should vet the list in open forum and recommend three names to Selection Committee (current setup). The appointment should be on consensus. In case of consensus not achievable, selection committee can recommend one name based on majority for up/down vote to parliament/assembly.

6.       The Prime Minister, Chief Minister, President, Vice-President and Governors terms should be limited to maximum of 10 years.

7.       The State and Central Ministers should also be limited to maximum of 15 years.

8.       There is no term limit on MP, MLA and MLC. However they must reside in their constituency. Ministers are exempted from residency requirements as they need to stay in capital.

9.       The MP, MLA and MLC should spend half of their time during non session period in their constituency.  Violation of this could lead to disqualification.

10.   Any corruption allegation against PM, CM and Ministers should be investigated by CVC. If CVC recommends filing a FIR and/or approved by Governor/President, the law should mandate the resignation of the individuals to face the charges.

11.   The Nepotism is one of the root causes for corruption. The law should prohibit immediate family members succeeding to current constitutional positions such as President, vice-President, PM and CM for next three years as minimum.

12.   The PM, CM, Ministers, Judges, MP, MLA and MLC should declare their assets every year. CVC should investigate if there is disproportionate increase.

13.   Appointments of High Court and Supreme Court judges should be vetted properly may be in an open forum.

14.    The PM, CM, Ministers, MLA/MP/MLC, Class 1 officers’ information should be available online particularly any information pertaining to assets, pending/past actions including favorable outcomes. This enables general public to know about the officials.

15.   The current suggestion/Complaint process does not work well. The new process should allow them to email/mail to higher officials at central location for action. In case of corruption should be referred to Anti-Corruption Wing.

16.   e-Governance should be implemented which should prevent subjective decision making.

17.   Typically corruption comes into picture to get a favorable decision for their cause. This can be minimized by reducing the burecracy and make the process simple. For example, stamp duty can be charged purely based on Government assessed value. These values should be adjusted annually based on market condition every year. The adjustment can be done based on previous year sale price, inflation and other factors as determined. This will reduce the corruption as the rates are fixed and people can use the original transaction amount as it will not impact their stamp duty.

18.   The above transactions must be through banking system eliminating /minimizing the cash payment.

19.   The similar approach in Regional Transport Office, Collectorate, etc should follow the same process.

20.   All police stations must be video monitored and record the video digitally in central location. This could clean lot of mess in Police stations.

21.   The President, Vice-President, PM, CM and Ministers should not be doing any other job which require significant effort even if it does not involve financial benefit. For example, Board of directors/trustee in Charity which demands few hours of work every week/month. The reason is the above position requires lot of effort apart from serving their constituents. In real world, it is not practical to perform multiple roles at same time. May be holding party position such as President/Secretary while being CM could also be another scenario.

22.   The age limit to serve in Assembly/Parliament should be set to 80 years.

23.   The CVC should advertise the downfall of corruption to educate the public.

24.   The Election commission should set realistic limits on election expenses for candidate (for Assembly 1 crore and Parliament 2 crores) and should be adjusted for inflation. Violations should be dealt seriously.  Election commission should ensure integrity of election by preventing distribution of money and freebies during election.

25.   Any report of Ministers’ Family/friends benefiting directly or indirectly should be investigated by CVC using appropriate resources. If proven Ministers’ must charged with misusing their power.

Why Karunanidhi (DMK) protect A.Raja?

The media speculated DMK to strip party positions from A.Raja. Instead DMK passed resolution praising and supporting A.Raja. Media started attributing this to Kanimozhi's support to A.Raja. I believe it goes much beyond that. I am sure Karunanidhi and his family does not want him to talk freely with CBI. This will be problem for them. He is not just close and trusted associate for Karunanidhi. He is much more than that and  helped them in many ways. Here are few key factors

1. Kalaignar TV was operational in 45 days. This was impossible without A.Raja particularly against Maran brothers. He was a Telecom minister and cleared all the paper work swiftly.

2. One of the 2G spectrum beneficiary SWAN is allegedly linked to Karunanidhi family particularly Kanmozhi and her Mom.

3. A.Raja was Environment Minister before he moved to Telecom Ministry. Every big project needs ministry approval. This is considered cash cow portfolio. If it is investigated more scams should come out. He was key figure in blocking any critical project from previous AIADMK Government such as desalination plant. Current DMK Government completed the same project. This is apart from money making machine and profit sharing.

4. CBI suspects 2G spectrum funds might have been invested in spiceJet through Maran.

5. It is also suspected Kalaignar TV might have funded by 2G Spectrum money.

6. CBI suspects Tamil Mayyam involved in this scam. Kanimozhi is one of the Board of Directors. CBI raided their premises.

CBI could offer him to talk about beneficiaries in return he can get reduced conviction and his family members can be spared. This is common practice by investigating agency across the world including India. These could be crucial in DMK backing in spite of additional baggage during upcoming assembly election. Stay tuned for updates!!

Tamil Nadu - Debt Load increasing

Tamil Daily Dinamalar reports that state debt reached One Lakh Crore. This is not larger than 2G spectrum loss but gets alarmingly closer 25% of state's GDP which is the maximum allowed by Central Government. The sad thing is DMK Government wastes its revenue for freebies and borrows heavily for any development. Growing debt will eventually increase borrowing cost and hinder the future growth. This could be painful.

Let us see  the debt load for past few years.

2009 debt -  74,858 crores

2010 debt -  89,149 crores

2011 debt - 1,01,628 crores

 The major revenue sources

Liquor tax - 7,508 crores

Petrol tax - 6,000 crores

Commercial tax - 26, 851 crores

Stamp duty - 4,096 crores

Motor vehicle Tax - 2,400 crores

Other Tax - 41,438 crores

Non Tax revenue -  4,101 crores

State share from Central - 10, 401 crores

 

The total revenue is about 1,02,795 crores.

The Government spends about 51% of its total revenue on salaries and pension alone. This is pretty much fixed cost and cannot back down on this. The rest of the money is spent on Free TV, Free Gas, One rupee rice, Pongal gift, Free electricity,etc.

The Government spends money on Karunanidhi dream projects such as new assembly building, Housing for cine workers (BTW, it is free),  World Classical Tamil Meet, etc. The Government heavily borrows for visionary projects such as Metro Rail, Oganakal Water Project, etc. This restricts Government ability to borrow further and current projects move slowly. This also impedes any new project which could be beneficial to state.

The unfortunate fact is current Government spends its revenue recklessly without any longtime vision. (There may  be  family financial goal to reach) If the  trend continues, the debt could easily double (2 lakh  crores) in next five years with a conservative estimate. This will happen without any significant growth. This will be disastrous to the state welfare. The only solution is fix the mismanagement of Government funds which will  include some painful decisions.

The current five year plan mandates the following

Overall GDP growth of 9%

Agricultural related growth 4%

Industrial growth 9.2%

Service sector growth 10.1%

20  lakh new jobs.

None of the above goal achieved towards the end of 4th year of current five year plan.

It may be interesting to compare how much Karunanidhi Family assets grown while Government is borrowing. We should also consider how much wealth is accumulated by those MLA/MP/Ministers during this period as well.

Can the public wake up and change the trend?

A.Raja arrested - What's next?

A.Raja was arrested today related to 2G scam along with his secretaries.  NDTV reports that he was arrested based on the facts collected so far. Raja is evasive on key matters. The question is why now? DMK and Congress tried to cover this up. Supreme Court intervened and condemned CBI and made Prime Minister to file an affidavit. He was untouched.Kapil Sibal recently said there is no loss.

The Central Government appointed one man commission submitted its reports. There are indications that officials and A.Raja indicted on this report. The CBI needs to submit his interim report to Supreme Court on Feb 10th. Tamil Nadu election around the corner. DMK and Congress alliance is sealed. Both need to offload the extra baggage. Parliament Budget session is next two weeks. Government needs to deal with opposition on JPC. Congress considered these factors and decided to take advantage by arresting A.Raja.

On Feb 10th, CBI is submitting its interim report to SC. Without concrete action, CBI may be condemned by SC.CBI and Government may want to  avoid embarrassment. Congress can use this to pressure DMK to get more seats and power sharing agreement. In return they can spare Kanimozhi and company, later continue weakening the case. It looks like DMK will yield as there is not many option for them. It is DMK turn to be at receiving end. Congress can argue now against JPC claiming case is pending in court and A.Raja is arrested.

We need to understand this 2G scam is much larger than A.Raja. The complete network must be exposed along with individuals and corporates. In my view, only JPC will be have enough power to investigate all aspects. Precisely this is the reason why JPC provision is added to our constitution. There are alleged involvements by corporates, Sonia Gandhi and her sisters, Karunanidhi and his family, etc. These aspects must be investigated as well. The best way we can find resolution for this is JPC investigation in an open forum.

CVC appointment

The Prime Minister and Home Minister recommended P J Thomas in spite of pending criminal case against him.The Opposition leader registered her dissent against the appointment in selection committee meeting.  So far Central Government defended the appointment as usual. Recently Attorney General G E Vahanvati told that Supreme Court that selection committee is not presented with the facts during their review. I am not sure whether AG things Supreme Court and Citizens are dumb.

It is unbelievable that selection committee will review the file without all the facts in front of them.It is common practice that Service Record of individual official will be reviewed for even a normal promotion. It is unbelievable this was not presented to the selection committee. In a ethical selection process, P J Thomas name should not even been considered for this position. The Home Minister and Opposition Leader confirmed they discussed this issue. Will Central Government will ask AG's resignation or court will condemn him for providing false information to SC? He should be punished for misrepresenting the court and larger public.

Home Minister confirmation of Opposition Leader dissent shows that Prime Minister and Home Minister was keen in appointing him to cover up 2G spectrum. From Nira Radia's tape and other sources clearly shows Dr. Manmohan Singh is a dummy Prime Minister controlled by Gandhi family. He was not able to make his own decision on any key issue which was obvious in 2G scam. Whether  Prime Minister and Home Minister acted on their own or not. They are responsible for the decision. They should resign for making this poor choice. At least they should fix the problem by asking P J Thomas to resign. In case if he refuses, the cabinet should recommend The President of India for his removal.

In the future to avoid this mistake and embarrassment, (should be followed in all constitutional appointments)

1. The selection process should be openly vetted before it goes to Selection Committee. This could be done by Group of Ministers or Parliamentary committee.

2. The Selection Committee (comprising of Prime Minister,Home Minister and opposition Leader) should select the individual on consensus basis. i.e. The decision must be unanimous.

3. When the unanimous decision is not reached, it must go to Parliament for confirmation for simple majority at least. This will give opposition leaders to register their concerns in open forum.

I hope someone pays the price for this mess.

Dr. Manmohan Singh - Should he go?

I admire Dr. Manmohan Singh for his work as an Economist and Finance Minister. His policies during 1991-96 put us in the path of growth which we are benefiting for past decade or so. In my view he failed miserably as a Prime Minister. The difference is he was reporting to P.V. Narasimha Rao then and Sonia Gandhi now. Can we attribute his failure to his boss? I believe so. He was given enough freedom to fix the economy and which was his strength. Now he does not have that freedom and in that case he should step down.

The following things shows how he is compromised his integrity for the power. This is not a complete list of his failure anyway.

1. Nira Radia tapes revealed how UPA-2 cabinet was decided. It was big corporates, power brokers, media personnel, etc except the Prime Minister. As per consititution he has full authority for deciding the cabinet but we know what happened.

2. There was clear indication that things were wrong in 2G selling process. He himself indicated auction process should be followed. Law Ministry and TRAI recommended the same. In response to Prime Minister's letter, A.Raja responds (with the help of then Solicitor General) to Prime Minister, he was going ahead with his approach. Prime Minister ackonwledged his letter without any comment. Who forced him to stay away from this?  Why A.Raja was allowed to stay in Cabinet even after his officess were raided. Even after all this Raja was given clean chit by PM. why?

3. During the 2009 election, he promised to bring back the black money from foreign banks in 100 days. Now it is over 18 months from dead line. Nothing much happened. Contrary to his statement, they are protecting the names which they received from German Government using some IT rules. These individuals and Companies are not just tax evaders. They are criminals and parked their illegal money in those accounts. They must be exposed. Why he is hesitating?

4. His handling of Bofors is miserable. ITAT says there is enough evidence to prove that commissions were paid. CBI contradicts saying there is not enough proof. They are under PMO and he is responsible. Why he is supporting the coverup?

His job is not just to give pose with foriegn leaders. He is obligated to serve the nation and not just Sonia Gandhi family. He failed in these obligations and time for him to go. He must resign, otherwise he and his party must be voted out.

Nepotism in Indian politics

Founding fathers and our freedom fighters sacrificed so many things including their life and wealth to achieve the freedom we enjoy. It is slowly slipping out of our  hands. Corruption is every where. In my view Corruption and Nepotism are related.. Recently Nepotism reaching to a level where our democracy become mockery. Every politicians wants to bring in their kids into politics to protect their interest (meaning assets acquired illegally). It is become accepted phenomenon. It was started slowly when Nehru brought Indira Gandhi into lime light. I would not be surprised in the future over 75% of elected members of our Government are nepotist. It must stop. Otherwise we cannot control the corruption and looting.

I thought of covering  from Nehru Family at national level, YSR family in Andhra Pradesh, Pawar family in Maharashtra, Karunanidhi family in Tamil and list will go on.  We were waiting for leaders to come and fix our political systems. I think we lost our core value by copying the British system. We must revist our old democratic system put together by Chola Kings. We should incorporate the relevant ones in our constitution. That may be a challenge but not impossible.

During my research I stumbled upon this video. The video below gives a sample from one family (Sonia Gandhi) and how they control the puppet PM from behind and their cronies. It talks volume and it is worth watching.

Doctorate like Freebies in Tamil nadu?

Traditionally Honorary Doctorates are awarded to the distinguished people for contribution in their field or for the public service. In Western countries it is also awarded for individuals who made significant contribution to the institution which awards it. Now it is being awarded to individuals who do not fit any of the above criteria.

We started seeing this degree being awarded to political leaders couple of decades back.  In my view it was not correct but can be justified to some extent. I would say individual likes Anuradha Koirala , Narayanan Krishnan and many others deserve this. They were changing life of many individuals for good. Our Indian Politicians public service is typically self service or family service and would not meet stricter rules.

The recent recipients of Honorary Doctorates took it to another level. Dr.  MGR Medical University conferred honorary degrees on seven doctors, including the CM and Governor's physicians. The Madras High Court questioned the manner in which it was decided. Chief Justices observed  "Merely because one person is a private physician of the governor or a private physician of chief minister, he cannot be awarded the degree. We can't accept that," when hearing public litigation petition filed by advocate G.Velu.

I do not know how to say this other than cronyism. Appropriate regulatory authority such as UGC should implement tougher rules. Otherwise, ministers, MLAs, MPs, mayors, councilors, ward members, their doctors and others should able to get the Honarary Doctorates like freebies.

Kapil Sibal statement on 2G spectrum

Kapil Sibal issued a statement today saying CAG Rs 1.76 lakh Crore figure is erroneous and went on to say there is no loss to exchequer. This clearly shows Congress intention to coverup. In my view, Mr. Sibal owes answers to the Citizens for the following questions.

1. Why Raja changed "first come first served" to "first payed first served"?
2. Why Raja overruled PMs advice? SC made some adverse comments against Raja on this.
3. How come the letter pad companies got the licenses and are able to sell it for huge profit in few months? How come those companies able to get the necessary documents/DD ready while others scrambled? Dr. Subramaniyam Swamy presented compelling case/documents against those companies and their political ties.
4. When there is nothing wrong, why CBI raided Telecom Ministry?
5. Why Delhi HC observed that it sees prima facie in Dr. Swamy's case against Raja?
6. Pranabh Mukerjee mentioned that BJP also used similar process and presented some large number as loss during BJP period as well. Why this contradiction between two senior ministers? One of you must be wrong at the least. Can you or Finance Minister apolgize for providing wrong information to the public?
7. Why SC did not believe in the Central Government and wanted to monitor the CBI investigation? If there is no loss why Government and CBI agreed for investigation?
8. Why Mr. Thomas is appointed as CVC overruling Opposition leader concerns?
9. Why Mr.Thomas is continuing as CVC even after the SC adverse comments on his appoinment?
10. Why Congress is hesitant on appointing JPC if there is nothing to hide? Why would Pranab Mukerjhee counsel against PM's offer to appear before PAC?

There may be a dispute on how the final figure is arrived. However it is very clear that there is a loss to exchquer and individuals benefited from the transaction. It is sad to see educated and intellectuals like Mr. Sibal trying to cover up Himalayan Scandal. I am afraid that next time, Government will pick their cronies for CAG as they did in case of CVC. They learned from Bofors how to stop additional investigation and coverup things. That is being used now. Probably this learning will be useful in sometime in the future.

Indian Politicians - Justice bought or delivered?

I hardly know any Indian politician convicted on corruption charges. We have seen that in cases like Bofors, Fodder Scam, Pleasant Stay Hotel, Cremation Shed Scam, dhoti scam, etc. and various disproportionate wealth accumulation cases. It is unblievable that most of the cases politicians were acquitted (at the most censured). It is true across the political spectrum. The reason could be either the case is politicaly motivated or weakened by the people who are in power. As I mentioned earlier, this pattern fits across the political spectrum. I am trying to highlight the few to show the pattern but no means a complete list.

Bofors: This is one of the largest scam before 2G spectrum. It costed Rajiv Gandhi's job. JPC was setup and it did not go far enough. Later Media exposed the links between Rajiv Gandhi's family and brokers. CBI started its work late, filed the FIR, frozen the assets and tried to extradict Quattrocchi. During the process many of the accussed died. Congress came back to power, during UPA-1 it slowly dismantled the case systematically. Released Quattrocchi's assets. Yesterday ITAT determines there were kick backs. Government is in limbo and cannot recover the money now. Who is going to take responsibility? It is important to note that Quattrocchi is close to Sonia Gandhi defacto PM.

Cremation Shed Scam: T.M.Selvaganapathy DMK MP and former AIADMK minsiter and others involved in this case were acquitted. He joined DMK in August 2008 and he was acquitted in lower court in Jan 2009. In Jan 2010, he and others involved in this case were acquitted by CBI court in Madurai. Remember this is 15 year old case.

Dhoti Scam:  This was considered by lawyers one of the strong cases against AIADMK ministers. Former AIADMK minister Indira Kumari joined DMK in 2006. She also was acquitted from this case in October 2006.

The list goes on.  The following are the some of the former AIADMK ministers who are with DMK (some of them joined back AIADMK after their acquittal). It is important to point out DMK brought the cases against these people when they were in opposition and got them acquitted after they joined DMK.

1. Sedapatti Muthiah:Speaker. Property acquisition case.  (He was force to resign from Vajpayee Cabinet because of this. He abstained from no confident motion vote against the party whip. He was sidelined in the party after that)

2.  S. Kannappan: Minister for public works and electricity. Rs 117-cr coal import case. (He floated his own party after quitting AIADMK. Later joined DMK and elected to Tamil Nadu assembly through DMK ticket. In 2009, just before Parliamant election he joined back AIADMK)

3. S. Muthuswamy: Minister for health. Property acquisition case and fraud in giving the nod to set up 261 private paramedical institutions  (He is currently in DMK however he was acquitted from those case before he joined DMK)

4. K.P. Krishnan: Agriculture minister. Land acquisition, contractor scam.  (He floated his own party and allied with DMK. Later he joined DMDK and recently joined back AIADMK)

5. V. Sathyamurthy: Commercial tax minister. Placing orders with nonexistent industrial cooperative societies for supply of steel doors under Indira Awaas Yojna Scheme. (He joined DMK in Feb 2010)

6.  R. Indira Kumari: Social welfare minister. Rs 100-crore scam in the distribution of footwear and clothes to schoolchildren. (She joined DMK in Oct 2006)

Other former AIADMK figures like Anitha Radhakrishnan (CBCID was enquiring about disproportionate asset case when he joined DMK), Jyothi and others joined DMK for various reasons but certainly not based on ideology. This could mean only one of the two things.

1. The casees were brought based on ploitical vendetta with no merits.
2. Government did not fight well to prove the allegations which has merits.


In either case, Government has some explanation to do. We haven't heard any comment from TN CM and Opposition don't want to talk since the accused switched party.

I let you decide whether justice is bought or delivered based on the above facts.

One thing is for sure. Our politicians claim against fighting corruption is not credible. Particularly AIADMK, DMK, Congress and BJP do not have moral authority. In fact corruption become epidemic. The people in power get this infection quickly and letting them stay longer does not help. It is high time for citizens to vote based on their consicous and policies. It may mean selecting  lesser of an evil.

Corruption - Congress true color

Today, Pranabh Mukerjee said "PM made his offer on his own" and he would have advised against it if he was consulted. This is in response to Prime Minister's offer to appear before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC). This signals the mood of Congress inner circle to Sonia. Congress wants to put this to rest after discussing in Parliament. They can steer  Parilmant discussion with the rules to their advantage and close the chapter.

Congress does not want JPC or Supreme Court involvement in this case even though it is Himalayan Scandal. They want CBI, ED and IT to do the investigation. These entities are controlled by PMO and Finance Ministry which can be manipulated and close the case in their favor. Congress does not want any of its ministers to appear before PAC and it was clear from Pranab's statement. This vindicates opposition argument why JPC is needed. They installed their CVC (Mr. Thomas) and he is sticking to its post even after SC questioned its appointment in the back drop of pending corruption case against him. This is the pathetic state of the country.

This raises serious questions why Congress hesitant in appointing JPC. They might have benefited as accused by Dr. Subramanya Swamy. They do not want the truth to come out. Some people may question the JPC's effectiveness considering its political backdrop. I am confident it will have better independence than CBI/ED/IT. JPC's power will bring things out which will help public to make their own mind on this. We have seen that in Bofors case. The Hindu confirmed that JPC documents in Bofors case helped in their own ivestigation. Congress may not want to take any chances based on their past experience. We know CBI's role in Bofors and  in releasing the frozen funds to Ottavio Quattrocchi (Sonia Gandhi's friend).

There are news claiming that UPA is coming up with new law to fight corruption. This is nothing more than deflecting the critism. In June 2009, Dr. Manmohan Singh announced that they will bring back all the illeagal assets from Swiss Bank in 100 days. We know what happened so far? In my view Congress is not credible on this issue. Public expectation is to cancel  2G spectrum allotment and reauction it. We already started seeing weakening of the case by fining the telecoms with smaller amount.

Sonia's call to fight corruption is to deflect oppsitions call for JPC not to fight corruption. (We need understand her own credibility is at stake). My request to opposition leaders is "STICK TO YOUR JPC STAND". It is opposition parties responsibility to bring the truth out on this.

"Make his 15% while doing some national service"

Nira Radia tapes are huge embarrassment to Congress, DMK, Tata, Barka Dutt, Vir Sangvi and others. Most of us focused on 2G spectrum, Raja and Kanimozhi. However there are conversation in those tapes which indicates congress, their ministers working style and corruption.

In one of the taped conversation between Nira and Tarun Das (Head of CII) is shocking. In that Tarun Das saying he has suggested Kamal Nath for Surface Transport Ministry. He is giving the reasoning as Kamal Nath is a doer and can “make his 15 per cent” while doing some national service. Nira Radia responds back saying, "It is still ATM (Automatic Teller Machine". The outlay for Surface Transport is over Rs1200 crores.The 15% commission works out to Rs180 crores per year.  Now we know why parties want specific portfolio for national service. Think about Sethu Project and its current status. Hey Ram save the nation!!!

You can see the transcript and audio here.

BTW, Kamal Nath is indicted by Nanavati Commission. You can read about him in Wikipedia.

2G Spectrum Vs Telangana

Sri Krishna Committee submitting its report in two days. I believe Congress may play this politically. They could divert the focus from Spectrum to Telangana. Congress will consider the following as well.

1. Stop bleeding in AP after Jagan's departure
2. May be to offset the loss of Jagan by TRS. Note that TRS openly announced it can join Congress if Telangana dream comes true.
3. Whether to break alliance with DMK to cut losses on Spectrum
4. How to politically take advantage of Chiranjeevi and discredit Chandrababu Naidu.

Here is my expectation at this point. We will know how it plays out in coming weeks.

Congress will announce splitting of Andhra Pradesh into Andhra and Telangana. This will allow TRS to join Congress and strengthen Congress in Telangana. This will weaken considerably Jagan and Naidu in that region. They will join hands with Chiranjeevi that could provide additional strength in Andhra. There may be demonstration and violence in AP which will put 2G spectrum in the back burner. The drift in BJP on JPC will help them as well.

During this process they will either distance themselves from DMK if they decide to break the alliance. The DMK is considerably weakened now. Alternatively, Raja can be thrown under the bus, both DMK and Congress distance themselves from A. Raja. In the second situation it will scuttle AIADMK arguments. Suspending A.Raja from DMK will reveal who is winning political struggle within DMK family.

We know Raja knows lot more than what DMK family and Sonia wants him to know. If they suspend him, it may be pre-negotiated deal. They do not want him to talk during the election time.

I am pretty confident Telangana will put 2G spectrum in back burner no matter what happens in Tamil Nadu. This will also weaken opposition and hence the push towards JPC.

2G Spectrum - Can Government recover the lost Revenue?

The 2G spectrum scandal is the largest  in Indian History perhaps world history. The public could not grasp the full extent until Nira Radia surfaced. There were several ill advised missteps by Government including not appointing JPC. Read my other blogs. In this we can discuss whether we should able to recover the money and how to proceed further.

The first step should be to Scrap the contract. Under Section 23 and 24 of the Indian Contracts Act 1872, a contract becomes void if it is tainted with corruption. Union Government can cancel 2G Spectrum allotment. There is precedence here in this case. Army canceled its Helicopter purchase deal with Eurocopter in 2007. The question is whether Congress Government will do it. I strongly doubt in the backdrop of alleged involvement by Sonia Gandhi's Sisters in this deal. In my view, Congress does not want any open investigation in this case including JPC. Probably this could end Nehru Dynasty and Dynasty of Muthuvel Karunanidhi (DMK). Corporations and Lobbyist will not allow this either. They fight this one out for sure.

The second possibility is UPA - 2 Government falls, either through another election or realignment of parties forms a new Government. Even if that happens, the investigation and recovery will not be easy. Corporate Lobbyist has good relations with all major parties. They will not let this happen.

The third and feasible option is Supreme Court forces Union Government to void the 2G spectrum sale and orders resale of the 2G spectrum. This will possibly make up the lost revenue. There are several challenges unlike Army Deal. TeleCom companies using this bandwidth currently. SC/Government need to make sure services are not interrupted. The process should be designed to maximize Government revenue at the same time maintaining healthy competition. Next important factor is how do we make sure consumers interest are protected. The corporates will try to pass on the added cost to consumers. Some how this must be prevented.

Government must also go behind the corrupt politicians and officials. Their ill earned money should be seized. We should not let this off the hook like Bofors and other cases. Supreme Court / Government should establish a process for this as well.

I have high regards towards Dr. Manmohan Singh. However he is guilt by association. He is our best hope even though he is not independent in decision making. I am hoping for miracle (may be a day dream). Dr. Manmohan Singh appoints JPC, voids the Spectrum allotment even thought it will cost his job. It will be his best service to The Nation.

Write back to me with your comments.

2G Spectrum - Rear view mirror

The 2G spectrum came to lime light after CAG report. The Congress and DMK projects this as a policy decision which inadvertently caused the loss. Congress / DMK conveniently ( and to some extent successfully) steered towards the CAG report as core issue and wants PAC (Public Accounts Committee) to investigate. The concern here is if Congress and DMK denounces corruption, why not JPC?

Here are the facts which Congress/DMK conveniently forgets. (Courtesy Tehelka)

1. 2007 September: SWAN telecommunication, Unitech, Loop and DATACOMM applies for 2G allotment.

2.  2007 October:  A. Raja openly ignores TRAI recommendation on 2G Auction. PM asks him to follow the open process.  Raja overrules PM!. In October 2010, Supreme Court made strong comments about the language used by Raja in those communication.

3. 2008 January: First come first served is changed to First pay First served. This lead to fist fight in Sanchar Bavan.

4. 2008 April: A. Raja circumvents TRAI recommendation to allow sale of stakes in Companies.

5. 2008 November: The CVC investigates and sends a detail report to PM recommending for A. Raja's prosecution. (This explains why Congress appointed Mr. Mathew in spite of pending cases against him and reservations by opposition parties).

6. 2008 November: Raja tells Telecom Commission to ban the sale of stakes after the SWAN and Unitech Deals. (There are allegations that SWAN is closer to Karunanidhi's family).

7. 2009 April:  CVC Prathyush Sinha confirms large scale irregularities. (Why didn't PM ask Raja step down?)

8. 2009 October: CBI raids DoT (Sanchar Bhavan which comes under Communication Ministry which came under A.Raja and CBI comes under PMO). CBI must have obtained approval from PMO to raid Sanchar Bhavan. There were allegations against Raja in this case. Why did not PM ask him to step down?

9. 2010 October/November: Supreme Court asks Government to respond on CAG reports. SC reprimands CBI for loop holes in the investigation (Remember CBI comes under PMO). Opposition stalls the parliament.

It is very clear that the beneficiaries (telecoms companies, Sonia and Karunanidhi) wanted A. Raja to stay on power. This will help them get pass this problem.  This happened in spite of the following.

1. A. Raja did not follow PM's instruction.
2. CVC found large scale irregularities in Spectrum allotment.
3. Congress appointed new CVC from telecom case even though there were pending criminal cases. CVC over sees the investigation.
4. SC censured A. Raja before he steps down.  Mr. Mathew still stays on power.

Government still trying to protect Sonia and Karunanidhi family members not appointing JPC. This will bring many things to light.

Sonia denounces corruption

In the recent plenary session of the congress party, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi denounced corruption!!!. She acknowledged corruption is a problem.  She noted that the Chief Minister and Ministers accused in the scandal were asked to resign before they were found guilty. She Challenged whether BJP can do the same in Karnataka. She conveniently forgot many facts.

1. IPL Scnadal

Shashi Tharoor was forced to resign after Lalit Modi disclosed that her fiance has a £10 million stake in an Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket team. This opened up can of worms related to IPL accounting. There were allegations against Sharad Pawar and his daughter. No action against them since they are allies. Shashi Tharoor resigned not just because of this fact. His comments were not politically correct and group within Congress waiting to pull his leg. He became scape goat. After eight months, no one is talking about this scandal. It is out in a back burner and will be revived when there is a political need.

2. Adarsh Housing Scam

In Adarsh Housing Scam, Mr. Ashok Chanvan resigned but only after High Court observed "a clear-cut case of manipulation". Then mysteriously all the relevant files went missing. This could not have happened without political, police and criminal nexus. After resignation of Ex-CM, the case is moving nowhere.


3. Common Wealth Games
 Mr. Suresh Kalmadi was Organizer for Common Wealth Games held in New Delhi. There were allegation of wide spread corruption. Mr.Kalmadi is sitting congress MP and president of various sports organizations in India. There were couple of raids related to this by CBI. As usual moving forward in snail phase.

4. 2G Scam

Recently Mr. Raja, DMK minister was forced resign as Communication Minister from Union Cabinet. More than a year back Mr. Subramania Swamy requested PM for approval to prosecute him. The approval never came. However CAG report and Supreme Court comments forced Mr. Raja's resignation. (Read my other blog for additional details).

I do not believe Congress will do much on Corruption. This is just a propaganda to weaken the opposition and buy time. Here are my arguments.


1. When there is a serious allegation, it is a tradition to step down from power. This allow the responsible entities to act with freedom. In all cases, the individuals were forced to resign only after court questioned inaction or very late to cut the political losses. 


2. Why Congress is hesitant to appoint JPC? If she is serious about it, Congress should have appointed the JPC. Congress argues that opposition is trying to ill treat the PM. No one is stating that PM is involved in this anyway. They are questioning only his inaction. I believe Congress is trying to protect Sonia Gandhi and her family by doing this. Dr. Swamy accuses Sonia's sisters have involvement in 2G scam. 

It is important to note that "The Hindu" newspaper acknowledged that JPC investigation on Bofors helped them to acquire the key documents and helped their investigation. It looks like Congress do not want to make that mistake again.

3. In India CBI comes under PMO and  Enforcement Directorate comes under Department of Finance. I do not believe they will act independently. Unfortunately those two entities are used as political tools in these types of cases in the past. Hopefully Supreme Court Monitoring of the case may help to some extent.

4. If Congress is serious about these scandals, why they are not moving forward fast enough.

5. We all know what happened in Bofors case. At the Ottavio Quattrocchi was allowed to withdraw the ill earned money. Congress government sent an Asst. Director for release of his funds without giving time to evaluate the further action.

6. With Nira Radia tapes in public domain, we all know how cabinet ministers are decided. When Corporate involved in Cabinet Ministry selection, it certainly paves way for corruption. 2G spectrum is one sample.

I do not believe the words means action in this case. Congress is  trying to stop the bleeding accusing BJP for inaction. Congress conveniently omitted that fact whole opposition stalled Parliament in favor of JPC. CBI raids were just an eyewash. With the ample time and power, it is foolish to expect the individuals to have any incriminating documents.

In my view 2G scam will be in lime light until another scam or Tamil Nadu election which ever is earlier. Congress is absolutely counting on this. This will enable them to protect Mrs. Gandhi and her family. Raja is scape goat (even though he is involved) and will eventually be acquitted. Mr. Karunanidhi family will get away by politically aligning to party in power.

The ultimate looser is "Indian Citizens".

Nira Radia - Rajathi Ammal - Kanimozhi tapes

We all know that Nira Radia tapes reveals more on 2G spectrum scandal. Tata went to Supreme court to protect his privacy (???). Opposition stalled the Parliament for whole winter session. The recent press release by Rajathi Ammal (Tamil Nadu CM's third wife. Don't ask me how a Government servant can legally have two living wives. May be it will not applicable to leaders).

The press release stated that connecting Rajathi Ammal to Voltas property is not true and spreading the rumor will result in legal action. They provided detail accounts of who bought the property, who acted conduit between Tata and the buyer. They also confessed the individuals don't work for them anymore. Here is the statement as published in The Hindu.

In a statement here, she said Saravanan, a former employee of Royal, a company owned by her, had ventured into real estate business.

It is learnt that using “power of attorney,” he had purchased the land that was being occupied on lease by Voltas and sold it to Shanmughanathan, an industrialist based in Malaysia.

“Our company (Royal) has absolutely no connection or transactions with Dr. Shanmughanathan. However, some sections of the media, with an ulterior motive, are publishing false news that I have purchased that land. If they continue to indulge in such activities, I propose to seek legal recourse,” she said

In general if you are not involved, you may not even know where is the property, who owns it and how transaction occurred. This statement trying to hide important fact. It did not utter a word about her conversation with Nira Radia. She was specifically asking Nira that what happened to Tata and why it was not done? Her Auditor Rathnam does talk to Nira in detail asking why the Tata deal is not yet done.

Nira Radia voice is authenticated by following activities.
- She did not dispute it (There were lot of references to her name in the conversation as well)
- Barka Dutt did not deny. In fact She defended herself why she spoke to Nira.
- Ratan Tata went to court to protect his privacy. Note that he did not deny it either.

You can authenticate Rajathi Ammal voice by the following.
- Nira was talking about Kani (Mozhi)
- We know that Mr. Rathnam is Auditor to Rajathi Ammal.
- Nira inquires about CM (Dr. M. Karunanidhi)

Our questions are
- Why they should call and talk to Corporate Lobbyist like Nira Radia?
- Why they talk about Tata and Voltas land if they have no vested interest?
- Why they don't want to talk about tapes or Nira Radia?

You can listen to the audio below



With all these going on Dr. Kalignazar will say he owns only his house and donated that to Charity after his death. What in fact he says is, all my estates are distributed to my family. I only own this. Don't ask about CIT colony house, Kaliznar TV, etc. Then you will be branded as Aryan attacking Dravidian.

Free Color TV - Is it a best use of Government Money?

In the last Tamil Nadu election, DMK Manifesto was the hero (at least that was the claim). It certainly contributed to DMK's victory. Many of us saw pendulum swinging from AIADMK to DMK after release of this manifesto. The DMK kept his promise distributing free Television sets. Conservative estimates put the total cost for Free TV distribution so far north of 20,000 cores.

On top of this, Government spends on money on subsidized rice, free houses, so on. Let us dive into details.

The Government needs to generate revenue to meet this obligation. There are not many ways to generate this revenue. Government gets money from Central Government which is collected through Income Tax, State can levy Sales Tax, Commercial Tax, etc. The next option is borrowing money. Tamil Nadu given its position in Central, can do some arm twisting to get more than its fair share. There is a limit for this. The second option is increase the state taxes on various products which are sold in Tamil Nadu. Ultimately Tamil Nadu consumers pay this. This is happening. The major chunk of money comes from Alcohol sales. The next option is borrowing money from various sources. If we do this beyond our means, Tamil Nadu should go bankrupt when it cannot meet its obligation. One hopes that Central Government will rescue the state if that ever happens. If that ever happens, it is making other states to pay for us. This could create heart burns in other states. The bottom line is public needs to pay one way or other. It is not REALLY FREE in that sense.

There are lot of negative consequence on the society. The first and foremost is alcoholic addiction in the society. In general, Governments tax more on alcohol / tobacco and divert the fund to fight addiction and for educating public. Here using it for addicting public on freebies. This money can be used for various things such as building roads, spend on education, address power issues by building new plants to increase capacity, provide clean / running water, toilet facilities and so many things. This should be taken to public in a correct way. At least one courageous person started this. Hats off to him. (http://nallapathivukal.blogspot.com/2010/12/blog-post_18.html)

We all know Tamil Nadu politics runs on cutting (kick back is the appropriate word). The standard rate is 5-10%. Applying the same thumb rule, we are talking in the range of 1000-2000 crore cutting. This may be nothing compare to 2G scandal. Spending this money on infrastructure will bring in more industries and hence jobs, jobs will bring more government revenue. The cycle continues.

This can be used to train people on trade which can fetch better jobs. Government also should preserve the agricultural land otherwise, it will lead to food shortage. This is a different topic to tackle.

This is not the end, DMK has long term vision on this. That is the exactly the reason why they wanted communication ministry in central. DMK Leadership and his family wants to control the whole media in the south. Free TV paves way to capture market share in DTH and cable networks.

Let us encourage people like Mr. Vijaykumar (Read the below blog to learn more about him) and steer the government away from disastrous path.


Thanks to http://nallapathivukal.blogspot.com/2010/12/blog-post_18.html