Category Archives: Corruption & Accountability

Yeddyurappa: an enfant terrible for Modi

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Here we go again! BS Yeddyurappa – the enfant terrible of BJP- brings fresh episode of migraine for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Will Mr. Modi take a remedial action to get rid of this problem?

B Vinod, a Shimoga-based advocate, had filed a complaint against BJP National Vice President Mr. BS Yeddyurappa and his son and M.L.A. Mr. B Y Raghavendra accusing them of purchasing land through illegal means. These complaints were dismissed by the Shimoga Lokayukta Court on the grounds that a sanction from the Governor for prosecution prior to filing the complaint was not taken by the complainant. A criminal revision petition, challenging the court order was filed by Vinod in the High Court.
The charges made are as follows: Dhavalagiri Properties, owned by family members of Yeddyurappa, had purchased 69 acres near Hunasekatte village in Bhadravati taluk through benamidars and various provisions of Karnataka Land Reforms Act have been violated in purchasing the land. Yeddyurappa had also misused power in getting the land transferred to the name of the firm owned by his family members.
Today, Justice Anand Byrareddy has dismissed the Shimoga Lokayukta Court order which had dismissed complaints against Yeddyurappa and his son B Y Raghavendra accusing them of purchasing the land through illegal means. The Karnatka High court has ordered Lokayukta Police to initiate an inquiry into the matter.
Although corruption charges against Yeddyuruppa do not come as a surprise as he has a tainted history behind him. BUT now PM Modi‘s allegiance towards anti-corruption stand is at test. Will BJP choose the rhetorical reason that as the matter is sub judice,  nothing can be explained? Or, Will the Prime Minister Mr. Modi sack Yedyurappa as BJP’s Vice President? Time will tell. But, sure enough, on the eve of Deepawali, Mr. Modi has a new set of dilemma (dharam-sankat): To act tough on corruption or let it be (once again)!

Will Modi take up the fight to de-criminalize Indian politics?

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Last week, the Election Commission of India made a few proposals for electoral reforms to the Law Ministry, which have further been referred to the Law Commission.

Two important issues that Election Commission has raised are:
1. The EC proposes that if a person is accused in a criminal case where the (minimum) punishment is imprisonment of five years and charges have been framed by the competent magistrate at least six months before the scheduled date of election, then in that case he should be DISQUALIFIED from contesting elections.
I personally welcome the Election Commission’s proposal. If implemented, it will effectively help in decriminalizing politics in India.
2. Another proposal made by the Election Commission addresses the malpractice of filing of false affidavits by the candidates before elections.
As per the proposal: A person who files false affidavit will not only be given some punishment but also would be disqualified from contesting elections.
The aforesaid disqualification clause can prove to be a major deterrent to the candidates from telling lies.
The task of nation building can not be accomplished without taking some tough decisions. Electoral reforms that help cleanse the system of goons and criminals should be a priority for the Modi government. I hope Prime Minister Mr. Modi implements these proposals without any delay.

Is the black-money chase turning into a pied pipers dream?

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While addressing a rally in Haryana on April 3 2014, Modi as a prime ministerial candidate had said: “…I promise whether a new law is needed or a new pact with another country is required, I will bring this black-money back to India.”
Now on October 17, 2014- approximately seven months later -Mr. Modi is the Prime Minister of India. The Modi Government says that NOT all information can be disclosed and requests the Supreme Court to modify its order in the black money case on absolute disclosure of information pertaining to people who stashed tainted money abroad. The reason being put forth is the double taxation avoidance agreement to state information relating to account holders in foreign banks could not be put in public domain by virtue of the treaty.
I have a question: ” Are not double tax treaties aimed at avoidance of double taxation burden on ASSESSES rather than being considered as a vow of SECRECY?”

Is this not a betrayal by BJP, when so many voted them to power on their promise of ‪#‎Blackmoney‬? 

Even UPA gave the same excuse while in power. As opposition, BJP had come come up with a 23 point charter for getting back the black money stashed abroad citing the example of Tunisia. Here is the link for the same: http://ap.bjp.org/component/content/article/165.
The BJP’s U-turn has only one explanation: BJP had fought parliamentary elections with black money , as till date source of the funding is not known. So how can BJP disclose the names of those who funded their campaign! 

Where should refugees go?

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Syria has been under civil war since more than three years. The emergence of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has further compounded the problem, thus creating a huge pool of humanity that finds itself uprooted. I look upon the problem of refugees in Syria and other parts of the world in this article which was published on September 1, 2014 in “The Political & Business Daily” newspaper.

Syria Refugee Crisis PBD

Time to raise the bar for honest politics

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August 27, 2014: The Supreme Court said today: “As a trustee of the Constitution, the Prime Minister is expected NOT to appoint unwarranted persons as ministers.” The constitution bench hearing a decade old plea on dismissal of some tainted ministers (at that time, Mr. Man Mohan Singh was the Prime Minister)) observed further: “It is expected that the PM will not appoint persons against whom charges have been framed and he is facing trial. We leave it to the PM and Chief Ministers.”

The Supreme Court has rightly refused to disqualify the ministers with criminal charges, saying it is up to the elected political leadership to take action on that. The apex court observed that it is primarily the duty of the head of states (Prime Minister and Chief Ministers) to practice politics with morality.

Getting 4 Ministers of UPA govt led by Man Mohan Singh of the year 2004 disqualified now is a moot point. However, the Supreme Court’s observations are very timely since the standards of our politics have hardly improved in the last 10 years!

It is a CLARION CALL for our politicians. The nation expects you to set a high bar of clean and honest politics. Will Prime Minister Shri Modi cleanse his house NOW? He has 14 Ministers with criminal records. Will he pause and reflect at what the constitution bench has just said?

 

 

Coal makes the vision cloudy

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August 25,2014: The Supreme Court today declared all coal block allotment done between the years 1993 to 2010 as ILLEGAL. It says coal block allocation was done in an arbitrary, unfair and non-objective manner. Though, it has stopped short of cancelling the allotments as the apex court says more hearing is needed into the case.
Thus, the roots of this mega-scam can be traced to NDA-led BJP also. It would be hard to believe if someone says that the Coal Ministry under the Prime Minister Shri A.B. Vajpayee did not know about the unfair means of continued or continuing allocations (a total of 70 coal blocks were given away from 1993- 2005, when BJP-led NDA was in power for a part of that duration). And later, Congress governemnt totally swept over the issue. Obviously, as Prime Minister and Coal Minister, Congress’ Man Mohan Singh owes a major responsibility for this scam ( he should have resigned as PM when the scam came to light during his resign, but he persisted). It seems, the coal had clouded the vision of all our parties and politicians during those years. It also shows that the beneficiaries of such scams and financial irregularities just play it low so that they continue to reap the benefit.

The coal scam is indicative of rampant and deep-rooted corruption and opaqueness in our systems of governance. As responsible citizens, let us not get divided over party lines. Who took the beating if politicians made the loot over coal blocks? We all- the hard working citizens of India!

To read more about the judgement of Supreme Court today on this matter, please click here.

भ्रष्टाचार के खिलाफ लड़ाई का यथार्थ: An article on AIIMS CVO controversy

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 19298312My article on the issue of transfer of AIIMS Chief Vigilance Officer – Mr. Sanjeev Chaturvedi- that was published in Vir Arjun, a daily Hindi news paper on August 25,2014.  Please have a look!

सुहृद पूंजीवाद (Crony-capitalism)

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जिस प्रकार हमारा समाज और हमारी अर्थव्यवस्था भ्रष्टाचार रूपी दंश से पीड़ित है, उसी प्रकार सुहृद पूंजीवाद (Crony-capitalism) हमारी अर्थव्यवस्था और इस समाज के लिए एक अभिशाप है। सुहृद पूंजीवाद में जहाँ व्यापारी व् पूंजीपति अपने व्यापार की सफलता के लिए सरकारी अधिकारियों के बीच अपने करीबी रिश्तों पर निर्भर होकर गलत तरीकों से कई महत्वपूर्ण निर्णयों पर सरकारी अधिकारीयों की सहमति की मोहर लगवाकर अपने हित और अपने व्यापार को पोषित करते हैं। फिर वो चाहे कोई कानूनी परमिट हो, सरकारी अनुदान हो या फिर किसी अन्य सरकारी योजना का हिस्सा हो। इसे हम व्यवस्था में व्याप्त वितरण में पक्षपात भी कह सकते है।
रिज़र्व बैंक ऑफ़ इंडिया के गवर्नर रघुराम राजन ने सुहृद पूंजीवाद के खिलाफ चेतावनी दी है, जिसमें उन्होंने कहा है: ” यह हमारी विकास दर को अत्यधिक धीमा करता है “। यह विकासशील देशों के विकास के लिए सबसे बड़ा खतरा है। आम जनता के हितों के लिए यह एक वास्तविक चिंता का विषय है।“ यह बात उन्होंने पिछले सप्ताह को मुंबई में ललित दोशी मेमोरियल लेक्चर में कहीं। श्री राजन ने कहा की पिछला आम चुनाव पूरी तरह से राजनीतिज्ञों और व्यापारिक समूहों के बीच सांठगांठ के आरोपों से भरा था जो की एक गंभीर चिंता का विषय है। राजन ने अपने गहरे पहलुओं को सबके सामने रखा जिसमे उनका कहा कि ‘अमीर और प्रभावशाली व्यक्ति भूमि और प्राकृतिक संसाधनों के आधिपत्य के लिए सुहृद पूंजीवाद का प्रयोग कर रहे है, कही ऐसा तो नहीं की सुहृद पूंजीवाद, अतीत में व्याप्त सुहृद समाजवाद को प्रतिस्थापित कर रहा है। यह लोकतांत्रिक अभिव्यक्ति, पारदर्शिता और प्रतिस्पर्धा के लिए हानिकारक है। यह एक स्वाभाविक प्रश्न है, की क्यों जनता ऐसे राजनीतिज्ञों को वोट करती हैं, जो की सुहृद पूंजीवाद को बढ़ावा देते है। कुछ अच्छे लोग है, जो राजनीति के परिद्रश्य को बदलना चाहते है पर जब वो चुनाव लड़ते है तो उनकी जमानत भी जब्त हो जाती है।
ध्यान देने योग्य बात यह है की मैं पूंजीवाद के खिलाफ नही हूँI मेरा अर्थशास्त्रीय झुकाव बाज़ार की तरफ है I सरकार का काम बिज़नस स्वयं करना नहीं है, अपितु, सरकार ऐसा मूल ढांचा तैयार करे ताकि नागरिक अधिक अच्छे ढंग से गुणवत्ता व् उत्पादन वाला व्वसाय कर सके।

Black Markets thrive in India

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How much money lies in white in India (and abroad, by Indians) and how much money lies in black?

What is BLACK money? In today’s technology-driven era, monetary or financial transactions happen 24×7. The transactions where a portion of the money should go to the government, but does not happen is a black money. For example: If sales tax is not paid, income tax is not paid or where dues or fees are not paid but go to the intermediary hands (bribery, greasing palm), they constitute black money. Who suffers if black market thrives? The treasury (sarkaari kosh/khazaana) suffers and in the process, and consequently we all suffer because development work (civic amenities like roads, bridges, schools and other govt related works) does not happen as expected.

An article published today in The Hindu says that as per latest estimates, 75 % of Indian economy could be in form of BLACK money.

It is difficult to reliably estimate how much treasure lies in black markets!  To get some idea, the UPA government led by Mr. Man Mohan Singh had commissioned the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) to undertake this task. The report was submitted to the then Finance Minister Mr. P Chidambaram, but as the news reveals, he never brought it out. The file now lies with Mr. Arun Jaitely, the current Finance Minister.

The 3 sectors contributing most to black economy are: Capitation fee for higher education sector, Real estate deals, and Mining industry. For example, last year capitation fee collected in clandestine manner by private colleges was to the tune of approx. 6000 Crores. 

If the law of land is strong, if it is easy for people to do businesses in more transparent way, when financial laws are not complex and where government makes it easy for its citizens to do businesses through technology (e-governance), black markets will find it difficult to grow. But if politicians and businesses join hands to foster a mutually rewarding relationship, the interests of the the public are often ignored under such circumstances. This is called crony-capitalism.

Q: Can govt control black markets?
A: Yes, a strong government can. I mean you do not have to be physically strong. The intent to curb corruption is enough to make a headway in this direction.
Q: Do we have a strong govt at the Center?
A: Suna to yahi hai! But, does the current BJP party – even though with clear majority in the Parliament- has a clear financial integrity as its goal and objective? If its house is not in order, how can it bring semblance to the financial order of the country? 

To read the details , click to view the article here.