30% bribes in the cost of flat.

30% bribes in the cost of flat.

A report in DNA ( 26/5/2011) states that 30 percent of the cost of a flat in Mumbai goes towards the bribes to various people. Bribe is not exactly a revelation for all the flat buyers in Mumbai. However, the extent of the bribe is shocking. The next question is, what is the government doing about it? The report says bulk of the money goes to the officials of the BMC's Building and Proposals and the officials of who are in charge of TDR in MHADA.

What prevents the Government of Maharashtra and the Municipal Commissioner of BMC to put all proposals, all approvals, all conditions, rules and regulations on the website of BMC? What prevents the government to ask all the officials to file an annual report on their assets and that of their close relatives on the website? What prevents the Income Tax department from scrutinizing the income and assets of these officials? Then there is the anti-corruption only means there is strong political patronage. Can we appeal the Bombay High Court to intervene?

We, the citizens, have to fight to appoint an Ombudsman ( lokayukta) for BMC. Where is Mumbai's Anna Hazare? Can we make it an issue in the coming municipal election? Here is a challenge and an opportunity to the civil society groups in Mumbai.

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/

May 26,2011.

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Need for autonomy for executive branches of the government.

Need for autonomy for executive branches of the government.

"Had we not intervened, the I-T officials would have slept over it and the overseas probe would not have proceeded" was the anguished remarks of the Supreme Court judges on the 2G scam (DNA, May 17,2011). The additional solicitor general tried to justify the delay by saying, "big companies" are involved and they are "creating obstacles" which was not accepted by the Court. This is the crux of the problem. The administration does not take action or hesitates to proceed against the high and the mighty.

The executive branches of the government have to be empowered to take action when they find wrong doing irrespective of the station of the person. There should be functional autonomy not merely to the revenue department but many other branches of the government like police, intelligence and many others. All these departments are under various ministries and the ministers and the top officials do not always allow them to go after the wrong-doers for extraneous reasons.

If all these executive departments have functional autonomy and they report directly to a committee of the parliament consisting of the major parties, many illegal activities could be prevented or at least brought to book early. The head of the revenue department and the police commissioner or the chief of intelligence can then be held responsible if there is a loss of revenue or loss of life under their jurisdiction if they have functional autonomy. Power and responsibility should go together. Parliamentary oversight is necessary. The ministers should not be allowed to be dictators which happened in the case of 2G and the same is happening in the case of terrorist attacks as well.

CAG and even Lokpal/Lokayukta can only punish culprits after the event. We have to devise a mechanism to nip corruption in the bud and promote good governance. Functional autonomy should be able to address this issue. It is like a sprinkler system which gets activated as soon as it detects fire.

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?queryed=9&eddate=5%2f17%2f2011

May 22,2011.

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Another face of corruption.

Another face of corruption.

The report, "Sugar barons exploit loopholes, default on govt. dues.." (Indian Express, 14/5/11) is another face of corruption in our country. It is very easy for politicians in Maharashtra to start a sugar factory. Get money from the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank ( MSCB), get it underwritten by the Maharashtra State, default on payment, get it auctioned off at a low price and then launch your own factory. It is a neat way to make big money. Sharad Pawar says it is the fault of the Maharashtra government as it did not pay MSCB after underwriting the loan. We have to thank the Public Accounts Committee of the State for bringing it to the notice of the public. At long last RBI and the State government have taken action – taking over MSCB. We have to wait and watch what action the RBI and the State take against the defaulting sugar barons.

You had published a series of reports entitled, "The Great Indian Bank Robbery" in December, 2002 exposing how the corporate sector was looting the banks. The Banks had the mind-boggling amount of Rs.110,000 crore NPA – almost the amount involved in 2G scam. Now you have an opportunity to do similar study on co-operative banks and co-operative sugar factories in Maharashtra.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sugar-barons-exploit-loopholes-default-on-govt-dues-pac/790567

May 15, 2011.

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Primary Education - states have failed in their primary duty..

Primary education – states have failed in their primary duty.

In spite of the Right to Education Act, most of the states have failed in their primary duty to provide primary education to its citizens as revealed in the report by Rakesh Bhatnagar (DNA, 9/5/11). It is now well-known that India can take advantage of the youth power in the next two decades only if the young are educated. It is sad that 1.12 lakh primary schools in the country do not provide mid-day meals out of about 5,66,221 schools in the country; four lakh schools do not have boundary walls to protect the children; no toilets in about one lakh schools; many schools have no teachers and drinking water. Indian government has enough resources to educate our people. It has spent a colossal amount of money on the Commonwealth Games. It does not have vision and the organizing capacity. There is a definite role for our industry to play in this nation-building exercise. Industry has the ability to organize and manage. Industry should be invited to adopt schools all over India as a part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_nation-wide-primary-schools-deprived-of-basic-needs_1541026

May 11,2011.

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Why is Sonia so scared of Modi ?

Why is Sonia so scared of Modi ?

Very few columnists in India call a spade, a spade and Francois Gautier is one of them which is clear from his analysis in the above piece( DNA,May 6). Most of them are part of the establishment and don't see that 'the king is naked' when he drops his clothes. Most of the columnists are horrified that the Central government bowed to Anna Hazare's 'fast unto death' and agreed to include civil society members in a government panel. It does not matter to them that the institution of Lokpal was mooted by the first Administrative Reforms Commission some 42 years ago to investigate and punish wrong doers in high positions, and not implemented all these years. It does not matter to them that such an institution's existence would have prevented scams like 2G spectrum and CWG which siphoned off colossal amount of public money. After agreeing to have civil society members on the panel, minions of the establishment started to throw mud on them.

Less said the better about their attitude of UPA to Modi, notwithstanding his achievements in almost every field in Gujarat – providing water and electricity to every village, e-governance to promote welfare etc. As Gautier has pointed out no Congress leader has been punished for leading the mob to kill the Sikhs after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi has not been held responsible for the killings in spite of his justification that the earth shakes when a big tree falls, or for late police action and late deployment of army. The police are always late as we see in all the films. The problem is, police have no functional autonomy and they wait for a nod from the above. It is the same situation as far as 'fake encounters' is concerned. Every state has many such encounters but only the home minister of Gujarat is sought to be punished. Let there be a Rule of Law, not selective enforcement of law.

It is time Indian citizens wake up to the dictum that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Congress, now UPA, has been in power for too long which makes them forget that people voted them to power for welfare of the people, not their own welfare or for perpetuating themselves in power through manipulation of public opinion.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/analysis_why-is-sonia-gandhi-so-scared-of-narendra-modi_1539917

May 7,2011.

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