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Blog of Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Tag: Lokpal Bill

FIRs against 14 ministers

Corruption, General, India
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IAC wants FIRs against 14 ministers. The ministers are P. Chidambaram, Ajit Singh, Farooq Abdullah, G. K. Vasan, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Sharad Pawar, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Sushilkumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh, M. K. Alagiri, Virbhadra Singh, S. M. Krishna and Praful Patel.

Kapil Sibal reduced fine on Reliance from 650 crore rupees to 5 crore rupees resulting in a loss of 645 crore rupees to the country. He should reverse his decision or pay 645 crore rupees.

Someone in Congress wanted to get rid of Ashok Chavan as CM, after a stage managed revelation with the help of a TV channel in which one Congress politician told another Congress politician that Ashok Chavan was unwilling to contribute to Sonia Gandhi’s rally but later fell in line and contributed two crore rupees, so Adarsh scam became public knowledge. The person does not want to get rid of Sushilkumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh so they have remained ministers.

If there is evidence of attacks on political rivals against M. K. Alagiri, IAC can approach Jayalalitha. She will be glad to file FIR and put him in jail.

If there is no loss to the exchequer in JKCA financial irregularities then the central or state government cannot file an FIR against Farooq Abdullah unless there is a complaint from someone in JKCA. JKCA has its income from BCCI and other sources. In case of Syed Yusuf Shah’s death, there has to be some evidence against Farooq Abdullah.

Virbhadra Singh has denied there being any video of him demanding a bribe from an IAS officer. He has demanded an apology from Arvind Kejriwal failing which he has threatened to take legal action against him.

IAC wants FIR against Kamal Nath for rice export scam. Tarun Das in his conversation with Radia had referred to him as having 15% of contract amounts. Later he had apologized and called himself a bloody fool.

Not much is known about G. K. Vasan causing loss of 2,00,000 crore rupees by giving away 16,000 acres near Kandla Port.

There is not much publicity to the case where P. Chidambaram’s wife is a lawyer to Kashinath Tapuriah against Income Tax department’s claim of 580 crore rupees tax. Subramanian Swami has a case in Delhi High Court against P. Chidambaram to make him an accused in 2G scam.

NDA was in power when stamp paper scam surfaced. Sharad Pawar was not prosecuted then. It is unlikely UPA will prosecute him.

CAG report about coal is not final. If the report indicts Sriprakash Jaiswal or there is other evidence FIR against him can be rightly demanded. When anything in the CAG report is leaked and that embarrasses Congress, Congress spokesperson either refuse to comment saying the report is not submitted or question the leakage. When incomplete Karntaka Lokayukta report on mining was leaked they had no hesitation in commenting on it.

Praful Patel’s actions as civil aviation minister caused loss to the country. He placed orders for unnecessary aircrafts. Boeing has not delivered the planes even after three years and not likely to deliver for another year. Air India continues to make loss. Ajit Singh, current civil aviation minister, should cancel the order placed with Boeing. If pilots go on strike Air India should be shut down.

There is no proof that Ajit Singh received money for voting in favour of UPA in 2008. Wikileaks cable is not sufficient.

Karnataka iron ore mining scam happened under different chief ministers. Apart from S. M. Krishna, FIRs have to be filed against other chief ministers.

The beneficiaries of the acts of ministers will do everything to thwart filing of FIRs. In Lok Sabha MPs spoke against IAC and passed a censure motion. MPs belonging to NDA and Left Front did not demand that the ministers step down. The issue is diverted from FIRs to dignity of Parliament. MPs who disrupt proceedings are not punished.

IAC also should demand FIRs against eight corrupt CJIs and other corrupt judges, bureaucrats, ministers and so on.

Someone said Lokpal will paralyse governmet. Government is already paralysed due to cabinet’s subservience to NAC, allies like DMK and TMC, Congress ministers who speak against their colleagues, Congress members who speak against the government and so on. Retrospective amendments have created uncertainty. If someone has scientific ideas to fight corruption he should mention them.

Fight against corruption must continue

Corruption, India
Comments

India Against Corruption seems to have lost direction and momentum in fight against corruption. IAC wanted a Lokpal Bill. That did not happen. They wanted right to reject and right to recall. Both are unlikely to happen soon. Anna Hazare seems unable or unwilling to lead the agitation. Other members should resume the fight against corruption.

IAC members need not go on indefinite fast. They can go on chain hunger strike. Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan can fast for some hours every day. Then Shazia Ilmi, Gaurav Bakshi and Manish Sisodia can take their turn. Then some other people fast. Every day the cycle is repeated. The fight for Lokpal should be separate from fight for Lokayuktas.

Elections are said to be major reason for corruption. That is partly true. Many people who don’t fight elections are also corrupt. In India elections take place throughout the year in some part or other. IAC must fight for a single election day once in five years. Elections to all Lok Sabha, Legislative Assembly, Zilla Parishad, municipality, panchayat and other local body constituencies should be held on a single day. That will reduce corruption. A candidate should be allowed to contest from one constituency only.

IAC should fight for presidential system. Parliamentary democracy has failed. Coalition compulsions result in wrong people being ministers. Even when there is single party government in states there is dissidence. Someone who is not chief minister tries to become chief minister. President should be elected by MPs and MLAs. Vice President should be elected by MPs. Governors should be elected by MLAs. Direct election to President, Vice President and Governors are expensive.

IAC should fight for an easy process to remove corrupt judges, bureaucrats and other officials.

IAC should fight against corporate debt restructuring. Corporates who have borrowed must pay the debt as per the conditions on which they borrowed. Properties of defaulters should be attached. List of borrowers and defaulters should be public.

IAC should fight for abolition of Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils. Parties sell Rajya Sabha seats.

IAC should not worry about not being representative of OBCs, Muslims, SCs, STs and so on. Those who talk of such things have lost elections.

Fight against corruption demands fight for a new constitution. IAC should draft a new constitution. Supreme Court judges should be appointed by President after approval by Parliament. High Court judges should be appointed by Governor after approval by Legislative Assembly. Let not IAC worry about self-styled followers of Ambedkar protesting against new constitution. Those followers do not have much following. Ambedkar did not write the constitution. He was the chairman of the drafting committee of the constitution. The followers of Ambedkar have not protested when the constitution has been amended around hundred times.

Congress versus TMC

India
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Congress and TMC are partners in UPA at centre and have coalition government in West Bengal. The relationship between the two has worsened in recent days. There is talk of Congress aligning with SP after UP elections.

There are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in politics. Congress needs TMC at centre. TMC does not need Congress in West Bengal. Both call each other CPI-M’s B team and compare to watermelon, green outside, red inside.

Mamata Banerjee, leader of TMC, opposed Congress on Teesta River Water Treaty, petrol price hike, FDI in retail. TMC voted for Lokpal Bill in Lok Sabha and opposed it in Rajya Sabha and moved amendments. Dinesh Trivedi said he had opposed Lokpal Bill in cabinet. He was overruled.

The decision to rename Indira Bhavan as Nazrul Bhavan has become another issue. Congress members oppose renaming of Indira Bhavan. In India many buildings, roads, airports and other places are named or renamed after members of Gandhi family. Alexander Dock became Indira Dock. Connaught Circus became Indira Chowk. Rajasthan Canal became Indira Canal. Southernmost point of India was renamed Indira Point. There is Indira Gandhi International Airport. There is Indira Gandhi Open University. There is Indira Awas Yojana.

Congress members say their sentiments are hurt. Their sentiments are not hurt when babies die in hospitals. TMC says there is no notification naming the building as Indira Bhavan. If something can be renamed after Indira Gandhi something named after Indira Gandhi can be renamed something else. If TMC’s intention is to please Muslims it is following in footsteps of Congress which announced 4.5% minority reservation in OBC quota and provided for a minority member in Lokpal.

Some people use words like blackmail regarding TMC. Politics is not charity. TMC has its interests. UPA does not have a co-ordination committee. Congress takes decisions and expects allies to fall in line. DMK is out of power in Tamil Nadu and needs Congress. Other parties do not have many MPs. If Congress breaks alliance with TMC, Congress ministers will be out of West Bengal government and TMC ministers will be out of central government. TMC government will not fall. Congress will need MPs to keep UPA going. Getting SP in UPA to make for numbers will create new problems.

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