The 2G Tamasha .

Inappropriate bidding for allocation of 2g spectrum surfaced the allegations when Telecom minister Andimathu Raja committed the procedural irregularities.This high voltage drama charged the political parties in Tamil Nadu as well as in Delhi.

So,what is this 2G scam all about?
2G licenses issued to private telecom players at throwaway prices in 2008. This spectrum scam costed the government with Rs.1.76lakh crores. Rules were flouted when licenses were being issued.
Now, former  Telecom minister A.Raja was charged for the cheap Telecom licenses i;e. entry fee for airwave spectrum and 2G licenses were settled in 2008 at the price of 2001.
No Procedures were followed when the rules of the game got changed. Cut off date being extended by a week, licenses were issued on a first come first served basis without any bidding or auctioningrather declining the recommendations of TRAI,law ministry and finance ministry.
Under the reign of A.Raja,favouritisms were also devised. Swan Telecom,Unitech got licenses without proper experience or eligibility criteria. Swan bought license for Rs. 1537 crore and sold 45% stake to Etisalat in Rs. 4200 crore.Unitech wireless got license for Rs.166 crore and sold 60% stake for Rs.6200 crore.
This dirty net also trapped some well known figures of the nation like DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter and MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi who has been charged as co-conspirator with A.Raja, by CBI; the promoter of Swan Telecom ,Shahid Balwa is been accused by CBI for allegedly channelising Raja's spectrum sale into real estate;Unitech chief Sanjay Chandra and DB reality founder Vinod Goenka have been chargesheeted for cheating and conspiracy;three senior executives of Anil Ambani controlled ADAG, Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara have been lodged under Tihar jail.
Former telecom secretary Sidhartha Behura who allegedly shut counters to physically block other telecom industries has been accused of the same as Raja's personal secretary RK Chandolia.
                      Now the special role played by Kalaigner TV Channel is all about the Rs.214 crore that Swan Telecom had sent to Mr.Raja via several companies finally settling in its hands. As 80% of the Kalaigner TV channel is owned by Kanimozhi and Dayalummal and rest by the MD Sharad Kumar , CBI has accused them under the conspiracy.
Now,the Supreme Court is happy for the PM has said the central bureau of investigation (CBI) should act without fear or favour. The CBI has charged DMK's Kanimozhi as co-conspirator in the scam. This is a politically sensitive move as that party is key ally of UPA government at the centre.
                   The public accounts committee of parliament (PAC) controversially held PM Manmohan Singh and former finance minister P Chidambaram responsible for the avoidance of the irregularities committed by former telecom minister A.Raja.
As CBI exonerated the PM of irresponsible conduct towards the 2G spectrum contract ,the PM defenced himself by arguing that he worked as advised by Chidambaram and Raja.
PAC has hard treatments towards Chidambaram as well, for he closed the spectrum's allocation on Jan 2008 though he dismissed these accusitions.
CBI borught out the hidden details of Tata as they cut a sorry figure for not being able to get their application for the license and spectrum got alloted to new brewing companies. But in reality, Tata look GSM spectrum in 20 circles and were major beneficiary of the policies.

As 2G scam was pulled to public eyes , Niira Radia found herself in midst of an extirpating storm for her alleged links with A Raja and the whole licensing drama got published in a Delhi based daily. This british professional lobbyist running a public relations (PR) firm called Vaishnavi communications got herself entrapped into this scandal as her tapped conversations with Raja and DMK members, sore out.

Out of the nine new licenses , four clients viz. Swan Telecom , Datacom, Aircel and Unitech were being handled by Radia ,but she accepted working only for Unitech. Charges on her include unethical advices to Unitech for burying in huge amount of money to duck taxation by selling the telecom business stakes to Norway's Telenor. This British citizen, born to Kashmiri parents in east Africa started her career as an aviation consultant for Airbus, Singapore airlines,KLM and Air sahara. She got selected as an advisor for Tata-Singapore Airlines consurtium and within years of her excellancy , Ratan Tata wanted her to be Telecom consultant for the Tata group. Thus , the group entrusted the PR accounts of all 80 odd companies to Radia's Vaishnavi communications. She fairly handled Tata's irregular financial accountings before it could sprout out to the public. As Tata was already happy with her business dealings , relaince got an eye on her PR skills and wanted her as their PR Consultant. So, Radia  started a new pr consultancy exclusively for Relaince named Neucom.
Niira Radia tapes revealed that Tata group gave donations to a hospital at Raja's hometown and also to an NGO where DMK could have an interest. Ratan Tata himself wrote a letter to DMK chief M. Karunanidhi praising Raja.
When ADAG officials were chargesheeted as co-conpirators , centre of public interest litigation (CPIL) has started the fact that Anil Ambani is the real beneficiary holding majority of the stake but CBI had shielded him on this.
                                 The second chargesheet produced in the name of DMK chief Karunanidhi's wife dayaluammal was ignored even if she was 60% stake holder of kaliagner TV Channel,which got Rs.200 crore as largesse from Swan telecom when kanimozhi ,who held 20% of the stake was named.
Was it correct to let go Dayaluammal off this scam on grounds of her age,lack of knowledge and language barrier? Then how could the government and CBI allow conviction of 86 year old Keshu Mahindra for Union carbide case,just a few months back? Where was respect for senior citizenship at that point of time?
As CBI is getting deeper into the investigation spree , the third chargesheet would soon be released questioning about the other companies for their beneficiary details. Companies like, Loop telecom , Prashant Ruia's Essar telecom , Venugopal Dhoot's Datacom and Shivshankaran's S-Tel  would also be enlisted under the chargesheet for paying huge capital for the license.

Thus the whole scam involves number of civil servants , politicians , industrialists, lobbyist , parliamentarians and media persons.
The dignified personalities involved include:

A Raja - Union cabinet minister for communication and IT

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi - Member of Rajya sabha.

Sidhartha Behura, P J Thomas, Pradip Baijal, R K Chandolia  - IAS

Anil Ambani, Shahid Balwa, Vinod goenka, Venugopal Dhoot, Prashant Ruia - Industrialists.

Niira Radia - lobbyist

Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi - Media person's

And corporations involved are : Unitech group, Swan telecom, Loop mobile, S-Tel, Videocon telecom ltd , Reliance communications , MTS, Vodafone essar, TataTeleservices, Virgin mobile India, Dishnet  wireless  and Allianz Infra.

 This is the Indian political system.

Another farce in name of 'Satyagraha' !

After Anna Hazare's hunger strike forced the government to act for the Jan Lokpal Bill, his prime supporter, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev  would start his very own fast unto death show on 4th June at Delhi's Ramlila maidan against the probing cause of Corruption.
                    Hazare and his blackmailing show pressurised the government to agree for the Jan Lokpal,an independant body like Supreme court and Election committee , that would investigate all trial cases against corruption and black money.

A year back, Baba Ramdev protested against swindling of black money among the wealthy genre of the society including politicians, higher government officials, bureaucrats and industrialists, proposing for a ban on high denominated currencies. He still verdicts for his this proposal, which is also supported by many IIM grads after they researched about the benefits of this idea. Along with this proposal, Ramdev has now written a letter to the PM Manmohan Singh demanding for serious actions that need to be taken for bringing back all the black money deposited in Swiss banks and reveal the names of all the account holders having corrupt money. His letter dated 4th May says,' If we don't recieve a concrete response from you in a week,we will be forced to start our 'Satyagraha' (in the form of fast unto death) in the interest of the nation.'
                               
                     According to Ramdev's media advisor, Tijarwala, this would be worl'd biggest agitation against corruption for around 10crore people would be participating.

Its no co-incidence that Ramdev has chosen 4th of june for his satyagraha though he is aware of Anna Hazare's convention to be held on the same day at Delhi. Ramdev couldnot adjust with the humiliation that he had to bear when Anna snubbed the RSS spokesperson, Ram Madhav during the fasting at JantarMantar when he was about to speak standing on the dias. It was Ramdev for whom Ram Madhav agreed to participate in Hazare's hunger strike till the penultimate day.

Ramdev's decision for choosing the same day,builds in several other questions as well. One among them being Ramdev's dier need to stand as the commander for the entire 'Anti-corruption movement' that has been rising and spreading across the nation as wild fire. Though Ramdev keeps repeating his principled approach to cleanse the whole political system of india, which would actually start commisurating when  his own organisation, Bharat Swabhiman, turns up as a party, he also insists that he won't be contesting for elections or push himself for any political position. He believes in supporting for the cause by being outside the ring.

Congress leader, Digvijay Singh had asked Ramdev to show clarity in all the wealth and property acquaired by him and his ashrams and indeed prove that the money taken from foreigners, rich industrialists,politicians and bureaucrats are not under the seal of 'Black money'. Ramdev joined hands with Sangh parivar to stand against Digvijay and his false accusations. And slowly, after the Yoga asanas and pravachans,Ramdev started giving gyans on political system of India ,influencing people sitting in the same yoga shivirs,to stand against corruption and cajoling his followers to believe in his ideologies supporting his organisation thats is about to be declared a party.

So, what lies next? Should the Anti- corruption bureau of India , raise their hands up and allow such social activists, babas and yogis to take care of the corruptions taking place in the nation by pulling up 'satyagrahs' ? Should they be taking all authorities in forming new independent bodies to investigate corruption issues and confiscate illegal properties and be shown to them and to the public? Who can assure, that these satyagrahis are not corrupted and are not laundering money from the same politicians who own illegal wealth and properties,all round the globe?
India still seeks answers to such questions cause taking bribes and influencing peddling, is a day to day activity in every nook and corner of the country for successful completion of your own work.

Food Festival or Hunger Strike?

This year in april, Delhi's Jantar Mantar witnessed a so-called revolutionary movement conducted by a man claiming to have Gandhian principles and on a contrary , an affinity towards Raj Thackrey,chief of Maharastra Nava Nirmaan Sena( MNS) and Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat. Anna Hazare, a former driver in Indian Army showed his far distinguished talent as he sat crosslegged donned in a white attire and a peak cap, in a raised platform near the street of Jantar Mantar vowing to fast unto death supporting his strike against corruption.
                Many scandals of corruption and vandalism,that remained burried under the frizzy grass bed of money and power,were dug out by Anna Hazare and his fellow protestors. When Anna started his speech,he addressed his followers to hang the corrupt people or cut their hands off.. This fierceful agitated words couldnot match up to the Gandhian principles of non-violence that he claimed to have been following.
                           Listening to such statements that unclears the idea for the so called movement, the Headline Today Channel's head, Rahul Kanwal asked Anna about his ideology, to which Anna versed about Shivaji's policies and how he cut hands of Patel,a fraudster.According to Anna," Hundred percent non-violence is not possible. Sometimes,even this has to be done and that is why,i have been saying that these people should be hanged." Listening to this Kiran bedi pointed out the economic controversies and scandals those have been burried by the higher government officials and the accused is bailed without recovery of the issued economy. Apart from Bedi, many known public figures were seen standing enthusiastically alongside Anna, like, Medha patkar of Narmada Bachao Andolan, Ram Madhav of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) , Arvind kejriwal ( former IRS officer turned social activist) ,Swami Agnivesh, Baba Ramdev and Sri sri Ravi Shankar.
All these entusiasts are members of ' India against corruption' movement and stood hands in hand for the Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's omburdsement bill ) .This bill was drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde (former supreme court judge and present lokayukt of karnataka), Prashant Bhushan( SC Lawyer) and Arvind kejriwal.This bill would embody an independent institute called Jan Lokpal ,to investigate and envisage trial cases against corruption. The guilty would be in jail within two years of the complaint filed and his all illegal property would be confiscated. Jan Lokpal , thus would be an independent body like Supreme court and Election commission, which won't be influenced by any government official,bureucrat or politician , during investigation.
                       If Anna Hazare would have struck to the cause of this aggitation i.e; Jan Lokpal bill and not showing off a blackmailing conjure to the entire nation by a fast unto death show, there would have been a much larger crowd of supporters including the intellectual genre and not just uneducated supporters or followers without any goal but came out to enjoy the food or media flocking on the street. Many a vendor's told that they had double to triple amount of sale of bread pakodas, juices, kulfi's, south indian roadside delicacy comprising idlis and dosas during the protest. Food stalls seemed meeting places for many protestors who came to participate in a fast unto death show.So, one side of the coin showed a fasting protest against a bigger cause, where as just flip the coin and fellow protestors were relishing snacks and other food items.
This was how the Gandhian principled movement was conducted under the very nose of argus eyed media and blindfolded junta.
Few supporters of Anna, compared him with Jayprakash Narayan ( JP ) for his movements along with VP Singh's Jan Morcha held in 1974 against corruption. But the authoritarian voices dismissed this very thought by saying that the crowd then was too huge compared to Hazare's show. Though, VP Singh's Jan Morcha falied for its improper conduct towards government , Hazare was scoring high along side his constricted crowd of supporters.
     Hazare being a heretic, lost support from manyof his previous fellow protestors like Pushpa Bhave, Baba adhav, Late Govindbhai shroff , Late Mohan Dharia, former bureaucrat Avinash Dharmadhikari and many other well known faces during this agitation. Mallika Sarabhai, a co-protestor distanced herself from Anna , when she got shocked listening to Anna's praises for Narendra Modi. According to her , Gujurat CM could not help for any development of the state nor could he salvage the irrigated farmlands from the hands of industrialists rather sold it off to them in a more ridiculous price.Sarabhai said,' your endorsement is appaling and we will be forced to distance ourself from the lokpal bill movement unless it is irrevocably retracted. Many school goers gathered themselves during this protest and were sent by school authorities. Few talked about this show over phone and asked their friends and mates to check out 'the Anna Gig ! ' . Many protestors from Naintal and Rajasthan, turned up to Jantar Mantar to support for anti-corruption movement.

Finally, after 97 hours of fasting , the government had to bow down to Hazare's demand and complied for an accomodative version of Lokpal Bill in the coming monsoon session.This hunger strike by Anna got a celebrity status unlike the previous one's conducted in his village, Ralegan Sidhi or even those conducted in Mumbai. Villagers and supporters of Ralegan Sidhi kept fast by themselves in their own place to support for Anna Hazare's cause and movement against corruption.

But the question still remains unanswered whether corruption can be completely rooted out from the nation?This vicious circle of democratic country's corrupt politicians and higher government officials and their hunger for power and wealth are sufficed by their fellow mates and industrialists with humungus amount of money, benefits , property and power; remains the same, rather increases with each passing year.
Corruption has been growing fore folds from the time of Bofor's scandal  or Harshed Mehta's Bombay stock exchange scandal to Madhu Koda's Rs. 4000 crore laundering scandal to Telgi's scandal and Tehelka scandal for Barak missile deal to the very new, Commonwealth's game scandal or the 2g spectrum scam. India has been witnessing innumerable scams and scandals because of its power and wealth hungry politicians. Even the survey conducted by 'Transparency International' in India conveyed that huge number of Indians have first hand experience of paying bribes and influence peddling to complete their jobs officially or unofficially but successfully. In 2010, India ranks 87th out of 178 countries in Transparency International's corruption perceptions index.Thus, taxes and bribes are a conduct of daily life in offices, state borders and government power houses of India.

Reading in the time of e-Readers !

As Amazon created a technology for carrying huge number of books in just one hand, Kindle,the e-book tablet , became a big hit among reader's genre.It seem to be a logical
transmutation for the voracious readers who face difficulty in packing their bag packs filled with books while travelling or going for a business trip.
A reader searches out for the pages of his reading book, even when he gets few minutes of leisure during his working hours.This grey coloured tablet won't actually hurt ur wrist and would easily fit in your handbag to fulfill the thirst of reading.

Many people, though advanced find difficulty in negotiating with this new technology for its not colourful rather a poor cousin of iPad.Neither has it got any advanced interface for installing exciting applications nor it is a touch screen. It doesnot have in-built light for the screen so even being a technologically skilled gadget,you can't afford reading your favourite article or story when the light's have gone.

                                 But if the passion strives for reading,then kindle is the best option. You need not have to bother about carrying huge books,yellowing of pages or botheration of protecting your books from termites. Then there are many books those are not available in the market for either the demand is low or has got exhausted from the market. Such frustrations get lowered with buying e-books from internet and reading them directly on this gadget. Though many books are available for free over internet,many of them have been restricted by authors to be sold as e-books in order to stop piracy. Author J K Rowling stands dead against for selling the Harry potter series as e-books.
        Traditional readers would still have hesitations and problems in reading from a tablet. Though one can highlight or change text sizes in kindle,know the percentage of pages read and to be read, but people would still crave for the satisfaction they get by scribbling on the pages,holding a book in their hand or smelling the pages while turning to a new one.
       The very meaning of reading lies in its writings and not on the medium by which its read.So,it be on kindle or on paper, the passion and eagerness of reading an article or a story, full of content and leading to an imaginative comprehension about the situation, is what stands as a necessity for a man hungry for books.

The aisle of life

Days accost the youth,
                          as we cherish the childhood sky,
Nights abet the songs,
                          for we clung to those beatific lullabies...

Love actuated the heart to beat faster with the raining clouds,
                      Blood pumped the vein to run harder with the swearing vows...
Breath lured for your whispers to touch the air fiddling with my ear,
                      And make sure of your passion to grow stronger with each passing year...

As love grew to desperation and passion leaped towards obsession,
                       a little heart's puerility got debilitated as a benign promotion...
Rancours and repugnance petered the fragility of devotion,
                       Inextrincable surveility rambled the chivalrous hallucination...

Soon ...

Tender notes of warmth and affection,
                                           imbued doleful cries,
And the pleasant words of care,
                                           intrigued love's demise...

But ...

As the phoenix burns out loud,
                          birth of cherubic love comes out,
Till the body washes off the ash,
                          the newborn life has to weep out ...

Can those tears we dropped become pearls,
                              to adorn our lives with utmost pride?
Can those fracas we had be entombed in past
                              to nimble for a seraphic ride?

Ahh... my heart says....

Even in the dense crowd ,
                              your adoration would hold me all affirm,
Even to  my wanning body,
                              your allegiance would shield with aplomb...

And now my soul feels ...

As I see you walking pale,
                     all alone through the meadows, so rueful ....
A tear sweeps down my silhouette,
                     for i'd have been beside you,
If i were not a sombre lover but your fragile and poise soul ...................