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SPECTRUM 2G -SONIA-RAJA- WHO ARE BENEFECIARIES

Guru · Guru

http://jgopikrishnan.blogspot.com/2009/03/spectrum-scandal-and-telecom-ministers.html

Guru · Guru

Cut motion sees CBI going soft on DA case against BSP chief Maya24 Apr 2010, 0305 hrs IST,ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: With BSP’s support turning critical for the UPA government for passage of the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha, CBI has gone soft in the disproportionate assets case against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati.

In a sudden reprieve for the BSP chief, CBI has told the Supreme Court that it would consider Ms Mayawati’s plea for dropping the disproportionate assets case against her.

This is all the more jarring considering that CBI has been maintaining that it has enough evidence to prove that she and her relatives have illegal wealth and had acquired assets far beyond the stated income. This development is certain to reinforce the impression that political considerations of the ruling regime dictates in cases concerning politicians.

``CBI will need time to re-look into the whole case in view of the representation made by Mayawati”, CBI counsel and Attorney-General Goolam E Vahanvati told a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and comprising Justice A K Ganguly and Justice B S Chauhan.

Mr Vahanvati sought time to consider the plea of the chief minister in which she had accused CBI of adopting double standards. The bench has now posted the matter for further hearing in August.

CBI’s sudden change of mood comes in the backdrop of BSP’s continued silence on whether it will support the government on a cut motion which is being brought by the Opposition and Left parties on April 27, against the increase in fuel prices and cut in fertiliser subsidy.

The unity within Opposition parties is causing deep unease within the government, which has marshalled all its strength to ensure it can defeat the cut motion, which is equivalent to a no-confidence motion.

It is in this backdrop that the CBI seems to have softened its stand in the DA case. Senior counsel and close aide to BSP chief S C Mishra told the court that the agency has to consider the representation in which the details of the orders of the income-tax authorities were annexed.

Ms Mayawati in her affidavit had told the Supreme Court that CBI was bound to apply the same principle it had applied in the DA cases against Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad. In their cases, CBI had closed the cases acting on the basis of the findings of the income-tax authorities and the advice of the Central government’s law officers.

``It is really unfortunate that for no reasons whatsoever unless the intention is to continue to harass and defame me by prolonging CBI proceedings for an indefinite period without any justification whatsoever, I am being discriminated in a hostile manner, vis-à-vis Prasad and Yadav,” Ms Mayawati had said in the affidavit.

She had further said “CBI is taking different yardsticks to look into my case vis-à-vis the case of the two leaders (Prasad and Yadav)”.

Ms Mayawati has been maintaining that the disproportionate assets case registered against her by CBI six years ago has been “completely demolished” by the two orders of the income-tax department passed on April 5 and 19 in her favour relating to the assessment years 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Guru · Guru

கேத்தன் தேசாய் வீ‌ட்டி‌ல் ரூ.212 கோடி ரொ‌க்க‌ப்பண‌ம் ப‌றிமுத‌ல்

புதுடெ‌ல்‌லி, சனி, 24 ஏப்ரல் 2010( 10:11 IST )

ல‌‌ஞ்ச‌ப் புகா‌ரி‌ல் ‌சி‌க்க‌ி உ‌ள்ள இ‌ந்‌திய மரு‌த்துவ கவு‌ன்‌சி‌ல் தலைவர் கேத்தன் தேசாய் ‌வீ‌ட்டி‌ல் ம‌த்‌‌திய புலனா‌ய்வு‌த்துறை‌யின‌ர் சோதனை நட‌த்‌தி ரூ.212 கோடி ரொ‌க்க‌ப்பண‌‌த்தை கை‌ப்ப‌ற்‌றியு‌ள்ளன‌ர்.

டெ‌ல்‌லி, ப‌ஞ்சா‌‌ப், ச‌ண்டிக‌ர் ம‌ற்று‌ம் குஜரா‌த் மா‌நில‌ம் அகமதாபா‌த்‌தி‌ல் உ‌ள்ள தேசா‌‌யி‌ன் அலுவலக‌ங்க‌ள் ம‌ற்று‌ம் ‌வீடுக‌ளி‌லு‌ம் ம‌த்‌‌திய புலனா‌ய்வு‌த்துறை‌யின‌‌ர் சோதனை நட‌‌த்‌தினா‌ர்க‌ள்.

அகமதாபா‌த்‌தி‌ல் உ‌ள்ள தேசா‌ய் ‌வீ‌‌ட்டி‌ல் நட‌ந்த சோதனை‌யி‌ல் 212 கோடி ரூபா‌ய் ரொ‌க்க‌‌ப்பணமு‌ம், அவரு‌க்கு சொ‌ந்தமான க‌ல்லூ‌ரி‌யி‌ல் உ‌ள்ள லா‌க்க‌ரி‌ல் நட‌ந்த சோதனை‌யி‌ல் பலகோடி ரூபா‌யு‌ம் கை‌ப்ப‌ற்ற‌ப்ப‌ட்டது.

இது தொட‌‌ர்பாக தேசா‌யிட‌ம் நட‌த்த‌ப்ப‌ட்ட முத‌ல்கட்ட ‌விசாரணை‌யி‌ல், பு‌திதாக சுய‌நி‌தி மரு‌த்துவ க‌ல்லூ‌ரி தொட‌ங்க 25 முத‌ல் 35 கோடி ரூபா‌ய் வரை ல‌ஞ்ச‌ம் பெ‌ற்‌றிரு‌ப்பது தெ‌ரியவ‌ந்தது.

அதும‌ட்டு‌மி‌‌ன்‌றி இ‌ந்‌தியா முழுவது‌ம் உ‌ள்ள ஏற‌த்தாழ 200 சுய‌நி‌தி மரு‌த்துவ க‌ல்லூ‌ரிகளு‌ம் தேசா‌‌யி‌க்கு தலா 5 இட‌ங்க‌ளை ஒது‌க்‌‌கி த‌ந்‌திரு‌ப்பது‌ம், அதனை அவ‌ர் பண‌ம் பெ‌ற்று‌க் கொ‌ண்டு மாணவ‌ர்களு‌க்கு வழ‌ங்‌கி இரு‌ப்பது‌ம் ‌விசாரணை‌யி‌ல் க‌ண்டு‌பிடி‌க்க‌ப்ப‌ட்டு‌ள்ளது.

இ‌ந்‌நிலை‌யி‌ல் தேசாயை டெ‌ல்‌லி‌யி‌ல் உ‌ள்ள ‌நீ‌திம‌ன்ற‌த்த‌ி‌ல் ஆஜ‌ர்படு‌த்‌தி 5 நா‌ட்க‌ள் ‌விசாரணை காவ‌லி‌ல் ம‌த்‌‌திய புலனா‌ய்வு‌த்துறை அ‌திகா‌ரிக‌ள் எ‌டு‌த்து‌ள்ளன‌ர்

Guru · Guru

சொத்து விவரம் தராத 51 எம்.பி.,க்கள்: சபாநாயகர் எச்சரிக்கை

ஏப்ரல் 24,2010,00:00 IST

புதுடில்லி : விரைவில் தங்கள் சொத்துக்கள் குறித்த விவரங்களை எம்.பி.,க்கள் சமர்ப்பிக்கவில்லையென்றால், கடுமையான நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும் என்று, லோக்சபா சபாநாயகர் மீரா குமார் எச்சரித்துள்ளார்.

பார்லிமென்ட் எம்.பி.,யாக ஒருவர் பதவியேற்றவுடன், 90 நாட்களுக்குள் தன் சொத்துக்கள் பற் றிய கணக்குகளை ஒப்படைக்க வேண்டும். ஆனால், 15வது லோக்சபா அமைக் கப்பட்டு ஓர் ஆண்டு ஆனபின்னும், 51 எம்.பி.,க்கள் தங்கள் சொத்துக் கணக்கை சமர்ப்பிக்கவில்லை.இவர்களில் லாலு, கல்யாண் சிங், திக்விஜய் சிங், பாபுலால் மராண்டி ஆகியோரும் அடக்கம். மத்திய அமைச்சர் ஆர்.பி.என்.சிங் என்பவரும் இந்த பட்டியலில் இடம் பெற்றவர்.பா.ஜ., - காங்கிரஸ், பகுஜன் சமாஜ், தி.மு.க., - தேசியவாத காங்கிரஸ், ராஷ்டிரிய ஜனதா தளம் கட்சிகளின் எம்.பி.,க்களும் இந்த பட்டியலில் இடம் பெற்றிருக்கின்றனர்.

இவர்களுக்கு சபாநாயகர் மீரா குமார் அனுப்பியுள்ள கடிதத்தில், 'சட்டத்தை மீறும் வகையில் செய்யப்படும் இதுபோன்ற நடவடிக்கைகள் மீது, பார்லிமென்ட் அவமதிப்பு என்ற ரீதியில் கடுமையான நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்பட வேண்டிவரும். ஆகவே உடனடியாக சொத்து விவரங்களைத் தர வேண்டும்' என்று எச்சரித்துள்ளார்.

கேள்வி நேரத்தை மாற்ற தயார் : லோக்சபா சபாநாயகர் மீரா குமார், நேற்று கூறியதாவது:கடந்த இரண்டு நாட்களாக உறுப்பினர்களின் அமளி காரணமாக கேள்வி நேரம் பெரும் பாதிப்பிற்கு உள்ளாகியுள்ளது. இதன்மூலம், உறுப்பினர்கள், தங்களுக்கு ஓட்டளித்த மக்களுக்கான ஜனநாயக கடமையை நிறைவேற்ற முடியாத நிலை ஏற்படுகிறது.இடையூறுகளால் கேள்வி நேரம் பாதிக்கப்படாமல் தடுப்பதற்கான நடவடிக்கைகள் மேற்கொள்ளப்படும். மாலை நேரங்களில் கேள்வி நேர அலுவல்களை நடத்துவது குறித்து திட்டமிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதுகுறித்து அனைத்து கட்சித் தலைவர்களுடன் ஆலோசிக்கப்பட்டு, அதன் அடிப்படையில் முடிவு எடுக்கப்படும்.

அழகிரி விவகாரம்: மத்திய அமைச்சர் அழகிரி லோக்சபா கூட்டத் தொடரில் பங்கேற்காதது குறித்து சபையில் உறுப்பினர்கள் கேள்வி எழுப்பினர். அவர் எங்கு சென்றார் என்பது குறித்து எங்களுக்கு எந்த தகவலும் அவரிடம் இருந்து தெரிவிக்கப்படவில்லை.அவரின் பிரச்னை என்ன என்பது குறித்து அறிந்து கொண்டு, அதற்கு தீர்வு காண விரும்புகிறேன். அதற்கு தயாராயிருக்கிறேன்.இவ்வாறு மீரா குமார் கூறினார்.

Guru · Guru

2G net closes around A Raja

Published on Sat, May 01, 2010 at 11:20 | Updated at Sat, May 01, 2010 at 16:25 | Source : CNBC-TV18

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The 2G spectrum scandal is rocking Parliament once again. There is more evidence that A Rajadefied the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G spectrum issue, reports CNBC-TV18'sAnubha Bhonsle.

Now, increasingly being called 'Spectrum Raja', Telecom Minister A Raja is once again hitting the airwaves on the 2G scam. A series of documents available with CNN-IBN show how the Telecom Minister was in a clear hurry. He overruled the Prime Minister and even dismissed suggestions of taking the matter to the high level Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM).

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This letter of November 2, 2007 by the Prime Minister to Raja clearly asks him to ensure fairness and transparency and cautions him against taking any measures without informing the Prime Minister's Office. "Let me know of the position before you take any further action in this regard," the letter stated.

Further in the two-page letter, Singh objects to Raja's model of a) first-come-first-serve for 2G auction, b) and the 2001 pricing for sale in 2008, and c) instructs him to consider introduction of a transparent methodology like an auction and revision of the entry free.

The unambiguity appears lost on the Telecom Minister who responds to the Prime Minister the very same day offering no real reasons for his decision. His letter remains silent on the Prime Minister's idea of an auction.

For 50 days, there is no communication and then in a letter on December 26 last year, A Raja tells the Prime Minister he has received consent from then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Solicitor General.

The locus standi of the two is questionable in this case but what further nails the Telecom Minister is this letter of the Ministry of Law and Justice, which was always clear that the issue had to go to an Empowered Group of Ministers for consideration. Raja had called this suggestion of the Law Ministry "out of context".

It is clear A Raja was in a hurry. He flouted Manmohan Singh's written directions to take the PMOs clearance before acting on the matter. Not just that he is being charged with dismissing the important suggestion of taking this matter to the EGoM and all suggestions that would have ensured transparency. The fact the government decided to auction 3G allocations is often seen as an admission that 2G was not so great and transparent as the Minister claims.

Guru · Guru

100,000 crore scam by A. Raja, Indian Telecom minister

The 2G spectrum scandal is rocking Parliament once again. There is more evidence that A Raja defied the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G spectrum issue, reports CNBC-TV18's Anubha Bhonsle.

Now, increasingly being called 'Spectrum Raja', Telecom Minister A Raja is once again hitting the airwaves on the 2G scam. A series of documents available with CNN-IBN show how the Telecom Minister was in a clear hurry. He overruled the Prime Minister and even dismissed suggestions of taking the matter to the high level Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM).

This letter of November 2, 2007 by the Prime Minister to Raja clearly asks him to ensure fairness and transparency and cautions him against taking any measures without informing the Prime Minister's Office. "Let me know of the position before you take any further action in this regard," the letter stated.

Further in the two-page letter, Singh objects to Raja's model of a) first-come-first-serve for 2G auction, b) and the 2001 pricing for sale in 2008, and c) instructs him to consider introduction of a transparent methodology like an auction and revision of the entry free.

The unambiguity appears lost on the Telecom Minister who responds to the Prime Minister the very same day offering no real reasons for his decision. His letter remains silent on the Prime Minister's idea of an auction.

For 50 days, there is no communication and then in a letter on December 26 last year, A Raja tells the Prime Minister he has received consent from then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Solicitor General.

The locus standi of the two is questionable in this case but what further nails the Telecom Minister is this letter of the Ministry of Law and Justice, which was always clear that the issue had to go to an Empowered Group of Ministers for consideration. Raja had called this suggestion of the Law Ministry "out of context".

It is clear A Raja was in a hurry. He flouted Manmohan Singh's written directions to take the PMOs clearance before acting on the matter. Not just that he is being charged with dismissing the important suggestion of taking this matter to the EGoM and all suggestions that would have ensured transparency. The fact the government decided to auction 3G allocations is often seen as an admission that 2G was not so great and transparent as the Minister claims.

Date : 01/05/2010. News by Newsofap.coma

Guru · Guru

Telecom Minister Raja played king, defied PM

Anubha Bhonsle, CNN-IBN

Posted on Apr 30, 2010 at 18:39 | Updated Apr 30, 2010 at 19:30

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New Delhi: Telecom Minister A Raja has told Parliament that there was complete transparency in the allocation of 2G spectrum and he had nothing to hide. But hide he did -- from the Prime Minister.

CNN-IBN has evidence to show that Raja defied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his written suggestion of auctioning 2G spectrum. A series of documents available with CNN-IBN show Raja was in a clear hurry in allotting spectrum, overruled the Prime Minister and even dismissed suggestions of taking the matter to the high-level EGOM (empowered group of ministers).

TROUBLE IS CALLING: Telecom Minister A Raja claims his policy on 2G spectrum allocation was clean.

A letter of 2 November 2007 from Singh to Raja clearly asks him to ensure fairness and transparency and cautions him against taking any measures without informing the Prime Minister’s Office.

"Let me know of the position before you take any further action in this regard," says Singh’s letter to Raja.

In the two-page letter, Singh objects to Raja's model of first-come-first-serve policy in allotting spectrum, and the 2001 pricing for sale in 2008.

The PM also clearly instructs him to consider introduction of a transparent methodology like an auction and revision of the entry free.

The letter appears lost on Raja, who responded to Singh the same day but offered no real reasons for his decision. His letter remains silent on Singh’s idea of an auction.

For days there is no communication and then in a letter on December 26, Raja tells Singh he has received a consent from then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Solicitor General.

The locus standi of the two is questionable in this case but what further challenges the Telecom Minister is a letter from the Ministry of Law and Justice, which was always clear that the issue had to go to an EGOM for consideration.

The documents make it clear that Raja was in a hurry and flouted Singh's written directions to take the PMO’s clearance before acting on the matter. He also risks being charged with dismissing the important suggestion of taking this matter to an EGOM that would have ensured transparency.

The fact the government decided to auction 3G allocations is often seen as an admission that 2G was not so great and transparent as Raja claims.

History of row

The government issued new telecom licenses in January 2008 along with bundled 4.4 MHz spectrum for Rs 1,658 crore. The Opposition alleges that the licenses were given at 2001 prices and caused huge loss to the government.

Guru · Guru

Tamil Nadu CM, M. Karunanidhi, supports corrupt A. Raja

DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Sunday indicated that his party will not accept the opposition's demand for the resignation of Telecom Minister A. Raja over the 2G spectrum-allocation controversy.

"I have not come here to convey good news to you people," he said when asked by reporters about the opposition's demand for Raja's ouster.

The spectrum scam created a furore in parliament last week after a newspaper report on the tapping of phone conversations between a high-profile lobbyist and public relations firm owner and Communications Minister A. Raja alleged wrongdoing in the allocation of 2G spectrum.

Asked about his son and Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers M.K. Alagiri's absence from parliament, which the opposition protested very strongly in parliament, he said the question should be put to the minister.

"You should ask him and not me," he said.

Karunanidhi, who arrived in the capital Sunday morning, called on President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan to invite her for the World Classical Tamil Conference, to be held at Coimbatore in June.

He expressed optimism about the president accepting his invitation.

"I am sure the president will be attending this historical event," he said.

The DMK chief is expected to meet United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for political discussions Monday.

The DMK has 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha and is the second biggest component of the UPA.

DMK sources said Karunanidhi may discuss the possibility of advancing assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, due next year, in his meeting with Sonia Gandhi.

The chief minister is also expected to raise issues concerning the political settlement of Sri Lankan Tamils.

Date : 02/05/2010. News by Newsofap.com

Guru · Guru

22 billion dollar (Rs. 1 lakh crore) Spectrum 2G scam exposed; : Dr. Swamy

TAPPED and TRAPPED

J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi, Pioneer, Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Govt taps PR honcho's phone, gets clinching evidence against Raja

The cat is finally out of the bag. The CBI has acquired clinching evidence showing that a high-profile woman public relations lobbyist acted as powerbroker in the mutli-crore 2G spectrum scam and that she was in regular touch with Telecom Minister A Raja.

The investigating agency unearthed damning evidence of wheeling-dealing in the spectrum scam by authorised tapping of telephones of several persons, including Nira Radia, who runs several public relations and consultancy companies — like Vaishnavi Corporate Consultants, Noesis Strategic Consulting Services, Vitcom Consulting and Neucom Consulting.

All these companies are filled with retired bureaucrats, who ostensibly lobby with the Government on behalf of different companies. Radia is an NRI, who landed in India in early 2000 for some liaison work for aviation companies. Of the nine companies that benefited from the dubious spectrum allocation by Raja, the CBI found that four companies were "serviced" by Radia.

Highly-placed sources said the CBI was denied permission by top authorities to interrogate Radia even though the telephone intercepts clearly exposed her role in the scam, which cost an estimated Rs 1,00,000 crore to the exchequer.

A communication between the Income Tax Department and the CBI shows that nine phone lines were tapped by the I-T Department's investigation wing. The first phaseof 120 days of tapping started on August 20, 2008, and the second phase of 180 days on May 11, 2009.

Sources in the CBI said that in addition to Radia's, the telephone lines of several other influential businessmen, politicians and advertising professionals were tapped for uncovering the extent of lobbying in the scam.

Sources said that the first-phase conversation tapping, lasting 120 days, exposed the parking of ill-gotten money from the spectrum scam in the form of real estate holdings, company shares and derivates within the country and in tax havens like Mauritius.

Documents available withThe Pioneershow that Central Bureau of Investigation DIG Vineet Agarwal had on November 16, 2009, sought call detail records of Nira Radia from Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) Milap Jain. "It has been reliably learnt that certain middlemen, including one Ms Nira Radia of M/s Noesis Consultancy, were actively involved in the above-mentioned (spectrum scam) criminal conspiracy," Agarwal's letter to Jain, seeking the detailed call records, stated.

On November 20, 2009, as per Jain's instructions, Joint Director of Income Tax Ashish Abrol provided the details of conversation between Radia and key players in the spectrum scam, including A Raja.

"There are some direct conversations between Ms Radia and the Telecom Minister. In some other conservations, Ms Radia boasts of having helped some of the telecom operators in their efforts to obtain licences/spectrums. Ms Radia has also been in regular touch with Shri Chandolia," confirmed Abrol to the CBI. RK Chandolia was Raja's private secretary during the time of spectrum allocation and has since been elevated as an economic adviser in the Department of Telecommunication.

"On the basis of specific information received from CBDT, the telephone lines of Ms Nira Radia and some of her associates were put under observation after obtaining permission from the Home Secretary," Abrol wrote to Agarwal in a letter, marked "Strictly confidential and top secret".

"The intercept provides the conversation of the target and associates indicating laundering and structured payoffs, transactions and liaison for projects of telecom, petroleum and also the media," the I-T Department communication to the CBI stated.

Radia's companies are involved in consulting in telecom, power, aviation and infrastructure. These entities not only managed the media but, as per the recorded conversations, apparently tried to influence policy changes and decisions of various Government departments to suit the commercial requirements of their clients, confirmed the Income Tax Department's investigation wing to the CBI after analysing the telephone conservations.

"From these conversations, it appears that Ms Nira Radia might have had some role with regards to the award of telecom licences. In a conversation, she guided a new telecom operator on the need to delay the inflow of funds from the overseas investor and not to give the impression to the Government that there has been any 'windfall' profit," the letter added.

In the conversation details available withThe Pioneer, Radia was talking about arranging huge money from abroad for Unitech Wireless, which is a major beneficiary in the spectrum scam.

According to CBI sources, Radia got information about the agency's moves against her from her vast network in the South and North Blocks and left for London in February to avoid arrest for criminal conspiracy in the spectrum scam.

"The detailed telephone transcripts of Radia clearly show how our politicians and bureaucrats were hand in glove with the corporates in looting the public exchequer," a top CBI official said.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/252253/TAPPED-and-TRAPPED.html

http://www.noesis.in/nira.htm Brief profile of Nira Radia, Director

http://www.noesis.in/contact.htm NOESIS STRATEGIC CONSULTING SERVICES

Guru · Guru

CBI officials follow 2G spectrum scam

October 24th, 2009 - 11:53 am

CBI raid DOT offices after CVC has charged the telecom ministry of irregularities in awarding the 2G sepctrum licences loss of revenue to the government.

Sanchar Bhawan was under raid for the department allocation of 2G spectrum to some of the new players at throw away prices without any bid but adopted on first come- first serve basis.

TRAI,the telecom regulator,persistent consternation that the contracts were awarded without their advice but the Minister says he did so on the patterns followed by the TRAI and tried to keep the cost of telecom services ultimately easy reach of for consumers

2G spectrum to new players in total to eight new telecom Inc licences given along with pack 4.4 MHz spectrum to start mobile services without proper tender or offer.CBI to examine charges of irregularities in the process.When the new entrants who had no assets of telecom but has only the licences in this sector sold part of their stake at huge premium within days of getting the licences,the scam came to light, the Spectrum allotment issue alleged to a revenue loss of more than Rs 20,000 crore to 60,000 crore to the public exchequer.

CPI(M) asked the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take measures to ensure accountability in the controversial spectrum allotment issue in the wake of CBI searches the DOT officces, telecom minister A Raja, who has ruled out resignation.Opposition is making calls for telecom minister to immediately resign.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/cbi-officials-follow-2g-spectrum-scam_100264912.html

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Spectrum Scam : India's Mother of All Scams

The 2G Spectrum allocation scam, considered as the mother of all scam in India, caused more than Rs. 60,000 crores loss to public exchequer exposes the vulnerability of prevailing laws of the Nation, at the whims and fancies of political-middlemen nexus. The word Spectrum simply means the allotment of Electro Magnetic Waves, the property of a Nation to the mobile telephone operators as well as to the others in the communication industry.

The entire scam broke out during the dubious decisions taken by the Telecom Minister A.Raja, by allotting 2G(second generation) spectrum to new entrants in the telecom sector at damn cheap price. The whole procedure lacks cabinet approval, while such a huge deal seeks mandatory approval of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. The Spectrum was allotted in 2008 beginning at price fixed in 2001, violating the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's vehement objection. More over there was no auction, the license were gifted on a shabby 'first come first serve method'.

The license fee fixed in 2001, where India had only four million subscribers, were simply applied to when spectrum licenses were granted in 2008 also, ignoring the fact that the subscribers number had crossed 300 million. Nothing prevented Minister Raja to 'gift' licenses to the mobile companies at a throw away prices, though TRAI Chairman Nripendra Mishra and Finance Ministry made objections.

There is joke in the Telecom sector on the basic root of the spectrum controversy. When Dayanidhi Maran was thrown out of the Telecom Ministry on May 2007, the then Minister for Environment and Forests Raja entered the Sanchar Bhavan, the head quarters of the Telecom Ministry along with the real-estate brokers of Parayavaran Bhavan(head quarters of Environment Ministry). According to telecom officials, this spectrum scam is the entry of real estate brokers in the telecom sector or tussle in sharing of the scarce electro magnetic waves (spectrum) between the existing telecom brokers and new real estate brokers.

The joke became a fact, when real estate companies Swan and Unitech bagged the spectrum license at a throw away price and they off-loaded their shares at a whopping price to multi-national telecom giants. The Swan Telecom bagged the license for Rs.1537 crore for operating in 13 circles. Within months (September) it sold its 45 per cent of shares to Etisalat, the telecom giant in UAE for 900 million US dollars (Approximately Rs.4500 crore).

Similarly, the Unitech, another real estate company too entered into a bumper deal, without investing anything in telecom infrastructure. The company got license to operate in 22 circles for Rs.1651 crore. Within weeks, it sold 60 per cent shares for Rs.6120 to the Norwegian company Telenor, who is currently a major telecom player in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The way on which these two controversial real estate companies bagged the telecom licenses can be compares to the DDA flat allotments or other real estate allotments in fictitious names. In a crucial strategic sector like telecom the Unitech gave application for licenses in several names. They had applied in the names of Unitech Infrastructure, Unitech Builders and Estates, Aska Projects, Nahan Properties, Hudson properties, Volga Properties, Adonis Projects and Azare properties. But they were able to merge all their licenses, when Raja notified another dubious notification.

Swan Telecom, floated just two years ago, earlier known, Swan Capital. Anil Ambani earlier owned this company. Ambani had submitted for GSM license in January 2007, when his Reliance Mobile was permitted to operate only CDMA system. When dual policy was declared, Ambani lost interest in Swan, as he can operate both technologies through Reliance. This company was taken over by Maharashtra based real estate entrepreneurs Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of Dynamix Balwa group. There are rumours in the telecom sector that the take over real estate businessmen was felicitated by Raja. Shareholding pattern of Swan coincides with zoology, where the ownership goes to Tiger Trustees, which controls Parrot Investments in Mauritius, which owned by Zebra Investments in off-shore money parking islands in the Indian Ocean.

When all allegations broke out, Raja kept saying he was keeping the rulebook, what his predecessors had followed from 1994. He justified his acts for breaking the cartelization in the telecom sector and claimed 'aam admi' would be benefited by his decisions. Even his mentor Karunanidhi rubbished the allegations that the 'leaders of certain political parties can't tolerate the rise of a humble Dalit'.

The Pioneer's series of investigative reports became a blow to Raja's pretending of innocence and corruption free. His money parking methods by floating companies in the name of close relatives is now open. After becoming the Union Minister in 2004, Raja's close relatives started real estate companies. The real estate companies Green House Promoters, Equaas Estates, Kovai Shelters Promoters are filled with his brothers, nephews and nieces as Directors of the Board. He even put his wife M.A.Parameswari in the board of Green House and Equaas Estates, by violating the service rules and code of conduct of ministers. As a Cabinet Minister, Raja has to inform the Prime Minister on wife's business and file a mandatory affidavit that there is no clash of interest in the discharge of his duties.

Raja's now prefers to say that all the entries in the Registrar of Companies are wrong and he and his wife was not aware that, she was a director. The Equaas Estates' domestic turn over in the very first years shows more than Rs.755 crore, which they now prefers to say a wrong entry like Satyam Computer Raju's confession.

Green House has even opened a Singapore office, violating the foreign exchange norms. In Kovai Shelters, one director Dr.R.Sridhar, nephew of Raja is holding 15 per cent shares, while holding a Class-1 officer post in the Ministry of Environment.

The Pioneer reported on December 15, quoting highly placed sources in the Telecom Ministry on the plan of Swan Telecom to acquire 49 shares in Raja's relative's Green House. But this move was aborted and the money parking took a different route.

The documents filed with Registrar of Companies, Mumbai reveal the mysterious allotment of shares to Tamil Nadu based businessmen in Swan. On December 17, 2008 the Swan has allotted Rs.380 Cr worth shares to Chennai based Genex Exim Ventures. This company was floated four months ago with just Rs.1 Lakh capital.

Earlier, when the spectrum controversy broke out, Raja used to defend that the Swan and Unitech belong to Maharashtra and Delhi and no person from Tamil Nadu was associated with these companies.

According to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies in Chennai, Genex was incorporated in September 17, 2008 with two directors, Mohammed Hassan (58) and Ahamed Shakir (41). The company was represented by Ahmed Syed Salahuddin (32) on the board of Swan. All three of them belong to Kilukarai, a small coastal village in Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil Nadu link now gets further strengthened. Ahmed Syed Salahuddin is the younger son of Syed Mohammed Salahuddin, the NRI business tycoon heading the Dubai based real estate conglomerate ETA Ascon Star Group, which in turn began its Indian operations in 2006 by floating several real estate firms across the state. Raja was then Union Environment Minister and his party the DMK assumed power in Tamil Nadu.

The ETA Group entered into a MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for setting up an IT Economic Special Zone worth Rs 3750 crore, when A Raja became the Union Telecom Minister in May 2007. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was present at the much-hyped MoU signing ceremony for the project proposed at Kancheepuram, near Chennai on a nearly 500 acre plot.

It is mysterious that a large business group should enter Swan's board through a company with a meager one lakh paid up capital. Incidentally, Genex Exim, having acquired more than Rs.380 Cr of Swan Telecom shares, has not filed any document with the authorities to show their source of income.

Raja's favoritsm towards the Swan was exposed in the unprecedented deal with the state owned BSNL. On September 13, 2008 the BSNL had entered an unprecedented deal with Swan. The Intra Circle Roaming deal signed with the Swan is literally silent on the finance part. When controversies broke out the BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Kuldeep Goyal prefers to coin a new terminology for the deal. 'The Limited MoU' described by him is a day light robbery of public assets.

Raja shunted out all the senior officials in the BSNL and Wireless Planning
Co-ordination (WPC) wing of Telecom Department who objected the favoritism to the Swan. BSNL has never entered into Intra Circle Roaming deal with any operator till date.
With this deal, the Swan can use the spectrum, communication towers and the entire network of BSNL, without any cost. Though the BSNL management suggested charging 52 paise per call, it was mysteriously absent in the MoU.

The BSNL was forced to sign this deal, just 10 days before the sale of Swan's shares to Etisalt for 900 million US dollars. The deal literally helped the Swan to pocket huge money, without investing anything.

Nothing happened, though the top telecom officials alerted the Prime Minister. Even a Congress MP Dharam Pal Sabharwal wrote to Prime Minister on this controversial incident on November 2008, no action was taken. According to the letter wrote to Prime Minister by the CPI (M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury in February 2008, clearly warns the 'scam in the offing', when more than 575 real estate companies and stock broking firms approached the telecom ministry for spectrum license. Even after misleading the Parliament, Raja kept saying he had the concurrence of Prime Minister.
Raja blatantly lied to the Parliament that his action on 2G-spectrum allocation was never objected by TRAI or Finance Ministry.

At present Raja is eager to allot 3G (Third Generation) spectrum before his tenure. But his attempts were foiled after the Government had decided to refer the 3G auction to Group of Ministers (GoM).

The auction was earlier scheduled on January 16, and shifted to January 30 and now deferred indefinitely, after the intervention of Cabinet Secretary, who suggested 'thorough study'. But the current developments show that the auction may not take place during the tenure of this government. Now the question hangs fire is who authorized Raja to announce the auction dates in advance, before getting Cabinet clearance.

Though aware of Raja's daylight robbery in every stage, the compulsions of coalition politics, kept the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sit in the gallery as a mute spectator. As and when he summons Raja, his political patriarch Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi lands in Delhi and kept Singh silent by dashing into Madam Sonia's 10 Janpath.

On December 4, Karuanidhi landed in Delhi with a multi-party delegation to raise the issue of the 'plight' of Sri Lankan Tamils. The delegation met the Prime Minister at 10 am. After an hour, leaving all the party leaders, Karunanidhi met Sonia Gandhi along with his daughter Kanimozhi. Even his close confident and Union Minister T.R.Baalu was asked to leave after the photo session. After the meeting Karunanidhi held a press conference and claimed that he had discussed the Sri Lankan issue with Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi.
Skeptic Tamil leaders ask, then why are they not allowed to participate in the talks with Sonia Gandhi, while they were all in the meeting with Prime Minister. According to them Karunanidhi asked Congress 'help' in sharing the burden of spectrum scam.

[Writer is Special Correspondent of 'The Pioneer' daily from New Delhi, India.]

('The Pioneer' had published series of reports on Dec 2008 - Mar 2009 on the Spectrum scam and other related issues)

http://jgopikrishnan.blogspot.com/2009/03/spectrum-scam-indias-mother-of-all.html

Guru · Guru

2G Spectrum Scam exposes media-politician-ngo nexus

Note: The Hindu has issued the following clarification on the electronic document referenced below.

A press release on the 2G scam was issued by AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa in Chennai on April 28, 2010. The Hindu is unable to verify the authenticity of a 14-page document purporting to be an official account of intercepted phone conversations and is, therefore, taking it off its website.

The UPA seems all set to score another self goal – this time on account of the 2G spectrum scandal that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has chosen to ignore for sometime now.

While most of the fury and fire on the 2G spectrum scam has focused on the DMK’s A. Raja, the expose today has also revealed a different kind of nexus – between leading media personalities and NGOs lobbying Politicians on behalf of otherwise respected Business Houses.

The Hindu today posted on its website a 14 page electronic document comprising of scanned images of what appear to be correspondence between the CBI, CBDT and internal notes marked “Top Secret”.(This document has since been removed by The Hindu from its website, as per clarification above).

Page 9 of that document mentions the names of several individuals including Journalists in connection with lobbying the Congress on behalf of DMK’s Kanimozhi for Ministerial berths. The references seem to follow a report from a website called Whispers in Corridors and based on what appear to be notes in an “Internal Report” summarizing telephone intercept
conversations.

To be accurate allegations in Page 9 and the rest of the pages in the electronic document are not directly substantiated nor are they authoritative on the authorship of the notes. There also is no independent validation of the authenticity of the correspondence between Government agencies listed in this electronic document.

Also mentioned in this document are instances of lobbying firms arranging for NGOs to file PILs against leading Business Houses on behalf of competition as well as attempts to lobby even the so called incoruptible Left leaders of the CPI-M.

The Hindu reported that this electronic document was released by AIDMK leader Jayalalitha.

Several documents relating to the spectrum scam, including letters written by Vineet Agarwal, former head of the Central Bureau of Investigation team that was investigating the scam, and Ashish Abrol, Joint Director of Income Tax, were released by AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on April 28, 2010. The documents included internal evaluation reports of the Director General of Income Tax, New Delhi, and notes marked ‘Top Secret’ and ‘Strictly Confidential’ that referred to information obtained from tapping of telephone lines of persons suspected to be involved in the spectrum scam

The original scoop on this expose came from Gopikrishnan writing for The Pioneer.

Documents available with The Pioneer show that Central Bureau of Investigation DIG Vineet Agarwal had on November 16, 2009, sought call detail records of Nira Radia from Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) Milap Jain. “It has been reliably learnt that certain middlemen, including one Ms Nira Radia of M/s Noesis Consultancy, were actively involved in the above-mentioned (spectrum scam) criminal conspiracy,” Agarwal’s letter to Jain, seeking the detailed call records, stated.
On November 20, 2009, as per Jain’s instructions, Joint Director of Income Tax Ashish Abrol provided the details of conversation between Radia and key players in the spectrum scam, including A Raja.
“There are some direct conversations between Ms Radia and the Telecom Minister. In some other conservations, Ms Radia boasts of having helped some of the telecom operators in their efforts to obtain licences/spectrums. Ms Radia has also been in regular touch with Shri Chandolia,” confirmed Abrol to the CBI. RK Chandolia was Raja’s private secretary during the time of spectrum allocation and has since been elevated as an economic adviser in the Department of Telecommunication.
“On the basis of specific information received from CBDT, the telephone lines of Ms Nira Radia and some of her associates were put under observation after obtaining permission from the Home Secretary,” Abrol wrote to Agarwal in a letter, marked “Strictly confidential and top secret”.
“The intercept provides the conversation of the target and associates indicating laundering and structured payoffs, transactions and liaison for projects of telecom, petroleum and also the media,” the I-T Department communication to the CBI stated.
Radia’s companies are involved in consulting in telecom, power, aviation and infrastructure. These entities not only managed the media but, as per the recorded conversations, apparently tried to influence policy changes and decisions of various Government departments to suit the commercial requirements of their clients, confirmed the Income Tax Department’s investigation wing to the CBI after analysing the telephone conservations.
“From these conversations, it appears that Ms Nira Radia might have had some role with regards to the award of telecom licences. In a conversation, she guided a new telecom operator on the need to delay the inflow of funds from the overseas investor and not to give the impression to the Government that there has been any ‘windfall’ profit,” the letter added.
In the conversation details available with The Pioneer, Radia was talking about arranging huge money from abroad for Unitech Wireless, which is a major beneficiary in the spectrum scam.
According to CBI sources, Radia got information about the agency’s moves against her from her vast network in the South and North Blocks and left for London in February to avoid arrest for criminal conspiracy in the spectrum scam.
“The detailed telephone transcripts of Radia clearly show how our politicians and bureaucrats were hand in glove with the corporates in looting the public exchequer,” a top CBI official said

The CBDT meanwhile issued this statement denying it had conducted any phone tapping.

Guru · Guru

DOT Appeal in 2G spectrum deal rejected by the Delhi High Court- A News Report.

Thank you our Litewait for the kind observations and acknowledging the corruption taking place in India to such a great level. Now it is up to our P.M. Dr.MMS to see that the telecom scandal is fully investigated and the culprits be punished.

The latest round up from Dailypioneer.com confirms that More murky twists to Raja tale

J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi

In February this year, the CBI probe unit handling the spectrum scam laid its hands on highly incriminating evidence that indicated transfer of scam money to secret accounts in Switzerland and other countries, but under political pressure the ‘lead’ has been conveniently buried.

The CBI stumbled upon damning evidence of money transfer in the spectrum case while probing the arrest of Maharashtra and Goa Chief Postmaster General (CPMG) MS Bali for accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a builder for issuing a No-Objection Certificate (NoC) for granting construction permission on postal land at a prime spot in Mumbai.

Bali was caught red-handed in a Mumbai hotel late on February 24 along with Arun Dalmia, a frequent visitor to Telecom Minister A Raja’s office and residence for five years. Dalmia’s son Harsh was also arrested from the spot.

During interrogation, Dalmia told the sleuths about his two Swiss accounts and property details and high-volume cash transactions flowing into bank accounts in Delhi, Chennai, Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia and other tax havens abroad. Dalmia was for years on the radar of the Intelligence Bureau and RAW, who had informed the CBI that this middle-aged man was a broker for a Chinese telecom equipment vendor. Raja’s plan to grant an over Rs 20,000-crore deal to a Chinese telecom vendor for supplying GSM lines to BSNL was thwarted by the security concerns raised by these agencies.

Sources said the CBI suspected a link between the spectrum scam and the arrest of the duo when it learnt that Raja’s private secretary RK Chandolia had asked Bali to visit the hotel and collect the bribe from the builder. “When Dalmia told us about their Swiss bank accounts and hawala transactions, we knew we had laid our hands on a high-value catch,” said a Central Bureau of Investigation officer. Chandolia was elevated to the post of economic adviser in the Department of Telecom by Raja and his role in the spectrum scam and money transfer was already being probed by the CBI.

According to sources close to Bali, the CPMG spilled the beans on the very first night of interrogation. Confirming this, a CBI officer told The Pioneer: “Bali told us that he got a call from Chandolia around 6 pm to go to the hotel along with Dalmia and collect the money.”

But, shockingly, the role of Chandolia in fixing the deal never came up in the statements recorded by the CBI. “Bali became a scapegoat,” sources said, adding that senior Dalmia also confirmed the role of Raja’s office in fixing this deal.

After the CBI’s Mumbai unit alerted its Delhi counterparts the following day about the confession made by Bali and Dalmia and the possible link between the spectrum scam and Bali, a CBI team airdashed to Mumbai to interrogate the duo.

“But when we reached Delhi, our bosses got instructions from ‘highest authorities’ to delink the Mumbai case from our ongoing investigation. The Mumbai unit also got instruction to limit the case to Bali and Dalmias,” said a CBI official, adding that they were denied permission to verify the transaction details of the two Swiss accounts of the Dalmias.

According to Ministry insiders, Dalmia could be a key player in the spectrum scam. He arrived in early 2005 in Raja’s office in Paryavaran Bhavan, when the latter was Environment Minister. Dalmia was accompanied by two young women and his visiting card showed him to be the Honorary Consular General of a little-known African country, Ministry sources said. “We checked with the External Affairs Ministry and found that he was a fraud. But, in the meantime, he established direct contact with the Minister,” insiders said.

Sources recalled that Dalmia was always escorted by young women whom he introduced as his secretaries. His fortunes shone when Raja became the Communications and IT Minister. Dalmia became the liaison man for a Chinese telecom giant in India, which had a significant presence in the southern and western regions of the country. He operated a slew of financial consultancy services across India and tax havens abroad.

The CBI team found concrete evidence, including photographs, to establish the Minister’s close link with Dalmia in the two-day-long searches at his house. Finding evidence of several high-volume foreign transactions, the Central Bureau of Investigation brought the matter to the notice of the Enforcement Directorate, but to date no progress has been made in the case.

“We were told to stay away from Raja and his men,” a senior agency official maintained.

The swiss connection

CBI probe unit laid its hands on evidence that indicated transfer of scam money to secret accounts in Switzerland
Probe into the arrest of Maharashtra and Goa Chief Postmaster General MS Bali after he accepted a bribe of Rs 2 cr led CBI to evidence
Bali was caught in a Mumbai hotel along with Arun Dalmia, a frequent visitor to Telecom Minister A Raja’s office and residence
Dalmia told CBI about his two Swiss accounts and high-volume cash transactions flowing into bank accounts in Delhi, Chennai, Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia and other tax havens abroad
Dalmia was on the radar of the Intelligence Bureau and RAW.-- In the Picture: Arun Dalmia (extreme right), arrested by CBI along with Chief Postmaster General MS Bali for accepting a Rs 2-crore bribe from a builder, is seen with Telecom Minister A Raja on his birthday on October 26, 2008, at his official residence in New Delhi.
The intelligence agencies informed the CBI that Dalmia was a broker for a Chinese telecom equipment vendor.
Raja’s plan to grant an over Rs 20,000-crore deal to a Chinese telecom vendor for supplying GSM lines to BSNL was thwarted by the security concerns raised by these agencies

Guru · Guru

3 Cheers to Ex.Sr.Manager J.P.guptaji's Novel inventions

Apr 11 2010 | Views 179 | Comments (20) | Report Abuse
Tags: innovative cin to trace black money transactions & tax evasion: jpgupta's invention:india:economy:

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My dear friends, We are accustomed to all sorts of tax evasion, black money generation & our nation is full of corrupt practices...Be it an ordinary citizen to businessman, officials and politicians...Now there is a remedy to curb all these tax evasions, black money transactions & accountability to all transactions through a novel method invented by former Senior manager Shri.JP Guptaji of Bank of India whose innovative initiative can trace all transactions.

I came across this news article from dailypioneer.com today and have the pleasure of sharing the same with our friends here.

It is upto the Government to look in to this modus operend & implement to improve the national economy.

For years, the Government has been trying to ensure that people don’t evade tax but it has failed to curb evasion. Now, a system has been devised by an ex-banker that will make it virtually impossible for any evader to escape its clutches once it is implemented across the country. The modus operandi is simple. On a click of the mouse all the information will be available to the authorities. Corruption, tax evasion, inflation and black money will all be a thing of the past.SHALINI SAKSENA tells you more

Imagine this: India is a country with no corruption and no parallel black money economy. Sounds like a fairy tale but it may well be possible if one is to believe JP Gupta, former senior manager with the Bank of India. Gupta claims that he has developed a technology, or a system, whereby one can completely do away with the black money economy and eradicate tax evasion by 99.99 per cent!

Black money and tax evasion are the two main causes of escalating prices and inflation in India. In such a situation any change in the cash reserve ratio, or for that matter statutory liquidity ratio, by the Reserve Bank of India is a drop in the ocean.

“The modus operandi of this system is simple. Termed as Super Bank Statement (SBS), it is a new system of book keeping. A single entry system gives complete information about each and every transaction that follows the rules of a double book keeping system. The SBS can record all types of transactions like cash, which can be understood by even those who do not know booking keeping,” says Gupta.

Gupta explains this with an example. “Supposing a businessman during a financial year made a profit of Rs 4 lakh. But he filed only Rs 2 lakh as his income. He now has Rs 2 lakh that is unaccounted for. But he needs to spend it. It is human nature to spend money on the luxuries that life has to offer when you have extra/spare money. You buy jewellery, go for a holiday, buy a new car or buy a piece of land. The point is that this money will be out circulating. At present, the Government does not have a system in place wherein it can keep a track of such spending and the businessman goes scot-free,” says Gupta. However, once the SBS is in place there is no way that a person can escape the clutches of the Government. The Government on its part needs to ensure that everyone has a Citizen Identification Number (CIN). This number has to be quoted for every transaction done — whether in cash or through a cheque. The system also comes with must-haves.

First, every citizen will be allowed to have only one bank account. This will reduce duplication of work. Second, CIN of the parties involved will be must. Third, nothing will be sold or bought without a bill whether it is goods or services and all rates that are quoted must be inclusive of all taxes.

Under the Government’s ordinance, the CIN will keep all personal information about that individual — educational qualification, family members, their names, financial status, etc. This number will be designed in such a way that it will not be possible to duplicate it nor would it be possible for one person to have two CIN numbers. All the transactions for those people who come under the tax bracket will be recorded under two statements, A and B.

If all the entries that have been recorded in ‘A’ match with that of ‘B’, the person is in the clear. The individual would be hauled by the Income Tax Commissioner’s office in case there is even a slightest discrepancy in the statement of ‘A’ and ‘B’.

“This technology will bring transparency in all sectors at all levels. Besides, the Government will get thousands of crores in its coffers that can be spent and used for improving the education system, eradicating poverty, developing the infrastructure, creating job opportunities. We are a developing nation, every extra buck makes a difference and I am talking about putting trillions of rupees back into the system,” says Gupta.

So how did the idea of creating this system come to him? When I was still working, during a visit to a village an old man walked up to me and said: “Sahib mujhe padhna nahin aata par maine char hazaar rupiya jama karaya tha. Uski entry to hai par jo do hazaar aur jama kiya tha bankmein uski entry nahin hai. Aap kya usko check kareinge?” (Sir, I am an illiterate. I had deposited Rs 4,000 in the bank. There is an entry for that but the other Rs 2,000 that I deposited have not been entered. Would you please check that?).

“It then dawned on me that irrespective of whether a person was literate or illiterate, he understood that if he deposits money then it enters the bank and if he withdraws, the bank balance reduces. That got me thinking — if I could device a way wherein all the transactions could be recorded and tracked. However, we have a population of over a billion and in double book keeping it would mean double the work. How would one spend those extra hours making those entries. Hence, the SBS came into existence,” Gupta explains.

Gupta spent the next 10 years developing the system. There were days when he would get frustrated and angry with himself for not being able to come up with a solution. He started to even dream of what he could or could not do. His obsession reached new heights. He would keep his laptop by his bedside. The minute an idea came, he would jot it down and make notes. In the morning, he would fine tune it. Slowly, he found that he could not keep up with his passion and his job together. So, in 2003 he took voluntary retirement. “This country has given me a lot and now it is my turn to give something in return. I had heard stories from my grandparents how India was once a sone ki chidiya. I want to bring back those glorious days. I know that with this system it is possible. Unfortunately, the Government is not interested. If I had been in any other country, the system would have already been in place. Our Government does not treat its inventors kindly,” says Gupta, with a hint of sadness.

This in no way has dampened his enthusiasm. He knew that he needed to patent his invention (he already has a copyright on it). Here, too, it was not easy. People asked him to shell out Rs 4-5 lakh. “I didn’t have that kind of money. So I studied the Patent Law and. Then I applied for the patent. In the end I paid Rs 25,000 — that is the fee for acquiring a patent,” says Gupta. It seems that Gupta has made provisions for every type of transaction. His system can record seven types of transactions — cash, bank, credit transfer, credit cards, non-financial, third party and contra. He has even given the colour scheme for the CIN cards. Dark green for all those who are 18 and above, light green for those who have a business and are Indian citizens, dark blue for NRIs above the age of 18, light blue for NRI businessmen. Gupta has also given colour scheme for foreigners above the age of 18 and those who are doing business with Indians. Not that children have missed out. Like a credit card, there is a provision for an add-on to the parent’s card.

He has also ensured that nobody escapes his system. “Suppose Mr A earns his living by extortion and kidnapping. Naturally, he would have plenty of money that is unaccounted for which he would want to spend. So he goes to buy a watch. The watch company needs to keep a record of its sales even though Mr A might have paid in cash. For this, his CIN would be needed. The minute his CIN is entered he comes under scrutiny, more so if he has not been a tax payer. A single purchase of a watch might not bring the IT officers to his door step but a series of such transactions spread over a period of time with non-payment of tax is sure to attract attention,” explains Gupta.

The 62-year-old also has a solution to deal with corrupt Government officials. “Suppose the State Government sanctions Rs 300 crore for constructing a stadium to Mr B. Mr B will have to purchase material from the market. The SBS will record the entries in A and B statements. Every entry will be verified. His statement will give the entire record of from where he bought the material and to whom he made the payment and for what purpose,” says Gupta.

Sounds logical but is the Government listening?

How it works

Example 1: ‘A’ is a chartered accountant who has four clients. He charges Rs 50,000 from each of them. For the income tax purpose he only shows two clients. This is recorded in his ‘A’ statement. But in his ‘B’ statement there are entries by two other clients taking the clients to four. He would be required to pay tax on the amount that he had tried to hide.

Example 2: ‘B’ is a farmer. His income, he says is exempted under the income tax bracket. It is say Rs 1 lakh. During a financial year he buys seeds, fertilizers, etc. His purchases are worth say Rs 25,000. At the end of the year he sells the produce, after keeping aside some for himself, in the market. The buyer pays him say Rs 3 lakh. This entry would be required to be entered in the buyers account with the farmer’s CIN. The entry will appear in the buyer’s ‘A’ statement. It will also appear in the farmer’s ‘A’ statement for rs 1 lakh and as Rs 3 lakh in his ‘B’ statement. The authorities on checking can find out the amount of tax that he evaded.

Example 3: ‘C’ a tax payer buys a TV from a dealer ‘D’. ‘D’ of course has other buyers. At the end of the year he shows that he had only sold 1,000 TVs and hence, his tax liability is only on say Rs 6 lakh. However, his ‘B’ statement has another story to tell. Instead of 1,000 he sold 2,000 TVs. All those extra 1,000 people’s entries would have gone into his ‘B’ statement which he didn’t disclose.

Let us wait and watch if the nation is really interested to use the inventions for the welfare of the country.

Of course our politicians and business houses will never support such moves...
Subbu

Courtesy : CINfully honest an article from dailypioneer.com
Note: A Pleasant surprise to get the first hand report by the inventor of this technology Mr.J.P.Guptaji through his comment as under:

Guru · Guru

கோடிகளை புரட்டும் தி.மு.க -லேடி---டி.எஸ். காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ்...

Post under அம்பலம், கருணாநிதி, தமிழகம் Posted by எல்லாளன்

டி.எஸ். காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ்...

ஆளுங்கட்சியான தி.மு.க-வின் மாநில தொண்டரணி இணைச் செயலாளர், தமிழ்நாடு மின்வாரிய உயர்மட்ட ஆலோசனைக் குழு உறுப் பினர் என்றும் முன்னாள் கதர் வாரிய மகளிர் கூட்டுறவு சங்க தலைவர் என்றும் இவரது கறுப்பு - சிவப்பு பெயரோடு சொல்கிறது விசிட்டிங் கார்டு'! பளிச்சென்று முதல்வர் கருணாநிதியும் துணை முதல்வர் மு.க.ஸ்டாலினும் அந்த விசிட்டிங் கார்டில் புன்னகை பூக்கிறார்கள். எம்.ஏ., எம்.ஃபில் முடித் திருப்பதாகவும் சொல்கிறது இவரது கார்டு.
ஈரோடு மாவட்டம், கோபிசெட்டிப் பாளையத்தில் தான் இவருக்கு வீடு என்றாலும்,

காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ் நமக்கு அப்பாயின்ட்மென்ட் கொடுத்திருந்தது கோவை பீளமேடு அண்ணாநகரில் உள்ளஅவருடைய பங்களாவில்!

''ஆளுங்கட்சியின் பெயரால்... மத்திய - மாநில அமைச்சர்களிடம் சொல்லி காரியத்தை முடித்துக் கொடுப்பதற்கு ஏராளமான புரோக்கர்கள் இருக்கி றார்கள். அவர்களில் டாப் மோஸ்ட் புள்ளிதான் சத்தமில்லாமல் செயல் படும் காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ்...'' என்று தொடர்ந்து பல மாதங்களாக நமக்கு வந்துகொண்டிருந்த தகவல்களை உறுதிப்படுத்த எல்லா வழிகளிலும் முயன்றுகொண்டிருந்த சமயத்தில்தான், மத்திய தகவல் மற்றும் தொழில்நுட்பத் துறையில் கான்ட்ராக்ட் கள்எடுத்துக் கொடுக்கும் இடைத்தரகர் ஒருவர் நம்மைத் தொடர்பு கொண்டார்.

''அநியாயம் நடக்குதுங்க. முந்தியெல்லாம் காசு கொடுத்தா, அது போக வேண்டிய இடத்துக்கு முழுசா போயிடும். வேலையும் முடிஞ்சிடும். இப்போ நடுவில் உள்ள நந்திகளுக்கு தீனி போட்டே எங்க சொத்து அழிஞ்சுடும் போலிருக்கு. அதிலும் காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ் மூலமா போனா, ரெட்டிப்பு செலவு ஆகுது. என்ன பண்றது? வேற யார் மூலமா போனாலும் காரியம் நடக்காதுனு கட்சிக்காரங்களே சொல்றாங்களே...'' என்று சலித்துக் கொண்டார் அந்த இடைத்தரகர்

அப்போதும் நாம் நம்பத் தயாராக இல்லை. ஜூ.வி-க்கு மிக நம்பகமான ஒரு நபர், ''ரகசிய வீடியோ பதிவாகவே ஒரு பேரம் நடத்திப் பார்த்துவிட்டால் என்ன?'' என்று முன்வர... அடுத்தடுத்து நடந்தன வேகமான ஏற்பாடுகள். இடைத்தரகர் அளித்த விவரங்களை மிக கவனமாக உள்வாங்கிக் கிரகித்துக்கொண்டபின்.... இரண்டு பேராக இந்த ஆபரேஷனைச் செய்வது என்று முடிவானது. அதாவது, இடைத்தரகர் போல நடிக்க ஒருவர்.... மத்திய அரசின் கான்ட்ராக்டைப் பெற விரும்பும் ஆந்திர மாநிலத்துக் கம்பெனியின் அதிகாரியாக ஜூ.வி. நபர் ஒருவர்...!

ஆப்டிகல் ஃபைபர் கேபிள்களை சாலைகளில் பதிப்பதற்காகத் தொலைத் தொடர்புத் துறையின் - பி.எஸ்.என்.எல்-லின் டெல்லி தலைமையகம் கடந்த ஜூலை மாதம் வெளியிட்டிருந்த டெண்டர் அறிவிப்புதான் இந்த இருவர் டீமின் 'பொறி'!

காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸை தொடர்பு கொள்ளக்கூடியது என்று நம்மிடம் அளிக்கப்பட்ட செல்போன் நம்பரில் தொடர்பு கொண்டார் 'இடைத்தரகர்' (அதாவது இடைத்தரகராக நடிக்க முன்வந்தவர்). ஏற்கெனவே இன்னொரு நபர் மூலம் கான்ட்ராக்ட் தொடர்பான விவரங்களை காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ் காதுக்கு அனுப்பி வைத்துவிட்டு... அதன்பிறகுதான் செல்போனில் விஷயத்துக்கு வந்தார். அந்த ஆடியோ பதிவு இதோ ('இடைத்தரகர் தொடர்புகொண்ட செல் நம்பர் 9442578555. தொடர்பு கொண்ட தேதி ஜூலை 23, வியாழன் மதியம் சுமார் 3 மணி) -

இடைத்தரகர்: ''மேடம்... அவங்க என்ன சொல் றாங்க... இப்ப... அதாவது... டெண்டர் டேட் ஆகஸ்ட் ஏழாம் தேதி தள்ளி வச்சிருக்காங்க.''

எதிர்முனை பெண் குரல்: ''சரி!''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''இப்ப டெண்டர் ஃபைல் எல்லாம் வந்துடுச்சு. நாளைக்கு நைட் கிளம்பி சனிக்கிழமை காலையிலே உங்களை பார்க்கட்டுமா?''

எ.மு.பெ.கு: ''எங்கே வந்து பார்க்கறீங்க?''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''கோயமுத்தூர்ல?''

எ.மு.பெ.கு: ''ரைட்டு! அவங்க (டெண்டர் எடுக்க விரும்பும்) கம்பெனியோட ஜி.எம்-மையும் ஒருதடவை அனுப்பி வைக்கிறேன்னு சொன்னாங்க. அவரு வந்து கன்ஃபார்ம் பண்ணுவாரு...''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''அவரு வந்து கன்ஃபார்ம் பண்ணு வாரு... இன்பிட்வீன் உங்களுக்கு என்ன சேரவேண்டியதோ அதை பேசிட்டு ஒரு டோக்கன் அட்வான்ஸ் மாதிரி த்ரீ டேஸ்ல குடுக்கச் சொல்லிடறேன். ஏன்னா... நாள் நெருங்கிதான் இருக்கு!''

எ.மு.பெ.கு: ''ஆகஸ்ட் ஏழுன்னா ஃபுல் டீடெயில் ஸையும் கொண்டாந்துடுங்க.. அவரு(?) சி.எம்.டி-யை (பி.எஸ்.என்.எல். அதிகாரி?) வச்சுப் பேசுவாரு. சனி, ஞாயிறு மெட்_ராஸ்ல இருப்பாருனு நினைக்கிறேன்... இல்லேன்னா ஊட்டி வந்திடுவாரு. அப்படி ஊட்டி வந்தார்னா, நீங்க கோயமுத்தூர் வரும்போது ஊட்டிக்குப் போய் பார்த்துடலாம்.''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''ஓ.கே... ஓ.கே. உங்களை முதல்ல பார்த்துட்டோம்னா அவங்களுக்கு சேட்டிஸ்ஃபை ஆயிடும்!''

எ.மு.பெ.கு: ''ரைட்டு!'

இடைத்தரகர்: ''ஏன்னா... மேடம்னாலேதான் எல்லாம் முடியும்னு நான் சொல்லி வச்சிருக்கேன்!....''

இவ்வாறாக நீளும் அந்த தொலைபேசி உரையாடலின் பதிவை முதலில் பத்திரப்படுத்திக் கொண்டோம். ''மீடி யேட்டரே இதுல கிடையாது... டைரக்டா அவரே(?)தான் பேசுவாருங்க'' என்பது போன்ற டெல்லி தொடர்புகள் தவிர, வேறு பல விஷயங்களும் அந்த உரையாடலில் பேசப்படுகின்றன. இப்போதைக்கு அவை இந்தக் கட்டுரைக்குத் தொடர்பில்லாததால் வாசகர்களின் பார்வைக்கு அளிக்கவில்லை!

ஜூலை 25-ம் தேதி, சனிக்கிழமை காலை 10.40 மணிக்கு கோவையில் பீளமேடு அண்ணாநகர் வீட்டில் காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ் எதிரில் இடைத்தரகராக ஒரு நபரும் ஜூ.வி. நபரும் ஆஜராகிவிட்டார்கள். நேராக அந்த வீட்டுக்குப் போய்விட முடியவில்லை. பக்கத்துத் தெருவிலேயே நம்மை நிற்கும்படி செல்போனில் உத்தர விட்டார்கள்!

நாமும் அங்கே இனோவா காரை நிறுத்திவிட்டுக் காத்திருக்க... 'ராஜேஷ்' என்று தன்னை அறிமுகப் படுத்திக்கொண்ட ஒரு நபர் அங்கே வந்து காரில் ஏறிக்கொண்டு காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ் வீட்டுக்கு வழி காட்டினார் (நமது வீடியோ கேமரா பதிவு முழுவதும் இவரும் வருகிறார். விவரமறிந்த தி.மு.க. வட்டாரத்தில் இவர் உருவத்தைக் காட்டி விசாரித்தபோது, ''ராஜேஷ்னா சொன்னாரு? இவர் பேரு சந்திரமோகனாச்சே... அருப்புக்கோட்டை பக்கத்துல பாளையம்பட்டிதான் இவரோட சொந்த ஊரு. அருப்புக்கோட்டையில் கேபிள் ஆபரேட்டரா கஷ்டப்பட்டு ஜீவனம் பண்ணிக் கிட்டிருந்தார் சந்திரமோகன்... செஞ்சியார் மத்திய அமைச்சரா இருக்கும்போது சி.பி.ஐ. வழக்கில் அவரோட உதவியாளர் பாபு மாட்டுனாரே ஞாபகம் இருக்கா..? பாபுவுக்கு ரொம்ப வேண்டப்பட்டவரா சந்திரமோகன் ஆயிட்டாருன்னு பிறகு சொன்னாங்க. இப்ப கோவை ஏரியாவில் காரு, பங்களானு ஜம்முனு இருக்கிற சந்திரமோகன், தன்னை காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸோட உதவி யாளர்னு சொல்லிக்கிறாரு'' என்று நமக்கு வேறுவிதமான விளக்கம் 'ராஜேஷ்' பற்றி கிடைத்தது!).

நிற்க....

'ராஜேஷ்' என்கிற சந்திரமோகன் இனோவா காரில் ஏறிக்கொண்டதோடு இடைத்தரகரிடமும் ஜூ.வி. நபரிடமும் பல்வேறு விதமான கேள்விகளைக் கேட்டு திருப்தி ஆனவுடன்தான், காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸின் பங்களா வுக்கு அழைத்துச் சென்றார். மேற்கொண்டு நடந்ததை ஜூ.வி. நபர் இங்கே விவரிக்கத் துவங்குகிறார் -

வீட்டுக்குள் போன 'ராஜேஷ்', அங்கிருந்த வேலைக் காரரிடம், ''பீமா எக்கட?'' (பீமா எங்கே) என்றார். கொஞ்ச நேரத்தில் கொழுகொழுவென்று ஒரு கறுப்பு நாய் ஒன்று எங்களை நோக்கி ஓடி வந்தது.

''அது எதுவும் செய்யாதுங்க. எங்க மேடமுக்கு எல்லாமே இந்த பீமாதான்'' என்றபடி எங்களை சோபாவில் அமரச் செய்த 'ராஜேஷ்' கலை நயம்மிக்க ஊஞ்சலில் அமர்ந்துகொண்டார். அந்த வீட்டு ஹாலின் ஷோகேஸில் ஸ்டாலின், ஆற்காட்டார், அன்பழகன் என தி.மு.க-வின் மூத்த தலைவர்களுடன் காயத்திரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ் சேர்ந்து நிற்கும் புகைப்படங்கள் அழகாக, வரிசையாக காட்சிக்கு வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்தன. தன் மகனோடு தானும் சேர்ந்து தமிழக முதல்வர் கருணாநிதியுடன் எடுத்துக் கொண்ட புகைப்படத்தை தனியாக தொங்க விட்டிருந்தார் காயத்ரி.

பீமா, ஹாலைச் சுற்றி ஒரு ரவுண்ட் அடித்து பெட் ரூமுக்குள் போனபிறகு காயத்ரி பெட்ரூமிலிருந்து ஹாலுக்கு பிரசன்னமாகி, எங்கள் எதிரில் சோபாவில் அமர்ந்துகொண்டார்.

காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ்: ''என்ன மேட்டர்? செப்பண்டி!''

இடைத்தரகர் : ''ஆப்டிக்கல் ஃபைபர் கேபிள் டெண்டர்தான், மேடம்... தமிழ்நாட்டுல இருநூறு கிலோ மீட்டருக்கு கேபிள் பதிக்க (என்னைக் காட்டி) இவங்க கம்பெனி பிளான் பண்ணுது!''

காயத்ரி: ''என்ன பர்ப்பஸ்?''

காரில் அந்த வீட்டை அடையும்போதே 'ராஜேஷ்' வசம் இடைத்தரகர் முழு விவரம் சொல்லி, டெண்டர் காப்பியும் கொடுத்திருந்ததால்... அவரே காயத்ரியிடம் எல்லாம் விளக்குகிறார், தெலுங்கில்!

இடைத்தரகரைப் பார்த்து காயத்ரி: ''ராஜா(?) சேஸ்தாரு... ராஜாதான் செய்வாரு!''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''மேடம் பத்தி சொன்னாங்க. கேள்விப்பட்டுதான் உங்களைப் பிடிச்சு இந்த வேலையைச் செய்யலாமுன்னு....''

காயத்ரி: ''பை எலெக்ஷன் வருது... எப்படியும் (கட்சியில் எனக்கு) புரோக்ராம் கொடுத்துடுவாங்க. தொகுதிக்குப் போகணும். அதில்லாம பீமாவை விட்டுட்டு எங்கயும் போக மாட்டேன். டெல்லிக்கு, சென்னைக்குப் போனாலும்கூட பீமாவையும் கூட் டிட்டுப் போயிடுவேன். போன வாரம் மினிஸ்டர்(?) இங்கதான் தங்கியிருந்தாரு!''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''இந்த வீட்டுலயா?''

காயத்ரி: ''குன்னூருக்குப் போனவர், போன வேகத்துலயே இறங்கிட்டாரு. அவருக்கு குளிர் ஒத்துக் காது. கோயம்புத்தூர் வந்து ரெஸிடன்ஸியில அவரு தங்கிட்டாரு. அமைச்சரை ஹோட்டல்ல ரெஸ்ட் எடுக்க விட்டுட்டு அவங்க ஒய்ஃப் எங்க வீட்டுல தங்குனாங்க. உங்க மேட்டரை அமைச்சர்கிட்ட சொல்லிடறேன். உங்களை இந்த வேலைக்காக யார் முன்னால உட்கார வைக்கிறேங்கறதுதான் இங்க முக்கியம்! இதைப் போலத்தான் பி.எஸ்.என்.எல். கான்ட்ராக்ட் ஒண்ணை முடிச்சுக் கொடுத்தேன். இதோ இவரோட ('ராஜேஷ்' பக்கம் கைகாட்டி) ஃபிரெண்டுக்குதான் முடிச்சுக் கொடுத்தோம். அது பி.எஸ்.என்.எல். விளம்பர கான்ட்ராக்ட்...''

இடைத்தரகர்: (ஏற்கெனவே விவரம் தெரிந்தவராக) ''செஞ்சியார் பி.ஏ-வா இருந்த பாபுவுக்கா?''

காயத்ரி: ''ஆமா...!''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''ராஜாவுக்கு வேணுங்கறதை நாங்களே தரணுமா?''

காயத்ரி: ''அவர் வாங்க மாட்டார். என்ன பண்ணணுங்கறதை அவரே சொல்லுவார்!''

ராஜேஷ்: ''அதையெல்லாம் ஸ்பிளிட் பண்ணி பிரிச்சுடுவாங்க...''

காயத்ரி: ''நீங்க உங்க மேட்டரை மினிஸ்டரை வெச் சிட்டு எக்ஸ்ப்ளெய்ன் பண்ணணும். சி.எம்.டி-யெல்லாம் பழம் தின்னு கொட்டை போட்ட ஆளு. என்ன பண்ணணுமோ அதை அவர் பார்த்துக்குவாரு. (டெல்லி?) சஞ்சார் நிகம் ரிசப்ஷன்ல உங்களை உட்கார வெச்சு, மேலே அனுப்பிடுவேன். என் பேர்கூட (விசிட்டர் புக்கில்?) வராது. மினிஸ்டரே கூப்பிட்டாதான் உங்களால அந்த கட்டடத்துக்குள்ள போகமுடியும். அவரோட பி.ஏ. செந்திலியாவும் அங்கே இருப்பார். உங்களுக்கு மினிஸ்டர் பர்ஸனல் சிட்டிங் கொடுப்பார். அதுக்கெல்லாம் நான் கியாரண்டி! ஆனா ஒண்ணு.. நாங்க ஃபிளைட் சார்ஜ் போட்டு டெல்லிக்கு வர மாட்டோம். என்கூட ஒருத்தர் வருவாரு. பெரிய புராஜெக்ட்னாத்தான் மினிஸ்டர் வருவாரு...''

ராஜேஷ்: ''இந்த மாதிரி விஷயமெல்லாம் ஒரே சேனல்லதான் நீங்க மூவ் செய்யணும்!''

காயத்ரி: ''நான் ரொம்பவும் வெளியில வரமாட்டேன். தமிழ்நாட்டுல இ.பி. விவகாரங்களையெல்லாம் இவருதான் (ராஜேஷ்) பார்த்துக்குவாரு. மேட்டூர் தெர்மல் பிளான்ட்ல ஆஷ் எடுக்கறதுக்கெல்லாம் இவர்தான் போவாரு. ஸ்டேட்ல இ.பி., ஹெல்த், டிரான்ஸ்போர்ட், ஹைவேஸ் எதுனாலும் நம்ம வேலையை முடிச்சுக்கிடலாம்.''

ராஜேஷ்: ''ஆமா... நாலும் நைன்ட்டி நைன் பர்சன்ட் முடிச்சிடலாம்!'''

காயத்ரி: சாமிநாதன் (நெடுஞ்சாலைத்துறை அமைச்சர் வெள்ளக்கோவில் சாமிநாதன்?) நம்ம பையன் தான். என் சொந்த முயற்சியிலதான் மினிஸ்டர் ஆனான். இ.பி-யிலும் பெரிய லெவல்னா சொல்லுங்க. நீட்டா முடிச்சுடலாம். எங்க இருந்தாலும் என்னோட பாலிஸி என்ன தெரியுமா? சம்பந்தப்பட்ட அமைச்சரோடவே டைரக்ட் சிட்டிங் ஏற்பாடு செஞ்சிடுவேன். சக்சஸ்தான் எனக்கு முக்கியம்!''

இடைத்தரகர் ஆப்டிகல் ஃபைபர் கேபிள் பதிப்பது பற்றி சொல்லச் சொல்ல... காயத்ரி சிறு நோட்டில் குறிப்பெடுத்துக் கொண்டார்.

தமிழ்நாட்டில் மொத்தம் 244 கிலோமீட்டருக்கு வை-மேக்ஸ் உள்ளிட்ட புதிய தொழில்நுட்பத்துக்காக ஆப்டிகல் ஃபைபர் கேபிளை பதிப்பதற்கான கான்ட் ராக்ட் என்றும், இந்த மாநிலத்தில் மட்டும் 60 கோடி ரூபாய்க்கான விவகாரம் என்றும் ராஜேஷ§டன் உரை யாடல் நடக்கிறது. 3-ஜி மற்றும் வை-மேக்ஸ் பற்றி விளக்கமாகவே கேட்டுக் கொள்கிறார் காயத்ரி.

''தமிழ்நாட்டுல மட்டும்தான் கான்ட்ராக்ட் எடுப் பீங்களா? ஆந்திரா, கர்நாடகாவுலகூட எடுக்கலாமே..?'' என்றும் என்னிடம் (ஜூ.வி. நபர்) கேட்டபடியே கையடக்க நோட்டில் விவரங்களைக் குறிப்பெடுத்துக் கொள்கிறார்.

என்னை (ஜூ.வி. நபர்) கான்ட்ராக்ட் பெற விரும்பும் கம்பெனியின் ஜி.எம். என்று அறிமுகப்படுத்தியிருந்ததால் இடையிடையே சில விவரங்களை 'ராஜேஷ்' கேட்டு செக் பண்ணிக்கொண்டே இருந்தார். உரையாடல் நடந்துகொண்டிருந்தபோதே, 'ராஜேஷ்' வைத்திருந்த செல்போனை வாங்கி யாருக்கோ டயல் செய்தார் காயத்ரி. படுஅந்நியோந்நியமாக அவர் பேசியதன் விவரம் இதுதான் -

''நான்தான் காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ்! நேத்து நைட் வந்துட் டீங்களா? (இடைவெளி) ஊட்டிக்கு வர்றீங்களா? (இடை வெளி) எப்ப டெல்லிக்குப் போறீங்க? (இடைவெளி) அப்படியா, சரி நான் நேர்ல வந்து உங்களைப் பார்க் கறேன்!''

போனை கட் செய்தவர் எங்கள் பக்கம் திரும்பி, ''இந்த வீக் அவர் ஊட்டிக்கு வரலையாம். திங்கள்கிழமை டெல்லிக்குக் கிளம்புறாராம். அவர் ஊட்டிக்கு வந்தார்னா இப்பவே உங்களை இவருகூட ('ராஜேஷ்' என்கிற சந்திரமோகன்) அனுப்பி வச்சிருப்பேன்!''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''நீங்க எப்ப அரசியலுக்கு வந்தீங்க, மேடம்?''

காயத்ரி: சிரித்துக் கொண்டே.. ''ஆச்சு, இருபது வருசமாச்சு..! நான் அரசியலுக்கு வந்ததே பிஸினசுக்காகத்தான்... வேற எதுக்கும் இல்ல!''

மீண்டும், பி.எஸ்.என்.எல். ஆப்டிகல் கேபிள் பற்றி விலாவாரியாகப் பேசினார். திரும்பவும் சந்திரமோகன் டெண்டர் குறித்த விஷயங்களை காயத்ரிக்கு தெலுங்கிலும் தமிழிலுமாக விளக்கினார்.

''மொத்த கான்ட்ராக்டையும் உங்க ஒருத்தருக்கே தரமாட்டாங்க புரிஞ்சுதா?'' என்றும், ''உங்க கான்ட்ராக்டுக்குள்ளே இன்னொருத்தர் யாராச்சும் ஒரு பார்ட் எடுத்து செய்யறதா இருந்தா, அதுக்கும் நீங்க தயாரா இருக்கணும், புரிஞ்சுதா?'' என்றும் காயத்ரி எங்களிடம் கேட்டு உறுதி வாங்கிக்கொண்டார்.

இடையிடையே தி.மு.க-வின் பெருந்தலைகள், குடும்பங்கள் பற்றி சில 'புள்ளி'விவரங்கள் வந்து விழுந்தன. அவையெல்லாம் இந்த விவகாரத் தோடு தொடர்பில்லாதவை என்பதாலும், தேவையில்லாமல் யார் மனதையும் புண்படுத்தக்கூடாது என்பதாலும் இங்கே வெளியிடாமல் தவிர்க்கிறோம்.

ராஜேஷ்: ''கேபிள் பதிக்கிற கான்ட்ராக்ட் மட்டும்தான் நீங்க எடுக்கப் போறீங்களா..? இல்லாட்டி அதுக்கான கேபிளும் சப்ளை பண்ண விரும்பறீங்களா?''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''கேபிள் பதிக்கறதுக்கு மட்டும்தான் நாங்க டெண்டர் கேட்கலாமுன்னு இருக்கோம். மொத்த புராஜெக்ட் காஸ்ட் எப்படியும் இருநூறு கோடிக்கு மேல வரும்னு சொன்னாங்க...''

காயத்ரி: ''கோடின்னா அந்த வீடு(?) கண்டிப்பா உள்ளே வந்துடும், புரியுதுங்களா, அதான்... சம்பந்தப்பட்ட குடும்பம் உள்ளே வரும். (அடுத்தடுத்து ஆளுங்கட்சியில் சில பெரிய பெயர்களாகச் சொல்லி) .......... பிரஷ்ஷர் வரும். இப்படித்தான் கிரிக்கெட் போட்டி ஒளிபரப்பு சம்பந்தமா பி.எஸ்.என்.எல் விளம்பர கான்ட்ராக்டை பாபு கேட்டப்ப, அமைச்சர் தரலை. 'நீ பாகிஸ்தான் மேட்ச் வரும்போது விளம்பரம் கேளு, தர்றேன்'னாரு. சொன்னபடியே தந்தாரு. ஏன்னா எல்லாரையும் அட்ஜஸ்ட் பண்ணி அவர் போயாகணும். அவர் உட்கார்ந்திருக்கற இடம் அந்த மாதிரி. தனக்கு சிம்மாசனம் கொடுத்த(?) இடத்துக்கு ஏதாவது கொடுத்தாகணும்ங்கறது அவரோட பாலிஸி. சென்ட்ரல் கவர்ன்மென்ட்ல ஒரு இணை அமைச்சரை தனியா போட்டு இதையெல்லாம் வாட்ச் செய்வாங்க. அதிகாரிங்க ஒரு லாபி பண்ணுவாங்க. நம்ம அமைச்சர் அவங்களை மறுத்துப் பேச மாட்டார். ஏன்னு உங்களுக்குப் புரியுதா? நாமளா இருந்தா... 'நான்தான் மந்திரி! மூடிட்டு கையெழுத்துப் போடு'னு (அதிகாரிகளிடம்) சொல்லுவோம். அவர் அப்படியெல்லாம் இல்லை!''

இடைத்தரகர்: ''இவ்வளவு யதார்த்தமா பேசறீங்க... இவ்ளோ தூரம் இன்ட்ரடியூஸ் பண்றீங்க. உங்களுக்கு ஒரு ட்வென்ட்டி லேக்ஸ் (இருபது லட்சம்) வரைக்கும் கொடுக்கலாம்னு இவங்ககிட்டே (என்னைக் காட்டி) சொன்னேன், மேடம்!''

காயத்ரி: ''பணத்தை முதல்ல வாங்க மாட்டோம். முதல்ல டெல்லிக்குப் போவோம். நானும் உங்களைப் புரிஞ்சுக்கணும் இல்லையா... நீங்க டெல்லிக்கு வாங்க. அங்கே ரிசப்ஷன் எப்படி இருக்குனு பாருங்க. அப்புறமா பார்த்துக்கலாம். நீங்க இவ்வளவு தூரம் சொல்றீங்க. இந்த புராஜெக்டை சக்ஸஸ் பண்ணிக் காட்டுறேன். அப்புறம் நீங்களே பார்த்துக் கொடுங்க! அந்தக் குடும்பமே(?) தலையிட்டாலும் பரவாயில்லை. ஆற்காட்டாரை வெச்சு முடிச்சுத் தரேன்!''

ராஜேஷ்: ''இங்கதான் பெரிய குடும்பம்... பிரஷ்ஷர்னு இருக்கும். வேற ஸ்டேட்லயெல்லாம் இப்படியெல்லாம் இல்ல!''

காயத்ரி: ''மேட்டர்னு பெத்தாயின முந்தட்டுல பெட்டுத்தோம். (விஷ யத்தை பெரியவர் முன்னாடி வெப்போம்) சக்சஸ் சேஸ்தாம். நீங்க மினிஸ்டரைப் பார்க்கும்போது நல்லா விளக்கமா புரியுறமாதிரி பேசிடணும். இல்லைன்னா அவர் தன்னோட பி.ஏ-வைப் பார்க்கச் சொல்லிட்டுப் போயிடுவாரு. எப்ப டெண்டர் முடியுது? டெண்டர் போட்டுத்தான் இதைப் பண்ணணுமா? மினிஸ்டரே பண்ணிடக் கூடாதா?''

உடனே, இடைத்தரகர் முதலி லிருந்து அந்த டெண்டர் பற்றி விவரிக்கும் காட்சிகளும், அதை காயத்ரி குறிப்பெடுத்துக் கொள்வதும் நாங்கள் கொண்டு போன ரகசிய வீடியோ கேமராவில் அப்படியே பதிவாகியுள்ளது.

காயத்ரி: ''மினிஸ்டர் தொகுதிக்கு வந்தா இதைப் பத்திப் பேச முடியாது. இந்தப் பொம்பளை இங்க ஏன் வந்தாங்கன்னு தொகுதியில பார்ப்பாங்க. அவரும் நம்மளை பார்க்க மாட்டாரு. நாம் டெல்லிக்கு போய்த்தான் இந்த மேட்டரை முடிக்கணும். புதன்கிழமை டெல்லிக்குப் போயிடணும். வியாழக்கிழமை காலையில மினிஸ்டர் வீட்டுக்குப் போய் நேர்ல உங்க விஷயத்தைப் பத்திப் பேசிடுவேன். அப்புறம் நிகம் (தொலைத் தொடர்பு டெல்லி அலுவலகம்) வந்து பார்த்திடுவாரு...''

இடைத்தரகர்: (என்னைக் காட்டி) ''நான்தான் இந்த கம்பெனிக்காரங்களை உங்களுக்கு அறிமுகம் செஞ்சு வெச்சிருக்கேன். ரொம்ப நாளா உங்க அப்பாயின்ட் மென்ட் கிடைக்காம கஷ்டப்பட்டு உங்களைப் பார்க்க வெச்சிட்டேன். எனக்கு இதுல என்ன பங்குங்கறதையும் நீங்களே சொல்லிடுங்க, மேடம்...''

காயத்ரி சிரித்துக் கொண்டே தலையாட்டுகிறார்.

ராஜேஷ்: ''அம்மா யாரையும் விட்டுர மாட்டாங்க. நீங்க கேக்கவே வேண்டியதில்லை. அவங்களை

நம்புங்க...''

மீட்டிங் முடியும் தருணத்தில் திரும்பவும் அறைக்குள் இருந்து பீமா வருகிறது. நாம் கொண்டு போயிருந்த ஸ்வீட் பாக்ஸை வாயால் கவ்வி காயத்ரியிடம் கொடுக்கிறது.

காயத்ரி: ''எதுன்னாலும் இது என்கிட்டதான் கொடுக்கும். எனக்குப் பிடிச்சதை கொடுக்கும். என் மனசு இதுக்குப் புரியும்!'' என்று சொல்லிக் கொண்டிருக் கும்போதே இடைத்தரகர் தயார் செய்து எடுத்துப் போயிருந்த பி.எஸ்.என்.எல். தொடர்பான டெண்டர் கோப்புகளை பீமா சட்டென்று கவ்விக்கொண்டு ஓடவும்....

காயத்ரி: ''பார்த்தீங்களா... பீமா கவ்வியாச்சு. இந்த வேலையை பீமா செய்யச் சொல்லுது!'' என்றபடியே வாசல் வரை வந்து எங்கள் இருவருக்கும் விடை கொடுத் தார்.

அடுத்தநாள், ஜூலை 26-ம் தேதி, ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை 'இடைத்தரகராக' நடித்தவருக்கு போன் செய்தார் 'பிரகாஷ்' என்று அறிமுகப்படுத்திக்கொண்ட நபர். அழைப்பு வந்த செல் நம்பர் 9842299722.

''மினிஸ்டர்கிட்டே பேசியாச்சு... நாங்க அந்த கம்பெனி ஜி.எம்-கிட்டே அர்ஜென்ட்டா பேசணும். முக்கியமா மேடம்தான் பேசணும்னு சொன்னாங்க. அவரைப் பேசச் சொல்லுங்க'' என்கிற ரீதியில் அடுத்தடுத்து போன் வந்துகொண்டே இருந்தது.

'ராஜா' என்றும் 'மினிஸ்டர்' என்றும் காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ் கூறுவது மத்திய அமைச்சரும், சம்பந்தப்பட்ட துறைக்கு பொறுப்பானவருமான ஆ.ராசாவை குறிப்பிட்டுத்தான் என்றே புரிந்து கொள்ள வேண்டியிருக்கிறது. அமைச்சரின் பெயரால் நடக்கும் இந்த பேரத்தின் மூலம் நிஜமாகவே கான்ட்ராக்ட்டுகளை முடிக்க முடியுமா... அப்படி இதற்குமுன் முடிக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறதா என்பதையெல்லாம் கண்டு பிடிக்கும் பொறுப்பை மத்திய - மாநில அரசுகளிடமே ஒப்படைக்கிறோம். இந்த ஆபரேஷனுக்குப் பிறகு நமது இருவர் டீம் பதிவு செய்து கொண்ட விவரங்களையும், எந்த இடத்திலும் அளிக்கத் தயாராகஇருக்கிறோம்.

காயத்ரி ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ் என்கிற இந்தப் பெண்மணி ஆளுங்கட்சியான தி.மு.க-வைச் சேர்ந்தவர்! அவரிடம் மாநில அரசின் கட்டுப்பாட்டில் உள்ள போலீஸாரே விசாரணை நடத்தினால் எதிர்க்கட்சிகளாலும் மற்றவர்களாலும் அது ஒருதலைபட்சமாக பார்க்கப்படும் என்று முதல்வர் கருதினால்... பேசாமல் இதை சி.பி.ஐ. விசாரணைக்கேகூட விட்டுவிடலாம்.

இதுவரை காயத்ரி பேசிய தொலைபேசி எண்கள்... இதுவரை அவர்மூலம் முடிக்கப்பட்ட(?) கான்ட்ராக்ட் தொடர்பான தகவல்கள்.... அதில் சம்பந்தப்பட்ட மற்றவர்கள்.... இப்படி எல்லா விவரங்களையும் சி.பி.ஐ. மூலமாக வெளி உலகத்துக்குக் கொண்டு வந்து 'அக்னிப் பிரவேசம்' செய்ய தி.மு.க. அரசு தயங்காது என்றே நம்புவோம்!

ஜூனியர் விகடன்

ஆ.ராசா பேரால் பகீர் பேரம்! - ஜூனியர் விகடனின் ரகசிய கேமரா பதிவுகள்' ரிப்போர்ட் நாடு முழுவதும் அதிர்வுகளை ஏற்படுத்தியுள்ளது. தமிழில் படிக்க இயலாத வெளிநாடு வாழ் இந்தியர்கள் உள்பட பலரது வேண்டுகோளுக்கு இணங்க,

இந்த அதிரடி ரிப்போர்ட்டின் ஆங்கில வடிவம் இதோ...

To read this article in English

Guru · Guru

No Such Number, No Such Zone

The CBI raids the DoT, raising questions about the 2G spectrum allotment that A Raja would not like to answer, saysSHANTANU GUHA RAY

THOSE IN the know in the Indian Capital call it “the little Gaza Strip”, a clear reference to the perennial tension and conflict that have plagued it for over a decade. Only, this particular area of strife is the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), whose offices in Delhi were raided recently by sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), over an alleged scam in the 2008 allotment of 2G spectrum. So used to discord are the boffins of the DoT that they were unruffled by the raid. In fact, many worked even as the CBI officials searched files in one of the floors.

TROUBLED SPECTRUM

Law Minister HR Bhardwaj wanted an EGoM to discuss 2G; Raja refused

PM Manmohan Singh asked Raja to seek personal clearance

Raja consulted External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Solicitor General GE Vahanvati

Two DoT officials, RJS Kushwaha and D Jha, transferred for opposing Raja

2G spectrum allocated in Jan 2007

DoT offices raided by the CBI; two officials, Ashok Chandra and AK Srivastava, questioned

CBI chargesheet has no names. Scam could be over Rs 60,000 crore

Not without reason. A week later, Minister for Telecommunications Andimuthu Raja himself had managed a clean chit from no less a person than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who told reporters that Raja was not an accused in the case.

Still, pieces of the controversy — which the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calls India’s biggest scam, at Rs 60,000 crore — are now falling into place. Two of Raja’s confidants, Ashok Chandra (who until recently headed the wireless cell), and AK Srivastava (a deputy director of the same cell) were named initially by the CBI in its chargesheet, but then dropped. The CBI now claims it is investigating the accounts of some unknown DoT officials and unknown directors of companies like Swan, STel, Unitech, Datacom, Loop Telecom and Sistema Shyam Teleservices (which were awarded the 2G licenses in January last year).

Messy deal Telecom Minister A Raja says 2G spectrum decisions were cleared by the CCEA
Photo: GANESH LAD

Tough call CVC head Pratyush Sinha had asked the CBI to probe charges against DoT

Raja, after the shock of the raids, is back on his feet. His defence: he merely signed files and opened up the sector, as his predecessors had done. “I have had my share of controversies, but those were less than the ones in my seat before me. Please remember that the Cabinet cleared all the files pertaining to granting of 2G licences. The Prime Minister was kept in the loop throughout. All my predecessors followed the same procedure. So did I. In terms of legal norms, there is no deviation,” Raja told reporters in Delhi, after he had finished a marathon meeting with his confidants. In fact, some of his lobbyists— who were seen busy defending the minister on various television news shows— claimed that the minister’s decisions were based on approvals from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the watchdog, and had the sanctions of then Solicitor General, GE Vahanvati.

But what the apologists, and indeed Raja, skirted around was the fact that it was the PM who had in 2007— in a twopage letter — categorically asked Raja not to go ahead with cheap pricing and the first-come-first-serve model. Singh, in fact, was alerted about this by Law Minister HR Bhardwaj, who had also demanded a EGoM (empowered group of ministers) on the issue. Bhardwaj had also demanded that the country’s Attorney General should oversee the issue and give his remarks on the same. Furious at the demand, Raja had sent a strongly-worded letter to Singh, questioning Bhardwaj’s wisdom.

IRONICALLY, NO one — including Singh — is ready to now take on the minister who has DMK supremo K. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi backing him. Still, DoT officials say there could be other uncomfortable questions for the minister when Parliament meets next month for the winter session, particularly the unceremonious exit of two competent bureaucrats. DoT officials told TEHELKA that the two, Joint Wireless Cell Advisor RJS Kushwaha and Deputy Wireless Advisor D Jha, were summarily removed after they put in writing their objection to the auction.

Officials of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) remain tightlipped on the issue but it is widely believed that these two officials were largely instrumental in tipping off the CVC (it alerted the CBI and pushed for the raids). Also upset about the minister’s arbitrary decision was the then telecom secretary, Siddhartha Behuria, who during his tenure had made his displeasure over the events public. But ironically, Behuria is not talking on the issue.

That the CBI will find it difficult to pin down Raja is clear. He is on the offensive and the PMO has gone silent on the controversy, though political observers say the raids – which had the support of Prithviraj Chauhan, the minister of state in the PMO — were a subtle move by the Congress to keep tacit pressure on its allies, the DMK and NCP (some party heavyweights are rumoured to be close to one of the companies that benefited from the auction). But the current mood within the party was to wait and watch. “It is still a puzzle as to why the raids took place and what the Congress wanted to achieve, apart from annoying a key coalition partner,” says a political observer.

The PM had asked Raja not to go with low pricing and the firstcome- first-serve model

There are others who, ignoring what Singh had actually said more than two years ago, are busy explaining that there was no ambiguity over the procedure and even in the subsequent resale by companies to make a windfall profit.

Those who alleged that Raja should have revised the 2001 recommendations for sale price of spectrum when it was finally allotted in 2008, were quickly silenced by Raja and his coterie (which includes an influential female lobbyist), who claimed that the TRAI did not back such a move. Raja’s men have also said that the TRAI had government backing when it said that government earnings need not be the only criterion for allotment. Ensuring low operating costs and a transparent and continued expansion of the sector would easily make up for initial losses. “We are still not convinced. The firms — after being allocated the spectrum — took on foreign partners through stake sales and reaped huge profits. This is India’s biggest scam,” top BJP leader and former telecom minister Arun Jaitley told the media.

But Raja blames it squarely on the market forces that decided such valuations against anticipated business revenues. “Why should I blame them if they want to offer a big price?” argued the minister on television, adding, “the sales were not a violation of FDI policy since approvals came from the Cabinet.”

With the TRAI silent, Raja and the PMO too are lying low. No one wants to debate the issue, considering that Raja continues to have the backing of the DMK leader and the Dravidian party is a Congress ally. So should the country’s “biggest scam” be ignored? Right now, it seems that all we are getting is a no reply.

Guru · Guru

Crossed Wires

The spectrum mess is unlikely to be untied because those most culpable haven’t exactly been cut to size, says SHANTANU GUHA RAY

TWO APOCRYPHAL stories are doing the rounds of the Ministry of Telecommunications in Delhi. The first one, obviously floated by political rivals, suggests a new expansion for the DMK acronym. It’s not Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam; but Delhi Money for Karunanidhi, a not-so-subtle hint at the reported charges and countercharges of financial shenanigans in the ministry in recent spectrum allocations.

The second story, however, is the one that is more interesting — and intriguing. A month ago, the CEO of one of India’s top telecom companies tried to meet up with the Minister for Telecommunications, A Raja, failing to find terms of engagement in Delhi, he flew to New York, where Raja was visiting to attend important meetings. That effort also failed. But the enterprising CEO managed to wangle a seat next to the minister on the return flight.

The rest is history: there was a second meeting, held at the plush Delhi residence of the CEO — and this put a lock on the discussions that had taken place mid-air.

It’s a fact that India’s ongoing telecom saga has meant that lobbying is more vicious and no-holds-barred than in any other

Common Cause

There is a solution to the spectrum shortage — the real shortage is of the will to give it a chance, says ANIL KUMAR

SPECTRUM IS A SCARCE resource, and it should be used in the most efficient manner. This is what everyone in the telecom sector, including the government, says. But practicising what they preach — that is rare.

Not much before (June 2007), the GSM group led by Sunil Bharti Mittal had been demanding 22.5MHz spectrum for each GSM operator in almost every circle for 2G services. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had also been doling out spectrum to GSM operators (upto 12.5 MHz) through administrative orders, when their contracts had restricted allocation of spectrum to 6.2 MHz. This, coupled with a rush of new applicants in February 2008, has created the shortage.

Is there a way out? Yes. In July 2007, the DoT’s own technological arm, Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), had told telecom regulator TRAI that it could provide a solution for the shortage: it wanted the allocation of 3 MHz spectrum in 1800MHz band. This would be used for common infrastructure for in — building radio coverage in high-rise buildings. This could be used by all operators, including new entrants, without any restrictions — and that would solve all spectrum-related problems.

After all, a similar solution is working successfully in the Delhi Metro, which has installed leaky-cable solution in its underground facilities. In fast-moving, crowded, trains and at more than 40 meters depth from ground level, everyone can talk without any problem of voice quality or call drop, on every operator’s network.

Then why is DoT not looking into the solution proposed by TEC? Could it be to protect the interest of the established players? Operators do not want the ready availability of such common infrastructure for new players, as it would lead to faster rollouts by them, eating into their profitability. Protecting the interests of private operators is paramount for DoT, it would seem.

By implementing TEC’s proposal, not only would the quality of service have improved, but the DoT could have also allocated spectrum to those waiting. The solution is there, but the DoT is silent.
(Kumar heads Telecom Watchdog)

sector. Proof of the high stakes and desperate attempts to grab bandwidth can be seen in the fact that the average spending on litigation between telecom companies in India is more than Rs 100 crore per year, the highest among all sectors.

And it is Raja’s 2007 decision on allocation of spectrum that is in the centre of the storm. It has also reportedly cost the national exchequer a staggering loss of Rs 51,000 crore, by offering low prices for a product that was actually expensive, super expensive.

To counter the volley of charges — Raja claims they are all stage-managed by a cartel of top telecom companies — rocking his boat, the minister has argued that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) recommendations of August 28, 2007 and the government policy of allocating spectrum/new licenses have been the basis of all the decisions he made last year. The DMK has even attempted to play the victim card: Karunanidhi told reporters in Chennai that Raja was targeted because he is a Dalit.

IT’S NOT a view that has resonated with any other political party. “Parties who had secured these licenses have sold or are selling their shares at huge profits,” CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat wrote in a note to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Karat was not the only critic. Between July and August this year, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has written a number of letters to the PMO, raising similar concerns. Completing the troika of complainants was — surprisingly — TRAI chief Nripendra Misra who pointed out — on several occasions — that the minister’s contention is not true and that Raja has merely cherry-picked decisions from the recommendations made by TRAI. “Since January 2008, DoT has allocated start-up spectrum to Vodafone, Idea Cellular, AirAircel, R-Comm, Unitech, Datacom, Tata’s, Swan, Stel, and Loop Telecom. The key question is where did the start-up spectrum which was once declared ‘not available’ come from?” asked Amar Singh, referring to the 120 precious 2G licenses that went for a 2001 price of Rs 9,000 crore in January and then, subsequent equity deals struck by new licensees, Unitech and Swan, that reveal that their real value was closer to Rs 60,000 crore.

Singh says according to licensing conditions, operators are entitled to only 6.2 Mhz spectrum per circle. However, dominant operators have cornered more than 54 Mhz: this excess saves them thousands of crores in capital and operating expenditure. “Why is the government bestowing enormous cash benefits on these companies?” asked Singh.

No one is answering. Raja is incommunicado; so is the TRAI chairman. Misra, who has alleged privately that Raja messed the show

because he did not consider his recommendations, also did not talk of the firstcome- first-served policy that Raja implemented to allot spectrum to newcomers. At the same time, after announcing a date till when applications for fresh spectrum would be entertained, Raja — in a move that baffled many — suddenly announced a cut-off date well before this, and then opened up a payment window for a few hours at very short notice. “All of this enabled those who were in the know, or very lucky, to grab top positions in the queue,” Anil Kumar, who runs India’s only telecom watchdog NGO, told TEHELKA.

Ministry insiders say the minister also disregarded the recommendations on charging dual-technology firms like Reliance Commu nications a higher usage fee, considering that they were getting more spectrum compared to others.

Still, can Raja be the only one in the dock for the crisis? Kumar disagrees. He feels if Raja has to take the flak for messing recommendations made by Misra, the latter must take some blame for being unclear on some of the most critical issues. Consider the case of issuing GSM spectrum to CDMA-mobile firms like Reliance, where Misra said it could be done as long as the firm paid the same licence fee as a GSM firm. And while mobile firms were using spectrum in the 800/900/1,800 bands, the TRAI chairman recommended auctions in each band except these ones, and said while an auction was one way to assess market prices for spectrum, an annual spectrum charge was also another way to assess its economic value.

Fundamentally, Misra remained unclear as to how to price spectrum but — when charged — he defended himself by saying the TRAI did not recommend the standard options because of the prevailing practice and the overriding consideration of level-playing field that exists in the context of 800, 900 and 1,800 MHz.

It was a statement that aggravated the problem. Again, on the issue of inter se priority of allocation between those in the queue, the TRAI chairman put the ball in the DoT’s court, saying it should decide. But ministry officials claim that his increasing the number of subscribers required for extra spectrum by nearly four to five times prompted the ministry to not allot fresh spectrum to existing players — and instead allot it to firms at bargain-basement prices.

Interestingly, Misra realised his mistake days after the ministry issued letters of intent (LoIs) in January this year for 120 circles and wrote to the telecom secretary, clarifying that the existing policy on new entrants was, actually, settled more than five years ago (in 2003) and it was clear that new entrants could only come in through auctions. However, to date, no one has asked Misra why he never put this in his original recommendations. If that was done, the ministry could have easily cancelled the licenses because only LoIs had been issued.

With elections just months away, the Prime Minister is unlikely to axe the minister. Neither has Dr Singh admonished Misra for being less than clear in his recommendations. All that has happened is that while the minister and the TRAI boss remain connected, the airwaves and their operators are hopelessly entangled.

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 46, Dated Nov 22, 2008

Guru · Guru

THE TELECOM ROW

MORE THAN A TENDER DISCORD

Has the Communications Ministry become the new arena of war between DMK factions? PC Vinoj Kumar reports

It is surprising that Motorola, one of the world leaders that supplies equipment to MTNL, couldn’t qualify for the BSNL bid

A. RAJA
IT & Communications minister

Former Union Information Technology and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran has been drawn into a controversy in the Rs 20,000-crore contract awarded to Ericsson and Nokia by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) during his tenure. Maran’s successor and fellow dmk man, A. Raja, sparked the trouble with his statement that BSNL would be “paying close to Rs 10,000 crore unnecessarily” if it buys mobile network equipment from the two companies at the rates they had quoted. BSNL had ordered the equipment for adding 45.5 million cellular lines to its capacity. Ericsson had quoted $107 per line, but Raja wants it to be reduced to around $90.

Negotiations for the reduction of prices had begun shortly after Raja had replaced Maran, who had been forced to resign by the party high command. The issue took the shape of a Raja versus Maran confrontation recently. Raja had pointed out that mtnl was getting second generation and third generation equipment from a company for Rs 2,845 per line. “The lowest bidder in the BSNL case has quoted Rs 4,940. Multiply that by 45.5 million and you will know what I am speaking of. Where is the comparison of prices? How can I let this deal through?”

The minister went on to hint that certain companies might have been treated favourably at the expense of others. He said that some tender specifications had been changed, resulting in the technical disqualification of Motorola and zte — the other three bidders were Ericsson, Nokia, and Siemens. “It is surprising that Motorola, one of the leaders in the world in telecommunication equipment and a firm that supplies 2g and 3g equipment to mtnl, could not qualify technically,” he said.

However, Maran had said “a sinister campaign is being carried out systematically against me through the media by certain vested interests.” He added that “a certain nri businessman with vested interest is trying to stall the tender process so as to facilitate undue growth of the private sector operators at the cost of BSNL.”

A sinister campaign is being carried out systematically against me through the media by certain vested interest groups

DAYANIDHI MARAN
Former Communications Minister

The contract has had its share of controversy from the beginning. Motorola had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging its disqualification. It had withdrawn the case later keeping in mind the future opportunities in the country. US Ambassador to India David C. Mulford had taken up the issue with Indian officials. He relates this in a letter to Raja dated July 12. Expressing surprise at the Motorola’s disqualification, he notes that on being informed about Motorola’s “abrupt technical disqualification,” he and his staff spoke with senior officials of the Government of India, “including your ministry, alerting them that this unexplained disqualification would have a negative impact on investors.”

For observers, there is little doubt who Raja is gunning for. Maran obviously knows he is the target and he responded by writing a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “An early inquiry and its outcome would bring out the truth regarding the false propaganda to tarnish my name,” he noted. Maran also sought to distance himself from the tender process, noting that, “as a minister, it was always my practice to stay out of the tendering process of not only BSNL but also mtnl. The tender, in question, was finalised only by the BSNL board.”

The BSNL issue has provoked Maran to break his self-imposed political exile. Maran has been keeping a low profile after he fell out of favour with his granduncle and dmk chief M. Karunanidhi over the publication of a series of surveys in the Maran family-owned Tamil daily Dinakaran. Following that, Maran was shunted out of the Union Cabinet. At a time when there was speculation of a patch-up between the two families, the BSNL issue has surfaced creating fresh problems for the beleaguered Maran.

The BSNL issue has provoked Maran to break his self-imposed political exile. He was keeping a low profile after his exit from the Union Cabinet

Meanwhile, BSNL trade unions are angry with Raja over the delay in awarding the contracts to Ericsson and Nokia. The unions struck work on July 11 protesting against the delay, which they said was causing losses to BSNL. They ended the strike following assurances from Raja that their interests would not be ignored. VAN Namboodiri, convenor of the Joint Forum of BSNL Unions and Associations, announced that the unions were deferring the strike for 15 days to give time for the management to take a decision on implementation of the mega-expansion plan.

Talking to Tehelka, Namboodiri lamented that BSNL, which at one time was issuing 15-20 lakh new mobile connections per month, had reached a low of about 4 lakh connections last month. “We are almost close to exhausting our capacity. At this rate, in a short while, we won’t be able to provide new connections for customers.” He said if a new tender were to be called, it would take another two years to finalise the contract, during which period BSNL’s business would come to a standstill. (The current tender process had been floated in 2005.) “BSNL would lose about Rs 50,000 crore in the next two years if we don’t add to our capacity immediately,” he said.

With Raja’s tough stand, BSNL has reportedly decided to renegotiate with Ericsson and Nokia

The unions do not accept Raja’s comparison of rates quoted by Ericsson with the price quoted by another company for mtnl. “mtnl is present only in Mumbai and Delhi. For BSNL, installation of equipment has to be done in places far and wide, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, in hills and plains. That would mean a lot of extra cost. All this cost is covered in the price quoted per line (by Ericsson),” says R. Gunasekaran, secretary of BSNL Employees Union, Chennai circle.

There’s a bit of politics in the stand of unions too, as many of them are Left leaning. Raja is upset with them for projecting him as being against BSNL interests. He said he would resign if the unions could prove that his actions were hurting BSNL. “Unions owing allegiance to the Left parties have misunderstood me on the issue. I want to know if my actions have affected BSNL. Did I cancel the tender? I only asked them to revise the financial bid, which will save a lot of money,” he told reporters in Chennai. A dmk leader wondered why the Left unions were playing down the high cost quoted by Ericsson and insisting on implementing the contract in toto.

The BJP has demanded a cbi probe into the BSNL tender issue. Meanwhile, with Raja’s insistence, the BSNL board is learnt to have halved its 45.5 million line gsm order and decided to renegotiate the price with Ericsson and Nokia. The marathon meeting of the BSNL board on July 16 in Delhi, was also believed to have come to a consensus that the order will be limited to second-generation lines and a separate tender for third-generation lines will be floated later.

Guru · Guru

Dial R For Extension

The communications ministry always twists the rules to dispense favours, says ANIL KUMAR

Clear channel MTNL CMD RSP Sinha (right) felicitates A Raja

IN A clear violation of rules, Communications and Information Technology Minister A Raja has turned down the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) request to prosecute several officers, including top people of the state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). At the top of the list is RSP Sinha, MTNL CMD. Worse, Raja has cleared Sinha’s extension till September 30, 2011.

Other indicted officers include MTNL’s former chairman and managing director Narinder Sharma, and three officers from the IT department. Six of those indicted by the CBI are in the private sector — a promoter of a Bangalore based company and one of his employees, two Motorola employees and a middleman associated with Motorola and one of his staffers.

The case dates back to 2003, when the CBI had recovered Rs 50 lakh in a raid on a middleman on September 25. According to the FIR, MTNL had made a payment of Rs 7.18 crore to Motorola, allegedly because illegal gratification was provided to MTNL officials through one Rajiv Gupta, a middleman. At that time, the names of the officials were not confirmed.

Minister A Raja stopped the CBI from prosecuting MTNL Chairman RSP Sinha

While the CBI conducted its investigation, RSP Sinha, who was director (finance) at the time, was selected for the post of the CMD. But because he was a suspect, then prime minister Atal Behari Vapayee did not confirm his appointment as CMD and asked the CBI to expedite the investigation. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) insisted his appointment need not wait for clearance from the CBI, despite telecom secretary Champak Chatterji’s reiteration in April 2004 that the CMD should be a person of “impeccable integrity”. He directed DoT to wait till the investigation was complete.

Thereafter, the DoT obtained an interim report from the CBI on May 8, 2004 in which the CBI stated, “The involvement of Shri RSP Sinha has not so far been noticed in RC 54(A)/2003-DLI.” Instead of waiting for the final outcome, on May 13, the DoT recommended regularising his appointment. It was approved in July.

THE VIGILANCE wing of the DoT examined the CBI report and said: “All the officers were prima-facie working as a part of conspiracy along with the officers of Motorola. They kept the CDMA projects continuing (Phase- II/III) even after the serious deficiencies found in the Phase-I of the network setup and they processed the payments for Motorola overlooking the rules position and tender conditions.”

The case was then put up to telecom secretary on January 14, 2009, who recommended seeking more information from the CBI. The secretary in turn put up the case to Minister of State Jyotiraditya Scindia who, after recording “discuss with me” on January 15, 2009, didn’t find the time to do so. On February 25, 2009, the CBI reminded the telecom secretary and he sent the file the next day to A Raja: after keeping the file for a week, he wrote, “Discuss please”. After the discussion — the same day — the telecom secretary noted, “All payments seem to have been done in the best interests of the company and we should not take any step which will cause demoralisation or harassment of the company.”

The minister rejected the permission for further investigation. In his note of March 18, 2009, he stated, “In view of the above, permission is not granted.” After that, Raja cleared Sinha’s extension. With elections around the corner, this was one extension that was plugged in a hurry.

Guru · Guru

D.M.K. Lady - Minting in Millions?!

Post under அம்பலம் Posted by எல்லாளன்

Shocking deal in the name of Union Minister A.Raja
Secret video recordings!

T.S. Gayatri Srinivas...

Her viiting card gives you a wealth of information - she's the Joint Secretary of the ruling DMK Cadres' Forum, she's a Member, high-powered Consultative Committee of TNEB besides the ex-president of the Women's Wing of Khadi Board Co-operative Society. The card carries her name in black-and-red (the party colour) in bold letters. Chief Minister Kalaignar and Deputy Chief Minister Stalin flash their best smile at you on either side of the card. Her educational qualification is mentioned as M.A., M. Phil. Though a resident of Gobichettipalayam in Erode District, Gayatri Srinivas had given us appointment to meet her at her spacious bungalow located in Anna Nagar locality of Peelamedu, Coimbatore.

''There are many 'touts' owing allegiance to some State and Central ministers, obviously bbelonging to the ruling party, who promise that the 'job' would be done perfectly. Gayatri Srinivas is the leader of the pack who operates without making much of noise'' was the inside information we had been getting for the past many months. As we were about to step in to ascertain this piece of news through all possible contacts, an intermediary (who regularly deals with the contract work in the Union Ministry of Communications & Information Technology) approached us.

''A huge atrocity is going on...earlier, if we pay the money, it would reach the proper place and the contract work would be alloted smoothly. Nowadays, there are so many brokers who operate in-between who have to be fed so 'heavily' that it almost eats into our profits. Especially, if we process the case through Gayatri Srinivas, it results in double the expenditure. We are helpless; even the party workers say that the 'job' can't be done unless it is processed through Gayatri Srinivas,'' was the statement of the intermediary. We still couldn't completely believe his statement.

At that time, a person close to Junior Vikatan brought up the idea of striking a mock deal with the lady in question and shooting it on candid video-camera. This idea sparked off adequate preparations from our side. After we carefully analysed and observed the details provided by the intermediary, we decided to undertake this 'sting operation' through a couple of our guys. One was to 'play' the broker's role and the other was to play the 'role' of a mock Company Executive from Andhra Pradesh who badly 'needed' the contract. The team of duo based its request for contract on the tenders released by BSNL in July inviting tenders for fixing optical fibre cables under Indian roads. Our 'intermediary' got in touch with Gayatri Srinivas on the mobile number provided to us as her contact number. Prior to calling her, we had already sent the details of contract and our requirement to Gayatri through another 'contact person'.

The following is the excerpts from the audio recorded conversation with Gayatri Srinivas:

The mobile number the intermediary got in touch was 9442578555. Date: 23rd July, 2009; Time was around 03:00 p.m.

Intermediary: Madam, what do they say...? The date of opening the tender has now been postponed to 7th August...''

Female voice at the other end: ''Okay...''

Intermediary: ''All the tender files have been received...Shall I leave tomorrow night so as to meet you on Saturday morning?''

F V A T O E: ''Where would you prefer meeting me?''

Intermediary: ''At Coimbatore?''

FVATOE: ''Right! The company (the company which wanted the 'tender' rights) said it would send its GM here who would confirm the requirement''

Intermediary: ''Of course, he would come and confirm the requirement. In the meantime, I would finalize what would be your requirement and arrange a 'token' sum to be paid within three days from now. Because, we haven't much time''

FVATOE: ''If the date is August 7, bring along the entire details with you. He (?) would be meeting CMD (of BSNL) soon. I think he would be in Chennai on Saturday and Sunday. Otherwise, he would be in Ooty (Minister A.Raja's Parliamentary constituency). In case he happens to be Ooty, we can meet him when you come to Coimbatore.''

Intermediary: ''Okay, okay. If we meet you first, the company would feel satisfied.''

FVATOE: ''Okay!'''

Intermediary: ''I have told them that only 'Madam' can get the job done...''

The conversation, which proceeded as mentioned above, was safely recorded by us. Talks like ''There is no mediator here... Only he will would be talking directly'' and names of some 'New Delhi' connections are spoken about among many issues in the conversation. Those details, mostly irrelevant to this article, are not given here for the readers.

At 10:40 a.m. on Saturday, the 25th July, the 'intermediary' and the 'company executive', both planted by Junior Vikatan, were present at Gayatri's house in Anna Nagar in Peelamedu, Coimbatore. We couldn't directly proceed to the house, as we had earlier been asked over mobile phone to wait in an adjacent street. We were waiting at the said place, seated in our Innovo car. Within a few minutes, a guy who introduced himself as 'Rajesh' came to the spot (he is present in the entire video recording with striped T-shirt) and got into the car and travelled with us to Gayatri's residence.

(Later, when we showed his image and enquired in DMK circles, it turned out that he was not Rajesh but was Chandramohan. Until few years back Chandramohan was struggling in his work as a cable operator in Aruppukottai. He is said to be very close to Babu, the then personal assistant of Gingee Ramachandran , who served as Union Minister a few years ago. Now leading a luxurious life in Coimbatore with his own car and a bungalow, Chandramohan claims that he was working as 'personal assistant' of Gayatri Srinivas.)

After Rajesh alias Chandramohan got into the car with us, he asked the duo of intermediary and company executive so many questions and only when he felt satisfied about their genuineness, did he take them to Gayatri's bungalow. Following is a detailed presentation of what followed:

On entering the house, Rajesh enquired with the maid-servant in Telugu ''Bheema Ekkada?' meaning 'Where is Bheema?'. Shortly, a well-fed and healthy black dog came running towards where we stood. Rajesh said, ''It won't harm you; Bheema is everything to our Madam'' and made the dog sit on the sofa before seating himself in an adjacent swing that was decorated tastefully. The hall displayed many neatly-hung portraits Gayatri Srinivas standing alongside, Deputy Chief Minister Stalin, Minister for Electricity - Arcot Veerasamy and Senior most minister Anbzhangan, all big-guns of the ruling DMK. A huge portrait showing Gayatri standing with her son beside Kalaignar was seen hanging separately.

After Bheema exited the hall and entered the bed-room, Gayatri emerged from the bedroom and made her way to the hall where we were seated and said, 'What's the matter? Cheppand (Which means 'tell me' in Telugu)i''

Intermediary: ''It's the optical fibre cable tenders, Madam. Their company (beckons me) plans to lay cables for two hundred kilometres in Tamil Nadu roads.''

Gayatri: ''For what purpose?''

(As the 'intermediary' had already told all the technical details to Rajesh and handed over to him a copy of the tender during the drive to Gayatri's residence, Rajesh explains about them to Gayatri in Telugu)

Gayatri: (to intermediary) ''It's Raja who would do it!''

Intermediary: ''We heard about you, Madam. We wanted to get this done through you...''

Gayatri: ''Bye-elections are round the corner...the Party would give me the programme schedule...I have to go to the constituency...Moreover, I won't go anywhere without my Bheema in tow...Whenever I go to Chennai and Delhi, I take Bheema with me. Even last week, the Minister stayed here only!

Intermediary: ''He stayed in this house?''

Gayatri: ''He went to Coonoor and returned immediately as he couldn't sustain the cool climate there. He returned to Coimbatore and stayed at The Residency. The Minister's wife left him back at the Hotel to let him take rest and came here and stayed. I'll tell the Minister about your matter. It's important that in front of whom do I make you sit to process this case. Recently, I 'concluded' another BSNL contract job. That was for one of his (Rajesh - beckons towards him) friends. It was a contract concerning the advertisements placed by BSNL.''

Intermediary: (as if he knew it) ''Was it Gingeeyar's P.A. Babu you were referring to?''

Gayatri: ''Yes, of course!''

Intermediary: ''Should we 'look after' Raja's needs as well...?''

Gayatri: ''He won't take it, you see! He'd, however, let you know how to go about it!''

Rajesh: ''It would be split and distributed.''

Gayatri: ''You should explain your matter in front of the Minister. CMD is a vastly experienced guy; whatever is to be done in this regard, he would be taking care of it. I'd take you to the Nigam's (Delhi?) office, seat you at the reception and then send you up. My name won't appear anywhere (Visitors' Register, etc?). Unless Minister personally invites, you can't hope to enter the premises. Minister's P.A. Senthilia would be there to help you. You would be granted a personal sitting with the Minister; I can assure you that. But one thing: you would have to bear the air-fare for our airfair too. A person would be accompanying me. Minister would be coming to meet you only if the project is too big.''

Rajesh: ''You see... you would have to 'move' these things through a single channel alone!''

Gayatri: ''Usually I don't come out personally for these deals...Rajesh takes care of all the EB matters in Tamil Nadu. He goes to the Mettur Thermal Plant to collect waste ash (Its is a very big contract always). We can have our say in EB, Health, Transport and Highways Departments in state without sweating much.''

Rajesh: ''Yes, of course! 99 percent, we can 'finish' the job in all these four departments.''

Gayatri: ''Saminathan (State Transport Minister Vellakoil Saminathan) is our boy...I took my own efforts to make him a Minister...In case you want to move with the highest-ranking EB officials, let me know...we could easily finish off the matter. Whatever is the case, do you know what my policy is? I arrange a direct meeting with the relevant Minister and the concerned 'party'. Success, to me, is very important!''

As the 'intermediary' started talking about installing the optical fibre cables, Gayatri took out her handbook and started taking notes. He told her that the contract was for laying optical fibre cables with vi-max technique for a stretch of 244 kilometres and that the business at stake in Tamil Nadu alone was worth around Rs.60 crores. Gayatri wanted to know more about 3-G and vi-max technology. ''Why you wish to take contract in Tamil Nadu alone? Why don't you opt for contracts in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka too...?'' said Gayatri, even as she continued her note-making work. As I (Junior Vikatan's man) was introduced to her as the GM of the Company that 'wanted' the contract, Rajesh was asking a few questions to check my credentials.
Mid-way through the conversation, Gayatri took Rajesh's mobile and dialled and started speking to someone. Her accent and way of talk was so personal with the other end.

''I'm Gayatri Srinivas...did you arrive yesterday night?''

(break)

''Are you coming to Ooty?''

(break)

''When are you leaving back for New Delhi?''

(break)

''Is it? If it's so, then I'll come over there and meet you in person?''

After disconnecting the line, she turned towards us and said ''He is not coming to Ooty this week and will be leaving for Delhi on Monday. If he is to come down to Ooty, I'd send you both along with him (shows Rajesh) to meet him!''

Intermediary: ''When did you join in politics, Madam?''

Gayatri: (smilingly) ''It's been twenty years, you know? I joined politics as I treated purely as a business...and for nothing else!''

She again get clarification at length about the BSNL optical cable tender. Chandramohan again went through the intricacies of the contract with her in the twin languages of Tamil and Telugu. ''You're aware that the entire contract won't be awarded to you alone, aren't you? You should also be ready to share a part of this contract with another 'party' too!'' informed Gayatri and took our 'consent' to this arrangement.
During the conversation, some 'information' about some of the ruling DMK's bigwigs and the members of the 'big' family appeared here and there. As this particular information doesn't pertain to our topic and due to the ethics that insult shouldn't be heaped on others unnecessarily, we are avoiding giving those details from our recording.

Rajesh: ''You want only the cable-laying contract or would you like to have the contract of
supplying the optical fibere cables as well?''

Intermediary: ''We intend having only the cable-laying contract...we were told that the total cost of the project would be around Rs.200 crores!''

Gayatri: ''If we're dealing with crores, then surely that family (andha veedu) would surely come into scene. Do you understand what I say? The concerned family...(then she reeled off names of some VIPs of the ruling DMK). They would be pressurizing us. When Babu (Ex-Minister's P.A. refered before) sought from the Minister the contract for advertisements during the broadcasting of cricket matches, the Minister couldn't manage to give him that time. He said that he would be awarding him the advertisement contrac of BSNL during the Pakistan team's tour to India. He kept his word and gave it to Babu later. See, you have to accommodate many persons here...the seat he occupies is like that, you know. His policy is to reciprocate the gesture of those who (?!) helped him get the Simhasana (the glorious seat) in the first place. The Union government has fixed the Minister of State to watch the departmental happenings...The Minister heeds and will have to pay heed to the lobby created by higher officials; you understand why does he need to do so? If some other person happened to be in this place, they would pull up the officers and ask them to sign along the dotted line. But he is not like that!''

Intermediary: ''You speak in a very practical manner...you (are going to) introduce us to the Minister...That's why I told them (shows me) that we should be giving Rs.20 lakhs to you!''

Gayatri: ''We won't take the money in advance. You first go to Delhi and see how you are 'received' there. We'll see later...Since you appear very interested in this project, I'd turn into a 'success story' for you! Once the job is done, it's upto you to decide as to how much to give. Even if 'that' family intervenes, I'd conclude this assignment with the help of Arcottor (Minister Arcot Veerasamy)!''

Rajesh: ''Only in Tamil Nadu do we face trouble from the 'big' family...we won't be having any such problem in other States!''

Gayatri: (in Telugu) ''We would first put the matter before the Old Man. (in Tamil) It would then meet with success. When you meet the Minister, you would have talk to him in detail and bring him around to understand your terms. Otherwise, he would ask you to meet his P.A. When does the tender process conclude? Should it be done only through the tender process? Can't the Minister do this on his own?''

(Intermediary then again started explaining to her the whole tender process; Gayatri again started taking notes. All these have been recorded on our secret video camera)

Gayatri: ''We can't discuss about this when the Minister visits his constituency. People might disapprove of my presence at the place and tongues would start wagging. He too won't recognize our presence. We have to go to Delhi to get this job done. We should reach Delhi on Wednesday. I'd go to the Minister's residence on Thursday morning to discuss about your case. Afterwards, Nigam (of BSNL, Delhi) would take care of the other things.''

Intermediary: (showing me) ''I'm the one who introduced these guys from the Company to you. It was very difficult to get your appointment but somehow I made it possible for them to meet you. So, Madam, you please spell out what could be my share in this deal...!''

Gayatri nods her head smilingly.

Rajesh: ''Amma (Means Gayathri) never leaves anyone out. You don't need to ask; just have faith in her!''

As the meeting nears its conclusion, Bheema strolls back into the room. It grips the sweet-box that we had brought for them and hands it over to Gayatri.

Gayatri: ''Bheema brings and gives everything only to me. It gives me only those things which I like most: he knows my mind!''

Even as Gayatri was speaking, Bheema grips in its mouth the set of tender documents that the intermediary bad brought along with him and runs upto Gayatri.

Gayatri: ''You saw that? didn't I tell you? It means Bheema asks me to do this job for you!''

Gayatri came up to the door to see us off.

The next day i.e. on Sunday, the 26th of July, a guy who called himself as 'Prakash' made a call to the person who acted as 'intermediary'. The call was made through the cell phone bearing No.98422 99722. ''We have spoken to the Minister. We have to speak to the company's GM urgently...Madam said she wants to speak to him. Ask him to speak to our Madam'' was what Prakash said. The calls kept coming throughout the day.
.

Given the circumstances of the speech, anyone would have to come to the conclusion that the words 'Raja' and 'Minister' uttered by Gayathri Srinivas and 'Rajesh' is about Mr. A. Raja, who is the Union Minister for Communication & Information Technology.

Do such dealings, conducted in the name of the Hon'ble Minister, really have any connection with Dehli people? Do they really end up in 'garnering' the said contracts? Does it have any precedence? Let us entrust the responsibility of finding the cause and antecedents of these happenings to the State and Union governments. After this sting operation, we are ready to share with and submit our foolproof evidence to anybody at any time and at any place.
The lady in question, Gayatri Srinivas, belongs to the ruling DMK. If the Hon'ble Chief Minister thinks that an enquiry by the State Police with Gayatri might not yield the desired results, let him recommend the case to the CBI for further investigation. We would like to believe that the ruling DMK would not hesitate to expose all those spoken to by Gayatri over phone and all the details of all the 'deals' that have so far been concluded by Gayatri's influence! That will be the real 'AGNI PRAVESH' for the ruling party of Tamilnadu.

Guru · Guru

How can Raja be in power, questions SC

S.S. NEGI

Oct. 29: In a strong indictment of the Union government, the Supreme Court on Friday questioned the continuation of communications and IT minister, Mr A. Raja, in the ministry when the CBI is probing allegations of corruption against him in the 2G spectrum scam case. "The complaint was lodged in 2009. The same minister is continuing. Is that the way the government is functioning? You follow the same standards in respect of every one (read minister)?" a bench comprising Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Patnaik observed.

The court was questioning the additional solicitor general, Mr Haren Rawal, on the progress of the case. The additional solicitor general (ASG), Mr Haren Rawal, informed the Supreme Court that the CBI which is probing allegations of corruption against the continuation of the Union communications and information technology minister, Mr A. Raja, in the 2G spectrum scam case needed more time.

The response annoyed the court which was putting a series of queries to Mr Rawal on the “slow” progress of investigation after the bench had gone through the two draft reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the 2G spectrum controversy, placed before it on October 21.

As Mr Rawal said the CBI was given the case in October 2009 and needed more time to complete the investigation, Justice Ganguly, said, “One year has gone by, how long will you (CBI) take? ... Another 10 years...

It is a very slip-shod investigation. Your are dragging your feet.” Stating that the CBI has to examine “enormous material” as the issue was “very complex”, and that the agency has examined more than 5,800 call records to ensure the probe was on the “right track”, Mr Rawal said at least another six months were required to conclude the probe.

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SC slams CBI for dragging feet on probe against Raja

Complaint Is Serious,A Year Has Gone By But Minister Continues

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday voiced its unhappiness over A Raja continuing as telecom minister inspite of serious allegations about his role in the 2G spectrum scam,and slammed the CBI for dragging its feet over the probe.
You (the government) have done nothing on the complaint.The nature of complaint is serious,but the same minister continues till today.One year has gone by.Is that the way the government functions the court remarked.
Putting the CBI under the scanner,it asked: How long will it take to complete the probe,10 years Its only slipshod,you are dragging your feet.
Additional solicitor general Harin Raval said an expert team of officers had been constituted in the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to look into every aspect and that the probe would be completed in six months.
As arguments from advocate Prashant Bhushan for a PIL petitioner on this issue remained focussed on the many irregularities pointed out by the Central Vigilance Commission and the CBI doing nothing tangible despite registering an FIR more than a year back,the Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly raised searching questions.
Bhushan contended that no more investigation was needed as a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act had been clearly made out against the minister.
The judges did not hide their disappointment over the manner in which the government and the investigating agencies have so far handled the complaint alleging that there was a loss to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore to the exchequer due to allocation of 2G spectrum to mobile operators at throwaway 2001 prices.

SPECTRUM SCAM HAUNTS MINISTER

NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) filed the case in the apex court regarding spectrum scam

CAG had pointed out that the govt lost Rs 1.4 lakh crore due to irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation

You (CBI) have not done anything.The matter is serious.The same minister is still continuing today.Is that the way the government functions Do you follow the same standards in respect of everyone

SC Bench | WHEN CBI SOUGHT MORE TIME

If it is necessary,I can (quit) but where is the necessity

A Raja | WHEN ASKED WHETHER HE WILL RESIGN

Guru · Guru

SC remarks on Raja likely to give ammo to oppn parties

2G Scam May Prove To Be An Embarrassment For DMK On Poll Eve

Jayaraj Sivan | TNN

Chennai: The Supreme Court pulling up the CBI for its shoddy and protracted investigation into the 2G spectrum allocation could cause much embarrassment to the ruling front in the run-up to the assembly elections,as the main opposition parties could do everything possible to exploit it in the coming months.
Going by the Comptroller and Auditor Generals (CAG) report that the exchequer had lost about 1.4 lakh crore in the spectrum allocation,Union telecom minister A Raja has allegedly presided over the mother of all Indian scams.But despite a barrage of media reports on the irregularities for well over a couple of years and Raja becoming the favourite whipping boy of the BJP in New Delhi and the AIADMK-led front in Tamil Nadu,causing much discomfiture to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leadership,chief minister M Karunanidhi has stood by his confidant,considered the DMKs dalit face,and ensured he is not dropped from the central cabinet.
On hearing about the apex court observations,the DMK top brass,according to reliable sources,went into a huddle on Friday to discuss its fallout and how it might possibly affect the partys equation with the Congress.
Reacting to the SC observations,a senior DMK leader said,The party leadership is discussing the developments.The party is more important than individuals. Asked what the party planned to do on the Raja issue,he said,The DMK president has to decide that.
The opposition had unleashed a scathing attack on Raja even during the last Lok Sabha elections when he contested from the Nilgiris constituency.That it did not have any bearing on the election outcome is common knowledge.But with the opposition putting pressure on the Manmohan Singh government,things have got only worse for Raja.The issue is likely to be prime ammunition for the opposition in Tamil Nadu for the assembly elections as well.
As for the DMK leadership,it is anxious to know what stand the Congress takes in the issue now.Will the Congress leadership say enough is enough and ask Karunanidhi to find a replacement for Raja Under pressure from the SC,Manmohan Singh may be thinking of dropping Raja,and the idea may gain Rahul Gandhis support,but it could strain the relationship with the DMK.Karunanidhi might buy more time,pointing out that the SC observations are not directed at Raja, opined a political observer.Both the Congress and the DMK are likely to wait for the final outcome of the case in the apex court,he noted.
Even if the Congress gives in to Karunanidhis pressure to retain telecom minister in the cabinet,it could use Raja as a tool to strike a better bargain in the seat sharing exercise with the DMK.
jayaraj.sivan@timesgroup.com

Guru · Guru

பொங்கலூரார், பாரி மீது கோவை தி.மு.க.வினர் புகார்:
மாவட்டப் பொறுப்பாளர் ஆகிறார் ஆ.ராசா?

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அர்ச்சனைகள், பூசைகள் என பெயருக்கு ஏற்றபடி கலகலத்துக் கிடக்கிறது ‘அறிவாலயம்’. காரணம் கடந்த சில நாட்களாக தி.மு.க. தலைமை நடத்திவரும் மாவட்ட ரீதியான ஆலோசனைக் கூட்டங்கள்தான்.

இந்த வகையில், அக்டோபர் 22-ம் தேதி கோவை மாவட்ட தி.மு.க. நிர்வாகிகளுடன் அறிவாலயத்தில் கலந்தாய்வுக் கூட்டம் நடந்தது. அமைச்சர் பொங்கலூர் பழனிச்சாமி, மத்திய அமைச்சர் ராசா, முன்னாள் அமைச்சர் கண்ணப்பன், முன்னாள் எம்.பி., ராமநாதன் ஆகியோருடன் மாவட்ட, ஒன்றிய, நகர நிர்வாகிகள், பொதுக்குழு மற்றும் செயற்குழு உறுப்பினர்களும் கலந்துகொண்டனர்.

Covai%203.jpg இக்கூட்டத்தில் மாவட்டச் செயலாளரும் அமைச்சருமான பொங்கலூர் பழனிச்சாமி, அவர் மகன் பைந்தமிழ்பாரி ஆகியோர் மீது தி.மு.க.வினர் சகட்டுமேனிக்கு புகார்களை அள்ளி வீச... கூட்டம் முடிந்ததும் நம்மிடம் பேசிய கோவை மாவட்ட தி.மு.க.வினர் அந்த கனலை அப்படியே லைவ் செய்தனர்.

‘‘2006-ம் ஆண்டு நடந்த சட்டமன்ற தேர்தலில் கோவை மாவட்டத்தில் உள்ள 14 சட்டமன்றத் தொகுதி-களில் (திருப்பூர் மாவட்டம் பிரிக்கப்-படுவதற்கு முன்) இரண்டை மட்டுமே தி.மு.க. கைப்பற்றியது. இந்த படுதோல்விக்கு மாவட்டச் செயலாளர் பொங்கலூர் பழனிச்சாமியே காரணம் என்று அப்போதே புகார் கொடுத்தோம். அதனால் பொங்கலூர் பழனிச்-சாமிக்கு அமைச்சர் பதவி மறுக்கப்பட்டது.

ஆனால், அதன் பின் நடந்த உள்ளாட்சி தேர்தலில் ஏதேதோ செய்து கோவை மாநகராட்சியையும், பல பேரூராட்சிகளையும் கைப்பற்றியதால், பொங்கலூர் பழனிச்சாமிக்கு ஊரக தொழில்துறை அமைச்சர் பதவி வழங்கப்பட்டது. அதோடு அமைச்சரின் மகன் பைந்தமிழ்பாரியும் கோவை மாநகராட்சியின் தெற்கு மண்டலத் தலைவரானார். அதன் பிறகே அமைச்சர் மற்றும் அவரது மகனின் நடவடிக்கைகள் முற்றிலுமாக மாறிவிட்டன.

கட்சியினரை மதிக்காமலும் நிர்வாகிகளோடு கலந்தாலோசிக்காமலும் பல முடிவுகளை எடுத்து வருகின்றனர். அதோடு பாரியின் கட்டப்பஞ்சாயத்துக்கள் எல்லை மீறி சென்றுவிட்டன. இதனால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டவர்கள் பலர் தி.மு.க.வினர் தான். தனது பதவியை மட்டுமே காத்துக்கொள்ள பாடுபட்ட அமைச்சர், மாவட்டத்தில் கட்சியை வளர்க்க எந்த நடவடிக்கையும் எடுக்கவில்லை. அதோடு உள்ளாட்சி தேர்தலில் போட்டியிட்ட மாநகர் மாவட்டச் செயலாளர் வீரகோபாலை தோற்கடித்து, தனது மகனை வெற்றி பெறச் செய்தார் பொங்கலூரார்’’ என எடுத்த எடுப்பிலேயே அமைச்சரைக் குறி வைத்து புகார்களை வீசினார்கள் கோவை மாவட்ட நிர்வாகிகள்.

Covai%201.jpg மேலும், ‘‘அப்பாவும் மகனும் தன்னிச்சையாக செயல்படுவதால் மக்கள் மத்தியில் தி.மு.க.வின் செல்வாக்கு அதல பாதாளத்துக்கு போய்விட்டது. மூத்த நிர்வாகிகளை எந்தக் கூட்டத்துக்கும் அழைப்பதில்லை. அண்ணா நூற்றாண்டு விழா பொதுக் கூட்டங்களைக் கூட சரியாக நடத்தவில்லை.

கோவையில் உள்ள டாஸ்மாக் கடைகளுக்கான பார் உரிமை முழுவதும் பாரியின் கட்டுப்பாட்டில்தான் இருக்கிறது.பணத்துக்காக வேறு கட்சிக் காரர்களுக்கு கூட பார் உரிமை கொடுக்கிறார்கள். ஆனால் தி.மு.க. காரனுக்கு கொடுப்பதில்லை, என்றார் ஓர் உடன்பிறப்பு.

மற்றொரு நிர்வாகியோ, ‘‘கோவையில் அ.தி.மு.க.வை எதிர்த்து கட்சி ஆர்ப்பாட்டம் நடத்துகிறது. அதில் பங்கேற்காமல் போட்டியாக இன்னொரு ஆர்ப்பாட்டம் நடத்துகிறார் பாரி. கோவையின் மேயராக வெங்கடாசலம் இருந்தாலும் நிழல் மேயராக இருப்பவர் பாரிதான். அது மட்டுமல்லாமல் கோவை மாநகராட்சியின் திட்டக் குழுவில் இருக்கும் உயரதிகாரியுடன் இணைந்து அமைச்சரும் அவரது மகன் பாரியும் வசூல் வேட்டை நடத்துகின்றனர். அமைச்சர் மற்றும் அவரது மகனின் செயல்பாடுகளால் பலர் தி.மு.க.விலிருந்து விலகி, கொங்குநாடு முன்னேற்றக் கழகத்தில் இணைந்துள்ளனர்.’’ என்று அமைச்சரின் மகன் பாரியைக் குறிவைத்து பாய்ந்து தீர்த்துவிட்டனர் சில நிர்வாகிகள்.

இந்த குற்றசாட்டுகளுக்கெல்லாம் அதே கூட்டத்தில் மறுப்பு தெரிவித்த பொங்கலூர் பழனிச்சாமி, ஒவ்வொரு குற்றச்சாட்டுக்கும் விளக்கம் அளிக்க முற்பட்டார். அப்போது துணைமுதல்வர் ஸ்டாலின், அவரைத் தடுத்து நிறுத்தி, ‘‘கோவையில் என்ன நடக்கிறது என்பது எனக்கு தெரியும்’’ என்று சொல்லி அமைச்சரை கதிகலங்க வைத்தார். இதைக் கண்ட பாரியும் பம்மித்தான் அமர்ந்திருந்தார்.

பொங்கலூர் பழனிச்சாமி பேசிவிட்டு அமர்ந்ததும், எழுந்த மத்திய அமைச்சர் ராசா, ‘‘கோவை மாவட்டத்தில் உள்ள பத்து சட்டமன்றத் தொகுதிகளின் வெற்றிக்கும் நான் பொறுப்பேற்றுக் கொள்கிறேன். கொங்குநாடு முன்னேற்றக் கழகம் உட்பட யார் ஆதரவும் இல்லாமலேயே தி.மு.க. தனித்து வெல்லும்’’ என்றும் பேச இதை முதல்வரும் ரசிக்க நிர்வாகிகளும் கைதட்டலுடன் வரவேற்றனர்.

இத்தனைக்கும் பிறகு பேசிய கலைஞர்,

‘‘கோவையில் என்ன நடக்கிறது என்பது எனக்கும் தெரியும். அந்த அம்மா ஆட்சி வந்தால் நாம் இப்படி உட்கார்ந்துபேசிக் கொண்டிருக்க முடியாது. கோவையில் ஒரு பிரச்னைக்கு பக்கத்து, பக்கத்து தெருவில் இரண்டு பொதுக் கூட்டங்கள் எதற்கு போட்டீர்கள்?

வரும் 2011 சட்டமன்றத் தேர்தலில் குறைந்த பட்சம் 9 தொகுதிகளையாவது நாம் கைப்பற்றியாக வேண்டும். அதற்கு கட்சியில் கருத்து வேறுபாடுகளைக் களைந்து நாம் ஒன்றாக செயல்பட வேண்டும். இப்போது இருக்கும் நிலை நீடித்தால் யார் யார் தொடர்ந்து பொறுப்பில் இருப்பீர்கள் என்று எனக்குத் தெரியாது’’ என்று எச்சரிக்கை செய்தார்.

இதையடுத்து, ‘‘கோவை மாவட்டத்தின் ‘பொறுப்பை’ பொங்கலூர் பழனிச்சாமியிடமிந்து பிடுங்கி ஆ.ராசாவிடம் விரைவில் ஒப்படைப்பார் கலைஞர்’’ என்கிறார்கள் கொங்கு தி.மு.க.வினர்.

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Guru · Guru

CAG report puts Raja in a spot NEW DELHI/CHENNA Nov. 10

Guru · Guru

DMK feels Cong behind 2G leak

Guru · Guru

PRESSURE MOUNTING Karuna in a bind over spectrum scam

Guru · Guru

RE: SPECTRUM 2G -SONIA-RAJA- WHO ARE BENEFECIARIES

Guru · Guru

DMK behind Raja,cadres uneasy

Party Leaders Reject Comparison With Removal Of Chavan,Kalmadi

M T Saju | TNN

Chennai: Even as the demand for the resignation of Union IT and communications minister A Raja rocked Parliament over his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scandal,his party,the DMK,is adopting a wait-andwatch approach.It appears that the DMKs top leadership is firm in backing the partys dalit face.The opposition AIADMK has been persistently demanding Rajas ouster from the cabinet.
However,there is a sense of unease in sections of the party that the Raja controversy could prove to be an albatross around its neck in the run-up to the crucial state election due by May 2011.Opinion within the party is divided on the issue.While some feel that it would be better if Raja steps down so that the party could enter the electoral arena with a clear conscience,there are others,backed by the DMKs top rung,who feel the party should firmly stand by the minister as submitting to the demand for his resignation would amount to admission of guilt.
Talking to The Times of India,DMK MP TKS Elangovan,said: Why should he (Raja) resign How can you compare him with (Suresh) Kalmadi and (Ashok) Chavan,as enquiry committees had confirmed the two leaders role in the respective irregularities Whatever Raja did was based on TRAI norms.The CBI investigation is on,let it come first. Another senior DMK leader,state electricity minister Arcot Veeraswami said,Let (AIADMK leader) Jayalalithaa come out of her own cases and then demand Rajas resignation.Raja has answered all queries related to this in Parliament.He is following what his predecessor did.Whats wrong in that
Since most DMK MPs and MLAs did not want to talk on the subject,they limited themselves to one sentence - - the way state tourism minister Suresh Rajan did Ayya is our leader and he is the one to decide. However,party functionaries in lower ranks see the Raja issue as a threat to their partys prospects.Raja issue is a cancer.If our leader doesnt take action against Raja immediately,the party will definitely lose the upcoming election.The issue has also become a weapon for the opposition to attack us, said Srinivas Perumal,a party worker from Nagercoil.
Sundar,another party functionary,said he had lost interest in the party because of the delay in taking action against Raja.There wont be smoke without fire.The ministers name has been popping up for some time.How do we face the people in the election when a corrupt minister like Raja is in the team he asks.
Some MLAs in the DMK,however,pleaded ignorance.Asked about the 2G spectrum scam,Vandavasi MLA J Kamalakkannan said: I dont know anything about the issue.I havent even heard of it.I dont want to talk about things that I am not aware of.If at all anybody is involved,senior members should take action against them.
mt.saju@timesgroup.com

ECHO IN PARLIAMENT: Series of scams including the 2G spectrum was raised by the opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

Guru · Guru

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How long will PM cover up? CHO S. RAMASWAMY

Guru · Guru

Few in UPA support Raja, DMK isolated VENKATESH KESARI

Guru · Guru

RE: SPECTRUM 2G -SONIA-RAJA- WHO ARE BENEFECIARIES

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Guru · Guru

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Guru · Guru

DoCoMos cheaper 3G dents Rajas 2G claims

Companys 3G Voice Tariff Is Lower Than 2G

Shalini Singh | TNN

New Delhi: Troubles for telecom minister A Raja are increasing by the day.The last of his defenses for giving away precious 2G spectrum in 2008 at throwaway 2001 prices has come crashing with the release of Tata Docomos 3G tariffs on Tuesday.
Telecom analysts say it is now clear that Raja was wrong all along and had misused the common man as an excuse to cause a massive loss to the exchequer.Tata DoCoMos 3G pricing shows that in spite of paying auction-based prices for 3G spectrum,the company has priced 3G-based voice services lower than its existing 2G voice tariff.Docomo charges a paise/sec for 2G voice and has announced 3G voice at 0.66 paise/second.Even 3G data tariffs compare favourably with 2G.Docomos competitive pricing ensures that other 3G operators will be compelled to price lower when they launch.
In terms of cost per MHz,the 2G spectrum given by Raja at Rs 1,658.57 crore for 6.2 MHz across 22 circles was priced at Rs 12 crore/MHz in a firstcome-first-served offer.For 3G,the same companies have paid Rs 16,750.58 crore for 5 MHz across 22 circles or roughly Rs 152 crore/MHz for 3G spectrum.Essentially,companies have paid 12 times more for 3G spectrum one of them still priced voice minutes lower than 2G services.
This is the second time that Rajas claims have been challenged.The first time he had claimed that 2G spectrum was the same as PDS rice and 3G was the equivalent of basmati rice.Trai in its recommendations of May 2010 trashed that logic while arriving at a conclusion based on spectral efficiency that 2G and 3G prices should be the same.
Trais final recommendations on the issue are being awaited for over six months now.Trai favoured a market mechanism to determine the entry fee charged for 2G spectrum in its 2007 recommendations.Raja ignored this advice and also directions from PMO,finance ministry and law ministry,to handle 2G pricing through an eGoM.