07-06-2004, 07:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-06-2004, 07:21 PM by Bhootnath.)
From the above thread:
> "While processing the promotion of Gen D'Cunha, the mandatory clearance of the Central Vigilance Commission was not taken, something unprecedented in the history of the armed forces," well-placed sources in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
Attention Mr Amarnath, kindly do the honours and post it on , you know where, its your duty as "Defender of India"
Thanks.
Came via email:
Subject: <b>August 15th: Rally by Students & Teachers on Corruption.</b>
*** Being an Indian, please forward this message.***
August 15th: Rally by Students & Teachers on Corruption.
---------------------------------
Starts at 10a.m. throughout India.
Vandemaataram! Quit Corruption!
Once again it's time for us to fight for our freedom. This time it is
against the corruption. By listening to the corruption news everyday, is
your blood boiling to do something for your country? So why donât you
join the largest national rally ever conducted before to generate
awareness and swipe-off the corruption in India.
On behalf of IndiaEyeWitness.com we want to inspire students and
teachers. At the same time teachers can also collect valuable solutions to
get rid of the corruption and bring up a list of best possible solutions
and mail it to our honorable President, Prime Minster and the state
Chief Minister. If possible send it to news media groups for public
awareness. We are gathering some slogans and pamphlets, which you may use
them in the rally.
<b>Students Role in this Rally:</b>
As everyone knows, 'Students have the power to rewrite the history'. We
want you to be the initiative and be the leaders to start this rally.
As a student you have the right to fight for a corruption free future.
Read all the slogans provided in the website and choose the best slogan
and write them on the barricades and holding boards. Print pamphlets
with your suggestions to clean the corruption and distribute them during
the rally. For instance, tell your parents that you don't want to grow
with the money earned in a corruption deal. Ask your neighbours not to
take the bribes.
<b>Teachers Role in this Rally:</b>
Take the initiative. Motivate your students. Guide them throughout the
rally process and be the leader of the rally. We request all the
teachers to participate in this revolution and help them in making a peaceful
rally represented by your institution. Give your ideas and collect
valuable suggestions from the students in the class and create a list of
the best possible solutions to fight corruption. Help them in preparing
the banners with slogans. Show your students a bright and corruption
free future.
<b>NRI's Role in this Rally:</b>
What can an NRI do? Directly or indirectly you can participate and make
this rally a great success. Since IndiaEyeWitness.Com is a no-income
website, we request you to take the initiative.
Sponsor an advertisement in local newspaper so that it will reach every
corner of the country. Talk to your friends and families in India and
let them know about this rally. Encourage and help them in whatever the
form of support you can provide. Give financial support to print the
pamphlets and banners for the rally. Show them what you can do to your
homeland, even though you are not living there. Send an email to all your
friends to spread the information as quickly as possible. Write a
letter or post one of the pamphlets to your school/ College/ University
where you did your education to let them know about this rally and
encourage them to participate.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.
Thank you.
Regards,
IndiaEyeWitness.Com Support Team.
Madam secular
<b>PM may axe Renuka for backing arms dealer </b>
New Delhi, July 15: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is upset and annoyed with Union Minister of State for Tourism Renuka Choudhary for lobbying on behalf of a Russian arms dealing company and might even drop her in the next reshuffle of his Council of Ministers as and when it takes place.
According to sources in the Prime Ministerâs Office, Singh had summoned Renuka and expressed his displeasure over her overt interest in defence deals. She is reported to have told the Prime Minister that she merely forwarded a request made to her. Sources said the Prime Minister was not convinced.
Renuka had shot off a letter to <b>Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee suggesting that the Army take a look at a Russian self-propelled 155 mm howitzer artillery gun which she had claimed is much better and would meet the Armyâ requirements. Problem is, the Army has already chosen the South African firm Denel to supply 90 such guns in collaboration with Indiaâs Bharat Earth Movers Limited.</b>
She is reported to have admitted writing the letter, pleading that as the daughter of a Service officer, she was concerned. <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo--> Renuka Choudhary had also said that she had written a letter before the elections as well asking the Army to the other artillery piece.
> Madam secular
> PM may axe Renuka for backing arms dealer
Imagine if renuka were to be remotely connected to BJP/NDA what would Indian ( ? ) Media would have perpeterated.
<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+May 28 2004, 06:13 PM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ May 28 2004, 06:13 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>Rahul Gandhi's firm changes its website</b>
By: A Mid Day Correspondent
May 28, 2004
Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhiâs firm BackOps Engineering, on which Mid Day ran a report yesterday, changed its website and removed a page listing a series of projects it claimed to have worked on.
A friend of Rahul Gandhi who refused to be named clarified that those projects, among them Belapur railway station and the Osho commune in Pune, are <b>being executed by a firm called Rajani Associates (with whom Gandhiâs firm shares its office in Colaba). </b>
<b>BackOps did provide âdesigning and drafting servicesâ for some projects to Rajani Associates, he said, but not the ones named in the report</b>. <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â Of the projects listed by Mid Day, the friend said, âin no way whatsoever was BackOps Engineering involvedâ.
<b>âWe have been associated with BackOps only in the last one year</b>, but we have been working on most of these projects for much longer than that,â said Chaitanya Rajani, one of the partners in Rajani Associates.
<b>However, this is disputed by BackOpsâs own website which listed all the projects named in the report, as representative of their work</b>. <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â Though the page was removed after Mid Dayâs report, a printout was taken by us and has been reproduced on page 6.
The page lists all the projects Mid Day reported the firm worked on. BackOpsâs website ( www.back-ops.com) continues to say that the firm provides âbasic civil engineering workâ and states its experience as including âa large volume of work in concrete, structural steel, pre-stressed and pre-cast concreteâ. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Looks like Back-Ops are back in op.
Rahul Gandhi's Mumbai firm needs a CEO
Middlemen and touts are back in business after a gap of nearly five years.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Given the Opposition's obsession with the 'tainted' ministers, some of the questionable doings of Commerce Minister Kamal Nath seem to have escaped public scrutiny. As a result, he is said to have made the best of the opportunity to do very much what he pleases unmindful of any scruples.
Anyone remotely familiar with the goings-on in the corridors of Udyog Bhawan, which houses, among others, the Ministry of Commerce, would know that middlemen and touts are back in business after a gap of nearly five years. As proof, two specific cases of highly controversial decisions are often cited. If a dispassionate view is taken, both these decisions, involving the release of several hundred crores of rupees from the national exchequer, will be hard to justify.
The first pertains to the restoration of the cash incentives on steel exports. The previous Government had withdrawn the incentive following a sharp spurt in the price of steel in the domestic market. A slew of steel users associations had represented to the Government and carried out a sustained media campaign complaining against the inordinate rise in the price of steel, pleading that it had made their working highly uneconomical and, if it remained unchecked, it might lead to widespread industrial closures and, consequently, labour unrest. Steel prices had been marked up by a handful of producers in view of the rising exports to China and a few other countries.
Indeed, on the eve of the Lok Sabha election a couple of highly-placed representatives of the steel manufacturers' cartel had approached the BJP leaders seeking restoration of the export incentive in exchange for a very liberal contribution to the party's election kitty. The party did not bite the bait. And when quite unexpectedly the Congress Party replaced the BJP as the ruling party, sources in the Commerce Ministry insist, the steel cartel repeated the offer. And this time Nath readily agreed to restore the export incentive, even though there were no elections to be funded and no party coffers to be filled.
The second case pertains to the basmati rice development cess. A two per cent cess on basmati exports was imposed by the Commerce Ministry in the wake of attempts by a couple of foreign firms to usurp India's claim to the world - famous variety of rice. After a protracted campaign in the international fora, the sub-continent's proprietary claim on basmati variety of rice was duly upheld. By then the basmati development fund had grown to over Rs 30 crores and the rice exporters were pressing the Commerce Ministry to refund the same in proportion to each exporter's contribution.
At that time the considered view of the Commerce Ministry was that the fund should be used to further enrich and develop the growth of basmati. Therefore, it turned down the plea of the exporters to refund the amount thus collected. But once Nath took over as the Commerce Minister, it did not take long for the basmati exporters' cartel to get their way. Now they will be richer by over Rs 30 crores and, naturally, licked tongues in Udyog Bhawan haven't stopped wagging since the Minister initialed the controversial decision. Â
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Whoopy doo - fresh probe into Tehelka tapes
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Party General Secretary Ambika Soni told reporters here that though it was the prerogative of the government, <b>Congress was always for a fresh probe besides the one conducted by Justice Phukan Commission</b> so that the truth was revealed at the earliest<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Also, how about probing these too..
Mera Congress Mahaan
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Iâve been pondering over trivialities: former communications minister <b>Sukh Ram of the telecom scam</b>; former surface transport minister <b>Jagdish Tytler of the Mumbai Port Trust land-allocation fraud case</b>; former prime minister <b>P V Narasimha Rao and the Lakhubhai Pathak cheating case</b>; <b>Satish Sharma and his Italian tiles</b>; <b>Kalpnath Raiâs lodging of Dawood Ibrahimâs murdering henchmen</b> (the same who had arrived in Delhi with former defence minister Sharad Pawar in an air force jet); <b>Rajiv Gandhi and Bofors</b>; <b>Jagjivan Ramâs âforgettingâ to pay 10 years of income tax</b>⦠why is it that no scandal sticks to the Congress for long?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ok, here's some good news.
The Right to Information has changed lives and made governments accountable
Here's an excerpt from the story.
Shivaji Raut, a schoolteacher in Satara, Maharashtra, has demanded information 62 times under the act. He has received information in 55 cases, been denied in seven, and gone in appeal for one of those seven. "My questions are related to the system, never personal," says Raut. The data that he sought on whether the state government had accounted for prevalent market rates while renewing leases on 114 government-held properties in Mahabaleshwar exposed irregularities to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore, and forced a temporary injunction on the process.
"The documents Iâd obtained revealed that land in many cases had been leased out for a song." Asking for the list of people who had been granted licences for firearms in the district in the past five years revealed that many licences had been issued based on fake certificates ("Some were being used for poaching in the Koyna Valley near Satara"). When Raut asked for the names of those who had received liquor vending licences, it was found that many recipients were wives of local politicians.... The moral of all his stories: "The local administration behaves itself once it knows that people are watching." <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
.........................................
Twentysomething Triveni Devi used the law for reasons much more personal.With an uncertain income of Rs 400-600 a month, Triveniâs Antyodaya ration card is not just her entitlement to subsidised food, itâs her familyâs entitlement to existence.
<b>So when the ration shop at Delhiâs Sundernagri kept denying Triveni her quota of wheat and rice month after month, it was "like being denied life." Till she chanced upon an RTI pamphlet.Triveni filed an application under the act. Forcing ration shop owner Maya Devi to reveal her records: 25 kg of wheat and 10 kg of rice were purportedly being issued to Triveni every month and the receipts even had Triveniâs fake thumb impression. The thrill of triumph still rings clear: "I had caught Mayaâs fraud, I showed her I could sign my name!" Triveni remembers a frightened Maya Devi not only offering her six months of free ration but also Rs 20,000 if she promised not to file a complaint. But Triveni refused the money.</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The moral of all his stories: "The local administration behaves itself once it knows that people are watching."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Long ago, there was a offer somewhere to set up a website to list their experience with daily corruption. The ideas was to have a searchable database on web with on-line list of names, tasks/jobs, going "rates" etc; all as a nice friendly service for our janata. This way one can set his/her expectation in terms of dealing with a govt/public employee. Imagine before going to say a telephone office you have info on-line telling you that say in Mumbai's Worli MTNL office, you are supposed to meet Mr A B C Kumar with a wad of 10 Rs 100 unmarked bills to restore phone service. You know exactly what to do, what to pay, to whom. Productivity goes up plus the govt-babu gets some online publicity too <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Two birds could have been killed with one stone.
~-->]Fodder scam blow to Laloo
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Supreme Court has put a stop to all legal action against one of the approvers in the multi-crore fodder scam in which railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav is an accused.
Todayâs judgment in the mid-1990s scam in Biharâs animal husbandry department is a big setback for the minister.
In its judgment, a division bench of Justices S.. Variava and A.K. Mathur said approver Dipesh Chandak should not be proceeded against in any case till the fodder-scam trial ends. The bench said the approver should make a âfull disclosureâ about the scam.
<b>Chandak was one of the state government employees accused in the scam but the CBI, which was prosecuting the case, âpardonedâ him after he turned approver. He has given evidence against Laloo Prasad. However, it is alleged that Laloo Prasad got the income tax department to conduct raids and initiated action against Chandak.</b>
The apex court stayed Chandakâs prosecution under the Income Tax Act âtill trial of the cases in which pardon is granted is overâ.
âIf the appellant (Chandak) makes a full and complete disclosure, then, in our view, the prosecution should not be allowed to proceed,â it said.
âTo get benefit of the pardon, the appellant has to make full and frank disclosure regarding the offences of misappropriation,â the judges said
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
How nice ? Is this a carrot to the judiciary or something ? How many professions have tax-exempt salaries ????? Tell me this is all some practical joke ??
Chief Justices-CMs agenda: judgesâ accountability out, their tax-free salary is in
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 17: For the conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices due to take place tomorrow, the Government had proposed judicial accountability as one of the items to be discussed. That proposal has mysteriously disappeared in the latest agenda.
And, in its place, new items have been added including a proposal to make judgesâ salaries tax free and another to scrap a 20-year-old policy under which the Chief Justice of a High Court is always from outside the state. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>CBI's nationwide anti-corruption drive</b>
<b>Gameâs up for MCD crorepati</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Singh began his career as a clerk in the MCD in 1974. In his 30 years of service, he earned enough to buy six cars, including a Mitsubishi Lancer, Ford Ikon and Santro. CBI officials said he and his immediate family owned five properties in Delhi, including a farmhouse with a swanky swimming pool at Nangloi and houses in Malviya Nagar, Karol Bagh, Saket and Patparganj.
CBI officials said Singh's income should have totalled Rs 49 lakh â Rs 33 lakh as salary and another Rs 27 lakh from rent. But his assets amount to Rs 1.71 crore
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Apollo, Ganga Ram hospital in kidney racket </b>
New Delhi
Apollo and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the Capital came under the Delhi Police scanner after it was found that they too were involved in the kidney transplant racket which was busted recently in the Army Hospital.
<b>Scam interrupted</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, his son Raninder Singh </b>and his then principal secretary Sanjit Sinha were involved in conceiving and finalising a project for which questionable foreign currency transactions appear to have been made, according to documents with the Hindustan Times.
The documents indicate that the foreign currency transactions amounting to Rs 46 lakh took place on Raninder's instructions
.....................
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
CBI drops cases against Captain Sharma
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Close aide of Gandhi family and former Petroleum Minister, Captain Satish Sharma, has been let off the hook by the CBI.
Captain Sharma was facing charges in 15 cases for allotting petrol pumps without following proper rules.
<b>But the CBI today closed all cases against him because the Home Ministry refused to give it permission to prosecute Captain Sharma.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
How nice and convenient <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo--> The entire Gandhi clan was at Satish Sharma's daughter's wedding last week - ToI had run a separate a photo feature on this.
Hawala racket: VS seeks probe by Central agency .<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, OCT. 24 . The Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, today demanded an inquiry by a Central agency into the hawala racket involving the inflow of Rs. 700 crores into the State for the last several years and the arrest of all those involved in the scam.
The Opposition leader sought a clarification from the Government on why it had not conducted an inquiry into the hawala racket even after the Union Home Ministry's repeated letters to look into the matter.
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<b>Congress-led UDF in Kerala</b> <b>A tale of sleaze, hawala, Jehad and Muslim League goondaism </b>The Congress-led UDF government in Kerala is embroiled in a ballast of sleaze, sex scandal, hawala racket and Jehadi conspiracy. This has deeply scarred the image of the new Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, who was brought in only two months ago to refurbish the UDF image. The Chief Minister is seen as protecting and defending not only the Muslim League minister, P.K. Kunjalikutty, who is the accused in the sex racket but also the culprits of the Rs 700 crore hawala racket, which is linked to terrorist outfits.
P.K. Kunjalikutty in the last one decade had emerged as the pin-up boy of the Muslim League. He is close to the League supremo, Panakkad Syed Shihab Thangal, who even in the face of incontrovertible evidence, is defending the minister. This has already divided the party, with one section within the League questioning Thangalâs proclivity......
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