It demands cancellation of coal blocks allotments
DELHI: With the entire Opposition united on the demand for cancellation of 142 coal block allocations made from 2006 as a condition for allowing Parliament to function, the ball is now in the court of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
There was no indication from UPA managers what could be the government’s response. Prior to BJP leader Sushma Swaraj’s disclosure that the party was not insisting on the resignation of Dr. Singh, the government’s stand was that there was no question of scrapping the licences.
The UPA leaders concede that the united voice of the Opposition has put the government in a fix. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who went abroad on Saturday for a routine medical check-up, is believed to have briefed Dr. Singh on the fresh demands of the BJP and left it to him to take a call.
Parliament was disrupted the whole of last week after the CAG report on coal blocks allocation was tabled. The report had said the delay in implementation of the policy on allotments by bidding had cost the exchequer a presumptive loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh-crore.
Admission by Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay that he had recommended allocation of two coal blocks to a company in which his brother is an honourable Executive Director has given more ammunition to the Opposition, which has been saying that senior government functionaries attempted to influence the process through the Prime Minister.
Late on Saturday night, Ms. Swaraj tweeted that the BJP would allow normal functioning of Parliament even if its demand for resignation was not met immediately, provided the government cancelled the allocations and ordered an impartial probe.
Though the BJP, for the record, is insisting that it has not dropped its demand for Dr. Singh’s resignation, the nuanced shift in the position is in line with the stand taken by the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party and the Telugu Desam Party.
At a news conference in Mumbai, Ms. Swaraj asserted that the BJP had not given up the resignation demand.
At a press conference in Kanpur, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal spoke of possible cancellation of coal block licences of those companies which had failed to fulfil their contractual obligations.
Advani’s stand
Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani on his blog echoed what Ms. Swaraj had said on Saturday. “The NDA has offered to resolve the deadlock if all the allotments made are cancelled and the process whereby the screening committee has decided these allocations is subjected to a judicial probe. The government is not yet prepared for this.”
Keywords: Coal scam, coal block allocation, CAG report, UPA government, coalgate, Parliamend deadlock, BJP protest, Opposition stand, Manmohan Singh
If this conscious shaking picture leads to change of hearts of at least 50 % of the political bigwigs in India who may have children and grand children of their ages andenjoying all the luxuries under the Sun,there will be a remarkable progress in cleansing the dirt accumulated over the last 65 years since independence!Is this for what our patriots fought the British and sacrifices everything except their patriotism and self respect?
@ Prof. Paul.V.John:
(i) "This will create an explosive situation leading to many godhras,
naroda patiyas and khandelmals also." Would you kindly explain how
curbing astronomical levels of corruption (2G - US$ 35 billion, Coal -
US $33 Billion, Delhi Airport, many others, plenty more not yet
reported) is related to your above statement? Why are you introducing a
communal angle, when the debate is about economic development and
democratic governance?
(ii) Is it true that -
(a) no mining has started in about 60 out of the 142 coal blocks
allocated? (b) equity in companies with Licences changed hands (before
any mining took place) at huge capital gains? (c) many companies are
just holding on to the licences without any mining, similar to a 'land
bank' by a builder, for capital appreciation?
(iii) Are you not troubled when "non-renewable energy sources" are given
away for a song? Do you accept that a Govt is accountable to both the
current and the future (unborn) generations?
Coal Block allotted by UPA must be cacelled. This was done based on favour and certainly congress had been the biggest benefectories of this loot. This will be a leasson to Governement that they must formulate a transperent policy while exercising auction on our natural resources. Those who are behind this free distribution of license should go to jail.
If the coal allotments are all cancelled and judicial probe commissioned, the Prime Minister who is Coal Minister will have no choice but to resign thereafter on that very account. Cancellation will amount to admission of improper allotement. Ordering of Judicial probe will amount to admitting there is prima facie evidence of malafide. Coal Minister then will have no locus standi to remain in office until probe report is completed.
I think it is check and mate for the Prime Minister now.
I have no word to say about this picture. This picture is a slap on the
cheek of our relentless society where we and our own children live. How
can we say India will be a developed country while millions of children
of our country live in such a miserable condition.
Coal royalty rates have been fixed recently at 14% of sales, while corporate tax is about 34 % of profit.
Using figures from the CAG’s own report one can compute the net profit to the 57 coal allottees and the income to the Government.
The CAG report gives RS 1028 per tonne as the sales price of coal.We can simplify this to say Rs 1000 / tonne.
Total extractable coal is summarized in the CAG report as 6282 Million tonnes, approx.
Hence total sale value of coal from 57 blocks is RS 1000 x 6282 Million or Rs 628200 crore
Royalty of 14 % i.e Rs 87948 crore is income for the States.
Net profit has been given in the CAG report as Rs 186000 crore approximately.
Corporate tax on this at 34% is Rs 63240 crore
Hence companies’ profit after tax works out to 186000 – 63240 = 122760.
Royalty plus tax to Govt is Rs 151188 crore which is considerable.
These figures do not make a strong case for mass cancellations of coal allocations and hold up of Lok sabha.
Not a fan of the opposition, but I think this demand is justified. The coal blocks sanctions should be cancelled. We are talking about a revenue loss of Rs.1.86 Lakh Crore.
This is the condition of our children in india. No dress to wear, no
proper food to eat, no educational facilities and shelter. Billions
worth of coal is just behind these children in the picture. The looters
get all. Shame on the system called democracy.
What would be the fate of India if all the coal licenses given from the year 1998 are cancelled? Would it be a right decision for the welfare of the poor Indian masses? I request 'The Hindu' to publish an article in this regard.Thank you.
The picture of the girl with her sibling in arm shows the quality of life of an aam aadmi's family in India, which has till the last year boasted of 9% growth and make tall claims of ' inclusive' growth. If these young ones were to be born in such poor families due to their fate,who should be made accountable for worsening their fate, while astronomical sums of public money are being systematically looted by the unholy nexus of undesirable sections of the society, in the name of improving the lot of millions of children like them?
It is problematic for the Govt as cancellation will mean returning the money collected from
the Companies!
The opposition presumes that the people are naive.There isn't
any international organisation to supervise the behavior of
the Indian Coal mining companies or the general morals of Indians
who have grown up doing subterfuge and offering bribes.Nor can
any organisation now discipline the requirements of a highly
exposed(by TV and Internet)populace of astronomical dimensions.
The only route to allow is to encourage those who want to develop
to go at it as early as possible and then discipline them by
chipping of the corners and enforcing rules and taxing them
to bring the entrepreneur to order. I am sorry the BJP is not
straight and throwing a spoke in the congress path all the time.This
will create an explosive situation leading to many godhras,naroda
patiyas and khandelmals also. The Congress is right on track.Allow
the Coal developer to develop and then bring them to order.
Benefits of the coal deal will never ever reach this(children in the picture) or thousands of childern of the coal mine workers. I feel the current political stalemate is to make sure every party get their share and no benefits go to thousands of childen of the coal mine workers.
Just a small correction: Sahai's brother is reportedly an 'Honorary'
Director in the company, and what has happened is certainly not
'Honourable'.
Your editorial team deserves appreciation for the excellent photograph of the poor children of coal-workers that evokes instant pathos. If the funds lost in Coal-gate could be recovered by the Government to utilize for uplifting thousands of coal-workers and families, it would be the corrective step of ethical, moral and social dimensions.
The photo with the news depicting the real picture of India and the news under give the reason why we are still a developing nation irrespective of the fact we have abundance of resources, both human and material . While boasting ourselves as the emerging economic giant, our political leaders and economic wizards opportunely forget the fact that a significant percentage of our population still living under poverty line. Our political leaders, belong to both ruling front and opposition have little intiative to do something make their plight a little better. On every issue, instead of reaching a consensus both ruling and opposition front waste parliament's valuable time for war of words. Their intention is nothing but get political mileage out of every issue. Hang on a single issue and continuosly stall the functioning of the parliament is not a good tactics to reach the power, instead allow a contructive discussion and make your stand before the public. Leave it to the people to decide
Any of our politician's,religious leaders,or any one of our
bureaucrate's kids look like this.Shame on our so called super power
country.
Government has to ensure that the dignity of parliament is a primary requirement.
There is no need for the government to bow down and accept pre-conditions. This
would set a bad precedent, and Parliament would go down to the level of state
legislatures.
Indian parliamentarians are respected all over the world for their knowledge and
their ability to get on with their job irrespective of their political differences.
This is not a point scoring game, and the value of our democracy depends upon the
respect with which we treat our parliament.
All the political parties should come to a consensus on moving forward, and adapt a
resolution to never to allow this from happening again.
We should enact stringent laws, to bar parliamentarians who wilfully disrupt
parliament to never to get into this august body again.
Parliament is sacred and precious and not a single minute of its time should be
wasted.
MM Singh should allow a free discussion, and none ruled out, incl allotment.
Facts
1. Coal is Major mineral as per constitution and only Central government has authority to allocate it
2. The screening committee had 5 members of which 4 from Central government and 1 from state.
3. The screening committee had no power in decision making and all decisions has been taken by Coal ministry
4. The CAG has mentioned clearly that full responsibility of loss is due to the central government
5. MMS was Coal minister during allocation and hence he was fully responsible
6. The CAG has not mentioned even a single word against any state with regard to this allocation.
I feel so sorry for the kids in the picture. That's no place for kids to grow up. I am sure our
politicians have no heart else even after 60 yrs of independence we haven't taken care of
your own. Our politicians will loot from the poorest of poorest if they can make a buck. If they
do not fix this. Its just a matter of time before people rise up against this apathy. Sorry for
posting something that's not totally relevant to the article above.
Whatever be the nuances, contrived and teased out nuances, it is crystal clear from
the disclosures so far and the investigations instigated that the Audit Report stands
fully vindicated. The scene shifts to the Public Accounts Committee. In the
meanwhile....
A powerful image! A child carrying a child next coal dust and have their lungs filled with coal dust. A complete disregard to the people who work and live in the neighborhood of these coal mines. Is it possible that the government in New Delhi can be that cruel?
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