When the monsoon session ends, can the winter session be far behind? This seems to be the operating principle of the United Progressive Alliance government as it seeks to weather the storm created by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Parliament over the damning report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the allocation of coal blocks. Of course, there is no way the UPA could have conceded the Opposition demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on this issue. But one of the ways for the government to break the logjam would have been to offer to cancel all the coal block allotments and introduce competitive bidding as originally envisioned in 2004. However, from the defence mounted by the Prime Minister — who held the Coal portfolio during the period of allocation — to the combative stance of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, everything points to the government preparing to keep the fight on the political plane. Instead of addressing the growing public perception of corruption in the wake of the CAG report, the Congress seems bent on discrediting the principal Opposition party. The reasoning is that the BJP, whose Chief Ministers in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh opposed competitive bidding, does not have the credibility for a sustained offensive on this issue, and will soon run out of breath. Other than seeking to clarify the points made in the CAG report through the Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament, the Congress is not willing to make any concession to the Opposition.
The government strategy to hold the ground until winter sets in is neither politically prudent nor morally defensible. If one were to accept Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s argument that there was no loss in the allocation of coal blocks as the coal has not been “taken out of mother earth,” then surely the proper course would be to ensure that the companies which benefited from the discretionary allocation of the blocks are not allowed to profit from the coal that still remains unmined. The problem, of course, is that the government’s defence of the allocation is varied, full of holes, and contradictory. Apart from blaming Opposition-ruled States for the non-introduction of competitive bidding, the Prime Minister has disputed the computation of loss by the CAG, and pointed to the possible earnings for the government through taxation of the gains of the private parties. Thus, one defence of the government is that there is no loss because the coal is not mined; another is that the loss is partly offset by taxation of the mined coal. If only the government were ready to own up past mistakes, it would not have seemed so hurried in the defence of its policies, and so clumsy in its attacks on the Opposition.
Keywords: coal block allotments, coal scam, political corruptions, Parliament, monson session, Parliament logjam, BJP protest, UPA scams, coalgate
Balanced editorial! However it does no credit to UPA or Sonia being seen as a partner in corruption by claiming to have scammed due to Opposition CMs. To come clean, they should have cancelled all allocations of unmined mines and should have vindicated their anticorruption stand as was done by Supreme Court in 2G case. Even now, if her own hands are clean, Sonia should ask Manmohan to stand aside, take over of as PM of this great country. People of India will remember her in future as the first Indian citizen to clean up the polity and government from corruption and black money with an iron "HAND", and that hand will get power to rule in 2014 easily. Ms Gandhi as one of the most powerful in the world, should pool up the courage and guts shown by her mother-in-law earlier by nationalisation of banks. Her bete-noire PVNarasimharao also showed the courage in 1991 with bold reforms at the time of national bankruptacy. If you do this, BJP will lose its steam and will be wiped out.
When corrupt people can get away, what's the point in debating!. The corrupt or those who oversaw it, must quit. When people are stupid enough to elect them again and again, I appreciate the opposition party making an effort by stalling the proceedings.
The real question is whether or not the UPA Government really followed
the existing rules and regulations concerning coal allotment. If the
answer is yes, CAG and all those who support it, are wrong. The
Government should be criticised only when it does not follow the
existing legal framework concerning coal allotment. The other
question is whether all natural resources such as coal are commercial
commodity or public goods to be used for the welfare of the people. If
coal is a commercial commodity, what would be its financial impact on
electricity tariff, steel and cement products. At a time when we are
suffering from high tariff and low supply, what would be out reaction
to a very high cost of electricity and products that depend on coal,
steel etc.
Since Independence public is waiting for Winter but Parliament of India has not worked as per Article 140 of the Constitution of India Parliament of India is not the guardian of the constitution of India there for PAC and opp leader should transfer all the CAG report to Supreme court of India (supreme court of India is the guardian of the constitution of India if there will be a transparency and Accountability will be in All CAG report it will be a Economic reforms but Since Independence Parliament has not worked as per Article 140 of the Constitution of India .Every time public will file PIL in supreme court than what will be the role of Parliament and PAC and JPC all are supreme authority but not working as per Article 140 of the constitution of India
Everyday when a new scam is unearthed, I wish that opposition should indulge in constructive debate and try to force the government to take corrective steps on one hand and create positive perception of its own on the other hand. But opposition fails as much as government. Opposition just indulge in creating chaos and ruckus in parliament. Although we have very bright people sitting in opposition camp who once held such high profile portfolios and thus can tell government what can be done to correct mistakes but instead of this, they are asking for something which is not possible and thus creating a logjam.
This seems to be on the minds of the most people of the nation. How can the top leaders be so callous and so defiant in giving out statements and defending the governments stance? This is outrageous!
A very well written editorial. Well Done.
Even if some states favoured the allotment of coal blocks, the UPA should not take shelter behind this instance to justify its own dubious allocation of them. Two wrongs do not make a right.
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