There are many questions that demand clear and truthful answers in the 2G spectrum allocation controversy. With one political storm following another, and the opposition parties making Parliament dysfunctional on this issue, A. Raja, the man at the centre of it all, did the right thing in resigning as Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology. While denying any wrongdoing, he has insisted that he was persisting with a well-established policy in handing out 2G spectrum on a first-come first-served basis, instead of taking the auction route. This is no doubt true but serious questions relating to procedural irregularities and revenue losses remain. The size of the amount estimated by the Comptroller and Auditor General to be the loss to the government — Rs.177,000 crore — and the implications of the procedural violations alleged — ignoring the advice of the Prime Minister, the Ministries of Law and Finance, and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India — require that the United Progressive Alliance government allow a thorough probe that will protect no one, however high or powerful, involved in wrongdoing. Companies that won telecom licences and spectrum for Rs.1,651 crore in the first quarter of 2008 managed to attract investment indicating valuations of several times that amount from international telecom companies within a few weeks. Unitech Wireless Ltd., brought in the Norway-based Telenor Group and formed Uninor. Swan Telecom, promoted by the Dynamix Balwas Group, chose United Arab Emirates-based Etisalat as its international partner and formed Etisalat DB Telecom India. Unsurprisingly, these transactions, which took advantage of legal loopholes and bypassed the stipulation of the Department of Telecomunications that operators should not sell promoter equity within the first three years, immediately raised suspicion.
In the face of growing evidence that the first-come, first-served policy was depriving the exchequer of huge revenue, the auction route should have suggested itself to the government. The Manmohan Singh government must heed the call of public opinion and political India and consent to a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the entire controversy, beginning with the formulation of the National Telecom Policy 1994. JPCs might not be a politically impartial way of getting to the truth, and the JPC constituted in the Bofors case, which was boycotted by the main opposition parties and was packed with members of the Congress and its allies, was nothing but a cover-up device. The situation is quite different now — in the era of coalition governments. The constitution of a JPC must not be allowed to hamper the investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Central Vigilance Commission, and the Registrar of Companies. Nor should Mr. Raja's resignation be used as a ruse to pretend that with him gone, all is well with national telecom policy.
Keywords: Communications and IT Minister A. Raja, CBI, CVC, joint parliamentary committee, 2G spectrum, TRAI
What is very interesting to note is that the Opposition shows real interest only while seeking the resignation of any involved Minister but never shows the same level of interest in pursuing the case to its logical end even in a single instance -- resignation is of no use to the Nation.
The level across all the parties is more or less same. There is the difference how each party handles the situation after they are tagged with the corruption charges. Is the resignation of the minister is enough keeping in mind the overall corruption? Why politicians are not behind the bars after repeating such crimes? Why there is discrimination between the common citizen and the politicians? Are we going to tolerate the same kind of crimes in future?
"With one political storm following another, and the opposition parties making Parliament dysfunctional on this issue, A. Raja, the man at the centre of it all, did the right thing in resigning as Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology" This statement is indicating that both A. Raja had the highest ethics/morals and the opposition is stalling parliament over unnecessary and petty issue. Both are wrong. It is the unrelenting pressure which is actually forcing the governments hand to investigate (CWG, Adarsh Society, 2G, etc.,). As our institutions are dragging their feet and teethless CAG reports are being disregarded as simple performance review reports and no positive action being taken towards corruption, public outcry is the only alternative left (unfortunately)!After How many scams will the people of india will say enough is enough !!!!!!!!
There is a practice of preventive maintenance in the case machinery which help maintain machines without breakdown and costly repair. Why this concept is not applied in politics also. Why allow Commonwealth Games and telecom scams to occur at all in the first place resulting in extensive damage to the reputation of the Government and economy and take costly time-consuming rearguard action?
Well said, the Editorial. But, going by the history of our governance, irrespective of the party affiliation, suggests that, the truth will never come. One Scam after another,comes out on a weekly basis and we all hear the same story, explanation from our political class. The common man is already tired with the survival issues, of spiraling costs of food and other things.I do not find anything worthwhile will come out of these scams. Only a revolution, something like that of second independent movement will save this country. But, unfortunately we don't have any Gandhi to lead!
It is good that Mr. Raja has been forced to resign thanks to the relentless pressure by the Opposition, including the Left parties. Now, the Govt. should hand over the matter to the CBI so that the entire issue is thoroughly investigated by the CBI so that criminal proceedings can be started against all those responsible for the loot.
In the name of coalition politics anything goes and the 2G spectrum scam is one such.But what is not very clear is as to how the proceeds of 3G spectrum auction done later can be brought in to arrive at the loss to the exchequer by not following the auction route in 2G Spectrum allocation?
There is much much more to the 2G scam than it appears, that is the reason why UPA does not want to agree to JPC. The needle of suspicion even points to the PM himself. For example, why did he appoint the current CVC who was then the Telecom Secretary even while the Opposition member on the panel opposed it?! How and why did Raja meet CBI even as investigations are on?! It would be naive, very very naive, to believe that A Raja pocketed all the money, he does not appear to be anything more than a messenger, porter and the ultmate fall guy!! Keeping the enormity of the scam in mind, the UPA government itself should resign, the President should appoint a care taker government under a blemishless person - need not be a politician - untill investigations this scam are finished. Then truth will be out!!
For people saying that there is no corruption involved, you must be living in dark ages to think that ministers are so naive that they will leave any traces of their wrong doings. whether they took the money directly or through party funds or through some havala transactions, its open for everyone to see that its a clear case of favouritism and there by corruption. This case just goes on to show that how much control the PM has on his cabinet, very sad situation for India.
If it is indeed proven to be a scandal, it has probably been networked through all parties who would get a share of the prize, since no uprising from the oppositions' side has been seen. And if it was merely a lapse on the part of the Minister, how foolish to have lost all the money that rightly belongs to public. Anyways, on both counts the centre stands as the main defaulter and no conclusive answer can be seen from their side.
What is required now is thorough investigation of the entire spectrum scam- be it through JPC, the CBI, the CVC or the ED. The Manmohan Singh government should not think of pushing the matter under the mattress and instead unearth the modus operandi behind the spectrum allocation. By doing so, not only the accomplices of the former minister will come to the fold, but a portion of the colossal amount of money wasted in allocating spectrum contracts at throw prices can be recovered. In doing so, the Prime Minister should not feel that there is any threat to the government. His government was able to survive the trust vote when the Left parties pulled out of the government in opposition to Indo-U.S. Nuclear deal. The situation is the same- the future of the country is at the stake. Lets hope the Prime Minister, a man of character, does it this time again.
Resignation of the minister is not a panacea for the wrongdoing commited by the minister and his allies.Everyone should be brought to the book whatever be its status. A criminal proceding should be started immediately under observation of apex court.As PMO is the pivot of the government, its prime responsiblity is to prevent any wrongdoing.This is perfect case of failure to perform the duty on the part of PMO.
Going by the mammoth money shown as a loss to the Government,this scam would be called the worst scam in our history and the mother of all scams.What is more sickening about this telecomgate is the efforts of the powers that be to cover it up and to show that all is spic and span.The tenacious effort by Mr A Raja to cling to his post has cast a long and dark shadow both on his image and his Government.The UPA Government should not spare its efforts and energy in initiating probe and keeping all facts and figures before the nation.The sooner the Government makes an official statement about the deal,the better.
Why should the Govt always give in to blackmailers? BJP is notorious for stalling Parliament to get their own way. When the CAG report has been tabled in Parliament and full discussions about it can take place in Parliament, also when the CAG report will go to the PAC, why should there be a JPC?
First of all there is a procedural lapse on the part of the minister by not taking the advise of PMO, finance ministry and law ministry. Moreover, even a man with ordinary would have resorted to the spectrum auction rather than First come first serve basis, since the demand is more and the availability of spectrum is very low. By doing that the government would have earned a larger amount of money rather a meagre sum.The minister should have done what is beneficial for the government, rather than blindly following his predecessors. Now, Mr. A. Raja has resigned from the cabinet, it is upto the PM to form a Joint Parliamentary committee to look into the matter without any fear or favour. Meanwhile, the opposition should cooperate with the government to conduct the house peacefully, so that all the issues can be discussed, there is no point in wasting the time of the house, which is spent out of the public money.
The resignation of the minister is the first step in trying to rectify the mess. If the concerned minister is indeed found guilty, the bigger question which begs to be asked is what about the loss of crores of rupees. India has seen its share of scams, but one seldom hears of any money recovered after the guilty is found. Some examples which come to mind are the Telgi and Harshad Mehta scams. The Commonwealth Games are yet another example. Adequate steps should be taken by the government to ensure that a substantial amount of money is recovered, as has been happening with Bernard Madoff's property auctions.
The question is whether we are ready to learn a lesson from the 2G scam and what would be the Union government's responses to such situations in future. It is clear that Mr Raja has used pliable officials and he has done it very cleverly. All along his defence has been that whatever he has done is as per rules in place. It is of course another matter that he is not saying the truth. But the fact that he has been able to cover-up his scandal speaks volumes for standards of our governance. Public memory is very short and soon this scam will be forgotten and another will be exposed. Life goes on. No political party wants to go to the root of the problem which is role of money in politics and elections. Uness we enact laws to curb money power and enforce self discipline to reduce the money power, such scams would countinue to hurt our democracy. In this regard, BJP has not shown any wisdom by stalling parliament proceedings at the cost of a fair debate.
The last sentence of your editorial is most telling:" Nor should Raja's resignation be used as a ruse to pretend that with him gone, all is well with the national telecom policy". The magnitude of loss is mind-boggling. There seems to be no precedence to this scam in its enormity. What is required is the political will to face facts,unearth the full dimensions of the scam and punish the guilty. Hiding behind legal and constitutional technicalities and cover-up the scam will only confirm that we are the most corrupt people and nation in the world. I hope against hope that the JPC will be constituted and it will not go the way of previous scams.
Indian politicians cutting across all party lines have a similiar approach when it comes of their governance; Find the loopholes in the system and loot, deprieve and misuse the tax payers money. The present UPA government at the centre, knew very well about the 2G spectrum allocation misuse and chose to ignore. Its a shame that regional parties on whose support the Congress party at the centre rules have left all the ethics and unashamedly even declare that they are innocent. The misuse of the 2G spectrum was to happen regardless of any party rules at centre.
Why the English media is not talking about 30,000 cr aircarft purchase by AI? who increased the order number? what about the prime slots removed from IA and given to Jet and Kingfisher? Why the brand 'Indian Airlines' was killed to help Jet and Kingfisher? Why the land/properties of Govt. leased to IA and ai taken from them and given to GVK and GMR? Aren't these scams? or has the media been compromised on these deals?
Not following the auction route was not prudent, but keeping with the legal policy of first come, first serve, by no means, is a sign of corruption.
Raja did not do the right thing. He was ";made" to do the right thing which should have been done a long time back.
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