CAG Reports on Allocation and Pricing of Coal-Bearing Areas, 2G Spectrum: Whither Growing Corruption in India?

Reactions to recent reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on the allocation and pricing of coal-bearing areas and second-generation telecommunications spectrum (2G Spectrum) are reminiscent of the well-known parable of the blind men and the elephant. Depending on the political persuasion and ideological inclination of the person concerned, the reports are either futile exercises in exaggeration or an important endeavor to hold those in power and authority accountable for their actions.

The reports are either consciously aimed at embarrassing the government using dubious data and specious assumptions or these are attempts to bring about greater transparency in public finance and curb corruption in high places. Everything depends on which side you are on. The CAG has repeatedly talked about “presumptive” or “notional” losses. The government, in turn, argues that the losses are not real but hypothetical and that the auditors of the constitutional body need more than a few basic lessons in mathematics and economics. So what if the coal has not been mined?

The fact is simply that the coal acreages no longer belong to the government. Forget local inhabitants or indigenous communities, the coal blocks now belong to particular privately controlled companies, some of whose promoters and directors have rather close links with relatives of certain Congress leaders. Coal, incidentally, is a subject of the federal government.

In both the “Coalgate” and the 2G scam reports, what the CAG has stated is that there was inaction by those at the top, including Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. Both predictably protest their innocence. Despite the clean chit given to the finance minister by the Supreme Court on August 24, what cannot be disputed is that he knew very well what the disgraced Former Communications Minister Andimuthu Raja had been doing (he, in fact, says that he did not approve of some of his actions).

In fact, it was Dr Singh’s own government’s ministers and bureaucrats (including those in his office) — and not just those representing the state governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Orissa — who ensured that his advice to have competitive bidding for coal blocks was not operationalized for more than six years.

Dr Singh, Chidambaram and their supporters have provided long, detailed and convoluted explanations about why what should have happened — auction of coal blocks and spectrum — did not happen. In both instances, previous governments (especially those run by the NDA) have been blamed. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Prime Minister’s Reaction

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took “full responsibility” for the coal allocations made under a policy in existence since 1993. Amid slogan-shouting by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the prime minister has told Parliament that there is no impropriety in coal allocations. The CAG report is “flawed” as the auditor’s methodology to calculate the loss is questionable, he says and argues that it is not the CAG’s job to suggest a change of policy from allocation to auction of natural resources and tell the government to overrule state objections in changing the law.

Speaking both inside and outside Parliament, Dr Singh said he was not running away from taking “full responsibility” for decisions taken by the coal ministry when he had held the portfolio himself. He, however, declared that the allegation of impropriety “is without any basis and is unsupported by facts”.

As the uproar by the BJP on the floor of the two Houses continued for the fifth day in a row, the Prime Minister read out his statement amid the din. After reading a few paragraphs, he laid the statement on the table. Daring the BJP to hold a debate in the House to let the country judge the truth, he declared: “We have a very strong and credible case as the CAG’s observations are clearly disputable.” As BJP continued to create a ruckus, both Houses saw repeated adjournments, and no legislative businesses could be transacted.

Unconvincing Remarks

The prime minister’s statement presented in the Parliament and the remarks he made to the media outside the Parliament on the controversial coal block allotments are as unconvincing as the stand that his party has adopted since the scam broke out in public few months ago.

In fact, it is because Dr Singh wants to gloss over the salient aspects of the charges that have been leveled against him that he has tried to present the image of a ‘combative' leader; he took on the comptroller and auditor general of India for alleging “impropriety” which was “without basis and unsupported by facts”. Well, that is not for Dr Singh to decide since there is the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which will study CAG's observations and submit its report to the Parliament on the merits of those observations. 

The prime minister does refer to his government's resolve to ‘challenge' in the PAC the findings of the country's premier audit organization, but then we also know that the Congress has scant regard for what is one of Parliament's most important panels. The obnoxious manner in which members of the party, assisted by some of their allies, had conducted themselves when the PAC was hearing CAG's 2G Spectrum scam report, is still fresh in the minds of the people.

The prime minister pats his own back by saying that it was the UPA government which “for the first time conceived the idea of making allocations through the competitive bidding route in June 2004.” But that unfortunately is not the point here. What happened thereafter is. Dr Singh swiftly dumped the auction idea and cleared a proposal to dole out coal blocks to private parties at vastly under-priced rates. By the time the government returned to its original ‘concept' of putting in place a mechanism for competitive bidding — and it took the regime over two years to do so — more than 140 coal blocks located in various States had been sold down the river to private players, many of whom have not even till date begun mining the resource.

BJP's Flawed Reasoning

After disrupting the winter session, BJP is at it again, insisting that the prime minister must resign for the so-called Coalgate scam before the Parliament is allowed to function. Led by senior leaders like Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj in the presence of LK Advani and cheered on by Nitin Gadkari from outside, it rejects a debate in Parliament as the matter will merely be talked. A non-confidence motion is, however, ruled out as the numbers do not favor them. Meanwhile, disruption of Parliament is being paraded as a national duty. The argument is that similar disruption alone forced the resignation of Raja and Maran following the CAG’s 2G Spectrum scam report. And if Raja could resign as Minister for Telcom, Dr Singh must resign as he held additional charge of the Coal Ministry during the years when Coalgate occurred.

In the Coalgate matter, four Opposition-led state governments (Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Rajasthan, and West Bengal) and Jharkhand had opposed coal auctions as proposed by the Centre and recommended allocations of coal blocks in their states for local power and cement manufacture. Taking federal sensitivities into account, the federal government did not press its case for open auctions, a factor indirectly noted with some approval by the chief justice of India in a lecture delivered in Delhi recently.

Instead of allowing the Parliament to debate the matter and send it to the Public Accounts Committee for detailed scrutiny before the House takes a final view on the matter, the Jaitley argument is that the party is entitled to trump the whole, thus enabling a strident minority in the House to impose its will on the majority, and that too without the requisite parliamentary debate and investigation, in violation of every rule and canon of democratic process and conscience. This is the kernel of the matter, not the bogus, political spiel spewed out by the BJP and other persons before TV channels looking for meaningless but high-TRP-rated gladiatorial fights night after night.

Jaitley says “Parliamentary obstructionism … is a weapon to be used in the rarest of the rare cases.” But, unfortunately, the BJP seems bent on disrupting the Parliament constantly.

Assessment

It can be said that the UPA government’s strategy to hold the ground until winter sets in is neither politically prudent nor morally defensible. If one were to accept the finance minister’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.

Nevertheless, the problem is that the government’s defense of the allocation is varied, full of holes, and contradictory. On one hand, the UPA is trying to present a luminously clean picture of the whole scenario, on the other BJP is not a less known perpetrator of corruption. It is high time that the parties stopped fooling the public and appreciated the intelligence of the common people.

India Under-19 Wins 2012 ICC World Cup Championship

India Under-19 lifted their third ICC World Cup title after beating defending champions Australia by six wickets in the final at Townswille, a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland, on August 26.

Courtesy a magnificent unbeaten 111 by Skipper Unmukt Chand and his unbroken partnership of 130 runs with wicketkeeper Smit Patel, India overhauled the competitive target of 226 on a bouncy strip with 14 balls to spare. It was one of the best centuries one could have witnessed at the junior-level as Unmukt hit seven fours and as many as six sixes during his 130-ball knock. He completed his century with a six over extra-cover off Alex Gregory but the celebrations were muted. The Indian captain knew that the job was only half done.

Finally, when Smit, who hit an effective 62, slog-swept off-spinner Ashton Turner toward deep mid-wicket for a four a number of Indian supporters rushed to the ground along to celebrate with the team.

Though four wickets were lost in the chase, it never looked like an uphill task for the Indians, who were subdued in the middle overs but accelerated towards the end to get to the target with ease.

After Prashant Chopra was out chasing a delivery down leg-side of Mark Steketee without troubling the scorers, Unmukt and in-form batsman Baba Aparajith (33) took the attack to the opposition. The duo added 73 runs for the second wicket, playing the Aussie pace trio of Steketee, Joel Paris and Gurinder Sandhu with ease.

Unmukt was phenomenal in the closing stages, hitting a couple of glorious sixes off Sandhu’s bowling. The first was over long-off while the second looked even more spectacular as he presented the full face of the bat with a nice follow through.

Aparajith, on the other hand, hit a nice hook shot off Paris and some lovely cover drives that pierced the field. However, Sandhu had the last laugh when he forced Aparajith to drive on the up and the catch was brilliantly taken by Ashton Turner at short-cover.

Batsmen Excelled

Indian batsmen came good after their bowlers had a hot and cold day, their first such performance in this championship. India had won the toss for the first time at this venue and Sandeep struck with his fourth delivery. He bowled an inswinger that Jimmy Peirson shouldered arms to, hit off stump, and celebrated with the nonchalance of a man who has made an early wicket a habit. In his second over, Sandeep had the other opener Cameron Bancroft lbw, reducing Australia to 8 for 2.

The other new-ball bowler Kamal Passi was not as successful. At the end of their first spells, Sandeep had figures of 5-2-8-2 and Passi 4-0-24-0.

Unmukt brought on his offspinner in the 11th over and Aparajith went round the wicket immediately to the left-hand batsman Kurtis Patterson and bowled him. In the next, Ravikant drew an edge from Meyrick Buchanan and Australia were 38 for 4. Bosisto and Travis Head had to rescue the innings, like they had against England and Bangladesh.

Road to Final

India's Journey: Lost to West Indies by four wickets, beat Zimbabwe by 63 runs, beat Papua New Guinea by 107 runs, beat Pakistan by one wicket in the quarter-final, beat New Zealand by nine runs in the semi-final.

Australia's Journey: Defeated England by six wickets, beat Nepal by 212 runs, beat Ireland by six wickets, beat Bangladesh by five wickets in the quarter-final, and beat South Africa by four wickets in the semi-final.

Indian Skipper Unmukt Chand and Australian Captain William Bosisto were named Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament, respectively.

London Olympics 2012: When Will India Win Gold Medal?

London, capital of the United Kingdom, brought the curtain down on a glorious Olympic Games on August 12 in a spectacular, technicolor pageant of landmarks, lightshows and lots of fun. The headline performers were each paid a pound, a little more than $1.50.

More than 10,500 athletes from 204 nations took part in the London Games (July 27–August 12) staged in this historic city for an unprecedented third time. A total of 2.18 million people attended the 58 games across the two tournaments, compared to the previous record of 2.13 million in the 2008 Beijing Olympics - with the men's final crowd of 86,162, the biggest. It all came at a price tag of $14 billion, three times the original estimate. But nobody wanted to spoil the fun with such mundane concerns, at least not on this night. The 2012 Olympic Games were packed with sporting highlights, personal dramas and emotional highs and lows.

Similar to the opening ceremony, the United Kingdom again showcased its rich music repertoire combined with some stunning visual and lighting effects at the closing ceremony watched by an estimated two billion global audience.

The United States and China predictably emerged as the powerhouses by taking the first and second spots in the medals tally while hosts Britain produced their best-ever show to take the third position. The United States with 104 medals (46 gold, 29 silver, and 29 bronze) edged China (87 medals – 38 gold, 27 silver, and 22 bronze)in both the gold medal and total medal standings, eclipsing its best performance at an Olympics on foreign soil after the Dream Team narrowly held off Spain in basketball for the country’s 46th gold.

Britons, who had fretted for weeks that the games would become a fiasco, were buoyed by their biggest medal haul since 1908 with 65 medals in all (29 gold, 17 silver, and 19 bronze).

Russia could manage to get fourth place with 82 medals (24 gold, 25 silver, and 23 bronze).

India too had their moments of glory at the Olympic Games as it notched up its best ever medal tally of six (2 silver and 4 bronze).

Saudi Arabia's first female athlete The kingdom sent female athletes to a Games for the first time, ensuring every country competing was represented by both sexes. Judoka Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani, a painfully shy teenager with no international experience and wearing an ill-fitting suit and headcovering, made a brave debut in front of a global audience of millions. She lasted only 80 seconds but won plenty of applause nonetheless.

Michael Phelps Creates History

Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian of all time, the US 4x200m freestyle relay gold giving him a 19th medal after bittersweet silver in the 200m butterfly. Phelps' record of 15 Olympic gold medals includes eight from his spectacular Beijing Games campaign as well as six from Athens in 2004.

He also won two bronze in Athens and has won two silver in London. South Africa's Chad le Clos denied Phelps' bid for a 200m butterfly treble by a hair yesterday, but silver allowed the US superstar the consolation of matching Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina's record of 18 Olympic medals. Phelps returned an hour later and teamed with Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berens to capture the 4x200m free relay gold ahead of France and China.For most of the race, it looked like Phelps would make his 18th career medal gold.

But Le Clos, third at the final turn but clinging stubbornly to Phelps and Takeshi Matsuda, relentlessly pressed his challenge and plunged past Phelps at the finish to win in 1min 52.96sec.

Phelps, who had led at every turn in a quest to become the first man to win the same Olympic swimming event at three successive Games, was just five-hundredths of a second back in 1:53.01 and Matsuda settled for bronze in 1:53.21.

Le Clos, 20, thrust his body out of the water in delight upon seeing the scoreboard. Then he perched on a lane rope with his head in his hands as he tried to absorb his achievement in his first Olympics.

Phelps has dominated the 200m fly for a decade. He owns the four fastest times in history and his world record of 1min 51.51sec is more than one second faster than the second-best performer in history.

Bolt’s Spectacular Achievement

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt became an Olympic legend by repeating as champion in both the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints. Michael Phelps ended his long career as the most decorated Olympian in history.

Bolt wins (and wins and wins) The world's fastest man and his Jamaica relay team mates provided three of the enduring moments of the Games. The showman opened his campaign with a Games record in the 100 meters, followed up by becoming the first man to retain his titles in the 100 and 200m - where Jamaica finished 1-2-3 - and then anchored the 4x100 relay to a world record time.

The moment where Bolt and Yohan Blake caught each others' eyes as they crossed the finish line in the 200, with the winner putting his finger to his lips to silence the young pretender, was a classic moment of theater.

Women Athletes Steal Show

British distance runner Mo Farah became a national treasure by sweeping the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races, and favorite daughter Jessica Ennis became a global phenomenon with her victory in the heptathlon.

Female athletes took centre stage in a way they never had before. American gymnast Gabby Douglas soared to gold, the U.S. soccer team made a dramatic march to the championship. Packed houses turned out to watch the new event of women’s boxing. And women competed for Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei for the first time.

And then there was Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee from South Africa running on carbon-fiber blades, who didn’t win a medal but nonetheless left a champion. And sprinter Manteo Mitchell, who completed his leg of the 4x400 relay semifinal on a broken leg, allowing his team to qualify and win silver.

Sarolta Establishes Swimming Record

Hungary's Sarolta Kovacs broke the Olympic record for the swimming leg of the women's modern pentathlon on August 12 while her compatriot Adrienn Toth took an overall lead in the race for the last gold medal of the London Games. A sport invented by Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, the event involves fencing, swimming, horse-riding, shooting and running. At the 2012 Olympics, it takes place in a single day at three separate venues.

In the swimming leg, a 200 meters freestyle race, the two fastest swimmers both broke the previous Olympic record of 2:08.86. Kovacs set a new record of 2:08.11 while Britain's Samantha Murray clocked 2:08.20.

India’s Performance

Wrestler Sushil Kumar won India their sixth and final medal of the Games after settling for a silver in the final of the men’s 66kg freestyle event. Sushil looked almost unstoppable till Japanese Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu halted his charge, getting the better of him 3-1 in the final.

Two medals in two Olympic Games - a bronze at Beijing and now a silver. The 29-year-old Sushil Kumar has become a living legend. He is the only Indian athlete to win two medals in the Olympic Games in individual events. That's a victory enough - a gold would have been a bonus. He came close, though, reaching the final of the 66kg freestyle wrestling before being outclassed by Japan's Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu in two periods. The excellence of the Japanese was reason enough for Sushil's defeat, if more weren't needed. But a team official let out the fact that Sushil, suffering the effects of dehydration, had an upset stomach and had been vomiting - and that one minute before he was to go out for the final, he was in the toilet, for the sixth time.

Twenty-six-year-old Vijay Kumar took the silver in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event with 30 out of 40 shots. He started with a perfect five, shooting his targets in four seconds in a final in which the reigning world champion Alexei Klimov went medal-less.

Twenty-nine-year-old Mary Kom, went down to Britain’s Nicol Adams 6-11 in a women’s boxing semi-final bout to settle for a bronze in the women’s fly weight category. Mary, a five-time world champion, fought gallantly but was clearly outpunched, much to the dismay of a sizeable Indian crowd.

Manipur boxer Mary won her first two rounds without much bother but, confronted with a superior 51kg boxer, it was amply evident that she was out of her class today. Nicola, three inches taller than Mary, was quicker on her feet and her punches were heavier. Nicola also has a baffling ability to change from orthodox to southpaw stance during a fight - Mary was thoroughly confounded by this British package.

Saina Nehwal's dream run ended in the London Olympics when she went down in straight games to 24-year-old World No.1 Wang Yihan of China in the Semi Finals. Even though Saina had never beaten Yihan in any of their previous five encounters, much was expected of the Indian in this crucial encounter considering Saina's form in this Olympics. But she came a cropper yet again without putting up much of a fight.

Saina made the tactical mistake of playing too flat, too often which suited the Chinese. She should have cleared higher and tried to move Yihan out of her base more often. Saina did this on a few occasions especially in the second game, but that was not enough. The Chinese was certainly the faster of the two and had the advantage of the height as well. More often than not Yihan attached Saina's forehand to create the openings which she finished with a smash. Rather than Saina winning the bronze medal, did Wang lose it?

She did lead 14-6 at one point, but Saina won 12 of the last 19 points, and four in a row to jump from 14 to 18; she was serving at 17-20 when Wang, trying to move to her right and back, got injured. She landed on her right foot, hit the shuttle out, and fell down.

The big names like shooters Abhinav Bindra and Ronjan Sodhi, archer Deepika Kumari and Beijing bronze medalist boxer Vijender Singh returned empty-handed. All of them were serious medal contenders.

The much-hyped men`s hockey players were the worst offenders as they lost all their six matches to finish 12th and last, the worst-ever performance in the history of the Games if one overlooks the country’s failure to even make it to the 2008 Olympics. Never in the history of Indian hockey has a team finished last in the Olympics, an 8th finish in the Atlanta Olympic Games being their worst show before the London debacle.

New Delhi’s Gold Dream

Also, while we have reason to be proud of our show in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, these events are not even comparable to the Olympics, and success in them is no indicator that we have suddenly emerged as a major sporting country. That will take a long time in coming, and will come only if we take the right steps today. Unfortunately, for all these years, despite the grand announcements of the sports administrators, little of substance has been done to evolve a clear-cut and time-bound sports policy to spot and groom potential medal winners.

 Many of our sports organizations are run by politicians as their personal fiefdom and are far removed from professional considerations. We have had instances of coaches and administrators indulging in favoritism and malicious manipulations. In recent times, several of the country's well-known sportspersons have openly spoken out against these instances. While the administrators take care of their needs, the athletes are left to fend for themselves with the bare minimum amenities.

For instance, there were reports that a participant at the Olympics had been given just a fraction of his allowances and promised that the rest would follow. When those of our performing sportspersons are given shoddy treatment, the erstwhile stars can expect no better. The humiliation of athlete and medalist Pinki Pramanik and the financially embattled runner Santhi Soundarajan are cases in point. The country cannot expect to rise as a prominent sporting nation if its athletes are treated like dirt while scams of monumental proportion engulf the very organizations that are supposed to promote sports.

A large number of medals is on offer in the track and field events as well as aquatics, and we lag far behind in these disciplines. Despite the brave words of our athletes and officials, it is unlikely — barring a major miracle — that our participants will get to stand on the podium for these events. Our expectations, therefore, must be largely limited to prospects in the areas of wrestling, archery, shooting, boxing, badminton and tennis. Even in these sports, it is not that we have a chance to corner all the medals. In tennis, for instance, we have chances in the doubles and mixed doubles. It would be commendable enough if our sportspersons in other disciplines put up a good show and better their own records.

Assessment

Watched by billions, the Olympics provide the ultimate stage for any athlete and each successive Games etches new names on the world's sporting consciousness. Some dominate a single Olympics, like U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz at Munich in 1972, while others — like Phelps, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina or "Flying Finn" Paavo Nurmi - blaze a trail of victories over two or more Games.Some, like boxing gold medalist Cassius Clay in 1960, use the Olympics as a platform for glory in a different arena. As Muhammad Ali, he became world heavyweight champion and one of the greatest sportsmen of the 20th century.

Wonderful as the Olympics were, it is doubtful whether London 2012 can be described as the greatest Games ever. For India, the end result — two silver and four bronze medals — was far better than the shambolic start in which an intruder freely walked with the contingent in the Opening Ceremony. The medal return may, however, not have been commensurate with expectations in the wake of the best possible training the 83-member squad was given.

It is a myth that all the medals India has won in the Olympics is in indirect proportion to its population of 1.2 billion simply because less than 1.2 million of them have access to international-quality sporting facilities in the country. With over `300 crore spent preparing, of which about 60 crore came from private sources, the London Games were also the most expensive for India with athletes free to train in the most suitable locations across the globe.

The next Olympic Games will take place in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America.