Malala Yousafzai, born 12 July 1997 is a school student and education activist from the town of Mingora in the Swat District of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She is known for hereducation and women’s rights activism in the Swat Valley, where the Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. In early 2009, at the age of 11/12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban rule, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls.The following summer, a New York Times documentary was filmed about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region, culminating in the Second Battle of Swat.Yousafzai began to rise in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television and taking a position as chairperson of the District Child Assembly Swat.She has since been nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize by Desmond Tutu and has won Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize. A number of prominent individuals, including the Canadian Minister of Citizenship, are supporting a petition to nominate Yousafzai for the Nobel Peace Prize.
On 9 October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school bus. In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition,but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to a hospital in the United Kingdom for intensive rehabilitation. On 12 October, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin.
Former British Prime Minister and current UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown launched a United Nations petition in Yousafzai’s name, using the slogan “I am Malala” and demanding that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015. Brown said he would hand the petition to Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari in November. UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon has announced that November 10 will be celebrated as Malala day.
Early life
Malala Yousafzai was born into a Muslim family of Pashtun ethnicity in July 1997 and given her first name, Malala, meaning “grief stricken”,after Malalai of Maiwand, a Pashtun poetess and warrior woman.Her last name, Yousufzai, is that of a large Pashtun tribal confederation that is predominant in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, where she grew up. At her house in Mingora, she lived with her two younger brothers, her parents, and two pet chickens.She affectionately referred to the region as “my Swat.”
Yousafzai was shaped in large part by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner and an educational activist himself, running a chain of schools known as the Khushal Public School, also named after a famous Pashtun poet, Khushal Khan Khattak.She once stated to an interviewer that she would like to become a doctor, though later her father encouraged her to become a politician instead.It has also been indicated that she may have wanted to be a pilot.Ziauddin referred to his daughter as something entirely special, permitting her to stay up at night and talk about politics after her two brothers had been sent to bed.
Yousafzai apparently started speaking about education rights as early as September 2008. Her father took her to Peshawar to speak at the local press club. “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” Yousafzai told her audience in a speech that was covered by newspapers and television channels, throughout the region.
Best Quote:Sharing Knowledge is greater than Sharing Anything…………Vistaar Vinu.
“Hawala” , a word which is making headlines very often these days and can be easily associated with Naresh Jain, Madhu Koda, Hasan Ali Khan and many other Hawala Kings. But, What exactly is Hawala? How it works? and Why is this illegal ? These are some of the questions which I was bombarded with by one of my friends . So here goes a set of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about the ever eluding Hawala.
- The commission rates for transferring money through hawala are quite low
- No requirement of any id proof and disclosure of source of income is there
- It has emerged as a reliable and efficient system of remittance
- As there is no physical movement of cash, hawala operators provide better exchange rates as compared to the official exchange rates
- It is a simple and hassle free process when compared to the extensive documentation being done by the banks
- It is the only way to transfer unaccounted income
Is Government encouraging Hawala?
The present CBI Director once said that more than $ 500 billion of Indian black money was stashed abroad. A major chunk of this money is believed to be lying in Swiss banks in Switzerland. Would this money every come back to India? Developments of the last few years have given a ray of hope that if Indian Government acted tough like its US counterpart did a few years back, India also might get access to the list of those having their undeclared accounts abroad. However, Indian government seems to be more interested in helping the guilty rather than punishing them.
In July 2011, Indian Government received a list of roughly 700 people having bank accounts in HSBC, Geneva. The list contains bank balances of these people in 2006. We could not access all the names but the following names do appear in that list:
Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambai – Rs 100 crores
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani – Rs 100 crores
Motech Software Private Ltd (Reliance Group company) – Rs 2,100 crores
Reliance Industries Ltd – Rs 500 crores
Sandeep Tandon – Rs 125 crores
Anu Tandon – Rs 125 crores
Kokila Dhirubhai Ambani – She has an account but there was no balance on that date
Naresh Kumar Goyal – Rs 80 crores
Burmans (3 family members) – Rs 25 crores
Yashovardhan Birla – no balance
Vistaar Vinu.
Even as the Congress party and the Haryana government insist Robert Vadra’s real estate dealings in the State are private transactions that did not involve any illegality, new evidence indicates that the businessman — who is also Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law — was provided access to a web of politically-connected property developers that went out of its way to help him build his realty empire.
It all began with Satyanand Yajee, who, together with Godavari Yajee, owns Onkareshwar Properties Pvt. Ltd, which sold Mr. Vadra’s Sky Light Hospitality 3.5 acres in Shikohpur village in Gurgaon in March 2008 — his first known foray into the real estate business.
Mr. Satyanand Yajee, as first reported by Business Standard, has strong links to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as well as Venod Sharma, the State’s former Power Minister who was forced to resign following allegations that he tried to bribe a witness in the Jessica Lal murder case, for which his son Manu Sharma, now stands convicted. His second son Kartikeya Sharma heads Information TV Pvt. Ltd., which has recently acquired control of the News X television channel, in addition to his existing Haryana-based media house, the Aaj Samaj group and Good Morning India Media Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. Satyanand Yajee helped Mr. Vadra by not presenting cheque no. 607251 dated February 9, 2008, drawn by his company, Sky Light Hospitality, on Corporation Bank for Rs. 7.5 crore, which is mentioned in the sale deed registered on February 12, 2008. As earlier reported in The Hindu, though the amount is shown as an overdraft in Sky Light’s balance sheet, Corporation Bank has clarified that it did not give the company an overdraft. With the stamp duty of Rs. 45,00,000 the total land cost came to Rs. 7.9 crore. This amount is reflected in the 2008 balance sheets of Onkareshwar Properties as ‘sundry debtor’. However, revenue officials point out that since the payment for the land was not received through the cheque mentioned in the sale deed, it would fall foul of Section 82 of the Registration Act, 1908 since the payment of Rs. 7.5 crore was not completed between vendor and vendee, and would ordinarily invite penalty under the Act.
However, Mr. Satyanand Yajee is no ordinary businessman and he did not complain about the unusual cheque. As the general secretary of the All India Freedom Fighters Organisation (AIFFO), he is in-charge of constructing and maintaining a memorial for Chief Minister Hooda’s father Chaudhary Ranbir Singh in Rohtak. Mr. Hooda and Mr. Satyanand Yajee are also office-bearers of the All India Freedom Fighters Successors Organisation, both being sons of prominent freedom fighters Chaudhary Ranbir Chaudhary and Sheel Bhadra Yajee respectively.
On 15 July 2009, the Haryana government allotted a site of 2.5 acres in the green belt of Rohtak’s Industrial Model Township (IMT) on NH 8 at a concessional rate of Rs 50 lakh per acre to the AIFFO, for the memorial. As the organisation’s general secretary, Mr. Satyanand Yajee is the point man for the project, and it is common knowledge in Rohtak that the man has the Chief Minister’s ear.
On 11 April 2008, one month after Mr. Vadra’s Sky Light Hospitality was given a letter of intent to develop his land in Shikohpur (on 28 March 2008) a consortium of five companies that includes Mr. Satyanand Yajee’s Onkareshwar Properties and Mark Buildtech owned by Mr. Kartikeya Sharma were given a licence for group housing on 19.362 acres in the same village. Curiously, the address given by Mark Buildtech (Flat No 714, Hemkunt Chambers 89, Nehru Place, New Delhi) is the same as that given by Onkareshwar Properties in its sale deed 12/2/2008 through which it sold the Shikohpur land to Mr. Vadra. The two companies also have at least three common directors who have entered and exited the two companies at different times.
At around the same time, in March and May 2008, Mark Buildtech was granted two separate commercial zone licences for 6.1 acres in adjoining Sihi village. This is in addition to two commercial zone licences granted to Mr. Venod Sharma’s flagship Piccadilly Hotels Pvt Ltd in 2007 on 6.3 acres in Kherki Daula, in the same vicinity. According to the 2009 and 2010 balance sheets of Onkareshwar properties, the company has invested in shares of Good Morning India Pvt. Ltd and Information TV Pvt. Ltd. This is very similar to the investment pattern seen in the balance sheets of Mark Buildtech, which has also bought shares of its sister media companies. Both Mr. Kartikeya Sharma and Mr. Satyanand Yajee did not respond to calls made to their respective telephone numbers, till the filing of this report.
Onkareshwar Properties was incorporated in 2004 with a paid up capital of Rs. one lakh; the company was purchased the next year by Anil and Gautam Bhalla of Vatika Ltd. Mr. Satyanand Yajee became a director on February 18th, 2008 and since then the company’s balance sheets registered a sharp growth. In 2009, it showed profits of Rs. 43 crore. In the same year, it invested Rs. 3 crore in Kartikeya’s media companies and Rs. 25 crore the following year. Its balance sheets also show that the company has maintained its business links with the Vatika group as it regularly takes advances against sale of land from Vatika Ltd. Mark Buildtech also has a similar relationship with Vatika Ltd, according to the balance sheets.
In May 2009, Khurshid Ahmed, another prominent Congress politician of Haryana’s Mewat region, stepped in to sell Mr. Vadra’s Real Earth Estates Pvt. Ltd, approximately 18 acres of his family land in Shakarpuri village of Ferozepur Jhirka. The buzz in Mewat is that Mr. Ahmed’s son, Aftab, who is now the Congress legislator from Nuh, was given the party ticket in the October 2009 elections as a return favour. Aftab, too, did not respond to calls on his cellphone from The Hindu. In nearby Tigaon constituency, Lalit Nagar, brother of Mahesh Nagar, the executor for most of Mr. Vadra’s land deals in Rajasthan and some in Haryana, was also given the Congress ticket. Says Krishan Pal Gujjar, State BJP president and legislator from Tigaon, “The Nagars were a family of modest means till they struck rich by becoming middlemen for land deals. Robert Vadra was one of those serviced by them. J.P. Nagar [not from the same family] has been representing this constituency from the Congress earlier.”
At around the same time, several prominent builders also received substantial concessions on the 10 per cent component for low cost housing that they are supposed to develop in their schemes.
Roughly a month before the announcement of Assembly elections, on 14th July, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Hooda and attended by top realtors, it was decided that as a “one-time relaxation,” all those builders who apply for Group Housing Colony as part of their plotted colony by 15th July 2009 (the next day) “will be allowed to avail the benefit of 10 per cent of the colony area in lieu of 10 per cent area reserved for low cost housing in that particular sector,” according to the minutes of the meeting. This would enable them to build an additional four large flats per acre. The issue was raised in the meeting by Vatika Ltd and among the others who were present that day were representatives of DLF, Unitech, Ansals, Suncity Projects, Emaar MGF, Bestech Ltd, Raheja Developers Ltd, TDI ltd, Countrywide Promoters BPTP and Omaxe Ltd.
Following the political uproar after the October 16 expose in The Hindu about the sudden transfer of Haryana’s Inspector-General of Registration Ashok Khemka after he initiated inquiries into Mr. Vadra’s land deals, the government formed a three-member committee headed by an additional chief secretary to look into the matter.
Within nine days, the government announced that according to the reports sent by the deputy commissioners of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal and Mewat, no undervaluation has been recorded in any land deal by Mr. Vadra’s companies and that there has been no revenue loss to the government. The government’s widely circulated press release forwarded the ‘conclusion’ arrived at by the sub-registrars regarding the valuation of properties. But some in the Haryana bureaucracy have asked how the tehsildars could have implicated themselves by arriving at a different conclusion that there was undervaluation. “Undervaluation can only be assessed by examining the nature of land use which is licensed by the Department of Town and Country Planning, as the value is embedded in the land use, There is an apparent conflict of interest in tasking the tehsildars to give to themselves a clean chit,” said a top revenue officer on condition of anonymity.
COURTESY-THE HINDU,CHANDIGARH, November 2, 2012-Chander Suta Dogra
Hope it was Informvative
Vistaar Vinu.
“There is no such thing, at this date of the world’s history, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell the country for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press. We are the tools and vassals of the rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes”.
John Swinton, Chief of Staff of New York Times, was called the ‘Dean of his profession’ by the industry. This is a speech he made to the New York Press Club in the US in 1880.
Her name is Putta sidamma,aged around 95,lives near Srinagar,Bangalore,from past 8 months the Government has stopped her Rs.500 monthly pension,which was helping her a lot in buying her medicines but now its very difficult for her to lead the life,staying in the rented sheeted house and leading the life.I wonder how Government officials are not taking any call on these poor peoples,like her there may be lots of people who are got cheated by the Government programmes,wherein they don’t get the benefits from it as there is a lot of scams been taking place in issuing the schemes to the proper needful people as majority of the funding are utilised by the Ministers and the Government Officials,finally our mind leaves a question without the answer to the corruption that we are facing in day to day lives……….
Vinodh.
Recent Gujrat election have witnessed unaccountable money paid to media perons both, printand electronic by Saudi Arabia to discredit Modi and the Hindutva forces, which Media did veryfithfully without success. Most of the media is controlled by Christian missionary groups or CIA.The rest of the media is controlled by Gulf muslims.
There are several major publishing groups in India, the most prominent among them being theTimes of India Group,
The Indian Express Group,
The Hindustan Times Group,
The Hindu group,
The Anandabazar Patrika Group,
The Eenadu Group,
The Malayalam Manorama Group,
The Mathrubhumi group,
The Sahara group,
The Bhaskar group,and the Dainik Jagran group.
Let us see the ownership of different media agencies
NDTV: A very popular TV news media is funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain supportsCommunism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because PakistanPresident has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan. Indian CEO Prannoy Roy is co- brother of Prakash Karat, General Secretary of Communist party of India.His wife and BrindaKarat are sisters. India Today is now bought by NDTV and and is a Hindu bashing media.
CNN-IBN: This is 100 percent funded by Southern Baptist Church with its branches in all over the world with HQ in US. The Church annually allocates $800 million for promotion of itschannel. Its Indian head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.
Times group list:
Times Of India, Mid-Day, Nav-Bharth Times, Stardust , Femina, Vijaya Times, VijayaKarnataka, Times now (24- hour news channel) and many more. Times Group is owned byBennet & Coleman. ‘World Christian Council’ does 80 percent of the Funding, and anEnglishman and an Italian equally share balance 20 percent. The Italian Robertio Mindo is aclose relative of Sonia Gandhi.
Star TV: It is run by an Australian, who is supported by St. Peters Pontificial Church Melbourne.
Hindustan Times: Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in Collobration with Times Group.
The Hindu:English daily, started over 125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society,Berne, Switzerland. N.Ram’s wife is a Swiss national.
Indian Express:. The Indian Express and new Indian Express (southern edition) ACTS ChristianMinistries have major stake in the Indian Express and the new Indian Express.
Eeenadu: Still to date controlled by an Indian named Ramoji Rao. Ramoji Rao is connected withfilm industry and owns a huge studio in Andhra Pradesh .
Andhra Jyothi: The Muslim party of Hyderabad known as MIM along with a Congress Minister has purchased this Telgu daily very recently.The Statesman: It is controlled by Communist Party of India.
Kairali TV: It is controlled by Communist party of India (Marxist)Mathrubhoomi: Leaders of Muslim League and Communist leaders have major investment.
Mathrubhoomi: Leaders of Muslim League and Communist leaders have major investment.
Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle: Is owned by a Saudi Arabian Company with its chief Editor M.J. Akbar.
Gujrat riots which took place in 2002 where Hindus were burnt alive, Rajdeep Sardesai andBharkha Dutt working for Star TV at time got around 5 Million Dollars from Saudi Arabia tocover only Muslim victims which they did very faithfully. Not a single Hindu family theycovered whose near and dear ones had been burnt alive, it is reported. Recently the OUTLOOK also carried the photos of relatives of muslim victims of Hyderabad blast.
Tarun Tejpal of Tehelka.comregularly gets flat check from Arab countries to target BJP andHindus only, it is said.
Malyayamanorama and the Deepika are owned by CIA and locally represented by KeralaChristians.
The ownership explains the control of media in India by foreigners. The result is obvious.
P R E F A C E:
Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is a voluntary organization constituted in the year 1948.
Going back six decades when the concept of circulation audit was yet to be established in our
country, advertisers had no means to know the actual circulation numbers of publications that
they used for advertising and had to depend more on their own judgement. Publishers also
found it difficult to convince advertisers of the relative values of their publication for the purpose
of advertising. It is with this background, eminent representatives of the advertising profession
and publishing industry came together to establish an organization which could serve common
interest. Since then the benefit of ABC certificate of circulation have been availed by
advertisers, advertising agencies, publishers and organisations connected with print media
advertising.
The primary objective of the Bureau is to secure accurate circulation figures and data relating to
all periodicals and media that sell advertising space and in regard to such publications to obtain
information as to area of distribution and fix standard forms and methods for ascertaining the
circulation figures and to record such information and circulate it to members of the ABC.
Bureau certifies circulation figures of member publications for a six-monthly audit period i.e.
January to June and July to December. The system envisages a comprehensive audit of
printing, distribution, financial and production records of member publications by a panel of
approved auditors as per the audit guidelines laid down by the Bureau from time to time.
AUDIT GUIDELINES:
Appointment of Publisher Auditor:
Publisher members are required to appoint a firm of Publisher Auditor which is
empanelled with the Bureau, a list of which is available on the Bureau’s website:
http://www.auditbureau.org. A firm of Publisher Auditor may carry out publisher’s circulation
audit for a maximum period of two years or four half-yearly audit periods. Thereafter, a
publisher member is required to appoint another firm of Publisher Auditor from amongst
the empanelled firms.
The same firm of Publisher Auditor may be considered for re-appointment by a
publisher member only after a clear gap of four six monthly audit periods.
The terms of appointment, fees etc. to be mutually decided between a publisher member
and a publisher auditor.
However, with effect from audit period January-June 2012, following limits would apply :
· A firm of empanelled publisher auditor may undertake maximum circulation audits of
upto 25 editions / printing centres of a title registered with the Bureau [Incoming
Certificates are separately filed with the Bureau for each printing centre and / or
edition as applicable].
· No limit with respect to the number of circulation audits one empanelled publisher
auditor may undertake in case of member publications from the same group of
publications.
· An empanelled firm of publisher auditor would mean a firm which is separately
registered with The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and having a
separate firm registration number
All publications of a group not members of the Bureau:
Publishers who publish more than one publication, all of which are not members of the
Bureau and separate books of accounts are not maintained for non member publications
then under such circumstances the publisher should provide access to the auditor to
enable him examine records pertaining to non member publications.
In cases where non member publications are offered to a reader along with member
publications under any scheme then it is incumbent upon the publisher to provide full
access to the auditor for scrutiny of books and records pertaining to non member
publications
Books and records to be audited:
Each audit should include financial, sales and statistical audit to the satisfaction of the
auditor in order to establish the qualifying sales. For that purpose auditors should call for
relevant books and records and information as may be required from the publisher.
However, the financial audit should be limited to ascertain to the satisfaction of the
auditor the circulation figures to be certified without going into other financial records
which have no bearing on the publisher’s circulation figures. Scrutiny of various
accounts heads in general ledger should be done for those accounts pertaining to sale of
copies.
For a satisfactory audit, an auditor should not limit his scrutiny of publishers books and
records placed before him but his audit should include physical verification of actual
printing and despatch of the publication including actual sale of copies to the trade which
may be ascertained through market visits, interaction with distribution trade as well as
seeking direct confirmations from newsprint suppliers, agents, principal agents and
others involved in sales of copies.
BUREAU AUDITS:
Surprise recheck audit :
· Circumstances under which a surprise recheck audit by Bureau’s Auditors are
normally caused:
1. New Publication being enrolled to Bureau Membership.
2. Starting of a new publication centre / edition of an existing publication.
3. Reduction in cover price which could possibly result in change
(increase) in the trade terms / NRR.
4. Increase in circulation figures individually for an edition and / or printing
centre as decided by the Bureau’s Council of Management from time to
time.
5. Circulation figures of a publication for the previous audit period are
either not filed or not certified by the Bureau for any reason.
6. Result of surprise check and/or surprise recheck audit of the previous
period is unsatisfactory or there are issues arising from the surprise
check/surprise recheck audit report which needs to be verified for
compliance before certification of circulation figures.
7. Any other reason for which the committee feels a surprise recheck audit
is necessary (reasons to be recorded).
Direct Bureau Audit:
If desired by a prospecting publisher member, a new publication / edition / printing
centre to be enrolled to Bureau membership may be directly put through Bureau’s
audit by Bureau’s Auditors at publisher’s expense prior to admission provided a written
request is received by the Bureau atleast one month before the end of the respective
audit period.
The same also applies to existing publisher members desirous of availing this service.
Enrolment of new editions / printing centres:
Publisher members are required to separately enroll a new printing centre and / or
edition with the Bureau. Publisher members are also required to submit separate
Incoming Certificate for each printing centre and / or edition. Publisher members may
request for a combined or separate ABC certificate of circulation for their various
editions.
Banking of cash collections:
Publisher members are required to deposit into the bank on the same day or the next
working day cash received from all sources viz. sale of copies, advertisement receipts
and from any other source.
Cash required by the publisher for day-to-day disbursement should be separately
withdrawn and not adjusted from the daily cash collection.
Auditor should verify this aspect and establish that actual cash received on all days has
been deposited into the bank in full on the same day or next working day and such a
transaction is not merely a book entry
Monthly bank reconciliation statements should be up-to-date and available for Auditor’s
verification.
Books and records to be audited:
Each audit should include financial, sales and statistical audit to the satisfaction of the
auditor in order to establish the qualifying sales. For that purpose auditors should call for
relevant books and records and information as may be required from the publisher.
However, the financial audit should be limited to ascertain to the satisfaction of the
auditor the circulation figures to be certified without going into other financial records
which have no bearing on the publisher’s circulation figures. Scrutiny of various
accounts heads in general ledger should be done for those accounts pertaining to sale of
copies.
For a satisfactory audit, an auditor should not limit his scrutiny of publishers books and
records placed before him but his audit should include physical verification of actual
printing and despatch of the publication including actual sale of copies to the trade which
may be ascertained through market visits, interaction with distribution trade as well as
seeking direct confirmations from newsprint suppliers, agents, principal agents and
others involved in sales of copies.
Hope the Information was useful………..
Vinodh.
The key accusations:
1) In 2006, Mani Shankar Iyer was removed and Murli Deora brought in to increase RIL capex from $ 2.39 billion to $ 8.8 billion and to increase gas price from $2.34 per mmBTU to $ 4.2 per mmBTU.(British thermal unit)
2) In 2012, Jaipal Reddy has been removed and Veerappa Moily brought in to increase gas prices from $ 4.2 per mmBTU to $ 14.2 mmBTU.
3) Huge benefits given to RIL in last one decade despite flagrant violations of various agreements by RIL including its commitment to provide gas to a astate-owned power company. Benefits to RIL caused serious price rise in the country.
4) If RIL demand of increasing the gas price to $ 14.2 is accepted, it would lead to shut down of several gas-based power plants. Power and fertilizer prices will increase. It would result in Rs 43,000 crore of additional benefits to RIL.
5) Both the BJP and the Congress are involved in the KG Basin deals with RIL. BJP signed the KG basin deal with RIL in 2000 and Congress implemented it.
Text of IAC’s press release:
In 2006, Mani Shankar Iyer was removed and Murli Deora brought in to increase RIL capex from $2.39 billion to $8.8 billion and to increase gas price from $2.34 per mmBTU to $ 4.2 per mmBTU.
In 2012, Jaipal Reddy has been removed and Moily brought in to increase gas prices from $ 4.2 per mmBTU to $ 14.2 mmBTU and to condone RIL’s blackmailing of reducing gas production.
Huge benefits given to RIL in last one decade despite flagrant violations of various agreements by RIL. Benefits to RIL causing serious price rise in the country.
Both BJP and Congress involved. BJP signed a sweet deal with RIL in 2000. Congress faithfully implemented it.
If RIL demand of increasing the gas price to $ 14.2 is accepted, it would lead to shut down of several gas based power plants and increase in power and fertilizer prices. It would result in Rs 43,000 crores of additional benefits to RIL.
In the Nira Radia tapes, Ranjan Bhattacharya (Vajpayee’s son in law) is heard telling Nira that Mukesh Ambani told him –“Congress to ab apni dukaan hai.” Facts below show that both Congress and BJP are in his pocket.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has the contract to extract oil from KG Basin. Under an agreement of 2009 with the government, they are supposed to sell gas at $ 4.2 per mmBTU upto 31st March 2014. Midway now, RIL is demanding that the price be increased to $ 14.2 per mmBTU. Jaipal Reddy resisted that and he was thrown out.
Jaipal Reddy had prepared a note for EGOM, in which he mentioned that acceptance of RIL’s demand would mean an additional profit of Rs43,000 crores ($8.5 billion) to RIL(in 2 years) at current levels of low production. Most of this gas is used in fertilizer and power production. Increasing gas price would mean an additional financial burden of Rs 53,000Crores ($ 10.5 billion) on central and state government (copy of relevant page of EGOM note is attached as annexure 1). This would in turn mean higher electricity and fertilizer prices in the country or a higher subsidy burden.
In order to pressurize the government, RIL substantially reduced its production of natural gas. Total consumption of natural gas in the country is 156 mmscmd. According to agreement, RIL was supposed to produce 80mmscmd (more than 50% of the total demand) from 2009. However, they are producing just 27 mmscmd, almost a third of their commitment. Production has been artificially kept low to blackmail the government. They are not just hoarding the gas, but also forcing various consumers to buy gas from abroad. Gas from abroad costs around $ 13 per mmBTU.
RIL’s stand is simple – “hum to gas $14.2 par hi denge, lena hai to lo, nahin to jao.” Who does this gas belong to? According to Supreme Court of India and the Indian Constitution, this gas belongs to the people of India. Complete surrender of UPA before RIL indicates UPA’s inability to run governance in accordance with the Constitution.
Drastic reduction in production has forced many gas based power plants in the country to shut down or run at much lower capacity. According to media reports, almost 9000 MW of gas based power plants are lying idle. Today, power from gas based power plant costs around Rs 3 per KWH. If gas price is increased from $ 4.2 to $ 14.2 as demanded by Reliance, power rates would go upto Rs 7 per KWH. That’s too expensive. At that cost, most of these plants would have to permanently shut down.
This is not the first time that a union minister has been eased out at Mukesh Ambani’s insistence. In 2006, when RIL had to get its capex increased from $ 2.39 billion dollars to $ 8.8 billion dollars, Mani Shankar Iyer was removed and a more Reliance friendly MurliDeora was brought in.
Brief history:
RIL got this contract during NDA regime in the year 2000. The contract was meant to favor RIL right from the beginning. In any business, increase in costs means decrease in profits. However, the NDA government , signed a contract dictated by RIL wherein an increase in cost by one rupee meant additional profits of RIL by almost Rs 2.2. Isn’t it strange? A parameter called Investment Multiple has been defined in the contract as under:
Investment Multiple (IM) = Total Revenue / Total Investment
According to the contract, till IM is below 1.5, RIL takes away more than 80% of profits and government gets less than 20 per cent of profits. It is only when IM becomes more than 2.5 that government gets 85 per cent. This means, RIL has a huge incentive to keep IM below 1.5 by increasing the expenditure artificially. Thus if Reliance were to increase expenditure from 1 Billion to 2 Billion on a revenue of 5 billion, their own net income would go up from 1.6 Billion to 3.5 Billion. This is what the CAG has stated in para 8.1 of its performance Audit of Hydrocarbon PSCs. (extract from executive summary of CAG as annexure 2)
In 2004, RIL submitted an Initial Development Plan (IDP) saying they would produce 40 mmscmd for an investment of $ 2.39 billion. All this happened when Ram Naik was the petroleum minister in Vajpayee regime.
Within 2 years, RIL submitted another plan saying they would produce 80 mmscmd for an increased investment of $ 8.8 billion. Doesn’t that sound strange? To double production, you increase your investment by four times? Having put the initial infrastructure in place, it should have cost lesser to create additional production capacity.
Mani Shankar Iyer, who was the then Petroleum minister, would not have allowed this. So, Mani was shunted out of petroleum ministry and Murli Deora, famous to be Reliance man, was brought in January 2006. Despite strong protests by some MPs like Tapan Sen, Deora approved $ 8.8 billion expenditure. By allowing $ 8.8 billion expenditure, in effect, Deora allowed a future revenue of over Rs 1 lakh crores ($ 20 billion dollars) for RIL.
CAG has remarked that there is strong evidence that RIL is gold plating its capital expenditure. Expenditure has been artificially increased (for reasons mentioned above). For instance, RIL is required to place orders for its plant, machinery and other requirements through international competitive bids. CAG alleges that bids were arbitrarily rejected to favor some parties. Just one company namely Aker group got many contracts (see annexure 3, which is an extract from CAG report). Is this group related to RIL? Is RIL siphoning off money through this method?
RIL’s pressure tactics:
RIL signed a contract with NTPC in 2004 to supply gas for its power plants at $ 2.34 per mmBTU for 17 years. It signed a similar contract with RNRL to supply gas at $ 2.34 per mmBTU. However, RIL went back on its word. Under RIL’s pressure, EGOM headed by Sh Pranab Mukherjee, revised gas price in September 2007 to $ 4.2 per mmBTU. NTPC and RNRL were forced to accept gas from RIL at revised price. By doing this, Pranab Mukherjee headed EGOM gave an undue benefit of Rs8000 crores to RIL.
What is RIL’s actual cost of production?
Cost of production is much less than $ 2.34 per mmBTU. (Copy of extracts from an SC order Annexure 4).RIL had actually signed long term agreements with NTPC and RNRL for supplying gas at that rate for 17 years. This means that at $2.34 per mmBTU also, RIL was making adequate profits. India is getting gas at $ 0.9 per mmBTU from Oman. Gas rates in Canada are at $ 1.74 per mmBTU. This means that at $ 2.34 per mmBTU also, RIL was making huge profits.
RIL sold out nation’s resources:
Ownership rights of this gas belong to the people of India. RIL is just a contractor hired by GOI to extract gas. Strangely, RIL sold 30% stake in 21 of 29 oil blocks to British Petroleum in July 2011 at $ 7.2 billion. Government gave approval to RIL to do that. How can they do that? It is almost like – I hire a driver to drive my car and that driver sells off my car after a few days.
Performance of RIL so far has been much worse than perhaps the worst performing government department.
1. 4 times cost escalation within 2 years from $ 2.39 billion in 2004 to $ 8.8 billion in 2006.
2. Increase in gas price from $ 2.34 per mmBTU in 2004 to $ 4.2 per mmBTU in 2007 to the present demand of $ 14.2 per mmBTU.
3. Capacity created for producing 80 mmscmd after incurring such a huge cost ends up producing just 27 mmscmd after 12 years.
4. 31 oil wells should have been in production till now. Out of them, just 13 are functional.
Has any government department fared as badly? If this had happened in any government department, it would have been ripped apart by all government agencies and media.
RIL scam akin to coal scam:
This scam is on similar lines as Coal block allocation scam. Coal blocks were given away saying that coal production was less in the country and private sector participation would increase coal production. Rather than produce coal, the private parties hoarded coal blocks to sell them at appropriate time in future.
In this case also, oil blocks were given away to RIL on the excuse that oil and gas production in the country was less and private sector participation would bring “efficiency”. Rather than the production going up, RIL is hoarding the gas.
Role of PM:
RIL’s request for increase in gas prices was turned down by Ministry of Petroleum under Jaipal Reddy and EGOM several times in the last 2 years. EGOM had fixed $ 4.2 per mmBTU price for RIL upto 31.3.2014. When Jaipal Reddy did not budge, RIL approached the PM. PM was very sympathetic to RIL. PM requested Ministry of Petroleum to seek AG’s opinion on whether gas prices could be increased midway as demanded by Reliance. It is strange why did the PM not show similar concern when NTPC was forced to accept higher gas price from RIL? Why is the PM not pulling up Reliance for not producing 80 mmscmd gas as per their commitment? Why did the PM not seek legal opinion when country’s interests were at stake? Why is PM showing so much interest when RIL interests are at stake?
Notice to RIL by Jaipal Reddy:
When RIL failed to meet its production targets, Jaipal Reddy decided to disallow their capital expenditure. In the first instance, a notice for disallowance of $ 1 billion expenditure was sent to RIL (Annex 5). This would mean a loss of $2.2 (11,000 Crores) billion to RIL, if we consider IM ratio. Next year, this disallowance could be $ 1.5 billion, which would mean a loss of $ 3.3 billion (16,500 Crores) for RIL.
That is the reason why Mukesh Ambani got restless. And that is the reason why Jaipal Reddy was transferred out.
Real reasons for price rise in the country:
This episode explains the real reasons for price rise in the country. The government seems to be succumbing to illegitimate demands of some powerful corporates in the country (like RIL in this case). Benefits provided to RIL in this case contributed to price rise in power and fertilizer sectors. Similarly, on one hand, government says that they do not have Rs 35,000 crores to provide LPG subsidy to the people, on the other hand, the government bends backwards to provide benefits to these corporate.
COURTESY:CNN-IBN
IBNLIVE.COM
Karnataka Rajyotsava
Kannada Rajyotsava
ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ
Also called Kannada Rajyotsava, Karnataka Formation Day
Observed by Kannadigasin Indiaand overseas
Type State
Significance Unification of Kannada-speaking regions of South India as the state of Karnataka
Date 1 November
Celebrations Hoisting of Karnataka flag, Processions, Cultural events, Rajyotsava Awards
Kannada Rajyotsava (Kannada: ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ; Karnataka Formation Day; literally “Birth of the Karnataka state”) is celebrated on 1 November every year. This was the day in 1956 when all the Kannada language-speaking regions of South India were merged to form the state of Karnataka.
The Rajyotsava day is listed as a government holiday in the state of Karnataka and is celebrated by Kannadigas across the world. It is marked by the announcement and presentation of the honours list for Rajyotsava Awards by the Government of Karnataka, hoisting of Karnataka flag with an address from the Chief Minister and Governor[ of the state along with community festivals, orchestra, Kannada book releases and concerts.
History
Unification of Karnataka
Aluru Venkata Rao was the first person who dreamt of unifying the State as early as 1905 with the Karnataka Ekikarana movement. In 1950, India became republic and different provinces were formed in the country on the basis of language spoken in the particular region and this gave birth to the state of Mysore including various places in south India, which were earlier ruled by the kings.
The Kannada flag, used as an emblem of Kannada culture
On November 1 in 1956, Mysore state, comprising most of the area of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore, was merged with the Kannada-speaking areas of the Bombay and Madras presidencies, as also of the principality of Hyderabad, to create a unified Kannada-speaking sub national entity. North Karnataka, Malnad (Canara) and old Mysore were thus the three regions of the newly formed Mysore state.
The newly unified state initially retained the name “Mysore”, which was that of the erstwhile princely state which formed the core of the new entity.But the people of North Karnataka did not favour the retention of the name Mysore, as it was closely associated with the erstwhile principality and the southern areas of the new state. In deference to this logic, the name of the state was changed to “Karnataka” on November 1, 1973. Devaraj Urs was the Chief Minister of the state when this landmark decision was taken. Other people credited for the unification of Karnataka include littérateurs like K. Shivaram Karanth, Kuvempu, Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, A. N. Krishna Rao and B. M. Srikantaiah.
Celebrations
Rajyotsava day is celebrated with great joy and vigour all over the state of Karnataka. The entire state wears a festive look on this day as the red and yellow Kannada flags are hoisted at different strategic locations across the state and the Kannada anthem (“Jaya Bharatha Jananiya Tanujate”) is chanted.The flag is hoisted at political party offices and several localities even as youth in many areas take out processions on two-wheelers.Religion not being a factor, the Rajyotsava is celebrated by Hindus, Muslims[and Christians as well.
Controversies
Many incidents of public harassment with extreme loud speakers and noises by goons and public disturbances used to be reported during the time of Karnataka Rajyotsava, causing sense of confusion and panic among the non-Kannada speaking population in major cities like Bangalore, also extorting money in the name of celebration This also happens in most cities in India where religious or linguistic based celebrations are organized and people who involve themselves in this are usually immigrants from other states unaware of the spirit or importance of the celebrations. In Belgaum the northern most district of Karnataka there used to be large scale protests against the celebration, since it is considered to be a day of linguistic suppression by the Marathi speaking Belgaum local people.
Government procession
Auto rickshaws and other vehicles are decorated with red and yellow themes signifying the Kannada flag
The state government asserts Rajyotsava awards on this day, which are awarded to people responsible for great contributions in the development of Karnataka.The Chief Minister of the State inaugurates the cultural show which is normally held at Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore.Awards are presented to students who have won medals in various national games.
The celebrations are marked by multicoloured tableaux carrying the picture of the Goddess Bhuvaneshwari mounted on a decorated vehicle.The colourful procession is also accompanied by performances of the folk artists in the fields of drama (Bayalata), traditional dance (Dollu Kunitha, Kamsale, Veeragase, Kolata) and classical carnatic music.
Private establishments
Since Nov 1 is a public holiday, it is celebrated at commercial establishments in the following days of the week. Kannada flags are prominently hoisted and displayed at almost all office and business establishments across the city of Bengaluru. Being a hub of several IT companies, Bengaluru’s major firms like TCS, Wipro, SAP Labs,Accenture, Alcatel-Lucent[ and Infosys encourage employees to showcase the local favour by holding cultural events. The IT crowd show their support by wearing Kannada-themed T-shirts to workplaces.Educational institutions also hold such events at schools along with flag-hoisting and the rendering of naadageethe.
Non-resident Kannadigas
Apart from celebrations in Karnataka, it is also observed in other regions of India with significant Kannadiga population like Mumbai, New Delhi, Gurgaon and Chennai.Overseas Kannada organisations also take part in the festivities by arranging cultural events in countries like USA,Singapore, Dubai, Muscat,South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland and Ireland.
HAPPY KANNADA RAJYOTSAVA 2012
vistaarvinu 