Chhota raja

Minister steals a telephone exchange, loots BSNL

CHENNAI: Indeed a shocking, daring robbery. A telecom central minister from Tamil Nadu got the BSNL to connect 323 telephone lines to his home, not in Delhi where he had work, but in Chennai where he had none. He got all the 323 home lines listed not in his name but in the name of the Chief General Manager BSNL Chennai. These lines virtually constituted a telephone exchange in the minister's home. It was exclusively used for his family business by laying 3.4 km long secret cable along public roads to connect the lines to the business premises. This had caused huge loss to BSNL. Who was that enterprising minister? The infamous A Raja? No. It is the famous Dayanidhi Maran; Raja's predecessor, now the central Textile Minister. The CBI, which probed the fraud, wrote to the Secretary Telecom on 10.9.2007 recommending action against Maran for the fraud.

Dayanidhi Maran was obviously not playing marbles with 323 telephones. He got the BSNL to lay separate and exclusive underground cable from his Boat Club home to the SUN TV office at Anna Arivalayam in Anna Salai and fraudulently linked the 323 home lines to his brother Kalanidhi's SUN TV network. The first 23 of the 323 lines bore numbers '243722 11' to '24372301' and the next 300 lines bore numbers '24371500' to '24371799'. Since the first four digits '2437' were common for all 323 lines, the lines constituted a home telephone exchange. The Dayanidhi home exchange was operational in the SUN TV establishment for at least months from January 2007 through the fraudulent cable connection from Dayanidhi's Boat Club home. They were no ordinary telephone lines, but costly ISDN lines, which could carry tons and tons of TV news and programmes faster than satellites to any part of the world. These lines, the CBI says in its report, are "normally used by medium to large commercial enterprises to meet special needs such as video conferencing, transmission of huge volume of digital data of audio and video" – precisely the facility that SUN TV would need for its telecasting operations. For this, the SUN TV would have paid huge cost. But it got it all free, at government's cost.

The Maran home exchange, says the CBI, was "programmed in such a way that no one other than the authorised BSNL staff were aware of the existence of such an Exchange created for his [minister's] exclusive use". It added that by linking the minister's home and SUN TV office by the stealthy cables, "it would appear as if the lines were used in the residence of the former minister, but actually the cables laid facilitated SUN TV network to utilise the services of BSNL provided at his residence".  Google map shows the distance to SUN TV as 3.4 kms along the main artery roads of the area, which were dug up to bury the illegal underground cables from Maran home to SUN TV office! It was not one of those secret White Collar frauds, but a crime committed in the open roads.

What could be the probable loss to the exchequer by this fraud? On "a sample study", the CBI says, "it is learnt that 48,72,027 units of calls have emanated from [just] one Telephone No 24371515 in the month of March 2007 alone, which is indicative of the massive multimedia transfer in the underlying connections". Just one of the 323 lines accounted for over 48 lakh call units in March 2007 alone – Yes almost 49 lakh call units in one month, through one of the 323 phones! Assume that each of the 323 connections was put to use as efficiently as Marans had operated the Number 24371515; the total number of call units SUN TV would have unlawfully robbed the BSNL during January 2007 to April 2007 [Maran resigned on May 13] could be as high as 629.5 crore call units. With the prevailing rate of 70 paise per call unit could the loss to BSNL be as high as `440 crore? Only a thorough investigation can reveal the true loot. But, the story does not end here. SUN TV's print cousin 'Dinakaran', too has got its share of the loot. Says the CBI: "It is also learnt that similar service connections with ISDN facilities have been provided at the office of Dinakaran, a Tamil Daily, belonging to the group of SUN TV Network at Madurai, though specific phone numbers are not available". But how did the CBI get to investigate the fraud and where is its report now? It calls for a brief flash back.

Maran, a grand nephew of Karunanidhi, was the central telecom minister from June 2004 to May 2007. Perhaps the only Hindi knowing family member, Maran was Karunanidhi's eyes and ears in Delhi and his connect to Sonia Gandhi. The 'young' and 'dynamic' minister was amongst the most powerful in the UPA government of which the DMK was the most critical partner.

Telecom Ministry sitting on CBI report for over 44 months

Need an illustration for Maran's reach then? Not only could he threaten Ratan Tata to part with a third of Tata DTH shares, but he also could threaten him not to reveal that he had threatened him! But suddenly, Maran fell from the cliff into the pit, thanks to a costly slip by Dinakaran, a Tamil daily owned by Dayanidhi's brother Kalanidhi Maran. On 9.5.2007, Dinakaran carried an opinion poll that had trashed Karunanidhi's son Alagiri as non-entity in Tamil Nadu politics. Alagiri's angry supporters burnt down the Madurai establishment of Dinakaran on the same day, snuffing out the lives of three innocent staff. Karunanidhi sided with his son Alagiri against his grand nephews, the Marans. Result, Dayanidhi was instantly out of the DMK and the central ministry. It was then that the CBI probed the daring fraud. And now back to the main story.

The CBI had recommended action against Maran as early as in September 2007.

But the CBI letter is obviously sleeping somewhere since then, and for the last 44 months. The CBI letter had specifically asked the Telecom Secretary to bring the matter "to the notice of" Raja. So the case against Maran of DMK was to be approved by Raja also of DMK.

With the 2009 elections approaching, as was expected, warring nephews and sons of Karunanidhi patched up on December 1, 2008, with Karunanidhi saying, "my eyes grew moist and heart was content." The CBI letter was perhaps used to make Marans fork out generous terms for peace. After the 2009 elections, Dayanidhi, who got elected, attempted again to make it to the Telecom Ministry, but could not.

He became the Textile Minister instead; and he is so even now.

With the family feud subsiding, the CBI letter against Maran began gathering dust somewhere in Telecom Ministry.

Haunted by the 2-G scam, Raja resigned in November 2010 and Kapil Sibal took over. Sibal is sitting on the CBI report since then.

And Maran, as Textile Minister, is sitting in cabinet meetings along with Sibal.

And despite the CBI advice for action against Maran sleeping for over 44 months, now Prime Minister promises to Baba Ramdev that he would tackle corruption with "seriousness" and "without delay", while he himself is still sitting with Maran in cabinet meetings. It seems as much a comedy as it is a tragedy.

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Lenovo think pad X1 launched -Lenovo X1 think pad

"ThinkPad X1 is a premium notebook, which ranges from Rs 90,000 onwards and is the world's slimmest thinkpad measuring less than 17 mm. The product will be available at retail outlets. However, our focus is enterprise customers as it a premium product," Lenovo India Managing Director Amar Babu told media in Mumbai.

    

It also has scratch proof and spill proof designs with 10 hours battery power.

    

"We have rapid recharge feature that recharges 80 per cent battery in just 30 minutes," he said.

    

The company aims to become number one vendor in the country and to achieve this it has to grow faster than the market, which grew at slightly more than 20 per cent in FY10, he said.

   

"We achieved a growth rate of close to 60 per cent in FY10, which was three times more than the market growth. We aim to maintain and sustain this growth," he added.

    

Lenovo is planning to enhance its products range in the country and will launch tablet computer in India in next few months, he said.

Bribery Culture of India - brilliantly insightful, frighteningly true (Slightly Long too)

Bribery Culture of India


 HI.........I HOPE THIS WILL MAKE US UNDERSTAND WHY BRIBERY IS PART OF OUR CULTURE !!!!!!!


Analysis on corruption in India does not address its cultural aspect. We see nothing peculiar about corruption in India (except that

it is everywhere). We see many corrupt individuals in a system unable to correct itself. Our media reports corruption episodically. One independent incident of greed follows another.

Let us set all that aside and look at it differently. No race can be congenitally corrupt. But can a race be corrupted by its culture? To know why Indians are corrupt let's look elsewhere. What patterns and practices distinguish us?

First: Religion is transactional in India.

We give God cash and anticipate an out-of-turn reward. Our plea acknowledges we aren't really deserving. The cash compensates for our lack of merit. In the world outside the temple walls, such a transaction has a name: "bribe". In India God accepts cash from us, not good work, for which there is no reward. We don't expect something from God in return for sweeping our neighbourhood streets. We go with money.

 

Observe this in another way.

 

Why does the wealthy Indian give not cash to temples, but gold crowns and such baubles?

 

To ensure his gift isn't squandered on feeding the poor. Our pay-off is for God. It's wasted if it goes to man.

 

See what this has produced:

 

In June 2009, The Hindu published a report of Karnataka minister G. Janardhan Reddy gifting a crown of gold and diamonds worth Rs 45 crore to Tirupati. According to the temple's website, Tirupati got 3,200kg silver and 2.4kg of diamonds in just one year. The temple encourages such giving, according to a report in The Telegraph in April 2010. Those who gifted a kilo of gold, worth over Rs 21 lakh, got "VIP darshan" (which means cutting the queue) of the idol. In 2007, Vellore's Sripuram temple was built with 1,500kg of gold. By weight alone it is worth Rs 325 crore. In May 2010, according to The Economic Times, 1,075kg of gold was deposited by Tirupati with the State Bank of India (SBI) for safe keeping. In 2009, 500kg was deposited with the Indian Overseas Bank. In June 2004, Business Standard reported that Tirupati couldn't melt down 8,000kg of gifted gold ornaments because devotees had stuck precious stones to their gift. This 8 tonnes of metal, worth Rs 1,680 crore but actually useless, was gathering dust in temple vaults.

On 11 February, according to The Hindu Business Line, 1,175kg of gold was deposited with SBI, and the temple trustees had yet another 3,000kg of gold handy.

 

What will they do with all this metal? Gold-plate the walls of the temple (lending new meaning to the phrase "India Shining"). This work was halted by the Andhra Pradesh high court in December. Not because it was wasteful  such things aren't vulgar to Indians  but because it might have damaged wall inscriptions.

 

India's temples collect so much of this stuff they don't know what to do with it. In February, 17 tonnes of silver, worth Rs 117 crore, was found in an Odisha temple. The priests say they had no idea it was even there. But the devotee keeps giving. Tirupati alone gets between 800kg (The Economic Times' estimate) and 1,825kg (The Telegraph's estimate) of gold a year.

 

When God accepts money in return for his favours, what is wrong with my doing the same thing? Nothing. This is why Indians are so easily corruptible. Our culture accommodates such transactions morally. This is key. There is no real stigma. The demonstrably corrupt Indian leader can harbour hope of a comeback, unthinkable in the West.

 

Our moral ambiguity towards corruption is also visible in our history. This is our second point: Any number of books on Indian history tells us of the capture of cities and kingdoms after guards were paid off to open gates, and commanders paid off to surrender. This is unique to India. We read of battles won after battalions evaporated.

 

Our corrupt nature has meant limited warfare on the subcontinent. It is striking how little Indians have actually fought compared to ancient Greece and modern Europe. The Turks' battles with Nadir Shah were vicious and fought to the finish. In India fighting wasn't needed, bribing was usually enough to see off our armies. The invader willing to spend a bit of cash always brushed aside India's kings, no matter how many tens of thousands peopled their infantry.

 

Little battle was given at the "Battle" of Plassey. Clive paid off Mir Jaffar and all of Bengal folded to an army of 3,000.

 

There was always a financial solution to taking our forts. Golconda was captured in 1687 after the secret back door was left open. In 1700, the fort of Parli, west of Satara, the headquarters of the Maratha government, fell after it took a bribe from Aurangzeb. In 1701, Aurangzeb invested the Panhala fort for two months without success. Then he bribed the Maratha commandant Trimbak, who let the Mughals in. Aurangzeb took the forts at Wardhangarh, Nandgir, Wandan and Chandan without fighting. Khelna fought the Mughals (led by the mercenary Sawai Rajputs of Amber) superbly till commandant Parshuram accepted his bribe and gave up the fort.

 

According to The Cambridge History of India, Torna was the only fort captured in that long campaign without bribes. Allahabad was taken by the Mughals in April 1720 when Girdhar Bahadur left the gates open after being promised governorship of Awadh. The same year Asir opened its gates to Nizam-ul-Mulk after a bribe. The Raja of Srinagar gave up Dara Shikoh's son Sulaiman to Aurangzeb after a bribe. Shivaji took Kondhana (which he renamed Sinhagad) after the Mughal commander was bribed. The Mughals lost Penukonda to the Marathas in 1706 after the commandant was paid off.
 

We must understand that this isn't one man bribed alone. He must share that money with his officers, who must in turn pass it along to the infantry and cavalry. Everyone participated in this treason.

 Question is: Why do we have a transactional culture while other 'civilized' nations don't?

The answer is that we haven't learnt to trust one another as Europeans have. Indians do not buy the theory that we can all rise if each of us behaves morally, because that is not the message of our faith. This is the third point.

 Our faith assures us that God will deliver for us individually, but we must deliver to him too.

When Europeans came here they built schools (there were zero schools in Gujarat before Mountstuart Elphinstone built the first 10 in the 1820s). When we go to Europe we build more temples. Patels alone have built 12 Swaminarayan temples in Britain.

Unfortunately, the European is tolerant and the Indian quite shameless, though it's true also that he's unaware of what he's doing. He's practising his magic in a culture where it isn't needed. He doesn't need God's favours in a society that isn't corrupt, that is moral, that is equal. All he needs is hard work, which he's quite capable of giving. Some might say the doctrine of our faith doesn't support this behaviour. That shouldn't concern us here. We're talking about its practice, the way we do religion, rather than its philosophy, which is ultimately meaningless.

 The way we do it is Hobbesian.

We are up against everyone else, except God  and even he must be bribed.
 

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