Sunday, November 11, 2012

Conflict of Interest


Why did one have to wait so long to know that Mukesh Ambani is one amongst the list of black money dealers?

Guess it is conflict of interest and this afflicts not just the major parties: Congress and BJP but the media and even the voters!

One can understand the reluctance of the Congress since the list would have contained their favourites, but why did the BJP not make it public? Did they not have an access to it?

I remember how only 6 names were offered to be revealed and the promise that the rest would be revealed once a case is registered. I did wonder in my blog how they selected the 6!

http://under-the-tree-of-tranquility.blogspot.com/2011/04/now-you-may-have-6.html
Yesterday, the government has offered to reveal 6 names, while they have yet again given the same old excuse for not revealing the rest.

The Centre has assured the Supreme Court that it would reveal the names of persons who have stashed black money in foreign banks after registering a formal case against them.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, appearing before a bench headed by Justice B Sudershan Reddy, said the government has issued show cause notices against the persons accused of having black money in foreign banks and once a case is registered against them, their names will be made public.

In case of the media, Reliance now has its own media mouth. All they have to do is either twist the facts or suppress the facts. Not that other national media is devoid of corporate or party interests.

http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/article2772487.ece
Reliance makes a major foray into media sector

Reliance Industries, India's biggest listed company, is expanding its footprint in the media sector, with a major investment in the TV18 group which will effectively fund a consolidation with the Eenadu TV media group.
In return, the Reliance will get preferential access to content from TV18, which runs television channels and websites including CNN-IBN, CNBC-TV18 and Colors. This content can then be distributed through Reliance subsidiary firm Infotel, which is setting up a 4G wireless broadband network across the country.
With Tuesday's deal, the Reliance, controlled by billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani, will have a major stake in a cross-media enterprise, spanning digital divides to encompass print publications, news and entertainment broadcasting, consumer Internet, film production and e-commerce.

As for the voters, at least a major chunk of the middle class is heavily invested with Reliance and its likes. I am sure most of them were painfully looking at the stock market when Arwind Kejriwal made the expose twice. If there is someone looting, one might as well share the loot!

But to BJP’s credit, it did make an attempt to give more attention to the black money. In fact Adwani promised the voters that if BJP comes to power at the center, they will pursue the same seriously. But unfortunately the voters did not take BJP seriously. Or was there a vote rigging. These days one is not sure of anything!

http://under-the-tree-of-tranquility.blogspot.com/2009/04/vote-for-bjp.html
Why am I saying that?
Did it suddenly dawn on me that BJP is better than Congress? (2 main National parties).
Frankly speaking it hasn’t. Sitting far away from the election heat and die hard voters who may influence my opinion, it was easy to watch both parties impartially. And none of them scored better until I picked up just this from Adwani.
"If NDA returns to power then we’ll force Indian citizens to bring back their wealth to India and use the money here.”
 Even before Kejriwal’s revelation, reliance was already under scanner but nothing further happened.

http://under-the-tree-of-tranquility.blogspot.com/2011/06/cost-of-being-richest.html

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has come down hard on Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), suggesting the company grossly overstated its development costs in India's largest gas field, possibly causing "significant" financial losses to the exchequer.

As the production-sharing contract involves profit-sharing with the government, a higher capital expenditure results in the profit being lower for the government than it would be otherwise, which the CAG has explained in its 200-page June 7 report to the petroleum ministry.
The CAG report has revealed severe irregularities and violations on part of private operators and government departments and ministries.

And now the government is seriously trying to gag the CAG!

New Delhi, November 11: Battered by various CAG reports on alleged scams, government says it is "actively" considering a proposal to make the official auditor a multi-member body. Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy says Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has become "more impatient" and he wants that all constitutional bodies to work within their parameters. "It (making CAG a multi-member body) is under active consideration. The government is actively considering it," he told PTI in an interview.
Will this conflict of interest ever be resolved? I think not in a democracy!

4 comments:

  1. Mrs Indira Gandhi was no great democrat, in fact she was more of an autocrat and dispensed like one .In fact face she began to circumvent and undermine democratic institutions. This man Manmohan Singh, before he remits office in a year and a half time ,will have ensured that all democratic institutions CAG being one will be pliable and or irrelevant.

    Ambani knows that control of information is the most pivotal arm for businessman.And with the likes of Barkha Dutt as journalist , one can imagine how news media will be when big business houses buy out press.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Realized only today that I did not reply! If not IG maybe her son started the trend. Yes.. every institution will end up like our PM..see no evil, hear no evil....

      Delete
  2. Corruption has become mind-boggling. Sad we are getting used to it.

    Here we need to make a distinction between corruption at higher levels, and at the lower levels. Like in the corporation office, or the university office, or the autorick driver who won't ply if we don't pay more... The amounts are insignificant, may be, but it's that what really affects you and me. That's what makes your and my lives very difficult.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Everything affects.. the big and the small... one cannot ignore either..

    ReplyDelete

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