SCAM/CORRUPTION – 2010 - Indian Social Institute

closing a case pending against him before the Scheduled Castes panel headed by his father. Though
Solanki and Chauhan have been named as accused in the case, they can later turn approver if the court
allows, the sources said. The chargesheet includes telephonic interceptions involving Sarabjot, Patil and
other accused bargaining for the bribe amount. (Express Buzz 13/1/10)
Corruption costs India Rs 2.5 lakh cr, says Prahalad (5)
The cost of corruption to the country could exceed Rs 250,000 crore, management guru C K Prahalad
said today. Delivering the Seventh Nani A Palkhivala Memorial Lecture here, he highlighted the funding of
election campaigns by politicians and the return they try to achieve after they win as one of the basic
reasons for corruption in the country. The 2009 Lok Sabha elections are reported to have cost the country
Rs 10,000 crore. Of this, Rs 1,300 crore was spent by the Election Commission and Rs 700 crore by the
Centre and state governments. The remaining Rs 8,000 crore were spent by political parties and
individual candidates. If the cost of state elections were also covered, this could easily exceed Rs 25,000
crore, he said. “I cannot but assume that private funding of elections of this magnitude is predicted on
making an appropriate return,” said . “Given the risky nature of the investments in elections, politicians as
venture capitalists, we can assume, will not settle for less than a 10n-fold return,” he pointed out.Chalking
out a road map for the country, he called for reducing the irregularity of information, reduce the number of
points of interpretation of laws and asked for an increase in accountability. He called the unique
identification programme of the government as the building block of social justice and asked to focus on
massive education so that inequality of opportunity is eradicated. “India is at an interesting crossroad,”
said Prahalad. “It must choose. The path to progress needs significant innovations and a discarding of the
old and acceptance of the new,” he added. He said the crisis in India is one of leadership. “There is no
one who is willing to articulate a view of India and Indianness with clarity and force so that the country can
come together and make the sacrifices needed to build a new India that the framers of the Constitution
imagined,” he said. (Business Standard 15/1/10)
Rs 2,500 cr corruption alleged in rice export (5)
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP national secretary Balbir Punj alleged that the rice export from the
country during 2008-09 had involved a corruption amounting to Rs 2,500 crore. He told a news
conference here on Friday that it was through one export house in New Delhi that 100 lakh tonnes of rice
had been exported to 21 African countries. But it was not sure whether the rice reached the poor African
countries. He alleged that the rice exported at a subsidised rate was diverted to multinational
corporations. Balbir Punj said that the UPA coalition at the Centre was increasingly displaying the
arrogance of power on one hand and incompetence on the other. Spiraling inflation, especially of food
items, had become a grave issue across the country. He said that in stark contrast to the party’s promise
of curbing inflation in 100 days, prices of essential commodities such as rice, sugar and pulse
skyrocketed by 100 to 300 percent. While the paddy farmers are paid Rs. 8.50 per kg, it is reaching the
consumers at the rate of Rs.40 per kg. This scenario has been evolved after the Government allowed
export of 100 lakh tonnes of rice at Rs.18 to Rs.20 per kg, he said. He said that during 2008-09, 48 lakh
tonnes of sugar were exported at Rs.12.50 per kilo with an export subsidy of Rs 1.44 per kg. But now the
country is importing sugar at Rs.40 to 42 per kg after the huge shortfall of sugar, he said. Referring to the
Telengana issue, he said that the Government had not taken the people, the opposition parties and even
the leaders from Andhra Pradesh into confidence. “Some ministers are taking decisions sitting in a dark
room and thrusting it upon the 10 crore people of Andhra Pradesh. At least, the Cabinet or the Chief
Minister of Andhra Pradesh should be taken into confidence”. He said that the BJP was for the state of
Telangana. He pointed out that the NDA Government had created three states in a peaceful manner as
they took the people into confidence. BJP state president V Muralidharan said that Sobha Surendran had
been appointed state president of the Mahila Morcha, the women’s wing of the party. P O Noushad has
been appointed as the state president of the BJP’s Minority Morcha. B Gopalakrishnan is the new
district president and A M Nagesh is the general secretary in Thrissur.(Express Buzz 30/1/10)
Sukhna scam an aberration, cannot be tolerated: AK Antony (5)
New Delhi: Terming the Sukhna land scam allegedly involving a top army officer as an "aberration",
government today said it will not tolerate even a single instance of corruption in the armed forces. "What
happened in Sukhna and in some other cases are aberrations. Already, the Army has taken strong action.
I do not want to say anything further. We cannot tolerate even a single instance of corruption," defence
minister AK Antony said on the sidelines of an awards ceremony to honour the best tableaux of the
Republic Day here. Antony's statement comes days after he asked army chief General Deepak Kapoor to
initiate disciplinary action against Lt Gen Awadesh Prakash, military secretary in the army, who has been
indicted in the Sukhna land scam. Disciplinary action could lead to a court martial against Lt Gen