Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar after his arrest by CBI on bribery charges in Mumbai on Saturday.PTI
NEW DELHI, May 5, 2013

Mahesh Kumar struck Rs. 10 crore deal for post: FIR

He also agreed to pay a bribe of Rs. 2 crore for an additional post, till that happened

Railway Board Member (Staff) Mahesh Kumar, arrested in Mumbai by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday, allegedly struck a Rs. 10-crore deal with the nephew of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and his associates for appointment as Railway Board Member (Electrical). He agreed to make an interim payment of Rs. 2 crore to secure additional charge of General Manager (Western Railway and Signal and Telecommunication) until he got the lucrative posting.

Mr. Kumar was promoted to his present position a few days ago, but was not happy with it, according to the FIR.

Since the alleged middlemen involved in the conspiracy claimed that they would get the job done through their contacts in the Railway Ministry, the CBI is probing the identity of the Ministry officials and industrialists who were in touch with them. “No one would agree to pay such a huge amount without being absolutely sure of the credentials of the go-betweens,” a senior CBI officer told The Hindu, adding efforts were under way to identify the person for whom the money was intended. The bribe was financed on Mr. Kumar’s behalf by his alleged accomplice, Narayan Rao Manjunath, managing director of the Bangalore-based G.G. Tronics India Private Limited, a company engaged in manufacturing signal products and automation railway components.

Among the alleged middlemen, Mr. Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla runs a business house in Chandigarh, whereas his associate Sandip Goyal owns a Punchkula (Haryana)-based company manufacturing electrical equipment for the Railways.

Following a tip-off, the CBI arrested Mr. Singla and Mr. Goyal in Chandigarh on Friday night, after which Mr. Kumar was held in Mumbai and Mr. Manjunath in Bangalore.

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Kumar and Mr. Manjunath were produced in a CBI court along with Dharmendra Kumar and Vivek Kumar, who had allegedly carried the money to Chandigarh. While the court sent them to four days’ custody of the CBI, Mr. Kumar and Mr. Manjunath are being brought here on transit remand.

According to the FIR, the CBI unearthed the plot after it received information about Mr. Kumar’s machinations. Mr. Goyal and Ajay Garg of Chandigarh had reportedly assured Mr. Kumar of the appointment for a hefty price.

The degree of reach of the alleged middlemen in the corridors of power becomes apparent from the FIR details, which reveal that Mr. Goyal informed Mr. Kumar and Mr. Manjunath that the present Railway Board chairman was to retire in June and would be replaced by the present Member (Electrical). He gave the assurance that once the new chairman took charge, he would get Mr. Kumar his desired post.

“Sandip demanded an illegal gratification of Rs. 10 crore with half the payment in advance,” the senior CBI officer said.

To arrange for the bribe, Mr. Kumar allegedly turned to Mr. Manjunath and other industrialists who dealt regularly with the Railways. Mr. Manjunath purportedly offered Rs. 1 crore in return for assurances of official favours, but could arrange only Rs. 90 lakh. The two persons accused of conspiracy along with the accused — Rahul Yadav and Samir Sandhir (Delhi), besides Faridabad’s Sushil Daga — made arrangements to transfer the money to Chandigarh on Friday.

Accordingly, CBI sleuths laid a trap and arrested Mr. Singla and Mr. Goyal while they were allegedly accepting the bribe money from Dharmender and Vivek, associates of Rahul Yadav, who allegedly has links with Mr. Manjunath.

It was for land deal, says Singla

Mr. Singla has claimed that the Rs. 90 lakh, which the CBI recovered from him, was meant for a land deal that he was pursuing. Mr. Singla’s lawyer claimed he was falsely implicated in the case and opposed the CBI demand for Mr. Singla’s police custody.

The lawyer for another suspect, Vivek Kumar, claimed that his client was a computer operator who was asked by his employer to drop the money and had no knowledge of the alleged conspiracy.

Special CBI judge Swarana Kanta Sharma allowed the agency to interrogate Mr. Singla and three other persons — Sandip Goyal, Dharmendra Kumar and Vivek Kumar — till May 7.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mahesh-kumar-struck-rs-10-crore-deal-for-post-fir/article4684202.ece?homepage=true

Published: May 4, 2013 14:39 IST | Updated: May 5, 2013 04:14 IST
Rail bribery scandal
Bansal's fate uncertain

Smita Gupta

The Hindu Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, in the wake of the CBI arresting his nephew on bribery charges. File photo: V. Sudershan

Congress Core Group likely to meet today to take a final view

Railway Minister Pawan Bansal’s continuance in office seemed uncertain late on Saturday night. A decision, either way, say Congress sources, is expected either on Sunday evening or before Parliament opens on Monday, but after polling for the Karnataka elections ends on Sunday.

The Congress Core Group met in New Delhi on Saturday and heard Mr. Bansal’s explanation following the arrest of his nephew, Vijay Singla, for accepting a hefty bribe for the promotion of a senior railway officer to the Railway Board. It is likely to meet again on Sunday to take a final view.

At Saturday’s meeting, the Congress sources said, Mr. Bansal did not offer to resign as he stressed that he had no business links with his nephew nor had he ever been influenced by him in decision-making.

Meanwhile, faced with the demand for a second ministerial head in less than two weeks — this time over a bribery charge — the Congress initially buried its head in the sand, with party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi rejecting the Opposition's demand for the Railway Minister’s resignation, saying it had become a “disease” of the Opposition to make such demands. He added that Mr. Bansal has himself given a clarification and sought an investigation into the matter.

As the party’s integrity quotient took another hit, its leadership which has not yet satisfactorily dealt with the case of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, accused by the Opposition of trying to influence the coalgate investigations, first tried to give Mr. Bansal the benefit of the doubt. But with the Opposition demands growing shriller, the Congress leadership on Saturday night appeared to be veering round to the view that it needed to act, but the timing of Mr. Singla’s arrest made it more difficult, as it came two days before the Karnataka elections which the party is hoping to win.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Bansal met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Apart from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Singh, senior leaders Ahmad Patel, A.K. Antony, Sushilkumar Shinde and P. Chidambaram are members of the Core Group.

Mr. Vijay Singla was arrested on Friday by the CBI, which also held Makesh Kumar, a Member of the Railway Board, in connection with the alleged payment of Rs. 90 lakh for arranging a top-level position in the government.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the seeking of pecuniary advantage by someone close to the Railway Minister and abusing the authority of the Minister was a “copybook case” for invoking the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CPI(M), too, has demanded his resignation.

Mr. Bansal, however, distanced himself from his nephew, saying he had no business links with him and denied any wrongdoing.

But the Congress sources pointed out that Mr. Singla was Mr. Bansal’s constituency manager.

Mahesh Kumar suspended

Late at night, Mr. Mahesh Kumar was suspended. “Following the receipt of the official report from the CBI, the Ministry of Railways places Mahesh Kumar, Member (Staff), under suspension,” Additional Director-General of Railways, Public Relations, Anil Saxena, told PTI.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bansals-fate-uncertain/article4683359.ece?css=print

Dr. Swamy's Agenda for youth --Unshackling ourselves by finding our roots
Source: http://organiser.org/Encyc/2013/4/6/427338.aspx

http://www.scribd.com/doc/139500788/Dr-Swamy-s-Agenda-for-youth

Dr. Swamy's Agenda for youth

Politics of The Rich, by The Rich and Supposedly for The Poor!

Dr. A Surya Prakash, Distinguished Fellow, VIF

An analyses of the affidavits filed by candidates contesting the Karnataka Assembly election on May 5 provides further evidence that politics is now completely out of the reach of the poor and the middle classes. These affidavits also offer irrefutable evidence that there is no business like the “business of politics” in the country. There are also indicators that politics may not be a good calling for law-abiding citizens because there is steady rise in the number of candidates with criminal records or pending criminal cases.

Ever since the high judiciary stepped in and directed that those contesting assembly and parliamentary elections must declare their educational qualifications, pending criminal cases and assets and liabilities, voters across the country, who were totally clueless about the antecedents of the candidates now have some information to go on while exercising their franchise in state assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Though the information available via the affidavits filed by contestants may be patchy, it provides valuable clues about how each candidate is placed in terms of his education, financial status and criminal record. Sometimes the contents of these affidavits may be useful, but they can be disturbing as well.

According to Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), who analyzed the affidavits of 1052 candidates put up by six major political parties, 220 candidates (21 per cent) have pending criminal cases against them. Of them, about ten per cent of the candidates are facing serious criminal charges like murder and rape. The four major parties in the fray - Congress, BJP, Janata Dal (S) and Karnataka Janata Party – have given around 20 -25 per cent of their tickets to persons with criminal record.

KEW also analysed the affidavits of 347 candidates who had contested the assembly election in the state in 2008 and who are once again the fray in order to assess the financial standing of candidates. This analysis tells us a lot about how lucrative politics has become in the country. The increase in the value of assets owned by most of these candidates now as compared to what they possessed in 2008 is mind boggling. The value of assets possessed by these candidates has jumped by 79 per cent in just five years and on an average is Rs 6.25 crore per candidate. Also, the point to note is that not all of these candidates won the last election. This means that just being in politics is enough to ensure a steady rise in the net worth of a candidate.

Interestingly, the three candidates who have the highest declared assets are from the Congress Party. They are: Mr. Priyakrishna contesting from Govindarajanagar constituency in Bangalore City (Rs 910 crores); N.Nagaraju from Hoskote Constituency (Rs 470 crores) and Anil Lad of Bellary City (Rs 288 crores).

According to KEW analysts, the average assets held by 118 re-contesting candidates of the Congress Party today is Rs 24.85 crore while that of 93 BJP candidates in Rs 10.50 crore. Re-contesting candidates of the Janata Dal (S) have average assets of Rs 10.34 crore each while that of the re-contesting KJP candidates is Rs 3.15 crore. Among individual candidates, three Congress candidates stand out. Mr. D.K Shivkumar, a prominent Congress Leader contesting from Kanakapura Constituency heads the list. In 2008, his total assets amounted to Rs 75 crores. Today, after five years, he is worth Rs 251 crores – a jump of Rs 176 crores. Another Congress candidate from Bangalore - Priyakrishna of Govindrajnagar Constituency, was worth Rs 767 crores in 2008 and is now worth Rs 910 crores. Santosh Lad, also of the Congress Party, had assets worth Rs 61 crore in 2008. In 2013, this has jumped to Rs 186 crore.

Finally, a word about how candidates splurge money. Currently, in Karnataka, the buzz in many constituencies is that this election will cost every serious candidate at least Rs 5 crores. Political leaders say that candidates’ spending could even be between Rs 5-10 crores in many constituencies. Although this is way above the permitted ceiling by the Election Commission, all political parties are geared up for this kind of spending. In fact the major political parties are reportedly giving their candidates upwards of Rs one crore. But they expect the candidates to raise the rest. That is why political parties like the Congress, BKP, JD(s) and KJP look for wealthy candidates. They see a poor or middle class ticket aspirant as a liability and often reject him or her even though that person’s electoral prospects may be good. The commission is keeping a close watch on ostentatious spending and this has robbed the election of its usual noise and colour, but when it comes to bribing voters, politicians claim that they still have their way. They know where and when to pass on cash for bulk purchases among economically vulnerable voters. That is why the common man had become a rarity among candidates and terms like “social service” and “public service” have gone out of the window. Many politicians say elections are now a “Cash & Carry” business. It is not for the faint-hearted, nor is it for ordinary people with decent bank balances. No wonder, KEW reports that out of 1052 candidates from six major political parties, 681 (65 per cent) are crorepatis.
Reminds one of the 1970s hit by ABBA: “Money, Money, Money; Must be Funny; In the Rich man’s world!”

Published Date: 2nd May 2013

http://www.vifindia.org/aritcle/2013/may/02/politics-of-the-rich-by-the-rich-and-supposedly-for-the-poor

Kureishi loses life savings in suspected fraud scheme

AMIT ROY | Sunday , May 5 , 2013 |

Hanif Kureishi

London, May 4: An unsuspecting depositor invests in a property deal for a promised 15 per cent return in 120 days, believing he is dealing with a firm of strong credentials, and ends up losing his life’s savings.

If that has been the story of thousands in rural Bengal who put their money in Saradha’s hands, it appears to have also happened to a famous author in London.

Hanif Kureishi, the best-selling author of My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia, has lost £120,000 (about Rs 1 crore), virtually his life’s savings, in a suspected fraud.

It seems the author, much admired for his streetwise novels, was duped by his own accountant.

Kureishi claims he was persuaded to invest in a property deal by his then accountant, Adam Woricker, who was a partner in the respected chartered accountants firm, Fisher Phillips.

The writer thought he was following their advice, but Fisher Phillips said Woricker was acting alone and had sacked him in July last year.

Kureishi confessed he knows little about complex financial affairs but had intended using his savings to cover the “ups and downs” of being a writer.

His plight has been reported widely by The Guardian and other papers.

Last March the accountant was reportedly arrested by Essex police and bailed until May 28. No charges have been brought.

Woricker is thought to have raised similar sums from several other “clients and friends”, according to The Guardian, which has seen a letter he sent to Kureishi using the company email recommending the investment opportunity.

“I’d asked my agent if they could recommend someone to do my accounts,” said Kureishi. “Fisher Phillips sent over a partner and he was very helpful and charming. When he proposed this investment to me, he said many other clients and other writers are making this investment… I said, ‘Great!’ He worked for a very respectable firm that had been in business for 60 years, one that came highly recommended by my agent.”

The letter recommending the investment, sent to Kureishi by Woricker using the company email address, promised a return of 15 per cent on the money, which had to be invested for 120 days.

Outlining the investment opportunity, it said: “One of my clients is completing on a property deal which involves them obtaining around £20m loan facility that they will use to purchase a series of properties. They paid their deposit of around £400,000 and have now been asked for proof of funds for around another £200,000-£250,000 — I have arranged a lot of this already through clients and friends and I have put in £20,000 myself.”

Kureishi, who has been awarded a CBE by the Queen, said he made an initial investment of £50,000. He received the first promised interest, paid into his current account, a sum of £7,500. This encouraged him to invest a second tranche, a further £70,000, in May last year.

“The next thing I know is that I get a call from Fisher Phillips telling me they have sacked him and that I should talk to my lawyers,” he said.

Kureishi went on: “I’ve been told there’s little prospect of me getting my money back. Fisher Phillips has denied all knowledge, refused to apologise to me, refused to make recompense and until this week have refused to meet with me in any way. They said ‘(it was) nothing to do with us’.”

Fisher Phillips, which is thought to have a number of big-name media clients, has strenuously denied its involvement and said its then partner, Woricker, had acted entirely alone.

Robert Ward, partner at Fisher Phillips, claimed that Woricker had offered the investment “in a personal capacity and the firm had nothing to do with it”.

He added: “Fisher Phillips is not authorised to advise clients on this type of investment and we simply don’t do it. We write to our clients telling them this. All the money that Woricker received went to his own account, and not the company’s. Woricker was sacked at the beginning of last July as soon as we became aware of what was happening.”

Kureishi is now bringing a claim, alongside two other victims, against Fisher Phillips.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130505/jsp/frontpage/story_16860954.jsp#.UYYzoqJTCvc

My Beautiful Laundrette author Hanif Kureishi loses his £120,000 life savings in suspected property fraud
Best-selling writer was offered 15% return on investment
Fisher Phillips sacked the partner who allegedly made offer and claim he acted alone
'I have been told there is little prospect of getting my money back'
By CHRIS HASTINGS

PUBLISHED: 13:47 GMT, 4 May 2013 | UPDATED: 00:39 GMT, 5 May 2013

Suspected fraud: Author Hanif Kureishi has lost £120,000 in a property investment recommended by his then accountant

Bestselling author Hanif Kureishi has lost his £120,000 life savings after falling victim to an alleged investment fraud.

Kureishi, best known for his novel The Buddha Of Suburbia and the screenplay for the hit film My Beautiful Laundrette, last night spoke of his ‘hellish’ experience and claimed that other well-known authors may also have been caught up in the same alleged scam.

‘There have been sleepless nights and a genuine feeling of helplessness,’ said the father of three.

‘This money was meant to be for my children’s education and for my future while I worked on another book.’

He added: ‘I think that there are probably five or six more big-name writers caught up in this.’

Kureishi’s ordeal, which is the subject of a police investigation, began when he asked his representatives at The Agency, one of Britain’s most respected literary agencies, to recommend a firm of accountants.

The Agency, which also represents novelists William Boyd and Ian McEwan, suggested a firm called Fisher Phillips, which does its own accounts and also looks after some of its star names.

Kureishi’s affairs were handed over to Adam Woricker, then a partner at the firm, who met the award-winning writer at his London home.

It was at this meeting that Kureishi was first given details of an ill-fated property deal which he subsequently agreed to join.

The first the author knew something was amiss was when Fisher Phillips contacted him to say Woricker had been fired.

Bestsellers: My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi

He said: ‘Woricker appeared to be a very charming man and a very sweet guy. He said to me that numerous other clients of Fisher Phillips and many of my fellow writers, as he put it, were investing in this particular scheme.’

Kureishi, 58, is now bringing a claim against Fisher Phillips to try to get his money back. He said all his communications with Woricker were through the firm’s email system and he believed Woricker was acting on its behalf.

Kureishi claims Fisher Phillips has subsequently behaved in a ‘disgraceful and shocking way’ and even threatened him with legal action to try to stop him talking about his ordeal.

Fisher Phillips denies it is liable because it had no prior knowledge of the scheme and it sacked Woricker as soon as it was discovered what he was allegedly doing.

A spokesman said: ‘Adam Woricker was dismissed as a partner of Fisher Phillips in July 2012.

'We were made aware that he had been personally involved in raising finance for an investment scheme and we would like to stress that he was not acting on behalf of Fisher Phillips but in a personal capacity.’

Mr Woricker was arrested in March and bailed until May 28. He was unavailable for comment last night.

The Mail on Sunday was also unable to reach anyone at The Agency for comment.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2319381/My-Beautiful-Laundrette-author-Hanif-Kureishi-loses-120-000-life-savings-suspected-property-fraud.html

By offering food at throwaway prices, the Food Security Bill discourages small farmers from producing it. The workings of the traditional farm economy have been overlooked.

Yes, indeed. A lucid article by Gurumurthy. What is titled Food Security Bill is likely to end up as Food Insecurity Bill. If the fence eats away the crop who is to save agro-economics by increased food production and productivity?

Kalyan

A threat to food security

S. GURUMURTHY

The National Food Security Bill, a high risk venture of UPA government, is more a product of soft politics than hard economics. The Bill promises to supply, at subsidised prices, 7 kg of foodgrains to each Indian, every month, at 1/8th of the economic cost of grains in the first year, ending up at 1/9th of the economic cost in the third year.

It aims to envelop two-thirds of the population. Its huge reach measures its vote-bank potential. Finding itself in Catch-22 situation, the opposition would hate the ruling party to succeed in garnering votes through the scheme but, would not oppose it as that would be politically suicidal. With the entire political spectrum backing the Bill, the public discourse on the Bill is mute, if not muffled. What the nation is not conscious of is that, because of the lack of rigorous intellectual scrutiny, the Bill threatens the food security of the whole country --- even as it seeks to address the food security of two thirds of its people.

The national debate has so far touched two aspects of the Bill. One, its impact on the Budget. The elephantine scheme would torpedo government's plans to make the future budget deficits Kelkar Report- compliant. It looks unaffordable even at the optimistic growth targets of economy.

The additional dent it will cause in the first budget after its advent is likely to be twenty times the effective extra provision of Rs 5,000 crore made in the Budget for 2013-14, if the Bill is passed in the current Budget session (See Food Bill will torpedo Budget, Business Line, March 21, 2013).

MORE FARM OUTPUT

The second aspect of the discourse is operationally more critical. The Discussion Paper of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) titled “National Food Security Bill Challenges and Options” says that, on a procurement-production ratio of 35 per cent, the current production of rice and wheat (of 190 million tonnes) would yield 67 million tonnes of stocks.

The scheme requires 75 million tonnes. So, a further 8 million tonnes need to be procured. As much of the additional production and procurement will have to be dispersed outside Punjab and Haryana, the procurement ratio will be less at 30 per cent and so national grain production has to rise by 25 million tonnes to achieve the additional 8 million tonne procurement.

So the second aspect of the debate is about how to increase food production by 25 million tonnes to work the scheme. And, how to procure 75 million tonnes, and for that, how build the logistics – storage, transport, and handling. The first part of the discourse seems to assume the second part as a done deal and the second part seems to assume the first part as done, when neither is done.

SMALL FARMERS’ IMPACT

What is as yet not seen in the radar of discourse is the impact of the Food Bill on Indian farming. Particularly on small farmers. And, on the village and agricultural economy which is substantially backward- integrated to the small farmers’ kitchen and also the kitchen of most landless labour.

The government intends to procure 75 million tonnes to supply food grains to some 750-800 million people – a third of the population. The first question is: from whom will the government procure the supplies and to whom does it intend to supply?

What is shocking is that most of the persons in rural areas to whom the government will supply grains at highly subsidised rates under the scheme are the very small and marginal farmers from whom it will have to procure the supplies! See how this crazy agro-economics works.

According to Census 2011, the urban Indian population is 377 million and the rural, 743 million. Like the two thirds of urban population (251 million), two-thirds of the rural population (495 million) will also benefit under the scheme. Now, look at the structure of the beneficiaries in the rural population. Out of some 138 million farm households, 117 million are small and marginal farmers owning less than 2 hectares (State of Agriculture Report 2012-13).

The average farm family size being five, some 690 million people live on 138 million farms. About a third of the landless rural households with a population of 75 million cultivate as tenants, leaving some 50 million as totally landless labour. After accounting the entire 75 million landless as beneficiaries under the scheme, the balance 420 million beneficiaries will be from the small and marginal farming family.

These small and marginal farmers who produce substantial foodgrains, also consume and use a large part of what they produce. Generally, all farmers consume and use a large part of what they produce.

Traditional system

According to the Working Group on Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure and Policy Required for Internal and External trade (Eleventh Plan) out of the total foodgrains produced, farm families consume and use 60 per cent for their needs and sell only 40 per cent – called the marketable surplus. But, small and marginal farmers retain more than 60 per cent for personal use and for market they set aside less than 40 per cent.

Here are some details for urbanites to understand why and how the farmers use up 60 per cent of their produce. Apart for their family consumption, which is in excess of a third of their production, they retain the produce for paying permanent and temporary farm labour in kind; for feeding farm animals and as seeds; for payment in kind for farm equipments, customary dues, repayment of loan and irrigation charges. Thus, small and marginal farmer ends up largely feeding the farming family and paying in kind to the landlord and landless alike in kind, which distributes the foodgrain within the village.

So, 60 per cent of the grain produced is shared within the village for farm families’ own consumption and by way of traditional barter which makes grain available to those, including labour, who do not own any land or cultivate.

This is how the food security of the villages is traditionally secured outside the modern market system. Only the balance produce moves into urban India and into trade within and outside India.

FOOD BILL effect

Now, let us see how the national food security scheme adversely impacts on the traditional food security system at work.

The 117 million small and marginal farm families with population of 585 millions, constitute almost 78 per cent of the rural population. They now produce food for themselves, and also for others. They produce food more efficiently than medium and large farmers. While their families consume most of the foodgrains they produce, they also contribute a significant part of the national kitty of food production for others. If they stop producing foodgrains, the national kitty of food production will go down significantly.

Now under the Food Security Bill, most of their families will qualify for subsidised food grains. And they will get grain supply at less than 1/8 of the price at which they produce and sell grains to the government. If the government would supply them grain at 1/8 price, why should they till and toil on their land and produce 51 per cent of national food using 46 per cent of the cultivated area, particularly when their cost of cultivation per acre as compared to medium and large players is higher (http://www.igidr.ac.in/pdf/publication/WP-2012-014.pdf)

Rice and wheat cultivation is the most difficult and least gainful farm operation which is already haunted by shortage of labour and skyrocketing wage and input costs. Giving highly subsidised foodgrains to small and marginal farmers is the best way to dissuade them from farming for their family's food supplies.

PRODUCE MORE

How then to help the small and marginal farmers? According to the FAO the small and marginal farmers supplied as much as 7.2 million tonnes of food grains to the national grain market as early as in 1990. Another FAO publication titled, Smallholder farmers in India: Food security and agricultural policy (March 2002) concluded: “India’s agricultural economy and food security depend vitally on the small-holder farmers...It is socially beneficial to the nation that the number of small-holdings should continue to increase. It is therefore incumbent upon the nation to assist the small-holder families to increase their productivity and to augment their assets and entitlements.”

Assisting them means to make them produce more and not less, by incentivising their production and productivity by direct cash subsidies. The Food Bill is bound to encourage the small and marginal farmers to go for easy alternatives like commercial crops and horticulture.

Most States are deficient in food production. If in those States small and marginal farmers shift away from foodgrains, the country will face huge dent in food security.

That is precisely what the Food Security Bill is likely to end up achieving by large scale state intervention that threatens to disincentivise and turn some 700 million producers of food into consumers of food-dependent government supplies at subsidised rates. Will the nation wake up before it is too late?

(The author is a commentator on political and economic affairs, and a corporate adviser.)

(This article was published on May 2, 2013)

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/a-threat-to-food-security/article4677932.ece

 

Why is China Entering Ladakh?

Published: May 5, 2013 02:09 IST | Updated: May 5, 2013 08:04 IST
Sunny future

Sujay Mehdudia

The Hindu The domestic manufacturers of solar equipment are livid at the government’s failure to protect the interests of the solar industry from cheap imports.

As a sun-swept country, India should have been a pioneer in the use of solar power with a photovoltaic panel on every roof. Good policy can help make up for lost time.

Solar is the most secure of all energy sources, since it is abundantly available in India. With crippling electricity shortages, the price of electricity traded internally touched Rs. 7 a unit for base loads and Rs. 8.50 during peak periods.

The 12th Plan envisages 29,800 megawatts (MW) in capacity addition through renewable sources. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, launched in 2010, anticipates that grid parity will be achieved by 2022 and parity with coal-based thermal power by 2030.

The domestic manufacturers of solar equipment are livid at the government’s failure to protect the interests of the solar industry from cheap imports, despite policy guidelines providing for such measures.

According to V. Saibaba, CEO, Lanco Solar, the lack of access to energy is a key challenge in India’s growth story, with approximately 400 million people having no access to electricity and another 400 million having limited access. Solar energy, with its inherent applicability of being modular and environment friendly, can help in transforming the lives of millions.

However, Mr. Saibaba underscores the need for serious intervention from various regulatory agencies (government, quasi-government and non-government) to alter market behaviour by removing specific barriers and introducing measures to make quality solar appliances affordable and viable.

Another hurdle faced by solar power developers is the lack of financing for companies, and difficulties in priority sector lending for household solar appliances, despite approval from the Reserve Bank of India.

“Compulsory solar installation must be mandated in new buildings without which water and electricity connections should not be given; The States should offer additional subsidy as in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh for widespread adoption by all income groups,” he adds.

Tata Solar Power, a leading player in the solar market, feels solar energy should be treated as a key solution to boosting economic growth and not just as an alternative energy source. “Look at solar as a sunrise industry and not just as a part of the larger power industry. Actively promote solar energy as a viable alternative in urban India and not just as a solution to power-deprived rural or remote regions,” says its CEO Ajay K. Goel.

The government must protect and nurture the industry, including the domestic solar manufacturing sector. It will ensure the country is not dependent on imports. “The government has taken some steps to achieve this, but the steps have been either poorly executed or have loopholes,” Mr. Goel adds.

Mission flaw

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), which is responsible for administering the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, did mandate in Phase-I of the Mission a domestic content requirement for both cells and modules; but it was applicable only for crystalline PV technology and not thin film. However, more than 75 per cent of the projects used imported thin-film technology. In contrast, thin-films account for less than 15 per cent of the total solar installations worldwide. While thin-films have their specific application, in India the choice was made not for technological, but financial, reasons.

“The lack of clarity is evident in Phase-II too; the government stated that a percentage of the overall power projects worth 750 MW to be tendered for competitive bidding under the Viability Gap Funding Scheme would be reserved for projects with domestic content norms, while the rest of the projects would be free to procure components from any country. What was not specified is the quantum of reservation for domestic content and any exception as in Phase-I. This ambiguity and lack of commitment to protect the domestic solar industry will have an immediate and far-reaching impact on its sustainability,” Mr. Goel remarks.

Even in the States, several governments are promoting solar energy. While Gujarat and Rajasthan are at the forefront, other States too are moving. Together, Gujarat and Rajasthan have a capacity of more than 1,110 MW.

Solar manufacturers are of the view that solutions should be implemented at two levels: through comprehensive domestic content requirement and anti-dumping and/or countervailing duties.

Similarly, support should be extended by way of incentives and subsidies to help them compete in global markets and earn valuable foreign exchange. This model is followed by several countries, including the U.S. and China, to promote their domestic players globally.

Gyanesh Chaoudhary of Kolkata-based Vikram Solar says wind power is a different ballgame. India does not have good wind potential, except in some coastal areas. Solar is a more proven technology, and given that India has long sunshine hours throughout the year, the productivity of such plants is higher.

(sujaymehdudia@thehindu.co.in)

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/sunny-future/article4684169.ece?homepage=true&css=print

Workers walk past solar panels at the Gujarat Solar Park at Charanka in Patan district, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) from Ahmadabad, India

Wednesday 2 May 2012 11.58 BST
Gujarat Solar Park the largest solar park in the world - big picture
It's the biggest solar farm in the world, covering 2,000 ha of northern Gujarat, India, and it has the capacity to generate 600MW of power. Gujarat Solar Park is estimated to save 8m tonnes of CO2 emissions every year

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/picture/2012/may/02/gujarat-solar-power-park-india

Published: May 5, 2013 02:17 IST | Updated: May 5, 2013 08:05 IST
The sunshine State

Darshan Desai
Launched towards the end of 2010, the Rs. 9,000-crore Gujarat Solar Park, set up on government wasteland in north Gujarat, has already been producing 214 MW from the sun, making it the first State to generate such capacity at a single location.

And when expanded to 5,000 acres from the present 2,669 acres, the Charanka Park, located at a village of Patan district, will generate 500 MW. This will make it Asia’s largest solar farm. In all, Gujarat’s total installed capacity is 605 MW, and projects are operational in 10 districts.

The entire solar power project would produce 30 lakh units of clean energy every day, capable of electrifying 10 lakh households, and avoid 10 lakh tonnes equivalent of carbon dioxide emissions annually, officials say.

Gujarat, which accounts for two-thirds of national solar power production, has attracted an investment of Rs. 8,000 crore. Buoyed by the success of the project, the government is looking at acquiring some more wasteland in north Gujarat’s Banaskantha district for setting up another solar park.

Meanwhile, the government has evolved a rooftop solar plant policy to enable people to produce their own power and encash it by selling the surplus to the grid.

The capital Gandhinagar, being envisioned as the country’s first model solar city, already has solar rooftop systems ranging from 1 kilowatt (kW) to 150 kW at more than 150 locations, aggregating a capacity of 1.39 MW. This covers a total of two acres of rooftop area, providing 1 per cent of the total energy consumption in the capital. Also, the new building of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board is completely powered by solar energy.

The State government recently floated a 5-MW rooftop programme on the public-private-partnership model in the capital, and that is now being extended to five more cities and towns.

(darshan207@gmail.com)

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-sunshine-state/article4684164.ece?homepage=true&css=print

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarat_Solar_Park

 

CHARANKA SOLAR PARK OVERVIEW – PV MODULES & INVERTER TECHNOLOGY DETAILS OF GUJARAT SOLAR PARK PROJECTS !

BJP exposes Pawan Bansal’s close business links to nephew Singla
by FP Staff May 5, 2013

Chandigarh: BJP leader Satya Pal Jain today held a press conference in Chandigarh to elaborate on Pawan Bansal’s links with his tainted nephew Vijay Singla. Singla was arrested by the CBI yesterday for demanding a bribe of Rs 90 lakh from senior rail official Mahesh Kumar in return for getting him promoted to a top post in the Railways.

The BJP demanded Bansal be sacked. Agencies.

“Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal very conveniently declared that he has no links with Singla’s businesses and that he had not been in touch with his nephew. But documents of Singla’s businesses show otherwise,” said Jain, adding, “Had he not been guilty, he wouldn’t have stayed quiet about the allegations.”

Jain claimed that Bansal’s sons, daughter-in-law, wife and another nephew are associated with almost all the ventures Singla is involved in. “In fact, in one company where Singla is a director, the other director’s residence address is listed as Pawan Kumar Bansal’s home address. How is it possible then that Bansal had no clue about what was going on?” asked Jain.

He added that Bansal’s secretary, IAS officer Rahul Bhandari was also his sister’s son-in-law. Jain alleged that Bhandari too was involved in several of these deals.

He asked why no governmental procedure was initiated against Bansal after the news of Singla’s arrest broke. “We demand Bansal come out and give details of all the companies his wife and sons are directors of. He should also tell us which companies he has invested in, and whether he has either borrowed or lent money on behalf of these companies,” said Jain.

The BJP leader applauded the CBI for ‘daring’ to arrest a senior minister’s kin. “If the government tries to pressurise the CBI and shut the case, we would knock on the doors of the Supreme Court,” he said, demanding Bansal be questioned immediately and sacked from the cabinet.

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/pawan-bansals-sons-are-involved-in-the-same-businesses-as-singla-bjp-753233.html

Shahr-i Sokhta, terracotta cakes, Periods II and III, I, MAI 1026 (front and rear); 2. MAI 376 (front and rear); 3. MAI 9794 (3a, photograph of front and read; 3b, drawing -- After Fig. 12 in E. Cortesi et al. 2008)
Inventory of terracotta cakes Shahr-i Sokhta. After Salvatori and Vidale, 1997-79. Table 1 in E. Cortesi et al. 2008)
Number nd percentages of terracotta cakes found t Shahr-i Sokhta, total 31. (After Table 2 in E. Cortesi et al. 2008).

"Terracotta cakes. Variously called 'terracotta tablets', 'triangular plaques' or 'triangular terracotta cakes' these artifacts (fig. 12, tables 2 and 3), made of coarse chaff-tempered clay, are a very common find in several protohistoric sites of the Subcontinent from the late Regionalization Era (2800-2600 BCE) to the Localization Er (1900-1700 BCE). In this latter time0-span they frequently assume irregular round shapes, to finally retain the form of a lump of clay squeezed in the hand. Despite abudant and often unnecessary speculation, archaeological evidence demonstrates tht they were used in pyrotechnological activities, both in domestic and industrial contexts. The most likely hypothesis is tht these objets, in the common kitchen areas, were heated to boil water, and used as kiln setters in other contexts. Shahr-i Sokhta is the only site in the eastern Iranian plateau where such terracotta cakes, triangular or more rarely rectangular, are found in great quantity. Their use, perhaps by families or individuals having special ties with the Indus region, might have been part of simple domestic activities, but this conclusion is questioned by the fact that several terracotta cakes, at Shahr-i Sokhta, bear stamp seal impressions or other graphic signs (in more than 30% of the total cases). In many cases the actual impressions are poorly preserved, and require detailed study. Perhaps these objects used in some form of administrative practice. Although many specimens are fired or burnt, a small percentge of the 'cakes' found at Shahr-i Sokhta is unfired (table 2). On the other hand, their modification in the frame of one or more unknown semantic contexts is not unknown in the Indus valley. At Kalibangan (Haryana, India), for example, two terracotta cake fragments respectively bear a cluster of signs of the Indus writing system and a possible scene of animal sacrifice in front of a possible divinity. While a terracotta cake found at Chanhu-Daro (Sindh, Pakistan) bears a star-like design, anothr has three central depressions. The most important group of incised terracotta cakes comes from Lothal, where the record includes specimens with vertical strokes, central depressions, a V-shaped sign, a triangle, and a cross-like sign identical to those found at Shahr-i Sokhta. Tables 2 and 3 shows a complete inventory of these objects (most so far unpublished), their provenience and proposed dating, and finally summarize their frequencies across the Shahr-i Sokhta sequence. The data suggest that terracotta cakes are absent from Period I. This might be due to the very small amount of excavated deposits in the earliest settlement layers, but the almost total absence of terracotta cakes in layers dtable to phases 8-7, exposed in some extention both in the Eastern Residential Area and in the Centrl Quarter, is remarkable. The majority of the finds belong to Period II, phases 6 and 5 (mount together to about 60% of the cases). As the amount of sediments investigated for Period III in the settlement areas, for various reasons, is much less than what was done for Period II, the percentage of about 40% obtained for Period III (which, we believe, dates to the second hald of the 3rd millennium BCE) actually demonstrates that the use of terracotta cakes at Shahr-i Sokht continued to increase." (E. Cortesi, M. Tosi, A. Lazzari and M. Vidale, 2008, Cultural relationships beyond the Iranian plateau: the Helmand Civilization, Baluchistan and the Indus Valley in the 3rd millennium, pp. 17-18)

Indus terracotta nodules. Source: "Terra cotta nodules and cakes of different shapes are common at most Indus sites. These objects appear to have been used in many different ways depending on their shape and size. The flat triangular and circular shaped cakes may have been heated and used for baking small triangular or circular shaped flat bread. The round and irregular shaped nodules have been found in cooking hearths and at the mouth of pottery kilns where they served as heat baffles. Broken and crushed nodule fragments were used instead of gravel for making a level foundation underneath brick walls."Terracotta cake. Mohenjo-daro Excavation Number: VS3646. Location of find: 1, I, 37 (near NE corner of the room)."People have many different ideas about how these triangular blocks of clay were used. One idea is that they were placed inside kilns to keep in the heat while objects were fired. Another idea is that they were heated in a fire or oven, then placed in pots to boil liquids." Source: http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/indus/explore/nvs_tcake.html

These terracotta cakes are like Ancient Near East tokens used for accounting, as elaborated by Denise Schmandt-Besserat in her pioneering researches.

The context in which an incised terracotta cake was found at Kalibangan is instructive. I suggest that terracotta cakes were tokens to count the ingots produced in a 'fire-altar' and crucibles, by metallurgists of Sarasvati civilization. This system of incising is found in scores of miniature incised tablets of Harappa, incised with Indus writing. Some of these tablets are shaped like bun ingots, some are triangular and some are shaped like fish. Each shape should have had some semantic significance, e.g., fish may have connoted ayo 'fish' as a glyph; read rebus: ayas 'metal (alloy)'. A horned person on the Kalibangan terracotta cake described herein might have connoted: kōṭu 'horn'; rebus: खोट khōṭa 'A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge. Hence 2 A lump or solid bit'; खोटसाळ khōṭasāḷa 'Alloyed--a metal'(Marathi) A stake associated with the fire-altar was ढांगर [ ḍhāṅgara ] n 'A stout stake or stick as a prop to a Vine or scandent shrub]' (Marathi); rebus:ḍhaṅgar 'smith' (Maithili. Hindi)
Harppa. Two sides of a fish-shaped, incised tablet with Indus writing. Hundreds of inscribed texts on tablets are repetitions; it is, therefore, unlikely that hundreds of such inscribed tablets just contained the same ‘names’ composed of just five ‘alphabets’ or ‘syllables’, even after the direction of writing is firmed up as from right to left.

Kalibangan. Mature Indus period: terracotta cake incised with horned deity. Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India."Fire Altars. At Kalibangan, fire Vedic altars have been discovered, similar to those found at Lothal which S.R. Rao thinks could have served no other purpose than a ritualistic one.[18] These altars suggest fire worship or worship of Agni, the Hindu god of fire. It is the only Indus Valley Civilization site where there is no evidence to suggest the worship of the "mother goddess".
Within the fortified citadel complex, the southern half contained many (five or six) raised platforms of mud bricks, mutually separated by corridors. Stairs were attached to these platforms. Vandalism of these platforms by brick robbers makes it difficult to reconstruct the original shape of structures above them but unmistakable remnants of rectangular or oval kuṇḍas or fire-pits of burnt bricks for Vedi (altar)s have been found, with a yūpa or sacrificial post (cylindrical or with rectangular cross-section, sometimes bricks were laid upon each other to construct such a post) in the middle of each kuṇḍa and sacrificial terracotta cakes (piṇḍa) in all these fire-pits. Houses in the lower town also contain similar altars. Burnt charcoals have been found in these fire-pits. The structure of these fire-altars is reminiscent of (Vedic) fire-altars, but the analogy may be coincidental, and these altars are perhaps intended for some specific (perhaps religious) purpose by the community as a whole. In some fire-altars remnants of animals have been found, which suggest a possibility of animal-sacrifice." Source: Elements of Indian Archaeology (Bharatiya Puratatva,in Hindi) by Shri Krishna Ojha, published by Research Publications in Social Sciences, 2/44 Ansari Riad, Daryaganj, New Delhi-2, pp.119-120. (The fifth chapter summarizes the excavation report of Kalibangan in 11 pages).

Manuel, J. 2010. The Enigmatic Mushtikas and the Associated Triangular Terracotta Cakes: Some Observations. Ancient Asia 2:41-46, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/aa.10204

 

The Enigmatic Mushtikas and the Associated Triangular Terracotta Cakes: Some Observations

J. Manuel

Abstract

For over four decades, now, mushtikas and its common associate, the triangular terracotta cakes have been believed to be part of ‘fire altars’. This is, in spite of the fact that, either or both of these have been found from hearths, ovens, kilns, as flooring material, on walls, in passages, streets, bathrooms and therefore obviously near commodes. Further, the great variety of central stele and construction material, size and shape, materials found within ‘fire altars’ suggest that, all the above were devoid of religious symbolism and used to achieve domestic or industrial objectives. The cakes being primarily associated with run of the mill economic activities ended up in diverse and defiling contexts. However, like many cultures across time and space Harappans may also have used the medium of fire for offering sacrifices. Therefore the existence of ‘fire altars’ is not denied as such, but these then should not have the ubiquitous cakes, at the least.

Introduction

The terracotta object varyingly described as ovoid (Rao, 1985: 19, 26, 27), Bicones (Fairservis, 1993: 109) circular biconvex terracotta ‘cakes’ (Lal, 1997: 227) ‘round ones with a deep finger impression in the center’ (Dikshit, 1993: 399), terracotta mushtis (Mehta, 1993: 168), mushtikas (Dales & Kenoyer, 1993: 490; Nath, 1998: 41) and most recently as ‘idli shaped terracotta cake with a thumb impression’  (Rao, 2006: 40,41) have been commonly found associated with the mature Harappan remains.  A small Mature Harappan period site like Allahdino yielded 24000  bicones (mushtikas) and 2600 triangular terracotta cakes (Fairservis, 1993: 109). The mushtikas and triangular cakes were in vogue even at rural sites like Zekda (Mehta, 1993: 168)  during the mature period. Similarly, the triangular terracotta cakes are also generally known as most commonly associated with Mature Harappan Culture (Allchin, 1993: 235). However, the emergence of the terracotta cakes have been reported from the ‘pre Indus phase at Mehergarh and Nausharo’ (Jarrige, 1995: 21) and early Harappan phase at Bhirrana (Rao, 2006: 40,41) and Kalibangan (Madhu Bala, 2003: 231, 233). The triangular terracotta cakes in particular were also obtained from Hakra Ware cultural assemblage at Bhirranna, where it was collected as unbaked specimen (Rao et al., 2005: 63). Besides the mature Harappan period both variety of cakes have been reported from other time and space contexts also, albeit in much lesser numbers. The mushtikas have also been reported from late Harappan context at Hulas (Dikshit, 1993: 399) and as surface finds from Moti Pipli, a Harappan affiliated Chalcolithic site (IAR, 1992-93: 19). The triangular terracotta cakes have also been found in later context as at Lothal (Rao, 1985: 15) and Dholavira (IAR, 1991-92: 30). Thus both type of cakes although have been found from a wide span of temporal settings yet their overwhelming preponderance is clearly seen in the Mature Harappan Period, when urbanization, industrial activities and long distance trade were very much in vogue. Even though after the breakdown of the grand system the Harappans held on to some of the practices, the utility of terracotta cakes had probably reduced and therefore the sharp decline in their numbers as observed during the

Association with rituals

The mushtikas and the triangular terracotta cakes have mostly been associated with rituals.   From the early sixties the terracotta cakes were supposed to have been used in the performance of ‘fire altar’ rituals during the mature Harappan period as at Kalibangan (IAR, 1962-63: 30). Later, the presence of terracotta cakes, ash and the cylindrical blocks in fire places were reckoned as the usual contents of ‘fire altars’ (IAR, 1968-69: 31). Sankalia (1974: 350) also mentions that ‘in the center of the pit was a cylindrical or rectangular (sundried or prefired bricks)’ and around this central stele of ‘fire altar’, ‘flat triangular or circular terracotta pieces, known hitherto as terracotta cakes’ were placed. Further, according to Rao (1979: 121 & 1985:15,24,26,27) these ovoid balls and triangular cakes ‘were used for ritualistic purposes’ and found in different types of ‘fire altars’. The triangular terracotta cakes and mushtikas were noticed as offering in ‘fire altars’ at Rakhigarhi (Nath, 1999: 48). Terracotta cakes have also been reported from Tarkhanewala Dera as part of a square ‘fire altar’ (Trivedi & Patnaik, 2004: 31). Thus, mushtikas and triangular cakes now have been reportedly associated with the phenomenon of ‘fire altars’ for well over four decades. Pertinently, besides its association with fire, triangular terracotta cakes were earlier reported to have ‘special significance in connection with ritual bathing or other ablutions’ by several scholars including Gordon (Allchin, 1993: 235).

Contexts of findings

The mushtikas and the triangular terracotta cakes have been found from a large number of contexts other than ‘fire altars’. Triangular terracotta cakes have been found at the mouth of kiln at Harappa (Dales & Kenoyer, 1993: 490). At Sanghol terracotta cakes have been found in kiln that yielded unbaked pottery (Sharma, 1993: 157). Cakes have been reported from potters kiln at Tarkhanewala in association with ash etc. (Trivedi & Patnaik, 2004: 31). Rao (1985: 24) reported ‘an altar like enclosure with terracotta triangular cakes and a stone quern’. Nath (1998: 41) is of the opinion that excessive concentration of terracotta cakes including mushtikas at Rakhigarhi is due to the craft activity. At Nausharo, clay built containers ‘had terracotta cakes used as heat conservers in the fireplaces’ (Jarrige, 1994: 288). At Rakhigarhi, a jar filled with terracotta cakes in the base portion is supposed as an hearth for heating semi precious stones at different stages of workmanship in a lapidary workshop (IAR, 1999-2000: 32).  Terracotta cakes along with small vases, charred bones and ashes were found within ‘burial urns’ by Tessitori at Kalibangan, during his survey of Rajputana between 1916-1919 (Thapar, 2003: 13). Another place wherein the triangular terracotta cakes occur as decorations on walls (Rao, 1979: 215). According to Nath, (1998: 43) the mushtikas were ‘prepared to keep them in cowdung cake fire pans as heat absorbents, thereafter it was reused either in floor bedding or raising levels’. Successive mushtika beddings in massive mud brick fortification at Rakhigarhi and mushtika bedding in cutting of a street at Kalibangan (Nath, 1998: 41) show the various type of less than sacrosanct contexts these cakes are found.

Triangular cakes have been found in ‘houses and streets’ (Mackay, 1938: 429), ‘passages’ (Rao, 1979: 113), ‘surface of lane’, ‘road’ (Sant et. al., 2005: 53), floors of mud brick houses in association with ovoid terracotta balls ‘plastered with mud’ (Rao, 1979: 83), ‘rooms paved with bricks or fired terracotta cakes’ (Agrawal, 2007: 79), as soling material along with mushtikas for raising levels of store houses (IAR, 1997-98: 57), etc. The triangular terracotta cakes have also been reported to be found from bathrooms, prompting scholars to suggest that these were used in ‘ritual bathing’ (Allchin, 1993: 235). Pertinently, Agrawal (2007: 143) also points out that ‘most houses or groups of houses had private bathing areas and latrines, as well as private wells. The early excavators at both Mohenjodaro and Harappa did not pay much attention to this essential feature’.  According to him, the recent HARP excavations at Harappa are finding what appear to be latrines in almost every house. Agrawal mentions that,  ‘these sump pot latrines were probably cleaned out quite regularly by a separate class of labourers’. Pertinently, had these large jars or sump pots sunk into the floors in or near bathing platforms been identified as commodes earlier, the scholars would not have correlated the presence of triangular terracotta cakes in bathrooms with ‘ritual bathing’. Earlier the triangular terracotta cakes presence in bathrooms was recognized but since the latrines contiguous to the bathing platforms were not commonly known its presence obviously in the vicinity of commodes could not have also been known as such. Had these facts been known then, none would have given hallowed status to the triangular terracotta cakes now understood to be found in the conjoined latrine bathrooms. The less than sublime presence of these cakes could not have been given any use other than just plain bathing. For, if anyone insistent on ‘ritual bathing’ even after the triangular terracotta cakes being known to have been found in the vicinity of the earlier unidentified commodes would have to associate defecation also with part of rituals. 

Discussion

Pertinently, the presence of mushtikas and triangular cakes in a bewildering range of contexts does not allow it to be associated with ceremonies associated with fire, even though they are more often associated with places of fire. Even though cakes of food items are offered to the gods in the fire altars the mushtikas and triangular cakes also could be construed as something similar, which incidentally did not find mention in the Vedic literature. However, problem arises due to the fact that these cakes are found in not only mundane contexts of industrial activities but also in such places that defiles their once hallowed status. The finding of mushtikas and/or its common associate the triangular terracotta cakes in contexts, like: as soling material, as part of floor, in streets, passages, and bathrooms and obviously in the conjoined latrines does not enable it to achieve a sanctified status. In fact, its presence in those fire places which otherwise could have been considered as ‘fire altars’, prejudices one about its defiling presence at a sacrosanct spot. In fact, those fireplaces without these cakes could yet be fire altars. Pertinently, not all ‘fire altars’ have the mushtikas and triangular terracotta cakes within them. At Rakhigarhi several ‘fire altars’ (Nath, 1999: 48 & IAR, 1997-98: 60) have been identified wherein cakes have not been reported. One of these has burnt shells of fruits, which formed part of the offerings. At Lothal also several ‘fire altars’ have been identified by Rao (1979: 117) in which although ash, pottery and or bones are reported but the cakes were not mentioned. On the availability of other concurring evidence, these and others like these could be verily declared as ‘fire altars’. However, those fire places with both or either of the terracotta cakes, being used, as heat conservers are definitely not ‘fire altars’.

Thus, the fireplaces with mushtikas and triangular terracotta cakes therefore has to be the run of the mill, hearths, ovens, kilns, etc. Pertinently, cakes have been found in diverse contexts associated with heat, namely: at the mouth of a pottery kiln at Harappa (Dales & Kenoyer, 1993: 490), with some unbaked pottery in a kiln at Sanghol (Sharma, 1993: 157), in the pottery kiln at Tarkhanewala Dera (Trivedi & Patnaik, 2004: 31), besides in jar identified as hearth at Rakhigarhi (IAR 1999-2000: 32). The findings do hint that the cakes were used in places where prolonged heating was required. Nath (1998: 41) has suggested that the “excessive concentration of terracotta cakes including the mushtikas” indicate to the “intensive involvement of the people in their craft activity”. The cakes therefore appear to be primarily used as heat conservers as reported at Nausharo (Jarrige, 1993: 288) allowing “air into the kiln and at the same time effectively sealing in the heat” as suggested by Dales & Kenoyer (1993: 490) with reference to the triangular terracotta cakes found in the pottery kiln at Harappa. It appears that the frequent finding of pottery along with the terracotta cakes reinforces the possibility that some of the many types of ‘fire altars’ were potters kiln and other industrial fireplaces for baking different types of pottery and processing variety of craft items. Since the cakes did not have any religious value, it could and did end up in streets, floors, bathrooms, etc. Even the reporting of the cakes being found in ‘burial urn’ by Tessitori at Kalibangan does not gain it any religious value as mundane objects of daily use are routinely found along with burial remains. Pertinently, Jarrige (1995: 21) mentions the ‘fireplaces filled with stones or terracotta cakes of the pre-Indus period at Mehergarh and Nausharo and the Indus period at Nausharo’. By extension of logic, if the terracotta cakes are deemed as offerings then the stones also have to be of the same class. Alternatively, if the stones found in the fireplaces are not deemed holy the terracotta cakes also have to be deemed as mundane objects used in hearths and kilns. These cakes, therefore, are nothing else other than what Allchin (1993: 233-238) has termed it, namely, ‘Substitute Stones’.

Further, unlike mundane things, objects of religious value do have a high degree of standardization in mediums used, forms of expression and the association of other objects. These are also found only in limited areas not anywhere and everywhere. Sacred objects even if they have outlived there use would never be used in bathrooms and latrines, nor thrown away on lanes and roads or used as soling in floors to be trodden under the foot of men and animals. Earlier, Rao (1979: 215) had decried that ‘it is not safe to attribute cult value to an object on the basis of its shape or just because no other satisfactory explanation is available in the present state of our knowledge.’ Specifically citing the example of triangular terracotta cakes, he wrote that these ‘were once considered to be cult objects are found to have been used in flooring and for decorating the walls of the houses’. Again those fire altars with the central stele, also does not have any defining attribute regarding the shape or material of the stele or the enclosure nor the range of objects found within. Thus a clay stele in one altar, a mud brick in another, a baked brick in yet another, a cylindrical yashti here and a square one in the adjacent ‘fire altar’ does not show any uniformity, so necessary for outlining religious practices. It is intriguing that scholars did not find ‘the anything would do’ mindset as inferred by the permutations and combinations of material remains of the said ‘fire altars’ strange. Such adhoc substitutions and varieties are seen in industrial activities where the end product has to be achieved irrespective of the construction of the workplace. Where as in matters religious, symbolism rules the roost and uniformity in religious practices and materials are invariably sought for. Albeit, one should say in the same breath, that there is no denying of the fact that those ‘fire altars’ with central stele could be ‘fire altars’. However, such ‘fire altars’ then should have some formal attributes with regard to the construction and materials including the stele, across several similar ones at least in the same phase of the site.

Conclusion

Thus in view of the evidence obtained from many sites wherein the mushtikas and triangular terracotta cakes were used as ‘heat conservers’ besides the later degraded contexts of association of the terracotta cakes supposedly used in ‘rituals’, it appears to the present author that those ‘fire altars’ having these cakes cannot be ‘fire altars’. Moreover, even the association of the two type of cakes in ‘fire altars’ with central stele also does not complement the evidence of ‘fire altars’, as the casual approach in construction of the stele is itself not above circumspection. In all probability, the ‘fire altars’ having the mushtikas and triangular terracotta cakes, both observed in less than sublime conditions, even if it/they be associated with such fire places which, for other reasons appear as ‘fire altars’ including those with the central stele are not actually ‘fire altars’. In fact, they were fire places built up for different type of industrial uses. Thus, only those fire places which do not have these terracotta cakes and are having food offerings with a standard type of stele or without stele could be ‘fire altars’ all others are hearths, ovens, kilns, etc.

Acknowledgements

I am thankful to Shri K.K. Muhammed, and to Dr Narayan Vyas, both Superintending Archaeologists, for always encouraging academic work and for being available for discussions, whenever needed. Thanks are due towards Smt Hemlata Ukhale, Librarian, Bhopal Circle, for not only providing the required literature at the earliest but also suggesting more sources that has been frequently found useful. Last, but not least the miscellaneous technical help rendered by Shri Vijay Mishra is acknowledged herein.  

Bibliography

Agrawal, D.P. 2007. The Indus Civilization: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, Aryan Books International, New Delhi.

Allchin, B. 1993. Substitute Stones, in G. L. Possehl eds. Harappan Civilization: A Recent Perspective, Oxford & I.B.H. Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, pp 233-238.

Dales, G. F. and J. M. Kenoyer 1993. The Harappan Project 1986-1989: New Investigation at an ancient Indus City. in G. L. Possehl eds. Harappan Civilization: A Recent Perspective, Oxford & I.B.H. Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

Dikshit, K. N. 1993. Hulas and the Late Harappan Complex in Western Uttar Pradesh, in G. L. Possehl eds. Harappan Civilization: A Recent Perspective, Oxford & I.B.H. Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

Fairservis, W.A. 1993. Allahdino: An Excavation of a small Harappan Site, in G. L. Possehl eds. Harappan Civilization: A Recent Perspective, Oxford & I.B.H. Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

IAR Indian Archaeology, 1962-63:  A Review, Annual Bulletin of Archaeological Survey of India, 30.

IAR Indian Archaeology, 1968-69: A Review, Annual Bulletin of Archaeological Survey of India. 31

IAR Indian Archaeology, 1991-92: A Review, Annual Bulletin of Archaeological Survey of India. 30.

IAR Indian Archaeology, 1992-93: A Review, Annual Bulletin of Archaeological Survey of India. 19.

IAR Indian Archaeology, 1997-98: A Review, Annual Bulletin of Archaeological Survey of India. 57,60.

IAR Indian Archaeology, 1999-2000: A Review, Annual Bulletin of Archaeological Survey of India. 32.

Jarrige, C. 1994. The Mature Indus Phase at Nausharo as seen from a block of period III, Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, I:288.

Jarrige,J.F. 1995. From Nausharo to Pirak: Continuity and change in the Kachi/Bolan Region from the 3rd to the 2nd Millennium B.C., Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, I: 21.

Lal, B.B. 1997. The Earliest Civilization of South Asia, 227, Aryan Books International, Delhi.

Mackay, E.J.H. 1938. Further Excavations at Mohenjo-daro, Govt. of India Press, New Delhi.

Madhu Bala 2003. Minor Antiquities, in B.B. Lal, J.P. Joshi, B.K. Thapar, Madhu Bala. eds Excavations at Kalibangan: The Early Harappans(1960-69), pp 231-233. Archaeological Survey of India, Delhi.

Mehta, R.N. 1993. Some Rural Harappan Settlements in Gujarat, in G. L. Possehl eds. Harappan Civilization: A Recent Perspective, Oxford &  I.B.H. Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi. 

Nath, A. 1997-1998. Rakhigarhi: A Harappan Metropolis in Sarasvati- Drishdavati Divide, Puratattva 28: 41,43.

Nath, A. 1998-1999. Further Excavations at Rakhigarhi, Puratattva 29: 48.

Rao, L.S., Nandini B. Sahu, Prabhas Sahu, Samir Diwan and U.A. Shastri. 2004-2005. New Light on the Excavation of Harappan Settlement at Bhirrana, Puratattva 35: 63,65.

Rao, L.S. 2006. Settlement Pattern of the Predecessors of the Early Harappans at Bhirrana, District Fatehbad, Haryana, Man and Environment  XXXI no 2 : 41,42.

Rao, S.R. 1979. Lothal: A Harappan Port Town, 1955-62, Vol I: 83, 113, 117, 121, 215, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi. 

Rao, S.R. 1985. Lothal, Archaeological Survey of India, Delhi.

Sankalia, H.D. 1974. The Prehistory and Proto history of India and Pakistan, Deccan College Postgraduate Research Institute, Poona.

Sant, U., T.J. Baidya, N.G. Nikoshey, N.K. Sinha, S. Nayan, J.K. Tiwari and A. Arif. 2004-2005. Baror - A New Harappan Site in Ghaggar Valley. A Preliminary Report,  Purattatva 35:53. 

Sharma, Y. D. 1993. Harappan Complex on the Sutlej ( India) in G. L. Possehl eds Harappan Civilization: A Recent Perspective,  Oxford & I.B.H. Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd,  New Delhi.

Thapar, B.K. 2003. Discovery and Previous Work, in B.B. Lal, J.P.Joshi, B.K. Thapar, Madhu Bala eds. Excavations at Kalibangan: The Early Harappans (1960-69), Archaeological Survey of India, Delhi.

Trivedi, P.K. and J.K. Patnaik. 2003-2004. Tarkhanewala Dera and Chak 86 (2003-2004), Puratattva 34: 31.

 

 

Many conjectures have been made about the functions served by the enigmatic terracotta cakes:

The Indus valley cones, cakes and archaeologists
S. V. Pradhan Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Vol. 80, No. 1/4 (1999), pp. 43-51 Source:http://www.jstor.org/stable/41694575

http://www.scribd.com/doc/139638311/The-Indus-valley-cones-cakes-and-archaeologists-S-V-Pradhan-Annals-of-the-Bhandarkar-Oriental-Research-Institute-Vol-80-No-1-4-1999-pp-43-5

The Indus valley cones, cakes and archaeologists S. V. Pradhan Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Vol. 80, No. 1/4 (1999), pp. 43-51

The Tiny Steatite Seals of Harappa

 

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/04/bronze-age-writing-in-ancient-near-east.htmlBronze-age writing in ancient Near East: Two Samarra bowls and Warka vase

SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2013 02:30 AM IST

How the Christian right perverts adoption

The evangelical adoption boom is driven by creepy links between the Christian right and a billion-dollar industry

BY LAURA BARCELLA

Kathryn Joyce

When you think of adoption, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Maybe it’s the vague, rosy notion of a happy ending — of rescue, salvation or (more likely) some do-gooding Hollywood mouthpiece like Angelina Jolie adding kids of various ethnicities to her big, colorful brood.

What probably doesn’t automatically come to mind is coercion, racism and a conservative Christian agenda that extends beyond mere abortion prevention. Award-winning journalist Kathryn Joyce describes all these issues — and, sadly, many more — as being shockingly rampant in the multi-billion-dollar adoption industry. And she delves into them, in somewhat jarring investigative detail, in her new book, “The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption.”

Joyce details how the adoption industry has become overly enmeshed with the Christian right — how evangelical, pro-adoption church leaders have, in recent years, been creepily urging followers to adopt en masse, often internationally and from war-ravaged countries. Christian adoption booms are common in countries like Haiti and Indonesia after natural disasters and other crises — remember Laura Silsby, the Baptist church leader from Idaho who was charged with child trafficking after illegally attempting to smuggle 33 unauthorized Haitian children across the Haiti-Dominican Republic border in 2010?

The Silsby case threw a cold light on the evangelical adoption boom, but as it has faded from public memory, our cultural focus has reverted to its usual state of viewing adoption as a unilaterally positive thing fostered by honest people with good intentions. As Joyce makes clear in both her book and the following interview, most of the Christian folks involved in adoption — at least from an adoptive-parent perspective — do have good intentions, and they see adoption as a living demonstration of their commitment to the Bible (a popular verse among Christian adopters urges followers to help orphans and widows). They want to save needy kids’ lives and give them the “gift” of evangelism at the same time.

But as adoption has become bigger business, it’s inherently grown less ethical and more intent on increasing the “supply” of adoptable children, both here and overseas. What many of these potential adopters don’t realize is that the adoption industry is already, arguably, corrupt — and not all of the kids who get “rescued” actually need it.

Joyce spoke with us via telephone about what she learned while researching and writing her controversial new book (which is, unsurprisingly, rankling Christian leaders, who consider “The Child Catchers” a hatchet job).

What are some of our biggest cultural misconceptions about adoption, both domestic and international?

The biggest thing I came away with after working on this is that adoption is thought of so commonly as a win-win situation, as such a wonderful thing for both the adoptive family and the child. Obviously, that is often the case — that it is a beautiful thing. But a lot of times it can also be a tragic or unjust thing. The biggest misconception is that it’s unilaterally good rather than something more complicated, or something borne frequently out of the tragedy of another family.

In the course of researching and writing this book, was there any piece of information you learned about adoption that shocked you most?

There are so many, from the way orphans are defined both in the U.S. and overseas; [“orphan” is] a term that’s now been expanded to include children of single parents, whether it’s single mothers in the U.S. or parents who are widowed in international countries.

Also, the realization that adoption means different things in different cultures, so it’s impossible to have a conversation about that and have that be an ethical conversation unless everybody is aware of the various definitions of these terms, and the different traditions you’re coming from.

Another thing I was a little shocked by is that agencies are not always required to stand by the information they’re providing to families. Agencies can pass along bad information, incorrect ideas about where a child is coming from or what their back-story [or] their family situation [is]. They have no responsibility for making sure that [information] is accurate. It puts a lot of people in kind of an impossible situation — not having the tools to understand whether they’re engaged in an ethical process.

In the book, you mention a verse of scripture that’s considered incredibly important in evangelical circles: James 1:27 [which says it is pure religion “to look after orphans and widows in their distress”]. Can you explain the significance of this verse?

That verse is cited very commonly among lots of Christian advocates involved in the orphan care and adoption movement. So tons of people who have come to [see] adoption as this perfect way they can live out their faith and mirror their own salvation experience in the adoption of a child — that is one of the bits of scripture they turn to.

But [something] that came up in my reporting is [questioning] that verse in terms of how well widows are being incorporated into this movement. One of my sources, an evangelical law professor named David M. Smolin, who has been a longstanding adoption reform advocate, spoke to this very eloquently, saying, “This movement has divorced the orphans and the widows from each other.” A lot of Christians who are involved in advocating for [adoption] reform say, “If you want to follow the Bible’s call, then you need to be caring for poor children and their families together.” What David Smolin was saying was that too often, many parts of this movement find it easier to help children by themselves — to just approach orphans as if they were standing all alone in the world and not look at the broader circumstances of the families they’re coming from, whether that’s a poor mother in Ethiopia who, after her husband died, is now in this position of having to find a job or keep her child, but has no good option to do both … A lot of times, people could do more help by addressing the holistic picture — helping a family stay together, rather than relinquishing a child for adoption in these cultures where adoption is becoming a go-to solution for poverty or family instability.

You wrote about how the Christian pro-adoption movement had a larger vision than simply promoting adoption as an abortion alternative; it wanted to address a supposed “orphan crisis.” Is there an orphan crisis?

There are crises that involve children. But as some development workers put it to me, this is not so much an orphan crisis as a poverty crisis, a conflict crisis, a crisis of stability. The “orphan crisis” draws its numbers from a UNICEF tally of orphans and vulnerable children, and their definition was deliberately very broad; they were casting a very wide net because they wanted to talk about all children in vulnerable circumstances, [like those who] had lost one or both parents, or might be in need of additional assistance and support measures.

So when people talk about the numbers for the orphan crisis, the numbers are a huge span; some say [more than 100] million and some say 10 million orphans in the world. Whatever number you choose, the majority of those children are … single orphans, meaning they still have one living parent. They may or may not live with that parent, but that number also doesn’t take into account other populations of children who might have parents but aren’t counted because they’re street children, they live on their own.

The [UNICEF] estimate, which was [created] for purposes of estimating amounts of aid, has been picked up by adoption advocates as something that relates to the number of children who might need [to be adopted]. And that is just a serious misapplication of that number. I’m by far not the first person to make that argument; lots of people have pointed this out. These numbers have taken on a life of their own and they get repeated and amplified; people [hear that] there are hundreds of millions of orphans in the world, so how could there be a shortage of children available for adoption? It’s beyond apples and oranges; it’s a completely misapplied statistic. Of course, there are children in need of adoption, but they usually don’t happen to be young, healthy children. They’re often children over 5, children with more time-intensive medical, mental or psychological needs. That doesn’t quite match up with the demand from the U.S.

You write in the beginning of “The Child Catchers” about your correspondence with a Christian woman named Sharon. She already had a bunch of biological kids, but was desperate to take on more adopted kids as sort of “adoption projects.” This seems like an apt description for the way many of the Christian adopters saw these kids — as projects, not people. Any thoughts on this?

It’s important to say that overwhelmingly, most prospective adoptive parents enter this process with seriously good intentions. They want to help, whether this is something they came to on their own or something they felt called to do because their church started talking about the orphan crisis. However, I think there is danger in a movement like this — even folks within the movement describe it as a “contagious adoption culture” or a “viral adoption culture.” Those are the words for something becoming trendy. I think there’s a danger, when something becomes trendy, for people to kind of throw themselves into it with an enthusiasm that is not matched by their preparation. Not speaking about anyone in particular, but [in my research] I’ve come across stories of families who seemed really excited to embark on this because of the enthusiasm in the movement around [them], but it’s not necessarily something they spent a huge amount of time preparing for. Sometimes it can work out really well, but … there can be problems.

Can you talk a bit about the Laura Silsby debacle that happened after the Haiti earthquake in January 2010 — how that case impacted the movement and broader cultural perceptions of adoption in general?

When the case broke in 2010, it was this unique moment. All of a sudden, people were looking at the issues [involved in] adoption-related scandals that had happened in other countries. Because of the publicity and the immense scale of the earthquake, it was a bit of a “click” moment for people realizing that this is the reason people talk about adoption corruption. It crystallized a few different things: [Silsby’s] good intentions leading to a sort of presumptiveness and audacity — going into a different country, deciding [she] was going to embark on a vigilante rescue mission, and how badly that could turn out. People were also hearing the response from people on the ground in Haiti, saying, “This is not helping. This is creating a bigger mess. This is disrespectful to this government as it’s facing tremendous challenges — [Americans] coming in and making this story completely about [themselves] vs. the millions of people affected by the earthquake.”

The response among the Christians was interesting as well. I [attended] a couple of conferences about evangelical adoption in the spring of 2010, and there was an awful lot of discussion and concern about those issues. At one of those conferences, talking about hot-button adoption issues, people [were finally asking questions] like, “How do we make sure we’re not participating in an unethical adoption? What can we do?” There were pro-adoption, pro-Christian people who were very concerned. But when those scandals aren’t directly in the media spotlight, the dominant narrative of adoption as “rescue,” not as a more complicated thing, can come back and take more of the focus.

A lot of prospective adoptive parents do not feel they have the tools to figure out whether an agency is doing the right thing. I saw that time and again [during my research]; a lot of people who want to [adopt] but also want to make sure they’re not participating in something unethical, are completely baffled because it’s such a confusing, complex system.

You’ve written that certain countries like Liberia or Guatemala at one point became an adoption “cause célèbre” — how do particular locales become trendy among evangelical adopters?

After big natural disasters, you definitely see an urge to address it by adopting. After the Indonesia tsunami in 2005, there was a scandal when [WorldHelp], a Christian organization based in Virginia, wanted to take a couple hundred children from a Muslim community back to Virginia. They put a stop to that; it was extremely controversial, especially because of the place of adoption in Muslim culture [Indonesia had regulations in place before the tsunami requiring orphans be raised by people of their own religion]. But we also saw it after the tsunami in Japan, which is a very wealthy country; what orphan children were left after the tsnumai, it’s very unlikely they would have been in need of international adoption. It happened after the genocide in Rwanda; it happened after the very long brutal civil war in Liberia, Sierra Leone.

But there’s also this sense that countries can pop up as a hot-spot adoption country — it can seem kind of random at first. Like Guatemala — everyone was very concerned about the children there, and then it was Ethiopia, and everyone was wearing T-shirts about Ethiopia and selling Ethiopian coffee at their fellowship hour at church. That can appear random, but I think it has a lot to do with where adoption agencies are finding it easiest to set up and start performing adoptions.

Adoption internationally often functions as a boom and bust system; you’ll see a big boom in one country and oftentimes, after a boom, you start hearing about unethical things taking place; families that were coerced, families that were misled, money changing hands where it shouldn’t have been. And there starts to be a slowdown — sometimes the adoption program is suspended, sometimes it’s shut down. And then adoption agencies, even though most are non-profits, make more money and stay in business by performing adoptions, which are very expensive. They need to go to another country and find a new source for adoptable children. I know it sounds crass to speak in market terms, but really, this does become a boom and bust industry in a lot of these countries. If Ethiopia is a hot spot, a lot of people start hearing about it and signing up, then it starts to slow down and people start turning their attention to Uganda. The attention seems to follow the money, which follows where the agencies can afford to do business.

Can you talk a bit about the pop-culture representation of adoption in movies like “The Blind Side,” and what messages you think those films are promoting?

“The Blind Side” is a movie that has a role in this movement. It might not be explicitly acknowledged, but [there’s a] sense that [this] is a role that Christians, particularly white Christians, should step into: Rescuing children in vulnerable situations. Particularly, as we see in this movie, children of color — black children. It’s hard not to notice that this movement, like many movements right now, is [made up of] a lot of white, often Southern evangelical Christians adopting many children from countries in Africa. It can create this system, as one of my sources told me, where the diversity in the church becomes a sort of imported diversity. So these churches that were traditionally white seem to be becoming more multiracial, but they are becoming multiracial not by attracting adults of color or families of color, but by their white members adopting many children of other ethnicities.

Church leaders [talk] about adoption as one avenue for evangelicals to embark on a sort of racial reconciliation — making up for past sins of the evangelical church many generations [ago], not being involved on the right side of the civil rights movement. When you have [adoption] being framed explicitly by [church leaders] … as a form of anti-racist work, we need to look closely at what that dynamic is actually reflecting, and whether it’s promoting just one side of the adoption narrative — adoption as rescue, adoption as salvation. We need to look at the other side, pay attention to the experiences and diverse voices of adoptees out there.

Why do you think our culture is so obsessed with promoting only that one limited feel-good narrative about adoption?

Part of that [concerns] the people involved on different sides. First families or birth families (“birth families” being a very controversial term) are often, in the U.S., younger mothers. Sometimes they are from lower-income [households]. Single motherhood is still stigmatized, though a lot less than it used to be. Overseas, the families of the children being adopted are often impoverished, or otherwise not as empowered as adoptive parents.

Adoption is an imbalanced power relationship where, for the most part, prospective adoptive families are much more privileged than the families where the children came from. So it’s not surprising that [domestic adoptees’] voices are heard more. People from the media who write these news stories are more likely to know people who have adopted than to know women who had to relinquish [a child] to adoption [after feeling] they were coerced into it. We tell the story we know, and more people know the story of [positive domestic adoption experiences]. I think that’s starting to change, the Internet has helped a lot. Adoptees are sharing diverse experiences and opinions; some have had very positive experiences, and a lot have had more complicated experiences. Some have had negative experiences. And birth mothers have, since the Internet, been much more able to share their stories, communicate with each other and organize on their own.

Laura Barcella is a freelance writer and the editor of Madonna & Me: Women Writers on the Queen of Pop (March 2012, Soft Skull Press).

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/04/how_the_christian_right_perverts_adoption/

Abu Qatada: in France, he would have been on a plane to Amman as an act of judicially endorsed political will. The European convention would not have come into it Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley

Monday 06 May 2013
By Philip Johnston 8:28PM BST 29 Apr 2013

France shows us how to deal with jihadis
Why are our Gallic neighbours so much better at deporting terrorist suspects?

870 Comments
One of the great mysteries of the Abu Qatada saga is why this country finds it so difficult to deport suspected foreign terrorists while France has no such problem. Here are two nations, both Western liberal democracies, both in the EU, both signatories to the European human rights convention and subject to the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Both face threats from Islamist extremists; and yet their approach to dealing with them is dramatically different. Between 2001 and 2010, the UK deported nine alleged jihadis who were deemed to pose a threat to national security. Over the same period, France removed 129.

Why the contrast? Many of those packed off by France were sent to countries such as Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, whose judicial systems are not widely thought to be paragons of compassion. Many of the deportees from France were Islamists whose only offence was to make disparaging remarks about the country rather than fanatics bent on fomenting violence.

Yet we are apparently unable to remove Abu Qatada, who arrived here under false pretences and was identified by MI5 as the most significant Islamic fundamentalist in Britain and an “inspiration” for terrorists both in this country and abroad. He chose his destination well when he came to Europe in 1993. Had he settled in Paris, he would certainly not still be there making a mockery of the French judicial system.

This disparity is the subject of a timely new book written by the counter-terrorism expert Frank Foley. He, too, had long been baffled by the varied approaches. And one thing that has become clear from his research is that the reason has little to do with the European court and much more to do with the different recent histories of the two countries and how their institutions have developed.

In the Commons last week, Theresa May became the fifth home secretary in succession forced to jump through a series of legal hoops to try to get rid of Abu Qatada. She announced that the UK had signed a treaty with Jordan aimed at persuading the Strasbourg court that if the imam were returned for trial the evidence against him would not have been extracted under torture. How that could be proven is anyone’s guess; but why do we have to go to such lengths at all? Is it to convince European judges or our own?

As Foley points out, in France “individuals only have limited means of preventing their deportation because of the relevant legal regulations and because of the swift expulsion practices of the French authorities”. Furthermore, an appeal does not suspend expulsion: the individual can still be deported to his home country and the appeal takes place in his absence. It is possible to petition the domestic courts to suspend a deportation but, says Foley, “the French authorities have pre-empted such legal moves by putting the individual on a plane home within just a few days of the order being issued”.

In Britain, by contrast, an appeal automatically halts a deportation; but that has nothing to do with Strasbourg and everything to do with the way we do things here. Since 1999, in the case of Algeria – whence most extremists come for historical reasons – “the French courts have not overturned any of the government’s deportation decisions on the basis that radical Islamists face a risk of torture or mistreatment if they are returned”.

However, in Abu Qatada’s case, neither have our courts. In fact, twice since 2001, British courts have upheld Home Office efforts to deport him. In 2007, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission said assurances from Jordan about his treatment were enough to override human rights obstacles. This was upheld in 2009 by the Law Lords, who also ruled that whether or not evidence against him might have been extracted under torture was irrelevant. It was not for the British courts “to regulate the conduct of trials in foreign countries”, and the use of such material would not amount to a “flagrant denial of justice’’.

If this country’s supreme court said he could be deported, why on earth is he still here? As soon as Qatada’s lawyers lodged an appeal, his removal was stayed; but in France, he would have been on a plane to Amman as an act of judicially endorsed political will: the European convention would not have come into it.

Here, the case went to Strasbourg, which found against the British government – and our courts have since gone along with that decision despite previously taking a completely different view.

The UK was slow to react to the jihadist threat in the Nineties (or, rather, we turned a blind eye to it). But there are aspects of the French approach to terrorism that we would not wish to adopt here (or at least I wouldn’t), such as the police making mass arrests or rounding up the usual suspects.

The judiciary in France are also much more tightly locked into the process through their investigating magistrates, who take over the case from the outset. Our tradition of free speech and civil liberties acts as a constraint on the more authoritarian instincts of the state. When it comes to removing from their territory suspected foreign jihadis who might do them harm, however, everyone in France sings from the same hymn sheet. We can’t even agree on the tune.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/10025512/France-shows-us-how-to-deal-with-jihadis.html

Countering Terrorism in Britain and France
Institutions, Norms and the Shadow of the Past
Frank Foley, Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies, Madrid
Hardback
ISBN:9781107029699
Publication date:March 2013

Blurb: Though Britain and France have faced a similar threat from Islamist terrorism in the years following September 11 2001, they have often responded in different ways to the challenges it posed. This groundbreaking work offers the first in-depth comparative analysis of counterterrorist policies and operations in these two leading liberal democracies. Challenging the widely held view that the nature of a state's counterterrorist policies depends on the threat it is facing, Foley suggests that such an argument fails to explain why France has mounted more invasive police and intelligence operations against Islamist terrorism than Britain and created a more draconian anti-terrorist legal regime. Drawing on institutional and constructivist theories, he develops a novel theoretical framework that puts counterterrorism in its organisational, institutional and broader societal context. With particular appeal to students and specialists of International Relations and Security Studies, this book will engage readers in the central debates surrounding anti-terrorist policy.

Plate tectonics. The progress of the earth sciences and the advancement of technologies associated with the understanding of our planet during the 1940's and 50's have led geologists to develop a new way of looking at the world and how it works. This exhibit explains the history of our new understanding of the Earth and provides a brief overview of the theories behind it.

 

The history behind Plate Tectonics The mechanisms driving Plate Tectonics

Plate tectonics animations Quicktime version AVI version Animated gifs Last 750 million years: [1.04 MB] [506 KB] [261 KB] Last 750 million years in reverse: [1.04 MB] [506 KB] From 750 mya to the beginning of the Paleozoic: [294 KB] [166 KB] From 750 mya to the beginning of the Mesozoic: [532 KB] [284 KB] [156 KB] From the beginning of the Mesozoic to Recent: [301 KB] [163 KB] [96 KB] All animations built from maps used with the permission of C.R. Scotese, PALEOMAP Project. …………………………… There are a number of excellent sites dealing with the modern theory of plate tectonics. Here is a modest sample: The Paleomap project at the University of Texas at Arlington. Paleogeography Through Geologic Time by Ron Blakey at Northern Arizona University. Finally, it seems appropriate to mention the Alfred Wegener Institute, the German national research center for polar and marine research, carrying on Wegener's tradition of interdisciplinary earth science. Sources: S. Uyeda. 1978. The New View of the Earth. W.H. Freeman and Co. W.K. Hamblin. 1975. The Earth's Dynamic Systems. Burgess Publishing Co. P. Kearey, and J.V. Frederick. 1996. Global Tectonics. Blackwell Sciences Ltd. C.W. Montgomery. 1987. Physical Geology. Wm. C. Brown Publishers.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/tectonics.html

Shifting grounds: Is increasing seismic activity in north India a sign of worry?

The Himalayan region is the most active seismic regions in the world because it is at the edge or boundary of the Indian plate which is colliding with the stationary Eurasian plate.

 

DINESH C SHARMA | MAIL TODAY | NEW DELHI, MAY 5, 2013 | UPDATED 11:40 IST
Increasing seismic activity in north India a sign of worry?

This week, five earthquakes of mild or moderate intensity rocked parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Their magnitude ranged from 3.7 to 5.8.

Though the last one felt on Friday in Kishtwar was of magnitude 3.7, it caused more damage and was felt widely as it occurred at a shallow depth of five kilometers and in a relatively populated area.

All the rest were on the border of Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh. This seismic activity in the North India was preceded by quakes in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran in the recent weeks. Some of them were felt as far as the national capital.

While it is known that the Himalayan belt and North India are in the high seismicity zone, the question foremost in people's mind is - has seismicity in the region gone up?

"Yes, this perception is right to a great extent. We are currently in a 'seismically active window period' globally," pointed out Dr Rajender Kumar Chadha, chief scientist at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad.

An analysis of earthquakes in the past 110 years shows that while average occurrence of quakes in different seismic zones has not changed, there are seismically active periods lasting for 15 to 20 years during which the occurrence of large or great earthquakes increases.

"The first such period was 1905-1920 during which several quakes of magnitude 8 and above occurred. The second window was 1950-1965 - which saw the worst-ever quake of 9.5 magnitude in Chile. During both these windows the rate of smaller quakes also increased.

Third such period of high seismicity has begun with the 2004 Sumatra quake of 9.3 magnitude. Going by this theory, we will see quakes of magnitude 8.5 and above over the next four or five years. Whether these quakes will be in the Himalayas, Japan, Chile or Indonesia, nobody can predict just yet", Dr Chadha said.

However, other experts like American seismologist Roger Bilham believe that a great earthquake is long overdue in the Himalayan region. As per the plate tectonics theory, the Indian plate is moving in a North-North-East direction and is colliding with the Eurasian plate along the Himalayan mountain range.

This collision is responsible for the formation of faults such as Main Boundary Thrust and Main Central Thrust in and along the Himalayas. All big quakes in India and the region occur along these faults.

The Himalayan region is the most active seismic regions in the world because it is at the edge or boundary of the Indian plate which is colliding with the stationary Eurasian plate.

The plate motion, monitored through a GPS network along the boundary and elsewhere in the shield, shows the Indian plate moving at a speed of 5 centimetres a year. It is much faster than the speed of other tectonic plates.

Scientists also believe that the Northwards moving Indian plate is breaking away from the Australian plate, probably somewhere South of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. This is the zone of diffused seismicity.

"It may take one million years or so for the Indian plate to break from the Australian plate, according to the current hypothesis", Dr Chadha said.

The increased frequency of quakes that we are seeing currently is an aftermath of the 2004 quake in Sumatra, which shook up the entire earth even causing it to wobble a bit from its axis.

In addition to quakes on the boundary, increased seismic activity in the Peninsular India is being witnessed. These are called intraplate quakes. For instance, several tremors of magnitude 2 and 3 have been recorded in Andhra Pradesh in a short span of time.

In the Koyna region in Maharashtra and Bhuj region in Gujarat, there is moderate rise in seismic activity. All such tremors, scientists point out, can be attributed to stresses building up due compressive forces arising out of the movement of the Indian plate.

In this scenario, the right thing to do would be to make buildings and cities safer and citizens more aware.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/increasing-seismic-activity-north-india-sign-of-worry-india-today/1/269352.html

Incredibly shrinking India 6/5/13

Under UPA-II, India's world stature has diminished -

http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/incredibly-shrinking-india-113050500537_1.html

It appeared, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008, that India had a seat at the global high table for the asking. It was a valued member of the G20, which had apparently taken on an especially powerful role in response to the crisis. The economy appeared resilient, protected from the worst effects of the crisis, and seemed poised to keep producing high growth numbers even as the rest of the world slowed. The civil nuclear agreement with the United States had, in effect, welcomed India into the small group of nuclear-armed nations. It was on its way to better relations with its smaller neighbours - and even with Pakistan, the Indian government's admirable restraint after 26/11 won it points.

Recent events have shown how much of that has changed. The manner in which Pakistan defied Indian public and governmental opinion about Sarabjit Singh, the man who was convicted of spying by the Pakistan supreme court and murdered in prison last week, was just the latest indication of how little India's stature has in fact grown. China's People's Liberation Army, too, felt emboldened enough to try to set up advance camps in an area of the Line of Actual Control that has traditionally seen no permanent military camps. Any "Chindia" bonhomie of the past decade was punctured by one platoon of 55 Chinese troopers. China's other maritime and land neighbours, worried about the People's Republic's aggressiveness, find it tough to look to a confused, weakened and slowing India for leadership - but, as the reported Chinese retreat following the Japanese deputy prime minister's strong speech in Delhi and Manmohan Singh's decision to extend the length of his coming trip to Japan shows, the only hope of containing Chinese aggressiveness is through strong alliances. Meanwhile, the United States has its most anti-Indian state department under John Kerry in over a decade, and India's stakes in a peaceful Afghanistan after the withdrawal in 2014 are being largely ignored. Even India's smaller neighbours like Sri Lanka and the Maldives have felt no need to acquiesce to Indian national interests of late, so little does Indian power and potential impress the world these days.

While much of the blame must accrue to diplomatic mis-steps, perhaps the biggest reason why India stands diminished in the world's eyes is that any reputation it had for economic management has been comprehensively destroyed by this government. Deficits have increased while manufacturing has stalled; external vulnerability has grown while growth has collapsed - and, worst of all, international observers are forced to conclude from New Delhi's continually optimistic statements that the government has chosen to ignore the problems' seriousness. In the midst of all this, the government has also developed a reputation for corruption and impunity, which is hardly going to help the country's stature. The 10 years after 1998 saw two governments, one under the Bharatiya Janata Party and one under the Congress, raise India's global profile to levels unreached since the 1950s. But the five years since, under the second United Progressive Alliance, have seen India head firmly in the other direction. This matters to many
Indians. The UPA is likely to pay heavily for this in the next election.

China’s India Land Grab by Brahma C.

http://chellaney.net/2013/05/05/chinas-india-land-grab/ 5/5/13
Stoking tensions with Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines over islands in the South and East China Seas has not prevented an increasingly assertive China from opening yet another front by staging a military incursion across the disputed, forbidding Himalayan frontier. On the night of April 15, a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) platoon stealthily intruded near the China-India-Pakistan tri-junction, established a camp 19 kilometers (12 miles) inside Indian-controlled territory, and presented India’s government with the potential loss of a strategically vital 750-square-kilometer high-altitude plateau.

A stunned India, already reeling under a crippling domestic political crisis, has groped for an effective response to China’s land-grab — the largest and most strategic real estate China has seized since it began pursuing a more muscular policy toward its neighbors. Whether China intends to stay put by building permanent structures for its troops on the plateau’s icy heights, or plans to withdraw after having extracted humiliating military concessions from India, remains an open – and in some ways a moot – question.

The fact is that, with its “peaceful rise” giving way to an increasingly sharp-elbowed approach to its neighbors, China has broadened its “core interests” – which brook no compromise – and territorial claims, while showing a growing readiness to take risks to achieve its goals. For example, China has not only escalated its challenge to Japan’s decades-old control of the Senkaku Islands, but is also facing off against the Philippines since taking effective control of Scarborough Shoal last year.

What makes the Himalayan incursion a powerful symbol of China’s aggressive new stance in Asia is that its intruding troops have set up camp in an area that extends beyond the “line of actual control” (LAC) that China itself unilaterally drew when it defeated India in the 1962 Chinese-initiated border war. While China’s navy and a part of its air force focus on supporting revanchist territorial and maritime claims in the South and East China seas, its army has been active in the mountainous borderlands with India, trying to alter the LAC bit by bit.

One of the novel methods that the PLA has employed is to bring ethnic Han pastoralists to the valleys along the LAC and give them cover to range across it, in the process driving Indian herdsmen from their traditional pasturelands. But the latest crisis was sparked by China’s use of direct military means in a strategic border area close to the Karakoram Pass linking China to Pakistan.

Because the LAC has not been mutually clarified – China reneged on a 2001 promise to exchange maps with India – China claims that PLA troops are merely camping on “Chinese land.” Yet, in a replay of its old strategy of furtively encroaching on disputed land and then presenting itself as the conciliator, China now counsels “patience” and “negotiations” to help resolve the latest “issue.”

China is clearly seeking to exploit India’s political disarray to alter the reality on the ground. A paralyzed and rudderless Indian government initially blacked out reporting on the incursion, lest it come under public pressure to mount a robust response. Its first public statement came only after China issued a bland denial of the intrusion in response to Indian media reports quoting army sources.

To add to India’s woes, Salman Khurshid, the country’s bungling foreign minister, initially made light of the deepest Chinese incursion in more than a quarter-century. The garrulous minister called the intrusion just “one little spot” of acne on the otherwise “beautiful face” of the bilateral relationship – a mere blemish that could be treated with “an ointment.” Those inept comments fatally undercut the government’s summoning of the Chinese ambassador to demand a return to the status quo ante.

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s corruption-tainted government tottering on the brink of collapse, there has been no official explanation of how India was caught napping in a militarily critical area where, in the recent past, China had made repeated attempts to encroach on Indian land. In fact, the government inexplicably replaced regular army troops with border police in 2010 to patrol the mountain-ringed plateau into which the PLA has now intruded. Known as Depsang, the plateau lies astride an ancient silk route connecting Yarkhand in Xinjiang to India’s Ladakh region through the Karakoram Pass.

India, with a military staging post and airstrip just south of the Karakoram Pass, has the capacity to cut off the highway linking China with its “all-weather ally,” Pakistan. The PLA intrusion, by threatening that Indian base, may have been intended to foreclose India’s ability to choke off supplies to Chinese troops and workers in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region, where China has expanded its military footprint and strategic projects. To guard those projects, several thousand Chinese troops reportedly have been deployed in the rebellious, predominantly Shia region, which is closed to the outside world.

For India, the Chinese incursion also threatens its access to the 6,300-meter-high Siachin Glacier, to the west of Depsang. Pakistan claims the Indian-controlled glacier, which, strategically wedged between the Pakistani- and Chinese-held parts of Kashmir, served as the world’s highest and coldest battleground (and one of the bloodiest) from the mid-1980s until a cease-fire took effect in 2003.

India’s nonmilitary options to force a Chinese withdrawal from Depsang range from diplomatic (suspension of all official visits or reconsideration of its recognition of Tibet as part of China) to economic (an informal boycott of Chinese goods, just as China has hurt Japan through a nonofficial boycott of Japanese-made products). A possible military response could involve the Indian army establishing a camp of its own on Chinese territory elsewhere that China’s leaders regard as highly strategic.

But, before it can exercise any option credibly, India needs a stable government. Until then, China will continue to assert its claims by whatever means – fair or foul – it deems advantageous.

May 6, 2013 NOTE: Shri Ramanathan is a guest writer on the blog which discusses many issues related to History of Hindu Astronomy and related disciplines: http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/search/label/R.%20Ramanathan

I am Ramanathan.R. I am also doing Veda Adhyayana of the Krishna Yajur Veda Taittriya Oukhya shaka, from multiple traditional teachers along with the angas and the Lakshana granthas like the Praatishakya etc. I also have a small knowledge of the Sama Veda especially the Prakriti Ganas and a very limited understanding of the Sama lakshana Grantha the Pushpa Sutra. Also have written a few articles on Mrs Jayashrees blog, the link is http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/search/label/R.%20Ramanathan.

By profession I am a software Engineer. I will be rambling a bit before I get on to the core topic as stated in the heading. I want to digress a lot because many people are not aware of the context involved in the traditional way of studying the Vedas. As always, credit for any valuable information found in this article is due to the great Brahmavaadins who taught me right from my Upanayana till now. Any inaccuracies or wrong information is due to my deficient understanding and sheer incompetence.

I have good contacts with a lot of south Indian traditional Vedic scholars (of all 4 vedas) who have finished their Vedic studies upto either Krama, jata or Ghanantha along with the 6 Angas. They live a complete Vedic life along with the necessary aachara and rites in remote villages. I have been to many Shrauta rituals conducted by such great people. Also I have seen many real sanyasis from among them who have really practiced the principles advocated in the Upanishads, a few of them who really wander without staying in one place. It is not with a view to boast my qualifications or experiences that I am writing this big an introduction.

Unlike many professors who may have fancy Phd’s in Indology, from big institutes who are part of the mail group discussions, I have learnt the Vedas and the related subjects to a very small extent from people who live and practice it in daily life, what they learn. I consider that the real qualification, than studying for a Phd in Indology. I was introduced to this article and the mail group discussion by Madam. I was pained to see the type of discussions happening on these groups/forums. I thought that the period of colonial Indologists with vested interests has come to an end but I still see those people along with their shishyas alive and kicking. As a traditional adhyayi I feel a responsibility to reply to all these arguments as I feel it insults this great dharma followed for generations.

Of course I do not believe comparative philology to be an exact science. So I am not going to reply using all these “so called scientific” stuff. I have several reservations on the subject of philology and its several fallacies but that is the subject of probably another article. I am going to give a practical response, culled from the everyday lives of persons who have dedicated their entire lives for preservation of Vedas.

It is a pity that in all these discussions none of these foreign professors care to refer to these traditional scholars and get their views. They refer to people like Paul Deussen, Max Weber etc. as experts! As I said earlier there are people whom I know practicing, “Shravana Manana and Nidhidhyasana” in their daily life and Deussen is considered an expert in the Upanishads!!!. After all consider the pain these traditional scholars have undergone to preserve them. About no less than 50-70 years ago, to preserve tonal purity of the Vedas these people have travelled on foot alone for many miles through dangerous forests, crossing many wild rivers, risking bandit’s en-route etc. to meet scholars from neighboring villages to get the doubts they had, clarified. They painstakingly transmitted it to the next generation with utmost care. When they recognized any lapses on their part they did japa of 1000 Gayathris as expiation for the lapse. They perform the Agni Hotra without fail. I personally know such people now who are in their late 70s and 80s. This is just to emphasize the care and pain tradition has taken to ensure proper transmission. But yet the western scholars care not for these people. After all if these people did not exist, then I bet there would be no “Chairs of sanskrit/Indologoy” in their fancy universties. So literally it is because of these people, that foreign professors get their bread & butter, and I cannot but roll in laughter to think that these university professors pass value judgments on the traditional scholars and tell them what’s right and wrong in the Vedas

Mind that sufficient variations in texts have been accounted for, in terms of various shakas sutras etc. For example in the term Taittriya denotes around 86 shaakas of which the Maitrayini, Kapishtala, Katha, Ballaveya, Oukhya shaka etc. are a few examples. Also there is the classification of the shukla/Krishna Yajuses. It is the same with other Vedas too. Also within the Taittriya shaaka there are innumerable numbers of sutras like Bodhayana, Apastamba, HiranyaKeshin etc. So though the Veda is same the application in rituals can differ and is considered acceptable shishtaachara. There are innumerable other differences which are too large to be mentioned in this article. But the idea is that as long as there are traditional “Aarsheya(From Rishis)” source of authorities, even though a particular concept may not be explicitly mentioned in any of the Veda, it is considered as authoritative and is followed as part of Vaidika aachara.

Another point debated is the accents of Vedic texts. I recently came across some useless project called the “Restoration of Rig Veda”, where all the mantras are made to fit Panini’s rules. My teacher was approached for this and obviously he did not support it, as mentioned by Jayashree madam in one her mails. It must be understood that Panini tried to explain the existing system in the Vedas. He did not try to create a new system and “Correct” the misfits calling them corrupted text and has left it to the decisions of the Rig Vedins like Shakalya, Ashvalayana etc as to how to pronounce it. Such exceptions in each shakha are dealt with in the Praatishakya texts of each Veda. Panini never claims to have explained all the Vedas nor I bet he would desire so. Also I see some of these Indologists claim that some of the texts got their accents sometime in the 19th century and so on. What a laughable idea. As I said earlier these Vedic scholars dedicate their entire lives to preserve such texts. They study the angas to preserve each shaka as much as is humanly possible. They are loath to even slightest changes in accents and pronunciation. So it is absurd to say that some portions got their accents in the 19th century. This is vintage, colonial, Indological imperialism to the core. Especially the Aranyaka and the Upanishads are usually unaccented in cases like the Rig Veda. So can we consider the Aiteraya Brahmana and the Upanishad as not part of the Vedas? But Taittriya shaakaha has all the 3 swaras till the last. But the Taittriya Upanishad and the Aranyakas have accents that differ from those in the samhita but there is a book called the Aranyaka shiksha that explains these differences and neither the author nor the date is known. I bet no western Indologist knows it Also the Ishavasya Upanishad that is part of the Shukla Yajus samhita is fully accented. But whereas the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in the Shatapath brahmana has only 2 accents (The Udatta and the Anudatta alone).So just because a particular text is unaccented/differently accented does not mean it is not recognized part of the Veda. As a practical example I wish to suggest that when the Samidheni Rigs(Riks chanted during addition of kindling sticks called samidh to the fire, during Shrauta sacrifices) are chanted they are chanted in Eka shruti(Monotonically) and not with the normal accents with which they are usually chanted on other occasions. So the western Indologists would do well to come to India and interact with these scholars before jumping to hasty conclusions. The problem is that for these Indologists the Vedas are just a matter of academic pursuit, whereas for these scholars it is a matter of heart and life itself and they take it very seriously. So believe me they have done a pretty good job of preserving the Vedas.

We will now deal with the core topic as mentioned in the heading. As told earlier I am not going to use philology or other gymnastics to support my arguments. I would be using practical examples in my arguments. As an example consider the Aupasana. It involves maintenance of a Grihya fire till death by the couple. It is the first basic rite enjoined upon a newly wedded couple. Nowhere in the entire Taittriya Samhita has the word “Aupasana” occurred, though the word “Paaka yajna” occurs. But it is only using the Aupasana fire to start with; the Shrauta ritual of “Agnyaadhana” is performed. In this ritual, the aupasana fire is divided into the 3 Shrauta fires (Gaarhapatya, Aahavaniya and the Anvaaharya fire). It is in these fires that all the other grand shrauta yajnas are done. So the source for the first basic shrauta ritual, the Agnyaadhana, is the “Aupasana” agni, which has never been mentioned in the Samhita. So it follows as per these western indologists that if a word does not occur in the Veda then the concept is either borrowed or non-existent. Thus the Shrauta rituals become invalid since the word “Aupasana” never occurred once in the samhita. What patent absurdity is this!!!. The entire life of a Grihasta and the associated dharma’s become invalid. In fact the performances of all the basic samskaras like Choula, Upanayana, shraddha, and even last rites become invalid!!!. Only the Grihya sutras (For example Apastamba grihya sutra) explain the performance of the Aupasana and other grihya rituals like the Aagrahayani sthalipaaka, the pinda pitru yajna, the Ashtaka shraddha etc, in detail. So the authority is mainly based on the grihya sutras. Would be ok to consider this as Non-Vaidika?.

Similarly even the sandhya rite (Event the word) is not mentioned in the Rig Veda Samhita even once. It is explained only in the Mahanarayana Upanishad, a text according to western Indologists is of dubious antiquity. The entire set of Sandhya mantras are taken from this text for all the Vedas. So since the word Sandhya did not occur in the RV and the Sama Veda, does it follow that the concept is foreign to them and they need not do it? So it can be seen that the basic rites required for a Vedic life do not find direct mention in the Vedas. The source for all these texts is the Kalpa or Dharma shastras written by Rishis and not the Vedic texts.

It follows that many astrology texts like the Brihat jataka, Parashara hora etc and many texts like the Ramayana and the Puranas are texts composed by Vedic Rishis. Why should people following them to practice astrology be not termed “Vedanga Jyothishyas”?. There are texts in the Vedas like “Dwadaasha Maasa Samvatsaraha”. It means “The year has 12 months”. So the concept of 12 units in one year is not alien to the vedas. It is just that the grouping of the nakshatras into a raashi gana is of dispute. If it has been coded by Vedic rishis like Parashara etc, it can be considered “Arsheya” and be followed as shishtaachara. The taittriya Upanishad says “When in doubt on dharma please consult brahmanas well versed in the Vedas, impartial and having a dharmic bent of mind, and take their word as the word of the Vedas”. So it is in this sense that the word “Raashi” need not be considered “Avaidik” and of Greek origin. Thus texts that deal with predictive astrology composed by Vedic rishis are also considered very much part of “Vedangal Jyothisha”, by the force of Shishtaachara alone.

I appeal to every person interested in this ancient Vedic culture of Bharatavarsha and its preservation to just trash the arguments of these Western Indologists. They do not live and follow the precepts contained in them. To them it is just bread and butter and they do not have an inkling of what they talk. Also they have many social/governmental pressures to conform to, awards/perks to win etc. Same is the case with our own Indologists who are devoted shishyas of Karl Marx, Witzel etc. So for any doubts you have on the Veda please consult, these traditional scholars if you can find them. Probably they cannot talk in English and do not know fanciful subjects like “Philology” and cannot browse the net. But they are our only living examples of this culture and it is proper to learn only from them. Otherwise all these wild speculations made by these “Indologists” are like speculations made by paleontologists after they find Dinosaur bones. And finally if we accept the views of these Indologists, then we are like people, though having a living species of animals to study, only confine ourselves to study the bones of these animals got from a dig and trying to understand them!!!.

See also:

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/rbi-is-deceiving-itself-asking-for-kyc.html RBI is deceiving itself asking for KYC norms. RBI, scrap PNotes which defy KYC norms.

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/04/tackle-money-laundering-to-curtail-drug.html Tackle Money Laundering to Curtail Drug Trafficking -- US Senate Report. GOI, scrap P-notes in India.

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/04/money-laundering-by-private-banks-icici.html Money-laundering by private banks, ICICI, Axis, HDFC. RBI action or eyewash?

PRESS RELEASE - Operation Red Spider Part 2
Updated: May 05, 2013 07:21 AM

PRESS RELEASE


Operation Red Spider Part 2

Part 1 of Operation Red Spider was just the tip of the iceberg!

Cobrapost’s Continuing Shocking Expose: Twenty-Three Major Indian Banks, Both Public and Private, and Insurance Companies, are Running a Nation-Wide Money Laundering Racket, Blatantly Violating the Laws of the Land.

And the culprits being exposed this time are:

Life Insurance Corporation, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, IDBI Bank, Yes Bank, Federal Bank, Reliance Capital, Birla Sunlife and many, many others.

New Delhi, May 6: In its continuing undercover operation, spanning several months, Cobrapost finds dozens and dozens of major public sector banks, and many more private banks, across the country are blatantly involved in money laundering, as are major insurers. In all, 23 banks and insurance companies have been exposed, namely, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Dena Bank, Corporation Bank, Allahabad Bank, Central Bank of India, all public sector banks, and their insurance associates; Yes Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Federal Bank, DCB Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, all private banks, and their insurance allies; besides the state-owned LIC of India, Reliance Life Insurance and Birla Sunlife, and Tata AIG, among private sector insurers.

Operation Red Spider 2 establishes beyond doubt that money laundering is not confined to private banks, and is not an aberration, as is being made out in certain quarters in the wake of the first expose on March 14 in which HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were shown involved in money laundering; it is rather endemic overarching the entire banking system and insurance sector, without exception, however shocking it might be. The scale is vast and unfathomable.

Our undercover investigation conducted for more than half a year, and spanning many states including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, bring to the fore some glaring facts about the banking and insurance business in India that

• Money laundering practices are part and parcel of banking and insurance business across the board;
• Even a walk-in customer can avail of such services that help him launder all his unaccounted cash;
• Money laundering services are being offered openly as a standard product across the board.
But The Cover Up Has Been An Even Bigger Scandal:

However, even more shocking than the Expose itself has been the ease with which the Reserve Bank of India, The Finance Ministry and the Banks themselves have handed out clean chits, on the premise that “there were only violation of KYC norms” and as such “no money laundering took place because no transaction took place”.

This is facile, euphemistic and absurd to say the least. The officials caught on tape in Episodes 1 and 2 have demonstrably stated that they would engage in money laundering for our reporter. The proceeds of corruption, tax evasion and worse are sought to be invested and made legitimate. According to the officials of banks and insurance companies, they have done this plenty of times in the past and are only too eager to do it again. This amounts to crystal clear offenses under IPC as well as the PMLA (Prevention of Money laundering Act). There is no ambiguity on this account whatsoever.
The other question to ask is: Why were KYC norms NOT being followed? Were these dozens and dozens of cases mere oversight on part of the bankers ... or were KYC norms DELIBERATELY not followed because in money laundering, there can be NO KYC done at all! That was the reason no documents were asked for, no paper trail was left, no transactions were reported.

In addition, these transactions are not confined to a few low-level front-office staff members as is being made out in all the so-called ‘inquiries’. Our interactions with all officials, some with the ranks of divisional manager, territory manager, assistant general manager and vice presidents, with scores of branches under their charge, bear it out clearly that they are parties to and facilitators for these transactions and are conducting their questionable business with nonchalance that only crooks show when they find they are above law or when they find the powerful are on their side.

Finally, given Mr. Chidambaram’s repeated warnings to money launderers and tax evaders that “we are watching you and will come after you”, till date, no investigative agency has launched any investigation into the heaps of evidence submitted by Cobrapost. Why is the FM himself overeager to declare innocence on part of the banks, as he did on March 14?
Has the FM (or the RBI for that matter) not read the PMLA?

Make no mistake: this is Money Laundering and nothing short of that. If any common man had been caught on phone or tape professing to do these things, can you imagine what might have happened to him?

HERE, WE HAVE CULLED SOME SELECTED BYTES WHICH GIVE HOW MONEY LAUNDERING IS A STANDARD PRACTICE ACROSS THE BANKING AND INSURANCE SECTOR

LIC Of India, Delhi and Gurgaon
D. Luther, Chairman Club Member; T. Chopra, Development Officer; R. Nagpal, Assistant Branch Manager, LIC of India, North-West Delhi, Kapoor LIC Associate
T. Chopra
“Nahin nahin … abhi peeche pachees lakh kisi aur ke karaye hain (No, no … only recently I have got Rs. 25 lakh invested for another fellow).”
D. Luther
“Aisa kuch nahin aata … yahan se koi aisa nahin jaata … yahan toh croron croron aata hai (Nothing of that sort [income tax notice] comes … nothing is sent from here … crores of rupees are slipped into it [LIC]).”
R. Nagpal
“Sir … koin nahin … aaj Sir bees lakh rupaye diye hain (Sir … nothing of that sort … [pointing to Luther] Sir, today itself he has given Rs. 20 lakh [for a case]).”
“Haan, bees lakh rupaye abhi cash jama karaye hain … raseed bhi hai inke paas aap dekh lo (Yes, [he has] got Rs. 20 lakh deposited a short while ago … if you want he can show you the receipt).”
M. Khanna, Assistant Branch Manager, LIC of India; K. Joshi, LIC Agent, Gurgaon, Haryana
K. Joshi
“Usse pahle Pankaj Sharma ne lagaya tha baees laakh lagaya tha (Before that Pankaj Sharma had invested Rs. 22 lakh).”
M. Khanna
“Main aapko naam disclose nahin karoongi … dekhiye wo toh humara confidential hota hai … agar koi aapka poochega hum usse bhi nahin batayenge … koi problem nahin hai (I will not disclose you the names … look that is confidential for us … if someone asks us we will never tell him … there is no problem).”

Reliance Life, Hyderabad and Bangalore
K. Madhumathi, Territory Manager; Chandrashekhar, Sales Manager, Reliance Life, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
K. Madhumati
“See many of my clients they give cash because they cannot invest directly through cheque because its ….”
“Yesterday evening only I picked up one 50 lakh cash … aapke jaisa hi … he was not a politician but a businessman … very big businessman … toh unko kya hai ki his name should not come out (Yesterday evening only I picked up Rs 50 lakh … same as yours … he was not a politician but a businessman … a very big businessman … all he wanted is that his name should not come out).”
“Because we block the names … because customer ka naam bahar nahi aana chahiye (Because the names of the customer should not be revealed)… because many of the customers are having black money where they want to make it as a white) … name aane se ek baar Income Tax ko pata chal jayega na toh un logon ki life kharab kar denge (if their names come to the knowledge of the Income Tax officials they will make their lives miserable)
“Croron ka karte hain bhai sahib … ek crore to bahut chota amount hai … hum log yahan 50 crore 80 crore ka karte hain … and Reliance mein Ambani ke group mein to itne saare karte hain poori yeh Rajasthani log hai na … Rajasthani log zyada karte hain … Marwari (We do it for crores [of rupees] … Rs. 1 crore is a very small amount … we here do it for around Rs. 50–80 crores … and there are many customers who invest with Reliance of Ambani group … these Rajasthani Marwari people do the most).”
Chandrashekhar
“Insurance mein aisa hai na aap jo bhi details dete hain (It happens in insurance that whatever details you give us) … we never show it to the IT Department.”

M. Raghu, Territory Manager, Reliance Life Insurance, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
“Safety safety … bahut saara paisa aisa hai (It is safe … a lot of money is [invested this way] there).”
R. Shankar S, Senior Territory Manager, Reliance Life Insurance, Bangalore
“Darasal baat ye hai dekhiye kar to hum sakte hain, karte bhi hain lekin itna… dus lakh toh … (See the thing is we can do it … we had done it before … but this much … but Rs. 10 lakh is …).”
“Aaj savare ji saath lakh cash collect kar ke laaya tha … yehi same thing (Today morning itself, I collected 60 lakh cash … for the same thing).”
Yes Bank, Gurgaon and Jaipur
A. Pal, Financial Advisor/Senior Manager, Yes Bank, Gurgaon, Haryana
“Politicians ko nahin diya lekin bahut bade bade logon ko diya hai (I haven’t sold it to politicians but I have given it to many big shots).
S. Maheshwari, Senior Vice President; S. Singh, Manager; K. Khatri, Investment Head, Yes Bank, Jaipur, Rajasthan
K. Khatri
“Nahin, nahin Sir humare paas aise bahut se accounts hain jisme bees–bees crore ki investments maine karayi hai (No sir … we have a number of accounts with us where I have got investments of Rs. 20 crore each).”
“Sir bahut hain … Sir bahut hain (Sir... there are many) but we can’t disclose … don’t worry… that’s why I am not disclosing … I can understand that.”
Birla Sunlife, Moradabad
S. Sharma, Branch Manager, Birla Sunlife, Associate Partner, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
“Bahuton ka dalwaya hai … kaisi baaten kar rahe ho aap Number do ka dalwaya hai … number ek mein hota kahan hai (I have done such deals for a lot of people [in the past] … what are you talking? … I have got Number two [black money] slipped in … [tell me] … where does it happen in Number one [white money] nowadays)?”

Canara Bank, Delhi
D.K. Prasad, Manager, Trade Finance, Canara bank, South Delhi
“Nahin … isase pehle hua tha toh kareeb chhe per cent chhe sawa chhe percent … chhe per cent ka generally hota hai (No, when it was done earlier it was 6 or 6.5 per cent … it is generally 6 per cent).”
M. Goel, Senoir Manager, Canara Bank, South Delhi
“Saare hi asie aadmi hain … apne paas mein (We have all such clients with us).”
“Policewale hain kyon ki wo bhi … doh teen policewale hain … ya doh teen builder ke hain (There are some policemen because they too … there are two-three policemen … there are two-three builders).”

Birla Sunlife, Moradabad
S. Sharma, Branch Manager, Birla Sunlife, Associate Partner, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
“RM ko le aoonga … usse kya hai na ki saara kaam aur bhi 25–30 lakh jitna bhi maximum hota hai … bahut log karte hain yahan par (I will bring the RM [to the meeting] … that will help us to invest another Rs. 25–30 lakh to the extent maximum [amount of cash] … a lot of people do such investments here [with us]).”
“Bahuton ka dalwaya hai … kaisi baaten kar rahe ho aap Number do ka dalwaya hai … number ek mein hota kahan hai (I have done such deals for a lot of people [in the past] … what are you talking? … I have got Number two [black money] slipped in … [tell me] … where does it happen in Number one [white money] nowadays)?”
Federal Bank, Moradabad
C. M. Duggal, Regional Head, Federal Bank; R. N. Munjal, Relationship Manager, IDBI–Federal, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
R. N. Munjal
“Meerut ... Dehradun mein bhi kaafi hain ... paise log laate hain kehte hain ... number do ka paisa hai ... ye karwao (In Meerut ... many in Dehradun as well ... people bring Number two [black] money ... ask us to get it done [convert the money into white]).”
“Unki baat hai kareeb ek saal pehle ki ... unka daala near about ek crore rupaye ... aath–nau lakh rupaye barh gaya hoga ... aise case to bahut hain Sir (His case is about a year old ... I put in near about Rs. 1 crore for him ... now it has grown by about Rs. 8–9 lakh ... there are many such cases).”
“Teen kare the unhone ... do mein 20-20 lakh, ek mein unhone kara tha ... 35 lakh ke aas paas (He had bought three policies ... two for Rs. 20 lakh each ... one around Rs. 35 lakh).”
IDBI Bank, Delhi
V. Joshi, Assistant Manager, IDBI Bank, Central Delhi
“Main jab Lucknow mein tha toh main Gomti Nagar ki branch mein hi tha ... wahan pe jitney bhi syndicates the ... investments karwate the ... unke saath kaafi dealing hoti rahti thi ... aur wahan pe aapne dekha hi hoga ... ya toh wahan IAS officers ke ghar hain ... sub constructors ke ghar hain ... bureaucrats hai ... wahan black money ka flow kaafi zyada rehta tha (When I was in Lucknow, I was in the Gomti Nagar branch ... all the syndicates there ... would make investment ... I used to see through a lot of dealings there ... and as you must have seen ... IAS officers have their residences there ... [almost] all constructors have their homes there .... bureaucrats live there .... there is a lot of flow of black money there).”
“Wahan pe ek client the, uska naam to nahin le sakta ... unhone humhare through 1.5 crore ka transaction kiya (I had a client there ... I can’t tell his name ... he did a transaction of 1.5 crore through me).”
Indian Overseas Bank and LIC, Moradabad
K. Prasad, Senior Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, Moradabad; A. Agarwal, Manager, Life Insurance Corporation, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
A. Agarwal
“Ek ek party chota mota amount nahin deti … pachees pachees, tees tees, paintees paintees lakh rupaye deti hai … araam se ho jaata hai (Each party give us anything between Rs. 20 lakh and Rs. 35 lakh … we do it easily).”

R.K. Singhal, Assistant General Manager, Noida, Uttar Pradesh
“Humare yahan se koi nahin jayegi … aapki kitab kisi ke haath lag gayi to alag baat hai … humare yahan se koi report nahin jaati … bahut saare khate hain is terah ke (No report will go from us … if somebody else lays his hands on your book, then it is a different case … we don’t send any report … we have many accounts like this).”
Tata AIG, Noida
Y. Rana, Sales manager; K. Singh, Branch Manager, Tata AIG, Noida, Uttar Pradesh
K. Singh
“Diya hai Sir pichle saal diya hai … pichle saal humne … isse jyada hi tha (We have done it last year … last year we … it was a bigger amount than what you have).”
Y. Rana
“Abhi baais lakh ka hi hua hai last month (We have done it for Rs. 22 lakh only last month).”
Parliament Street, New Delhi
R. Utreja, Back-Up Branch Manager, HDFC Bank, Parliament Street, New Delhi
“Abhi Sir humne aise ek aur bande ka bhi karwaya hai na … unka bhi tha pachaas lakh ka … unka bhi aise hi tha black to white kara tha unhone (Sir, only recently, we have done this for someone … it too was for Rs. 50 lakh … his case was the same [as yours] of converting black [money] to white).”

Some Interesting Episodes Captured On Tape:

Cobrapost has captured on video-tape these money laundering practices, and the graphic evidence that it has produced is enough to prove beyond doubt that the malaise runs deep. The investigation finds that all these financial institutions and their managements are systematically and deliberately violating several provisions of the Income Tax Act, FEMA, RBI regulations, KYC norms, the Banking Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The utter disregard they show to the implications of such gross criminal practices for the country and its economy proves that they are driven by their desire to boost their bottom lines.
Our investigation puts a big question mark on the legitimacy of the business these institutions garner and profits they make, employing such blatantly illegal means. It also makes questionable the legitimacy and origin of funds these banking and insurance institutions raise through their operations. In addition, it is apparent from our investigations that these institutions have been indulging in such unlawful practices for the past several years, unperturbed and undetected.
Among the exposed institutions are some major state-owned banks, behemoths considering the assets they manage and the clout they wield both with the government and with the industry, with public trust always running high on them. The State Bank of India, the flag bearer of Indian banking industry, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, IDBI and Allahabad Bank, among others, together manage assets worth thousands of billions of rupees and have equally staggering deposits at their disposal.

Apart from HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, we have more banks from the private sectors in our net such as Yes Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Federal Bank and DCB, which too have seen unprecedented growth in a short span of their existence.

In the course of Cobrapost undercover investigation, we came face to face with some shocking, stark realities about the functioning of the entire banking and insurance industry of the country. Our interaction with all officials, some with the ranks of divisional manager, territory manager, assistant general manager and vice presidents, with scores of branches under their charge, bears it out clearly that they are conducting their questionable business with nonchalance that only crooks show when they find they are above law or when they find the powerful are on their side.


Money Launderers on Parliament Street, Home to Parliament and RBI

We have a group of bankers from Parliament Street, the seat of the Indian Parliament, the supreme law making body and upholder of the Indian Constitution, and the Reserve Bank of India, the prefect of the Indian monetary system and the monitor of the banking system. The banks in question are HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, the usual suspects, as well as the Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank and Central Bank of India. These case studies make it clear that such nefarious activities can be carried out with impunity under the nose of the highest legislative body of the country and its central bank, unnoticed, punching gaping holes in the claims of the RBI Governor D. Subbarao that Indian banking system is “safe and secure.”

Of these banks, Bank of Baroda is already under scanner for money laundering practices on foreign soil.

Among the private insurers, Reliance Life Insurance, a subsidiary of Reliance Capital, in a very short span of its existence of less than a decade, has witnessed spectacular growth to become the largest private life insurer in 2012.

However, the gem to fall from grace is the iconic Life Insurance Corporation of India, the largest financial institution in the country. With 30 crore policies under its belt, the insurance giant manages assets worth Rs. 1474 lakh crore, about 15 per cent of India’s GDP. The LIC of India is learnt to underwrite about a-fourth of government bonds and securities, and also acts as a bulwark against unprecedented upheavals on Dalal Street, at the behest of the government, so that investors’ confidence in Brand India and in its amazing growth story does not dwindle.

In some cases, we came across certain bankers who were plain crooks in the mould of bankers.
For instance, we have a senior manager of Federal Bank who without blinking an eye says, “Uske liye to hawala kar deta hoon (I can have a hawala [transaction] done for that),” when we seek his help to send England some of the crores to some of the relatives of our minister’s wife.

The Curious Case of An Andhra Education Minister Standing Guarantor for the Safety of Our Minister’s Black Money Investment in a Real Estate Project, An Orthopedic Surgeon Who Wants Our Minister’s Unaccounted Crores for This Project, A Hawala Operator, Claiming To Be An Ex-Cop, Who Promises To Transfer Our Crores And A Banker Who Leads Us To All These Big Fish:
Again, we have another banker, no less a crook. The banker in question is R. Manohar, Assistant General Manager, Indian Bank, South Delhi. In his zeal to net such client with deep pockets as our to-be-found-nowhere minister who could put on his table Rs. 25 crore of unaccounted cash, Manohar guides Cobrapost investigative journalist, Syed Masroor Hasan, to Dr. H. Prasad, an orthopedic surgeon from Tirupati who wants our minister to invest his crores of black money in his real estate project.
There are many twists and turns to the tale.

We are invited to Hyderabad where we meet Vasu, a hawala operator, who claims to be a former Andhra cop. He would help us deliver Rs. 25 crore to Dr. Prasad at Tirupati for his project through is racket. Our next port of call is S. Sake, who is Minister of Primary Education with the Andhra Pradesh government, with nine other departments under his charge, which shows the power he wields. Sake stands guarantor for the safety of our black money investment in Dr. Prasad’s real estate project. This helps us uncover a nexus between the banker and the hawala kingpin who are running their racket without any fear of law, with active patronage of our political masters.

We don’t know how many bankers are doubling up as henchmen of hawala racketeers.

The Nexus Between the Banks and the Insurance Companies:

Another fact that comes to the fore is a nexus between the banks and the insurance companies. If the banks don’t have their own insurance companies, they have joint-ventures with private insurers. Yes Bank, for instance, has a tie-up with Bajaj Allianz, which would question an investor only when the investment crosses Rs. 1 crore, as we came to know from a Yes Bank official. And such investments can be done in cash. Whenever we went about proposing to bankers, public or private, that we wanted to invest our black money in insurance, they immediately called the managers of the their insurance associates to our presence or sought their advice on phone, making it amply clear that banks and insurance companies are hand in glove.

What the Law of the Land has to Say on Money Laundering?

The videos, through Cobrapost’s undercover investigation in Operation Red Spider Part II, clearly show the gross violation of rules and regulations, framed under various laws of the land, namely, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2000, the Income Tax Act and the Indian Penal Code, among others.

Sections 118, 119 and 120 of the Indian Penal Code which clearly establish an offence in both scenarios: Where an offence has been committed and where an offence has not been committed. If we test the Cobrapost findings on these provisions, although “no transaction” took place, their willingness to conduct transaction establishes their design of committing an offence and hence their culpability beyond doubt. The IPC also establishes concealing the design to commit as an offence and as such holds it punishable to a term defined therein.

Here is what Section 120 of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 says:

CONCEALING DESIGN TO COMMIT OFFENCE PUNISHABLE WITH IMPRISONMENT

Whoever, intending to facilitate or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby facilitate the commission of an offence punishable with imprisonment, voluntarily conceals, by any act or illegal omission, the existence of a design to commit such offence, or makes any representation which he knows to be false respecting such design,
IF OFFENCE BE COMMITTED- IF OFFENCE BE NOT COMMITTED

Shall, if the offence be committed, be punished with imprisonment of the description provided for the offence, for a term which may extend to one- fourth, and, if the offence be not committed, to one- eight, of the longest term of such imprisonment, or with such fine as is provided for the offence, or with both.

As to the sweeping statement of the RBI Deputy Governor that “Allegations do not mean flouting norms,” we can only hold the various provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002 as mirror to what he claims to be “transactional issues and have nothing to do with money laundering”. Section 3 as defined in the Act 2002 emphasizes:

Whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money laundering.


Are the RBI or the Finance Minister unaware of the above clause of the PMLA? Is attempting to launder money for a politician who has generated cash through corrupt practices, not a proceed of crime?


Cobrapost's Method to Unearth this Scam:

The method was the same: Taking an alias, Cobrapost Associate Editor Syed Masroor Hasan, posing as a relative of an imagined politician, made cold calls on dozens and dozens of branches of these banks and insurance companies. And the proposition was the same: A politician of stature wants to convert huge sums of black money into white. Could the officials help?

It didn’t take much effort to pull the lid off the murky world of money laundering as the officials of these companies rolled out a red carpet for our Masroor Hasan who visited dozens and dozens of branches across the length and breadth of the country, including many major cities and state capitals, across all five zones.

Nowhere was Hasan disappointed. Nowhere was he turned away. Almost every banker and insurer he met with was willing to help launder huge unaccounted cash the fictitious politician Masroor Hasan was representing.

How They Help Launder Your Black Money?

Here, we give a summary of the modus operandi that all bankers and insurers suggested to help convert black money into white, leaving nothing to imagination:

 Accept huge amounts of unaccounted cash to invest it in insurance products, and sometimes in gold as well.

 Open an account to route the cash into various investment schemes of the bank or insurance arms.

 Do it even without the mandatory PAN card or adhering to KYC norms.

 Arrange forged PAN cards to facilitate investment of huge unaccounted cash.

 Split the money into tranches, below the reporting threshold, to get it into the banking system without being detected.

 Use accounts of other customers to channelize the black money into the system for a fee.

 Get demand drafts made for the client either from their own banks or from other banks to facilitate investment without it showing up in the client’s account.

 Keep the identity of the investor secret.

 Open multiple accounts to invest the unaccounted cash directly in cash-investment schemes.

 Buy as many policies as you can to accommodate the huge unaccounted cash.

 Open an account in some extension branch a couple of months before the investment matures, credit the returns in that account and close it as soon as you withdraw all your money. The point: Extension branches are seldom audited.

 Advise the investor to remain invested for a certain number of years, say, 7 years, to keep the taxman at bay.

 Allot as many lockers as the client needs for safekeeping the illegitimate cash.

 Personally come to the residence of the client to take the black money deal forward and collect the cash, even bring along a counting machine.

 Use provisions like Form 61 to show the unaccounted cash as income from agriculture, making the investment of black money and returns thereof unquestionable.

Promise to help transfer overseas huge sums of black money with the help of such operatives as hawala kingpins.

Promise to convert all your unaccounted cash into white through other conduits, someone like builders who need cash for their own operations, or someone who owns a company.

One interesting fact that emerged in our investigations is that some bankers and insurers suggested us to buy insurance products in whomsoever names we wanted and assign those instruments in our name, that is, our imagined minister, so that at the time of maturity we could harvest the returns. This is akin to holding a benami property where the owner of the property is not the one in whose name the property has been bought.

o Another unique idea proffered by some bankers was open multiple accounts in the names of any individuals, not necessarily drawn from family, and become joint account holders, to monitor the accounts and keep all the details and cheque books with ourselves. This could serve our purpose better, and we could enjoy peace, after all our ill-gotten money is slipped into regular banking system and comes back to us as clean.
o Insurance has emerged, whether with private or public sector insurers, as the most favorite tool to launder money, undetected.
Needless to say what all these suggestions mean: a clear intent on the part of these officials to commit a crime as defined under various Indian laws, such as the Income Tax Act, the Indian Penal Code, FEMA and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

We are sure the RBI top brass will again go about town touting the expose as something of a non-issue since no transaction of cash has taken place, as both D. Subbarao and his deputy K.C. Chakrabarty did when we exposed the three major private banks, namely, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank on March 14, 2013, giving a clean chit to these banks. And we know they would claim that the banking system is “safe and secure” debunking our findings with their typical nonchalant bureaucratese. But they have been proved wrong, with the RBI’s own audit report indicting these banks now out, and forcing the banking regulator to follow it with punitive action against the erring banks.

The optimism aired by the central bank’s top honchos that Indian banking system is “safe and secure” is nothing but a naïve interpretation of the reality of the day: Our economy is overwhelmingly grey than it is white.

Let us quote a nugget of wisdom from a gentleman banker who believes, to put in a lighter vein, our economy is strong because of black money and all the talk to check it is just talk: “Dekho ji jo chalta hai Hindustan mein ... chalta toh wohi rahega ... baaki upar jo bhi hai ...wo hota rahega ... sub baatein hoti rahengi (You see what is going on in India would go on ... what happens in the upper echelons will go on ... there will be all sort of talk).” The same banker tells why this phenomenon would go unabated: “Kyonki jo control karne wale hain unhin ke paise lage huye hain ... hai ki nahin (Because those very people who are supposed to control it have invested their own money ... isn’t it).”

A sad commentary on our economy, and who control it, but nonetheless a cold truth.

The Impact of Cobrapost Expose:

In between the first expose of March 14 and this expose, certain developments have taken place. For instance, all the banks have been asked to strictly adhere to KYC norms, and even older account holders’ antecedents are being verified without exception. The banks alleged to have been involved in money laundering have punished their staff members, more than 50 in numbers, with suspension, although they are just a cog in this wheel. In yet another development, miss-selling by insurance companies to the tune of Rs. 1.5 trillion, between 2005 and 2012, making the gullible investors as much poor, has come to light, and there is an effort on the part of certain quarters to use this to deflect attention of the nation from the real issue of money laundering and the dangers inherent to it which are now being openly discussed in the print media, and other public fora such as ASSOCHAM, an industry body, although the electronic media silence over this issue is conspicuous and deafening.

Can the System Be Cleaned Of The Malaise?

Although the RBI has announced action, both at the systemic level and at the individual bank level, one can only hope they are not cosmetic, and the latest expose would spur both the RBI and the IRDA to address the malaise, for all times to come.

However, looking at the RBI’s rather suspicious, Protector-instead-of-Regulator conduct, it looks highly unlikely that any worthwhile cleansing of the system will happen.

It is high time our financial institutions are overhauled, so are the monitoring systems of both the RBI and the IRDA, to clean up the system, and put in place checks and balances. While the RBI should take a rethink on its licensing policy, as many private insurers and NBFC players are making a beeline to seek regular banking licenses from the central bank, the IRDA should forbid all insurers to entertain cash transactions. The IRDA should also revisit the wealth management portfolios of all the insurers, to help identify the faults inherent to such lucrative business opportunity. Only then can one hope of redeeming our pledge to international community India has given when it became a signatory to FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering).

More than that what is at stake is national security, and it is anybody’s guess what havoc it would wreck on India’s economy and social fabric if forces inimical to Indian state take advantage of such all-pervasive permissiveness in our financial institutions.

However, given the virtual cover-up post the first expose, we are not very hopeful that a full-scale clean-up of this sort will take place, ever. And there is reason behind this skepticism of ours born out of government’s own actions. For instance, the Ministry of Finance has wrapped up the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) that was set up to check the flight of black money out of the country and bring the culprits to book, under the mandate of the Parliament. It was this agency which was on hot pursuit of those industrialists and politicians who have parked their black money with the Geneva branch of HSBC Bank and whose name were made public by the French government. One can draw an unmistakable inference from this episode that far from being serious on a serious crime like money laundering, the government is working at cross purpose, thus leaving our financial borders as porous as our geographical borders are.

At the end of this release you will find some selected excerpts of confessions of officials of these institutions exposed.

ANIRUDDHA BAHAL
Editor, Cobrapost.com
May 6, 2013
For more details log on to: www.cobrapost.com

HERE ARE SOME EXCERPTS OF CONFESSIONS BY SOME BANKERS AND INSURERS OF THEIR PAST INVOLVEMENT IN MONEY LAUNDERING

M. Sharma, Branch Head, Birla Sunlife, Jaipur, Rajasthan
Accepting the proposed huge cash investment:
“Aap mujhe cash mein de dijiyega … main uska DD banwa loonga (You give me cash … I will get a DD for it).”
On how should we withdraw the returns after the investment matures:
“Jab bhi bhavishya mein aap is paise ki maturity lene waale hon toh ek fresh account khulwaiyega … jab withdraw karna ho ek fresh account khulwayiega … bank account … us bank account ko do ya teen mahine se operate karne lagiyega … bank account mein paisa credit hoga … paisa aane ka jariya ek hi hai … wo to number ek ka ban ke hi aayega (Whenever in future you withdraw the money at maturity, open a fresh account … operate it for two or three months ... the money would be credited in to that account … this is the only way the money can be received … that will cone only after it is converted into Number 1 [white]).”
S. Sharma, Branch Manager, Birla Sunlife, Associate Partner, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
Assuring us our unaccounted cash would become white:
“White ho jayega … bus white ho jayega wo fir (Will become white … then that will become white).”
On what he would with our cash:
“Aap chahe cheque se dijiye chahe DD banwa lijjiye cash … hum DD banwa denge uska (Either you give us cheque or you get a DD for that [cash] … we will get the DD made for you).”
He would keep his regional manager in the loop to help use invest maximum unaccounted cash: Sharma:
“RM ko le aoonga … usse kya hai na ki saara kaam aur bhi 25–30 lakh jitna bhi maximum hota hai … bahut log karte hain yahan par (I will bring the RM [to the meeting] … that will help us to invest another Rs. 25–30 lakh to the extent maximum [amount of cash] … a lot of people do such investments here [with us]).”
A. K. Gupta, Chief Manager, Bank of Baroda, Parliament Street, New Delhi
Telling us not to worry as what we have proposed it like peanuts:
“Main keh raha hoon tension hi nahin … ye sub kaam toh chote hain … saare mantriyon ke khaate hain (I am telling you there is no tension … all these tasks are like tidbits for me… we have accounts of all the minister).”
D.K. Prasad, Manager, Trade Finance, South Delhi
It is apparent what Prasad is saying:
“Toh black ko white kyon nahin kar lete (Why don’t you make black white).”
On how he would get us some company owner who would take in all our black money and would issue us a cheque, of course for a fee:
“Wo company ke through jo hoga wo aapko cheque dega … jo itna genuine kaam hoga wo aapko pata hai … wo bhi is tareeke se apna … bade bade CA jo returns wagaireh hain wo usmein adjust karenge (That will be done through a company … that fellow will give you a cheque … that will be a genuine job … you know it … they use this method … big CAs who prepare returns etc. will adjust in their books).”
M. Goel, Senoir Manager, Canara Bank, South Delhi
On how we should go about slipping our unaccounted money into the banking system:
“Pehle account khol lenge … main aapko form de doonga … slowly slowly jaise hota hai, I mean ek baar lump sum mein nahin kara payenge, zyada hi hoga toh Sir se boliye locker denge … for a time being you will keep …ghar mein rakhna risky hota hai … you will keep in the locker (First open an account … I will give you the form … it will be done like slowly, slowly … I mean we will not be able to do it in a lump sum … if it is required tell Sir we will give you a locker … for a time being you will keep … it is risky to keep the money at home … you will keep in the locker).”
Counting his clients who put in their ill-gotten money through him:
“Policewale hain kyon ki wo bhi … doh teen policewale hain … ya doh teen builder ke hain (There are some policemen because they too … there are two-three policemen … there are two-three builders).”
S. S. Kumar, Divisional Manager, Canara Bank, Agra, Uttar Pradesh
Bring all your crores and put in a savings account, your money is conevered into white:
“Definitely take care … savings [account] mein rakha toh kuch nahin hoga … kuch nahin hoga (If you keep the money in savings account, then nothing will happen) … It will not be reflected anywhere … even income tax mein nahin jayega… but aapko interest kum milega (It will not be reported to the Income Tax department but you will get lower interest).”
C. M. Duggal, Regional Head, Federal Bank; R. N. Munjal, Relationship Manager, IDBI–Federal, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
R. N. Munjal
On converting our unaccounted cash into DD and then invest it:
“Direct cash de DD banwa dete ... koi dikkat nahin ... wo sub humara headache hai ... aapka kuch bhi nahin (Give direct cash, will convert it into DD ... there is no problem ... all of that is our headache, not yours).”
On how peope bring in all their black money and ask him to invest:
“Meerut ... Dehradun mein bhi kaafi hain ... paise log laate hain kehte hain ... number do ka paisa hai ... ye karwao (In Meerut ... many in Dehradun as well ... people bring Number two [black] money ... ask us to get it done [convert the money into white]).”
“Unki baat hai kareeb ek saal pehle ki ... unka daala near about ek crore rupaye ... aath–nau lakh rupaye barh gaya hoga ... aise case to bahut hain Sir (His case is about a year old ... I put in near about Rs. 1 crore for him ... now it has grown by about Rs. 8–9 lakh ... there are many such cases).”
“Teen kare the unhone ... do mein 20-20 lakh, ek mein unhone kara tha ... 35 lakh ke aas paas (He had bought three policies ... two for Rs. 20 lakh each ... one around Rs. 35 lakh).”
G. Agarwal, Manager, IDBI Bank, South Delhi, New Delhi
G. Agarwal
On how our black money would be put into the banking system without the mandatory PAN:
“Account khol lenge ... without PAN card ... usmein 49,000, 49,000, 49,000 karke aap daily cash daalte jao ... daily (We will open an account without PAN card ... daily put Rs. 49,000 cash in it ... daily).”
On foreign remittance:
“Gift hi dikhayenge ... ya toh koi parh raha hai ... educational purpose se ja raha hai ... England mein property khareed rahe hain (Will show it as a gift ... or somebody is studying ... [the money] is being sent for educational purposes ... you are buying property in England).” “Thoda thoda hi karna hai (Will have to do it in small chunks).”
V. Joshi, Assistant Manager, IDBI Bank, Central Delhi
On how our unaccounted cash would be routed through multiple accounts:
“Uske liye ye karo ki aap ke naam pe ya kisi ke bhi naam pe ... jitne bhi log kar rahe hain, unke account khol ke us paise ko route karao pehle (For that, first you open accounts in your name or in the name of anyone ... all other persons who are doing it ... route the money [through them]).”
Understanding well our purpose of money laundering:
“Main samajh gaya ... aap ko black ko white mein convert karna hai (I have understood ... you want to convert your black money into white).”
On how he would route our black money through an account:
“Jab bhi aapka payment ka time ayega, pehle aap ke black money ko mein route karoonga account mein, account se white karne ka route karoonga ... isiliye co-ordination chahiye (When the time comes for you to make payment, first I will route your black money to the account, then I will route that money [into investments] through account for making it white ... that is why I need [somebody for] co-ordination).”
On how he has helped bigwigs to launder their money in the past:
“Main jab Lucknow mein tha toh main Gomti Nagar ki branch mein hi tha ... wahan pe jitney bhi syndicates the ... investments karwate the ... unke saath kaafi dealing hoti rahti thi ... aur wahan pe aapne dekha hi hoga ... ya toh wahan IAS officers ke ghar hain ... sub constructors ke ghar hain ... bureaucrats hai ... wahan black money ka flow kaafi zyada rehta tha (When I was in Lucknow, I was in the Gomti Nagar branch ... all the syndicates there ... would make investment ... I used to see through a lot of dealings there ... and as you must have seen ... IAS officers have their residences there ... [almost] all constructors have their homes there .... bureaucrats live there .... there is a lot of flow of black money there).”
K. Prasad, Senior Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, Moradabad; A. Agarwal, Manager, Life Insurance Corporation, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh

A. Agarwal
On how investing in LIC helps make you money white:
“Actually, LIC mein jaake number ek ka to ban hi jayega … doosri baat aapko return bhi mil raha hai FD se jyada (Actually, the money will become Number one [white] once it [money] gets into LIC … second, you will also get more returns than fixed deposits).”
There are many big clients who Agarwal helps invest there millions with LIC;
“Ek ek party chota mota amount nahin deti … pachees pachees, tees tees, paintees paintees lakh rupaye deti hai … araam se ho jaata hai (Each party give us anything between Rs. 20 lakh and Rs. 35 lakh … we do it easily).”

D. Luther, Chairman Club Member; T. Chopra, Development Officer; R. Nagpal, Assistant Branch Manager, LIC of India, North-West Delhi

T. Chopra
“Nahin nahin … abhi peeche pachees lakh kisi aur ke karaye hain (No, no … only recently I have got Rs. 25 lakh invested for another fellow).”

D. Luther
“Aisa kuch nahin aata … yahan se koi aisa nahin jaata … yahan toh croron croron aata hai (Nothing of that sort [income tax notice] comes … nothing is sent from here … crores of rupees are slipped into it [LIC]).”

R. Nagpal
“Haan, bees lakh rupaye abhi cash jama karaye hain … raseed bhi hai inke paas aap dekh lo (Yes, [he has] got Rs. 20 lakh deposited a short while ago … if you want he can show you the receipt).”
“Aap 25 crore bhi lagaoge toh bhi theek rahega yahan pe … government company hai (If you invest Rs. 25 core, even then it will be alright here … this is a government company after all).”
Kapoor
“Har ek aadmi ke paas ek aisa account bhi hota hai jisko wo declare nahin karata… zarrori nahin hai ki aapke paas agar chaar account hain toh chaaron ke chaaron aapne income tax mein declare kar rakhe hain … ek aisa bhi account hota hai jahan se aapko thodi bahut upar ki amdani hai usko bhi save kart hain (Every person has an account which he has not declared in his income tax [returns] … it is not necessary that if you have four accounts you declare them all … there is always an account in which you save your extra income).”
M. Khanna, Assistant Branch Manager, LIC of India; K. Joshi, LIC Agent, Gurgaon, Haryana
K. Joshi
“Same day loan ho jayega Sir. Black ko white karne ka isse acha tareeka nahin (It will be sanctioned the same day Sir. No method is better than this to make your black money white).”
“PAN card banwa doonga alag se … PAN card banwa doonga alag se (I will get you made a separate PAN card … I will get you a separate PAN card).”
“Usse pahle Pankaj Sharma ne lagaya tha baees laakh lagaya tha (Before that Pankaj Sharma had invested Rs. 22 lakh).”
M. Khanna
“It’s ok … loan lena toh bahut badhiya hai … loan se white ho jayega (It is ok … availing of a loan is all the better … loan will make it white).”
“Main officially inko bol nahin sakti … main samajh rahi hoon … PAN card toh karwao inse … kyomki mera bhi system nahin leta …. aap kya de rahe ahin kya nahin (I can’t tell him officially … I understand it … get the PAN card done from him … because my system won’t take it … whatever you are giving).”
“Main aapko naam disclose nahin karoongi … dekhiye wo toh humara confidential hota hai … agar koi aapka poochega hum usse bhi nahin batayenge … koi problem nahin hai (I will not disclose you the names … look that is confidential for us … if someone asks us we will never tell him … there is no problem).”
R.K. Singhal, Assistant General Manager, Noida, Uttar Pradesh
“Humare yahan se koi nahin jayegi … aapki kitab kisi ke haath lag gayi to alag baat hai … humare yahan se koi report nahin jaati … bahut saare kahte hain is terah ke (No report will go from us … if somebody else lays his hands on your book, then it is a different case … we don’t send any report … we have many accounts like this). ”
S.K. Setia, Chief Manager, PNB, South Delhi
“Toh main us angle se hi karata hoon jo bhi product hai (Then, I will do it with that angle whatever the product is).”
S. Mishra, Chief Manager, PNB, South Delhi
On how all transactions are kept confidential:
“Ye sub toh bahut confidential cheezein hoti hain na … ab matlab agar aapko nahin jaanta hai koi toh wo aapko … matlab entertain koi nahin karega yahan …. kisi bhi soorat mein (All these things are very confidential … I mean if nobody knows you here then they would … I mean nobody will entertain you here in any case).”
“Jo bhi dealing hai … agar humein kisi ko batana hoga ki aap isse se ye jaankari le lijiye tab hum aapko wahi number denge utne hi kaam ke liye ki aap ye cheez unse pooch sakte ho agar by chance main bahar hoon toh (Whatever the dealing … if I have to tell you that you can seek that particular information from somebody … only then will I give you his number for that specific purpose telling you can ask him about this thing … if by chance I am out of town).”
K. Madhumathi, Territory Manager; Chandrashekhar, Sales Manager, Reliance Life, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Madhumati
Doing big cash transactions are routine:
“Yesterday evening only I picked up one 50 lakh cash … aapke jaisa hi … he was not a politician but a businessman … very big businessman … toh unko kya hai ki his name should not come out (Yesterday evening only I picked up Rs 50 lakh … same as yours … he was not a politician but a businessman … a very big businessman … all he wanted is that his name should not come out).”
On how customer’s names are kept a secret:
“Because we block the names … because customer ka naam bahar nahi aana chahiye (Because the names of the customer should not be revealed)… because many of the customers are having black money where they want to make it as a white … name aane se ek baar Income Tax ko pata chal jayega na toh un logon ki life kharab kar denge (if their names come to the knowledge of the Income Tax officials they will make their lives miserable)
An investment proposal of Rs. 1 crore is like peanuts compared to what they do:
“Croron ka karte hain bhai sahib … ek crore to bahut chota amount hai … hum log yahan 50 crore 80 crore ka karte hain … and Reliance mein Ambani ke group mein to itne saare karte hain poori yeh Rajasthani log hai na … Rajasthani log zyada karte hain … Marwari (We do it for crores [of rupees] … Rs. 1 crore is a very small amount … we here do it for around Rs. 50–80 crores … and there are many customers who invest with Reliance of Ambani group … these Rajasthani Marwari people do the most).”

M. Raghu, Territory Manager, Reliance Life Insurance, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
On how we can get forge PAN card to invest with his company:
“Without PAN card karna hai?... Doosra PAN card nikaliye (You want to do it without PAN card? Get another PAN card).”
“Ek baar pakka karne ke baad kya karte hain naya PAN card nikaal dete hai … with a spelling mistake kariye ... kuch na kuch karke PAN card nikaal dete hai … because of these people lots of default log ho gaya hai … bahut log do–teen PAN card lekar rakha hai … wo PAN card rakhte hai … PAN card rakhe toh … wo PAN card ke naam pe IT ko jaata hoga … pata nahi (Once we decide [on the investment], what we do is we make a new PAN card … with a spelling mistake on it … anyhow we would manage a new PAN card … because of this there are many defaulters … many people have two–three PAN cards … they keep the [original] PAN … which means … they file returns to the IT [Department] … don’t know).”
On how safe it is to invest with Reliance:
“Safety safety … bahut saara paisa aisa hai (It is safe … a lot of money is [invested this way] there).”
R. Shankar S, Senior Territory Manager, Reliance Life Insurance, Bangalore
On how big chunks of unaccounted cash are routine with Reliance:
“Aaj savare ji saath lakh cash collect kar ke laaya tha … yehi same thing (Today morning itself, I collected 60 lakh cash … for the same thing).”
Our unaccounted cash would be converted into DDs for investment in Reliance Indurance:
“Nahin humein DD banana hai … that we will make (No, we have to make the DD … that we will make).”
V. Yadav, Senior Territory Manager, Reliance Life Insurance, Gurgaon, Haryana
On investing in gold:
“One-time payment hai … aage aapki immediate pension start ho jayegi… paise ko aap… white ka paisa ayega … paisa aapka monthly mode milega … usko kahin gold kharido… main aapko best bataoon … yahan se jo paisa mila aapko… usse har mahine gold kharido (This is a one-time payment … pension will start immediate[ly] … the money will be white ... you will get it in monthly mode … you buy gold with it … I tell you the best thing … purchase gold every month with the money you get back from us).”
On facilitating our black money investment:
“Main aapko cheque doonga apna ... aapko trust hai toh main daalonga kis tarah se … main DD banwaonga … tukdo mein … dus-dus lakh ka DD banwaonga (I will give you a personal cheque … if you trust me then I will make DD … put it in … in parts … I will get DDs made of Rs. 10 lakh each).”
“DD main aapka different different account se banwa doonga … uski payment aapko karni padegi DD ki … paise toh lagte hain na DD ke (I will get the DDs made from different accounts … but you will have to pay for that ... after all you have to pay for the DDs).”
Even a fake address would be added to our account:
“Address jahan aap rehte ho doosra address lagwa denge … wo address bhi nahin rahega … banda dhoondega bhi to kisko … mobile number aapka rahega bus … aapse koi pooche toh haan main hoon … aapki koi verification nahin hogi … kuch nahin hoga (We will give an address other than where your stay … that address will not be there … who they will look for? Only your mobile number will be there … if somebody asks you say yes I am … there will be no verification … nothing that sort).”

A. K. Agarwal, Chief Manager, State Bank of India, Noida, Uttar Pradesh
On how nothing would change in India:
“Dekho ji jo chalta hai Hindustan mein ... chalta toh wohi rahega ... baaki upar jo bhi hai ...wo hota rahega ... sub baatein hoti rahengi ... sub baatein hoti rahengi na (You see what is going on in India would go on ... what happens in the upper echelons will go on ... there will be all sort of talk ... there will be all sort of talk).”
It is black money which makes our economy stronger:
“Haan ... usme dekho kitne America ke bank jo ki itne bade ... analyst ye sab mante the ... unki haalat bhi kharab ho gayi na ... toh yahan nahi hui ... aisa thode hai ki yahan par unke paas koi special cheese chal rahi thi … khali ye tha ki yahan pe number do ki economy badi strong chalti hai (Yes ... see what happened in America ... all the big banks, which analysts too held as infallible ... crumbled ... but it didn’t happen here ... it is not that here they [the banks] are working on something special ... the only thing here is that we have a Number 2 [grey] economy which is running very strong).”
Money can be laundered with help from other sources:
“Aise toh log mil jaate hain ... aise toh ho jaata hai ... kyonki unko khud ko No. 2 chahiye ... jo log builder ... ke kaam mein lage rehte hain ... wo convert kar lete hain (You can get such people ... this can be done .... because they too want no. 2 [money] ... people like builders ... like engaged in those kinds of profession ... they convert it).”
A. K. Jain, Relationship Manager (Personal Banking), State Bank of India, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
“Sabse best hai… bank mein kar denge kuch ismein kar denge … tukdo mein kar denge … dheeme dheeme kar denge … ek saath nahin karenge (This is the best … some we will do in bank [savings instruments] … some we will do in it … we will do it in parts … we will do it slowly, we will not do it in one go).”
“Locker se nikaal ke usmein daalte rahenge … laocker se nikaal ke yahan rakhenge wahan daal … usmein (We will keep on putting in there after taking it out from the locker … taking it out from the locker we will keep it here [in the account] ... put in there … in that).”
J. Kaur, Chief Manager, State Bank of India, Panchkula, Haryana
“Fir main bata doon mutual fund best rahega … na toh wahan pe koi hai batanewala ki sources of fund kahan se aya … na hi ismein wo cheez hai … wo kar sakte hain … (Then, I shall tell you mutual fund will be the best … there is no requirement for you to reveal the source of fund … from where it has come … there is nothing like that … you can do it).”
“Matlab dus lakh se neeche transaction rakh lo … aath aath nau nau karte ho aap cash jama karate ho to

8 Comments



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NikunjMay 06, 2013

Nice Job Boss....... Carry on and expecting 3rd post in raw with newer areas to made open... All the Best.

GuestMay 06, 2013

Black Money white paper was presented by the GoI few months back. Does it cover anything of that sorts? - Can some one from government of India convincingly explain all this illegalities in Banking & Insurance system.

MahanteshMay 06, 2013

Very Good Job sir but our worst government and corrupt media are not bothered about this...We r always wit u people..Keep up the good work

DhirubhaiMay 06, 2013

well done..nice investigative article by cobrapost

kalyanMay 06, 2013

great job in your side and watch our rbi and finance ministary ?

VIshal DudejaMay 06, 2013

Keep it up we are with u

Abhi BhatMay 06, 2013

congratulations to Cobrapost! Hope the system gets cleaned up after this!!

M SharmaMay 05, 2013

now you have the swiss banks right at your doorstep, eh? Shameless, to say the least


http://www.cobrapost.com/index.php/news-detail?nid=605&cid=23

Published: May 6, 2013 18:48 IST | Updated: May 6, 2013 19:00 IST
BJP wants Bansal, Ashwani to quit

PTI

HAULS GOVT. OVER THE COALS: The person who was given the bribes is an alter ego of the Railway Minister, alleges Jaitley

Alterations made at the behest of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar were aimed at protecting the government on the coal mines allocation issue, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley says

The BJP on Monday said new submissions by CBI to the Supreme Court show the government had made significant changes in the agency’s status report on Coalgate scam and insisted it will support Bills on food security and land acquisition only after the Railway and Law Ministers quit.

The CBI affidavit in the Supreme Court gave fresh ammunition to the main Opposition which charged the alterations made at the behest of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar were “damaging” and aimed at protecting the government on the coal mines allocation issue.

Referring to Para 19 of the CBI affidavit, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said the portion where the probe agency had stated that it is not clear on what basis weightage was given to those who got the mining contracts have been removed at the instance of the minister.

Similarly, the broadsheets which were part of the CBI report on coal block allotments have also been omitted.

Another significant change is removal of the section where the agency wants to know why the criteria of auction suggested by CAG in 2004 has not been followed even till 2010.

“These are extremely major changes... The investigation was directed at the Coal Minister and the Prime Minister. In a way, the report was shown to possible suspects,” Mr. Jaitley said.

On the issue of Railway Minister P K Bansal’s nephew’s alleged involvement in the bribery case for a plum posting in the Railway, Mr Jaitley said there is a “rhythm” in the way the files moved and the money paid.

“The person who was given the bribes is an alter ego of the Railway Minister in politics and business,” he said, and asked “why should strangers be paid bribes?”

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj expressed her ire at government’s attempt to get the Food Security Bill passed in the House amid the din. She said BJP wants this legislation and the Land Acquistition Bill be passed but this is possible only after Bansal and Kumar quit.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bjp-wants-bansal-ashwani-to-quit/article4689459.ece?homepage=true&css=print

SC gets CBI Affidavit on doctored report (Full text)

PMO, Law Minister, AG doctor the status report, claims CBI Director (6 May 2013)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/139724726/SC-gets-CBI-Affidavit-on-doctored-report

SC gets CBI Affidavit on doctored report

The 21-day confrontation on Ladakh’s desolate Depsang plains ended only after the Indian Army agreed to demolish bunkers it had built in the region of Chumar near the LAC.India to give up Chumar post for Chinese withdrawal?

NASEER GANAI | MAIL TODAY | SRINAGAR, MAY 6, 2013 | UPDATED 00:16 IST
If it is our territory, where did we withdraw to, wonders a perplexed Omar

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday sought a clarification from the central government about the withdrawal of Indian forces from the Daulat Beg Oldi sector in Ladakh.

"We believe the entire territory belongs to us, so we need to know if the army withdrew from our area to which place they withdrew to. We need to know the ground position," said Omar while addressing a press conference on the opening of the annual Darbar move in the summer capital Srinagar.

He said media reports suggest that it was a withdrawal by both sides - India and China.


PLA soldiers in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector of Ladakh, 19 kms inside the Line of Actual Control.
"So some amount of clarity from the Government of India, particularly from the Ministry of Defence, was desired to know what the ground situation was," he said.

"This is our territory, this is our side of the Line of Actual Control. We need to know if the army withdrew from our area to which place they withdrew to," Omar said.

He described Chinese incursions on the Line of Actual Control as regular feature. "But this was first time that Chinese came and established tented camps on our side of the LAC for 19 days," Omar said.

However, he hailed diplomatic efforts of the Government of India to end the face-off.

"I am glad that diplomatic measure the GoI undertook came off with desired results and the Chinese forces withdrew yesterday," he said

He said with the presence of Chinese troops on this side of the LAC, the visit of External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to China had been called into question.

Khurshid is scheduled to visit China on May 9 to prepare ground for the new Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang's visit to New Delhi from May 20.

"Now one hopes that this visit can go ahead and measures can be put into place to avoid such incursions across the LAC in future," the chief minister said.

Last month, Omar had asked the Centre to take up the issue of incursions with China strongly. Omar had said that the central government's dealing on the intrusion should be unambiguous and similar, regarding both Pakistan and China.

"We would like the central government to take up this issue with both China and Pakistan strongly and on same terms so that no such incident takes place in future," Omar had said.

The Union Government recently said that Chinese troops had entered 19 km into this side of LAC. The Chinese and Indian troops ended a face-off at DOB sector on Sunday and agreed to withdraw their troops simultaneously.


Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/where-and-why-did-the-indian-army-withdraw-to-after-china-omar-abdullah/1/269597.html

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/where-and-why-did-the-indian-army-withdraw-to-after-china-omar-abdullah/1/269597.html

Bharti Jain, TNN | May 7, 2013, 01.10 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Although the government maintained on Monday that no concessions were offered to the Chinese to end the face off in east Ladakh, India forces appear to have agreed to the removal of bunkers built by the army in Chumar close to the line of actual control (LAC) to facilitate an agreement.

Sources in the security establishment familiar with the negotiations and the local topography told TOI that the 21-day confrontation on Ladakh's desolate Depsang plains ended only after the Indian Army agreed to demolish bunkers it had built in the region of Chumar near the LAC.

The bunkers in question are close to what India considers its current border and are part of the proactive measures objected to by the Chinese. It's said that only after New Delhi agreed to concede the Chinese demand to pull down these "permanent" structures, that allow Indian troops to keep an eye on the Karakoram highway, did the PLA agree to pull back and restore pre-April 15 status.

It has been claimed that India has also adopted "intrusive" tactics to counter aggressive Chinese patrolling and temporarily rolling back some measures is not a large sacrifice. It was also claimed that these bunkers were made only as "retaliation" to the Chinese intrusion. The vacation of the strategically located bunkers or "observation posts" -- that keep an eye on troop movements on the Chinese side - could end India's drill of daily border patrols to the "disputed" area, highly-placed sources said.

Indian troops were patrolling the motorable stretch from the regular Chumar post to the bunkers and manning them through the day. The Chinese troops, which surprised India by setting up a tented post some 19 kms into what India perceives as its side of the LAC, first flagged concerns over the bunkers in Chumar at the second flag meeting on April 21. Since then, this strategic observation post had emerged as a bone of contention.

China, already miffed with India's re-activation of advanced landing grounds at Daulat Beg Oldie, Fukche and Nyoma and construction of other infrastructure along the LAC over the last four-five years, was uncomfortable with Indians being able to peep at the movement on the highway. The Chinese, in fact, had frequently tried to "immobilize'' the surveillance cameras positioned at the Chumar post by cutting wires.

According to sources in the security establishment, at the April 21 flag meeting, the Chinese demanded the observation post at Chumar - which India insisted was only a resting place for patrolling troops as icy winds are a regular phenomenon - be immediately dismantled.

Even at the time, the Army did not completely rule this out as a measure that could lead to the Chinese troops withdrawing from Raki Nala. But the Chinese refusal to make a firm commitment about pulling their tents in return for demolition of the bunkers was not acceptable to the Indian side.

At the third flag meeting too, the same issue was raised, and the Chinese continued to be evasive. They said only after Indian troops had dismantled the border fortifications in Chumar and pulled back their own troops from the faceoff point at Raki Nala, would it "mull the next step".

As the standoff entered its twentieth day on Saturday, the Chinese reiterated the demand for demolition of the Indian Army bunkers at a meeting between the local commanders. It was only after this was approved by the highest level on Sunday morning, with the Chinese agreeing to a reciprocal pull back, the Army sealed the "deal" - something which South Block mandarins stoutly denied.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-to-give-up-Chumar-post-for-Chinese-withdrawal/articleshow/19921512.cms


Aftershocks of Chinese incursion in Ladakh

R Hariharan May 6, 2013

Most people in India would welcome that a potential military conflict with China had been averted after China pulled back its troops who had intruded 19 km across the of Line of Actual Control (LAC), into Indian territory in Ladakh. The intrusion in the strategically sensitive area near Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) tested Indian nerves for 20 days. The aftershocks of what many Indians perceive as an ill-timed and seemingly uncalled for Chinese provocation is sure to linger for a long time affecting Indian perceptions in the long term.

The latest intrusion was perhaps the most serious stand-off between the two countries after in Indian troops ‘taught a lesson’ (to borrow a Chinese description of 1962 war) to the Chinese at Sumdrong Chu in 1986. In a way, the Chinese should be thanked for giving a wakeup call to the people and polity now to look beyond their internal preoccupations to attend strategic priorities of the nation with the urgency they deserve.

Though the Indian leadership might claim the withdrawal of the Chinese troops as a political victory, it should thank Indian diplomats for their marathon effort to achieve results. However, it has come at a great political cost to the smooth progress of India-China relations which had been going well for nearly a decade, despite periodic hiccups.

But unfortunately the DBO incursion has created yet another negative benchmark for Chinese conduct and reliability. From now onwards, invariably at all levels Chinese actions relating to India will be measured against the latest benchmark.Of course, we have also created negative political benchmark in handling the issue without the seriousness it deserved.

More pointedly, DBO benchmark is likely to condition the relationship building exercise between the two countries under the new Chinese leadership under Xi Jingping and their Indian counterparts. As a corollary, in the near term it is likely to hobble Prime Minister Li Keqiang in his interaction in India when he visits New Delhi for the first time since assuming office on May 20.

The incursion does not appear to be without a strategic purpose; Times of India report quoted Indian Air Force drone reports to indicate that the Chinese troops had chosen the spot near DBO to cross the LAC after they had probed three other spots along the line. The strategic imperatives that induced the Chinese to indulge in this bit of brinkmanship on the eve of their Prime Minister’s maiden visit may be endlessly debated. But it is clear that it could not have been taken place without his knowledge.

Whatever are the merits of China’s strategic intent or purpose, by prolonging the intrusion for 20 days, China has squandered the abundance goodwill it enjoyed in recent times amidst large sections of Indian people. The Chinese intrusion has come as a harsh rerun of events that led to the 1962 war. It has reminded them that the disconnect between Chinese rhetoric and action is very much alive now, as it was in 1962.

Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru called it a betrayal in 1962, an epithet that might not be considered apt in the present instance as the Chinese pulled back the troops before a conflict situation arose. However, jsut as in 1962 it was the Chinese who intruded in DBO and pulled back their troops at a time of their choosing after destabilizing Indian leadership. Its strategic message was perhaps the same as in 1962: friendship was no trade off when it came to territorial claims. Perhaps the new Chinese leadership intention in DBO incursion was to remind India that the 1962 message still remained valid. It will not be forgotten by Indian policy makers in future when they are tempted to try and play down Chinese transgressions as they keep count of them running into hundreds.

Though the purist or idealist may brand the upsurge of popular feeling kindled by the DBO intrusion as jingoism, such popular feelings, given a lease of life by the Chinese, cannot be wished away. So Prime Minister Li would be starting his Indian visit with a disadvantage because he would be remembered more as a leader of the power that rattled the sabre rather than the one that wanted to strengthen China’s relationship with India with a friendly overture.

Even if the Indian government which had assiduously worked for building a meaningful relationship with China would like to forget and forgive the whole DBO incident as bad chemistry between the two nations, Indian people are unlikely to do so for some years to come. And public opinion is increasingly conditioning Indian politics, including the foreign policy prescriptions. Regardless of the merits of this development, no political leader can afford to ignore this reality as public opinion shapes his journey to portals of power in New Delhi. The Chinese leadership does not appear to have understood the working of these political compulsions in India.

While Chinese may despise the Indian media as irresponsible, it cannot ignore the Indian media that had constantly reminded the people of the Chinese incursion and its ramifications during the last 20 days. Though the Chinese do not seem to have understood it, this is how free media works in a huge unwieldy democracy - like a huge supermarket with a wide choice of opinions including some irresponsible ones.

The elected governments appear to have realized it is difficult to exercise control over electronic with the same ease with which they muscled the print media. So they have tried to leverage the advantage of reaching out to the people on the real time using the visual and electronic media. The Chinese do not seem to have realized the importance of using it to access the Indian people although the Indian government seemed to have realized it sooner than later, and did so with some success. If China wants to rework its strategy, it would perhaps achieve more success by projecting its ideas through Indian media than castigating it.

From the foreign policy perspective, we do not know exactly what China has gained by the DBO exercise. But one thing is certain; they have lost the valuable mileage gained in building bridges with India. It is in the long term interest of China not only to keep its relations with India on an even keel but add value to it.

Though the Chinese incursion was not very well covered by foreign media, it is sure to have rung bells of alarm among countries like Japan, Philippines, Vietnam and others who have their own problems in handling contentious territorial claims of China, in recent times. No doubt India would now be more inclined to build upon existing strategic alliances existing with like-minded allies in Asia.

It is probably equally a setback for India’s policy prescription which emphasized peaceful intentions in its handling of problem areas between the two countries. Despite public pressure, it had refrained from adopting the muscular ‘hot and cold’ method of alternating power assertion and friendly parleys (as the Americans do) in dealing with China. Even in the DBO incursion, India had done so.

However, the Chinese decision to pull back came only after India showed its strategic teeth when its offer to resolve the issue through parleys failed. It came about only after Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid stood firm and informed the increasingly restive public that his two week-long efforts to resolve the issue through talks had proved unsatisfactory. He also indicated that he was having second thoughts on visiting China on May 9, if the Chinese do not vacate the areas of intrusion. There were also other news stories hinting at Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh extending his proposed visit to Japan by a day to hold strategic parleys with his Japanese counterpart. These moves came in tandem with the news of Indian troop reinforcements in the affected areas and discussion on Indian military plans. Cumulatively, these moves seem to have resulted in Chinese pull out of troops.

From strategic security perspective, the DBO incursion has validated Clausewitze’s cliché ‘war is an extension of diplomacy’ emphasizing diplomacy and power assertion mutually reinforce each other and the use of the mailed fist as much as the kid glove when necessary. But one lesson we cannot miss in this experience is that while every opportunity to resolve problems peacefully should be used, the option to use strategic power should considered in early stages.

The episode has shown the fragile nature of India-China relations which continue to be bugged by unresolved border issue despite successes working together in trade and commerce and on global issues. So the Chinese will continue to be tempted to use the border issue as the strategic ace to politically trigger confusion and confrontation within Indian democratic set up when it suits them. To foreclose this option to the Chinese, we need to insist on the Chinese to produce their maps which has been a long pending demand. Otherwise, endless rounds of border talks would be an exercise in futility.

On strategic front, despite all the well meaning plans to strengthen the infrastructure in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, the progress is too slow for comfort. There is a need to show urgency in getting the job done rather than explaining the delays if we want to strengthen our strategic readiness. In this regard, we can learn from the large scale Chinese involvement in building the infrastructure in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in their strategic interest, regardless of its impact on India-China relations. Our development activity in border areas should be carried out wholly focused on national interest, than what China or any other country feels about it.

This brings up the question of India’s strategic relations with the U.S. Far from ganging up with the U.S. against China or any other country, India need to take its strategic relationship with the U.S. beyond the current low profile relationship between the armed forces of the two countries in its own long term strategic interest. The difficult exercise of building a multifaceted strategic relationship with the U.S. cannot be avoided anymore because the Afghan situation may reach criticality in 2015 disturbing our strategic environment, around the same time as Sino-Pak strategic relationship becomes more robust in the region. Of course a national consensus would be required for this and if the nation wills it can be achieved.

[Col R Hariharan is a retired military intelligence officer associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies and the South Asia Analysis Group, an intelligence think tank. E-mail: colhari@yahoo.com Website: www.colhariharan.org]

Financial institutions are money-launderers. Financial policies like PNotes are money-laundering tools. Kalyan

Black money is no longer about individual acts of corruption and its prevention does not lie only in tough policing. It is about the system itself. AP

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/nation-wide-money-laundering-racket.html Nation-wide money laundering racket exposed. Banks including PSU banks, Insurance Cos. including LIC involved -- Cobrapost. GOI, scrap PNotes.

Cobrapost II finds all hands in till: Black money is India story
by May 6, 2013 R. Jagannathan

Unlike its first sting, the second Cobrapost undercover operation (styled Red Spider) that exposes the willingness of almost all banks and insurance companies to handle black money is less shocking.

The reason is ubiquity. When black money is everywhere, everyone is complicit. It shows that solutions do not lie in better policing and strong Lokpals alone, but in dealing with more fundamental systemic issues.

The Cobra's second sting tells us that India is run by black money. This is the real India growth story.

And when everyone is caught redhanded, there may be no red faces. When everyone is guilty, no one is unduly so. Except perhaps the regulators.

In the first sting, officials of HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank - three of the bluest of blue chip private sector banks - were shown to be overtly helpful in aiding the Cobrapost undercover reporter with a hidden camera launder money. In the second sting videos released today, handling black money seems a part of normal banking operation even in public sector banks.

The difference seems to be this: public sector bank officials seem a little more circumspect about following the letter of the law on mundane issues like KYC (know your customer) and PAN cards, but they seem to know that these laws are observed in the breach. They seem a bit keener to avoid risks to themselves, but suggest ways to launder money that seem less risky - like using fake PAN cards, or breaking up money into several accounts, etc.

Take this interaction with a State Bank of India (SBI) official in Noida, part of the National Capital Region. When asked by the Cobrapost reporter whether he could invest black money and make it white, the officer does not flinch. When he asks about if this could be done with Rs 60-70 lakh, the officer is confident that such a small amount will be no problem. “Itna toh ho jayega (This much will be done).”

It is only when larger amounts of money are mentioned (Rs 5-7 crore) that the banker stops to think and says: “Hame kuch samay dijiye ... mein phone karta hoon (Give me some time ... I will phone you).” (Read the transcript of the sting tape on SBI here). In short, he does not reject the idea of handling so much black money, but needs time to figure out how to do it. Or, to give him the benefit of doubt, maybe he wants to pass the decision on to someone else.

The reason why the second Cobrapost sting is less of a shocker is the sheer pervasiveness of black money and our banks' degree of comfort in handling it. It appears to have become a part of the normal routine of banks in India.

If the first sting involving three private sector banks sent everyone reeling, it was because it showed bank officials as over eager to please people with bags of money, never mind its colour.

The fact that the sting confronted three of the best-run private banks was a big point of interest, since we all know that profit incentives are huge in these banks.

But today's sting, which bared a similar state of affairs in the big public sector banks as well as the smaller private sector ones, actually will come as a relief to the targets of the first sting.

This is because it shows that the handling and laundering of black money - or rather money which the taxman is unaware of - is part of the current banking system. It actually lets the Big Three of private banking breathe easier.

Today's sting deals with branch officials in SBI, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank, Allahabad Bank, Indian Bank and Dena Bank. Among private sector banks, we have Yes Bank, Dhanalaxmi Bank, Development Credit Bank and Federal Bank.

]Black money is no longer about individual acts of corruption and its prevention does not lie only in tough policing. It is about the system itself. AP An eye-opener for the public is another revelation: that insurance schemes are often the most favoured vehicles for laundering money. Hence we find officials of Life Insurance Corporation, Reliance Life, Birla Sun Life and Tata AIG officials keen to help the CobraPost undercover reporter to launder nno-existent money.

So what are the real issues thrown up in this sting?

One, black money is now such a systemic issue, that it has become almost routine to handle it. It flows in and out of our banks with ease - we don't need Swiss banks to hide the money.

Two, safeguards such as KYC and PAN cards are pointless to deter the real crooks. Rooting out black money calls for more systemic change. Not more tightening of norms which will only upset ordinary folks trying to open bank accounts.

Three, while private bank officials, influenced more by the profit motive and the possibility of personal gains, seem positively helpful in helping people launder money, public sector officials do not seem to lack incentives to launder money either.

Four, the insurance companies seem to be major conduits for black money. We know that the industry is barely growing, given the clampdown on unit-linked insurance plans and agent mis-selling, but the pressure for business seems to be pushing them towards aiding illegalities.

Five, real estate seems to be the logical and main creator of black money - especially money owned by politicians. This much is obvious from the conversations recorded in the sting.

The conclusion that stares us is not the one that the Aam Aadmi Party thinks it is: black money is no longer about individual acts of corruption and its prevention does not lie only in tough policing. It is about the system itself.

We may be helped by having an impartial and incorruptible Lokpal, but the solution lies in closing the taps that help generate black money. And this could call for electoral reforms and public funding of elections, real estate reform with transparency, and the creation of a single regulator for investment products - which can at least ensure that black money that is blocked in one area does not end up in another product like insurance.

There are simply no easy answers to the problem.

http://www.firstpost.com/business/cobrapost-finds-all-hands-in-the-till-black-money-is-the-india-story-754677.html

UPA’s agony: save or delete

CBI tells court of key changes

R. BALAJI May 7, 2013

New Delhi, May 6: The CBI today told the Supreme Court that the Union law minister and officials of the PMO and the coal ministry had made “significant changes” to its March 8 status report on the coal-allocation probe, but insisted that no suspect had benefited from those alterations.

The political firmament is now awaiting the apex court’s response on Wednesday. Any condemnation of the deletions is expected to make the continuation of law minister Ashwani Kumar untenable and arm the Opposition with ammunition to directly target the Prime Minister. ( )

CBI sources and the government were seeking solace in assertions that the essence of the agency’s affidavit only strengthened the government’s case that it had followed the then established processes in allocating the coal blocks. (See chart)

But the issue is so complex that the embattled government will find it difficult to battle a perception of interference in the investigation process. The government’s inability to explain economic factors in a lucid manner in the absence of a political will — as was in evidence when the 2G scandal erupted — is also expected to saddle it with an image millstone.

In his sworn affidavit, CBI director Ranjit Kumar Sinha claimed that the changes were acceptable to the agency since they related to merely tentative findings, and that they had not altered the course of investigations nor led to any accused being spared.

He further described at least one of the four purported changes as factually correct, and attributed two of the changes to the law minister and two to joint secretaries from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the coal ministry.

Earlier, the then additional solicitor-general, Harin Raval, had told the court the status report had not been shared with the political executive. Sinha, who had contested the claim on April 26, today said Raval had made the statement on his own without any such advice from the CBI.

The shared status report relates to the CBI’s “preliminary enquiry” (PE), conducted routinely in cases to find some prima facie material. When such material is found, the agency conducts the “regular inquiry” by registering an FIR.

Sinha said the CBI had not shared the status reports of the regular cases it had started in the coal-allocation scandal with either the political executive or the attorney- general.

As for the changes made to the PE status report, he said they “have neither altered the central theme of the report, nor shifted the focus of enquiries or investigations in any manner”.

At the last hearing, the court had asked for the names of the two officials who had been shown the draft status report apart from the law minister, attorney-general and additional solicitor-general, and the names of the CBI officers investigating the case.

Sinha today said the officials were PMO joint secretary Shatrughna Singh and coal ministry joint secretary A.K. Bhalla.

On which joint secretary was responsible for which change, he said: “It is difficult at this stage to attribute each change to a particular person with certainty.”

Sources said later that Shatrughna, an Uttarakhand cadre 1983-batch officer, had been posted in the PMO since March 2010 and looked after personnel and general administration and cabinet affairs. Coal allocation is part of the duties of Bhalla, a 1984-batch officer.

The two officers were part of a meeting in the chamber of CBI joint director O.P. Galhotra on the evening of March 6, after law minister Kumar had met the CBI director in his office in the morning.

CBI director Sinha submitted today that Bhalla and Shatrughna had “regular interaction” with his officers.

Former CBI director Vijay Shankar said that “if the officers were called by the CBI and were cooperating with the agency for inquiry, they could be asked to verify that what the investigators had understood was in line with what was purported by the officers. The draft status report is merely an executive summary of ongoing investigation, but its integrity has to be of the highest order.”

But Sinha had said on April 26 that the draft report was shared with the law minister as well as the two officers “as desired by him” and “them”.

Sinha today admitted that the nine-page affidavit, which purports to give a blow-by-blow account of the various meetings held before the changes were made, was based on his and his officials’ memory since no minutes of the meetings existed.

Then additional solicitor-general Raval had resigned amid controversy a few days ago after accusing attorney-general G.E. Vahanvati of turning him into a “scapegoat”.

The case relates to public interest petitions filed by a lawyer and an NGO.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130507/jsp/frontpage/story_16868499.jsp#.UYg5_aL-Gvc

WikiLeaks: Sonia Gandhi lobbied for India-US Nuclear Deal

By Sachin Dixit on May 6, 2013

US embassy cable says: “Sonia Gandhi appeared to be comfortable and conversant on the topic of the civil nuclear agreement”

“Sonia and her advisors listened attentively and took on board the Congressmen’s advice that the GOI put more effort into mobilising Indian Americans behind the Civil nuclear Agreement” .

Rahul Gandhi, Murli Deora and Karan Singh were also present. Wikicable further says that Sonia Gandhi’s meeting with the Speaker and Rahul Gandhi’s presence are unprecedented in their experience.

http://www.niticentral.com/2013/05/06/wikileaks-sonia-gandhi-lobbied-for-india-us-nuclear-deal-74351.html

Full text of the cable:

CODEL HASTERT AND SONIA GANDHI DISCUSS US-INDIA TIES, CIV NUKE AGREEMENT
Date:2006 April 14, 06:38 (Friday) Canonical ID:06NEWDELHI2532_a
Original Classification:CONFIDENTIAL Current Classification:CONFIDENTIAL
Handling Restrictions:-- Not Assigned -- Character Count:8316
Executive Order:-- Not Assigned -- Locator:TEXT ONLINE
TAGS:ENRG - Economic Affairs--Energy and Power | EPET - Economic Affairs--Petroleum and Natural Gas | IN - India | MNUC - Military and Defense Affairs--Military Nuclear Applications | PREL - Political Affairs--External Political Relations Concepts:-- Not Assigned --
Enclosure:-- Not Assigned -- Type:TE
Office Origin:-- N/A or Blank --
Office Action:-- N/A or Blank -- Archive Status:-- Not Assigned --
From:India New Delhi Markings:-- Not Assigned --
To:Afghanistan Kabul | Bangladesh Dhaka | China Beijing | Director of National Intelligence | India Chennai | India Kolkata | India Mumbai | Iran Iran Collective | Islamic Collective | Japan Tokyo | Joint Chiefs of Staff | National Security Council | Nepal Kathmandu | Pakistan Islamabad | Pakistan Karachi | Pakistan Lahore | Pakistan Peshawar | Russia Moscow | Secretary of State | Sri Lanka Colombo | United Kingdom London | United Nations (Geneva) | United Nations (New York) | United States Central Command | United States Pacific Command | United States Special Operations Command


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1. (C) Summary: In an April 12 meeting with a delegation
led by Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert
(R-IL), Sonia Gandhi was particularly engaged on the status
and process of passing the civil nuclear agreement in
Congress. She was surprised to hear that the Representatives
had not yet heard from Indian Americans in their
constituencies on this issue and took on board the
Congressmen's suggestions for mobilizing action by
Indian-Americans at the local constituency level. Sonia's
close attention to the nuclear deal reflects the high
political profile that issue has attained. Her meeting with
the Speaker, and Rahul Gandhi's presence, are unprecedented
in our experience. End Summary.

The Process of Passing Civ Nuke Legislation
-------------------------------------------

2. (C) During an April 12 meeting with members of Speaker
Hastert's Congressional delegation to India, Sonia Gandhi
agreed with Speaker Hastert that the bilateral relationship
has improved greatly in recent years, and moved quickly to
the issue of the civil nuclear agreement. In response to
Mrs. Gandhi's inquiry, Speaker Hastert told Sonia that he
would like to move the legislation through the House of
Representatives quickly to keep problems and delays to a
minimum. Speaker Hastert assured Sonia that he would work
closely with Representative Henry Hyde to answer questions on
the deal and move the proposed legislation forward.
Responding to Mrs. Gandhi and Congress foreign policy
convenor Karan Singh, Speaker Hastert said he hoped that the
agreement would be passed by the House by late summer or
early fall, observing that it was important to keep the civil
nuclear issue out of election politics in October.

Mobilizing Indian-Americans
---------------------------

3. (C) Sonia and her advisors listened attentively and took
on board the Congressmen's advice that the GOI put more
effort into mobilizing Indian Americans behind the civil
nuclear agreement. Mrs. Gandhi seemed surprised to hear that
existing efforts were not reaching the Representatives, who
underscored the importance of receiving feedback from their
constituents in their district offices, as opposed to
Washington. The Representatives confirmed for Singh that
they had not received negative mail from their
constituencies, or in fact any mail at this point.

Managing Congressional Opinions
-------------------------------

4. (C) The Representatives agreed that there is bipartisan
support for the US-India relationship in Congress, and
Speaker Hastert assured Mrs. Gandhi that the mood in the
House of Representatives is very positive regarding India and
growing bilateral ties. He noted his appreciation for the
Prime Minister's leadership, particularly efforts to move
forward on Indo-Pakistan relations. Representative LaHood
reported that President Bush is making a strong effort to
convey the importance of the civil nuclear`agreement by
meeting with Congressmen in small groups. Speaker Hastert
briefly noted that it is important for India to move

NEW DELHI 00002532 002.2 OF 003


carefully in its relationship with Iran, as this is one issue
that could "hold people back." Karan Singh commented that he
hoped a peaceful solution could be found to the Iran crisis.

Keeping US Public Opinion Positive
----------------------------------

5. (C) Speaker Hastert commented that Prime Minister Singh
made a very good impression during his visit to the US in
July 2005, and the Representatives agreed that Congress would
be able to overcome public concerns about non-proliferation.
However, they urged the GOI to address US economic concerns,
including outsourcing, intellectual property rights, sanctity
of contracts, and market access, to keep US public opinion of
India positive, particularly during the Congressional
campaign season. The Congressmen observed that their
constituents need to see tangible benefits of US engagement
with India.

...And Benefiting the Indian Economy, Too
-----------------------------------------

6. (C) Representative Neugebauer conveyed the importance of
lowering India's tariffs on US exports, and Representative
Oxley added that the GOI could both send a message to the US
and improve India's own economic outlook by pursuing reforms
in the financial services sector. Deora responded favorably
to this comment, asserting that Mrs. Gandhi had been a strong
supporter of introducing foreign direct investment into the
insurance sector, which established the FDI cap in insurance
at 26 percent. Sonia commented that "we worked very hard" on
that initiative. Deora agreed with Ambassador Mulford that
expanding the insurance industry had positively impacted
India by extending coverage and making new products available
to Indian consumers, and by creating new, well-paying jobs.
Karan Singh, however, suggested that the GOI would wait for
passage of the civil nuclear legislation before making any
additional "gestures," noting that it "is a chicken or the
egg situation." Sonia concurred with Singh's assertion that
the agreement would be a landmark that "opens a new vista"
for both sides.

Singh Raises Pakistan
---------------------

6. (C) Singh alleged that Pakistan is "working to scuttle
the (civil nuclear) agreement." Although the Congressmen
assured Singh that they had not seen any evidence of GOP
lobbying on this issue, Singh urged them to "keep it at the
back of your minds."

Bio-Notes: Sonia Confident and In Charge
----------------------------------------

7. (C) Sonia Gandhi appeared to be comfortable and
conversant on the topic of the civil nuclear agreement. She
set the tone for the meeting by moving directly to the status
of the legislation. With the task of managing an unwieldy
coalition, Sonia clearly recognized the imperative of
understanding the complex nuclear policy issue so that she
can defend it politically. Sonia reflected positively on
Prime Minister Singh, noting that he is "a man of integrity"
which "can be hard to find" in politics. Gandhi added that
"we all trust him" as he is "straight forward and frank."

NEW DELHI 00002532 003.2 OF 003



8. (C) When asked about her re-election campaign following
her recent resignation from parliament, Sonia reported that
it would likely take place on May 8, and that she would file
her nomination papers on or about April 15. She added that
Rahul Gandhi would look after the "nitty gritty" of her
campaign, as she planned to travel to Rae Bareli after
campaigning on her party's behalf in state elections being
held elsewhere.

Comment: GOI Wants Broad Ties, But Civ Nuke First
--------------------------------------------- -----

9. (C) Sonia and her advisors kept the focus of their
meeting with CODEL Hastert on the expected timeline for
passage of the civil nuclear agreement, a focus that has been
reflected in our other meetings with GOI interlocutors. Mrs.
Gandhi was clearly interested in the Congressmen's
suggestions of what the GOI can do to ease the civil nuclear
legislation's passage, which she appeared to view as the key
to a broad bilateral relationship.

10. (U) US participants in this meeting included Speaker of
the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert (R-IL),
Representatives Michael Oxley (R-OH), Sherwood Boehlert
(R-NY), Frank Lucas (R-OK), Ray LaHood (R-IL), Paul Ryan
(R-WI), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), Dan Boren (D-OK), chief of
staff Scott Palmer, foreign policy advisor Margaret Peterlin,
Ambassador Mulford. Indian participants were Congress party
President Sonia Gandhi, Former Indian Ambassador to the U.S.
Karan Singh, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, and Rahul Gandhi.

11. (U) CODEL Hastert cleared this cable.

12. (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website:
(http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/sa/newdelhi/)

MULFORD

http://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06NEWDELHI2532_a.html