2G Scam : Life Cycle

Just as a butterfly, our Scams has a life cycle too. The lifecycle of a butterfly comprises of the following stages
egg -> larva-> pupa -> butterfly

Similarly, scams go through four stages as identified below;
Irregularities -> Revelations -> Cover up -> Damage Control

Lifecycle of the 2G scam lasted 3.5 years and one price the citizens paid is 39 months of hunger. The point of this post is to walk through the lifecycle, because, as you read this right now, there are several other scams in various stages of the lifecycle. How does one cut the lifecycle of them?

For the impatient : skip the referred content (italicised bullets)!
References :

1. Violations, Timeline in 2G spectrum scam : J Gopikrishnan (Pioneer) 
2. canarytrap.in
3. The 2G Tapes (Outlook) 

Irregularities - Sowing the Seeds (May 2007 - Jan 2008)

• # A Raja becomes Union Minister for Environment and Forests in May 2004 and shifts to Ministry of Communications and IT on May 16, 2007. Raja’s friendly real estate companies want to become telecom operators and he informs his decision to Telecom Secretary DS Mathur for granting new licenses and spectrum to new players. But Mathur objects and argues for transparent auction and competitive pricing (as recommended by TRAI from 2003 onwards). Raja wants to grant licenses as per First-Come-First-Serve method (in a peculiar way – who first pays license fee and not who first applied) and old pricing fixed in 2001. In 2001, there were only four million mobile subscribers and it crossed 350 million in mid 2007. So Manju Madhvan, Member (Finance) of DoT, Finance Ministry also pointed out new competitive prices. But all ignored by Raja and he sent the file to Law Ministry for opinion and started procedures.

May 2007 : Raja gets appointed as Minister of Communications in PM's cabinet after a hectic brokering by some journalists and power brokers (Youtube Link1 @ 8:20 onwards) &  (Barkha in Youtube Link2)

• # On September 24, 2007 DoT issues a press release (released in the late evening and appeared in next day newspapers), citing the last date of application (cut-off date) fixing to October 1, 2007.

• #Without Cabinet approval Raja allots Dual Policy or Cross Technology to Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Shyam Telecom in October 2007 at a rate fixed in 2001. This technology allows CDMA operators to change to much wanted GSM Technology. CDMA operators were in bad shape and Raja’s decision became a boon to them. Here the corruption part is on allowing the much wanted GSM license at a six year old price. This move is Raja’s first major corruption in Telecom, which gave him courage to go ahead with 2G Spectrum allocation to new companies.

Sept 24, 2007 : 2G application cutoff set to Oct 1, 2007.

Oct 2007 : Raja tests the water with first major irregularity in DoT (Dual Policy or Cross Technology) and cleanly gets away with it. A template is now established.

Oct 2007 : Raja started moving the pieces for the 2G scam.

• # On Nov 1, 2007, the Law Minister HR Bhardwaj rejects Raja’s plan and directs to constitute an Empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) to form transparent procedures for 2G Spectrum allocation and new licenses.

• # Next day on Nov 2, 2007, by 8pm Raja wrote a letter to Prime Minister, objecting on Bhardwaj’s direction. “Law Ministry is out of context,” wrote Raja. This letter was delivered to PM’s residence

• # Within an hour (9pm), same day (Nov 2, 2007) – might be alerted by Bhardwaj- PM wrote to Raja to stop all procedures and directs him to get his concurrence in all future actions. This letter was delivered to Raja’s residence. Citing several wrong practices in the past, PM directs Raja to adopt transparent method by auction and new pricing.

It is obvious that the Prime Minister did not agree with the way DoT was handling the 2G spectrum allocation initially. While PM is not part of the irregularity, inaction and pussyfooting for 2 years implies he has contributed to the sorry state of affairs. While PM is the convenient face of the apathy of INC, who forced A. Raja into PM's cabinet?

• # Strong resistance by Telecom Secretary DS Mathur and Manju Madhavan prevents Raja from moving ahead. For suggesting series of steps for auction, Raja snubs Manju Madhvan, in an internal note dated Dec 4, 2007 who took VRS soon.(she applied well earlier).  

• # On Dec 31, 2007, DS Mathur retires. Raja brings his trusted man Siddarth Behura as new Telecom Secretary, who worked as an Addl. Secretary with him Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Dec 31, 2007 : Any semblance of resistance with the the DoT bureaucracy is now out of the way for Mr. Raja.

• Within 10 days (Jan 10, 2008) at 2:45pm DoT uploads a press release saying that cut-off date was reversed from October 1, 2007 to September 25, 2007. The press release asked the new players to remit fee (huge money ranging from Rs.1500 cr- Rs.1600 cr) between 3:30pm -4:30pm on same day. It is a mystery that how Nine new companies made and remitted huge fee by demand draft within 45 minutes.

Jan 10, 2008 : DoT's press release comes out at 2:45PM. It mysteriously prepones the cutoff date to September 25th. And after the press release came out, interested parties had just 45minutes to 75 minutes to remit fee of Rs. 1,500Cr -Rs 1,600cr.

• #Here is the conspiracy angle. All the nine company owners/brokers were had a meeting with Raja on Jan 9, 2008 at his residence. All were informed by Minister 24 hours before the issue of press release. The cut-off date was reversed to September 25, 2007, because of Raja’s favorite company Unitech applied on Sept 24. Another favourite company Shyam Telelink also applied on Sept 24.

It seems to be that the reason for preponing the cutoff date, was to narrow the number of beneficiaries. The choice of September 25th doesn't appear to be a mystery any more.

• #On Jan 10, 2008, the CEOs Swan and Unitech (most favoured companies of Raja) sit at Private Secretary RK Chandolia’s cabin in Sanchar Bhavan. DDG Access Service (AK Srivastava) directs officials to go Chandolia’s cabin at 3pm. Chandolia asks official to collect application and demand draft from CEOs and directs to give No : 1 status to Swan and No : 2 status to Unitech. Then only counter was opened at eighth floor of Sanachar Bhavan to receive application/ fee from other seven companies. There was a mad rush to become first in the queue and physical fight taken place between rivals. Bouncers were brought. CEOs were quarreled each other some telecom officers were manhandled.. Though police arrived, no case was registered by instruction of Chandolia.

Jan 10, 2008 :Barely 15 minutes after the press release comes out, hand-picked companies are gifted the No.1 and No.2 status.

New Revelations and More Irregularities (Jan 2008 - Nov 2008)

While A. Raja manages to evade and sideline opposition in the DoT, other organizations and courts start taking notice. The Congress high command is still hiding behind coalition politics.

• #TRAI Chairman Mr. Nripendra Misra’s letter to Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura on January 14, 2008 – objecting the policy, reversal of cut-off date and manipulating his recommendations. Later in the media Misra described DoT had “cherry picked” his recommendations.

Jan 2008 : Within 4 days after the dramatic rigging of the process, TRAI comes against the blatant flouting of regulations.

• #DoT allots spectrum/licenses (including additional spectrum to existing players to settle anger) on March/April 2008. All files were signed by Raja. Unitech applied licenses in different names - Unitech Infrastructure, Unitech Builders and Estates, Aska Projects, Nahan Properties, Hudson Properties, Volga Properties, Adonis Projects and Azare Properties.

March 2008 : Raja continues to treat national 2G spectrum like its his family inheritance.

• # On Sept 13, 2008, Raja forces BSNL CMD Kuldip Goyal to enter into a un-precedented MoU with Swan, known as Intra-Circle Roaming Agreement. This MoU will help Swan to use all infrastructure (Towers, optical network etc) of BSNL. This MoU was executed just a week before, Swan’s Rs.4500 Cr deal (sale of 45 per cent shares) with Etisalat. Swan gives unsolicited application to BSNL. The BSNL management committee demands 52 paise/call from Swan. But this clause was absent in the MoU. Raja also transfers senior officials in WPC (Joint Wireless Adviser RJS Kushwaha and Deputy Wireless Adviser D Jha) for objecting Swan’s proposals to BSNL and DoT. 

Sept 2008 : The flood of irregularities continue under the coalition; Arm twisting organizations as big as BSNL and bulldozing any resistance in his path becomes a norm.

Oct-Nov 2008 : Stake in Swan and Unitech, largest benefactors of Mr. Raja's actions, are sold to other companies for 6 times the price paid to DoT. This resulted in total evaluation of 2G spectrum at Rs. 70,022 crore, while it was sold to the 9 pre-selected companies to Rs. 10,772 crore. An instant profit of around 60,000 for the 9 companies, most of which have little prior presence in Telecom.

• # On Nov 4 2008, Swan informs DoT that - it allotted Rs.380Cr worth shares (9.9%) to a Chennai based newly floated company Genex Exim. This is believed to the kick back from Swan to Raja. Genex was incorporated on September 17, 2008,

Nov 2008 : The kickbacks seem to be making their way!

Cover ups (Nov 2008 - Nov 2010)

For two years subsequently, there have been consistent reports from various departments and courts. Any of these instances would have been a good time for the leader of coalition take stock and assess damage. But energy was invested in brushing aside the ample evidence and covering up the deeds.

• Nov 2008 : Chief Vigilence Commission sends showcause notice to Raja and after further investigation, sends report to PM demanding Raja's prosecution

• Nov 2008 : In a span of 1.5 years starting in Nov 2008, Dr. Subramanyam Swamy wrote to PM four times demanding sanction to prosecute Raja.

• #On May 29, 2009 (48 hours after Raja sworn in again as Telecom Minister), Delhi High Court (Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Valmiki Mehta) on hearing the PIL against First-Come-First-Serve (FCFS) policy observed: “It is like selling cinema tickets. We find it very strange that public exchequer and valuable resources have been involved and misused in this way. We are completely astounded.”. The Delhi High Court in 1994 termed the FCFS policy as a barbarian and said not a suitable one to a democratic government

Even though there were consistent reports of irregularities from various sources, Raja is forced into PM's cabinet for a second term as Minister in charge of DoT. As the saying goes "Wolf is assigned to guard the henhouse", Again!

May 2009 : Delhi High Court provides the first setback to Raja, in what is seen as first slap in the face to the GoI

• # July 1, 2009 – Justice GS Sistani of Delhi High Court quashed the DoT’s decision to reverse the cut-off date.

• Oct 22, 2009 : CBI registers FIR against DoT and private companies for criminal conspiracy and loss to exchequer

• (March 2010) # DoT approaches Supreme Court through SLP to quash the HC verdicts. Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy impleads into the case. Sensing danger, Raja wanted the STel to withdraw from the case. On March 5, 2010, Friday evening after office hours, DoT issues an order asking STel to close its operation in three states, citing security reasons. There was no show cause was issued to STel and later Home Ministry revealed that they never raised any sort of security concern. Arm twisted STel surrendered before Raja on March 8, 2010 on Monday and declared that they have no troubles with DoT policy. Vahanvati produced STel’s surrender letter to Supreme Court, which was rejected and directed the company to file an affidavit. Due to Subramanian Swamy’s presence, Raja’s design failed and court said that thy will not interfere into the HC order declaring the change of cut off date as illegal.

March 2010 : DoT (under Raja) moves to Supreme Court and start softening the litigants, so as to avoid the repeat of the setback witnessed in High Court. DoT punishes the litigant, "STel" for its role in court proceedings. STel incidentally was a beneficiary of the Raja's rigging process. However, STel was unhappy with change of cut-off-date, as it meant they only got spectrum in 3 circles. In the end, forced to surrender, STel withdraws its objections.

March 2010 : Janata Dal's Sumbramanyam Swamy impleads into the case. And it is too late for Raja as Supreme court takes active interest in the case by now.

• March 19, 2010 : Department of Personnel of the GoI, wrote to Subramanyam Swami the following "would be premature to consider sanction for prosecution at this stage".

April 12, 2010 : After his repeated requests to prosecute Raja were rebuffed by the Department of Personnel, Subramanyam Swami files a writ petition in Delhi High Court.

April 28 2010 : Pioneer publishes a report about tapped conversations and becomes the first to connect these conversations to A. Raja and 2G telecom scandal

April 28, 2010 : Details of tapes establishing roles of Nira Radia and Raja in the 2G scam are published by J Gopikrishnana of Pioneer. Even after a potentially explosive expose, there was still an eerie calm in the in the media reporting and it ends out being just a ripple.

May 1 2010 : In Pioneer's editorial (All lines on this route are blocked), Chandan Mitra comments on intransigent Government in light of overwhelming evidence against A. Raja.

Apirl 9, 2010 - May 19, 2010 : 3G auctions yield around Rs 67,719 crore. CAG launches probe in 2G spectrum allocation.

September 2010 : Not much progress is made by CBI and ED until the Supreme Court intervenes in September 2010 on the PIL filed by Prashant Bhushan.

Nov 9 2010 : Parliament comes to a grinding halt with the opposition demanding action on all involved in the 2G scam.

Nov 14, 2010 : Raja is forced to resign in face of unrelenting opposition

Nov 15, 2010 : Kapil Sibal replaces A. Raja as Minister for communications and information technology.

Nov 16, 2010 : CAG estimates loss to exchequer from undervalued sale at Rs 1.76 Lakh crore.

Damage Control (Nov 2010-current)

Throughout these stages of the Scam's life cycle, conspicuous by their absence for the most part are, the so called "major national media outlets". Only exceptions are Pioneer and Outlook among the few. While the "major national media outlets" downplayed the magnitude of the incident, the expose gathers momentum of its own, thanks to Internet.

Nov 20 2010 : OPEN magazine publishes other tapes of Nira Radia conversations with politicians (A. Raja), journalists (Barkha Dutt & Vir Sanghvi) and corporate houses, laying bare the brokering that has been going on under the table, part of which was to give A. Raja the cabinet berth.

Nov 29, 2010 : Outlook published report "All lines are busy" putting the spotlight again on the tapped conversations.

In spite of ample evidence and parliament reaching a standstill for 3 months, GoI and Congress High Command drag their feet on launching a wide-ranged investigative committee until Feb 2011.

Dec 8, 2010 : CBI raids homes of A. Raja and other officials

Jan 7, 2011 : Kapil Sibal, the new minister replacing A. Raja, criticizes CAG for its report. Calls the report "utterly erroneous" and claims "The loss is Zero, nil,". Come to think of it, this needs to go into the "delusions" section, not "damage control" section

Jan 21, 2011 : Supreme Court terms the Kapil Sibal's remark as "unfortunate"

Feb 2, 2011 : Raja and other officials are arrested

Feb 16, 2010 : PM addresses a press conference as part of damage control exercise, but ends up further undermining the feeble stature of GoI in eyes of the public (more in later post)

Over and out!

Is Rome really burning?

 
Scams (Theft of resources : 2008-2010)  
 
(1) 2G Spectrum scam (2010) -
wiki link

• The 2G spectrum scam involved officials and ministers in the Government of India illegally undercharging mobile telephony companies for frequency allocation licenses. According to a report submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General based son money collected from 3G licenses, the loss to the exchequer was 1,76,379 crore (US$38.27 billion).

(2) Adarsh Housing Society Scam (2010) -
 wiki link

• In 2010, the Indian media brought to public the violations of rules at various phases of construction in the Adarsh Society. Questions were raised on the manner in which apartments in the building were allocated to bureaucrats, politicians and army personnel who had nothing to do with Kargil War and the way in which clearances were obtained for the construction of the building of the Adarsh Society. It had led to resignation of the then Chief Minister,Shri Asokh Chavan.

Times of India news

• Each of the 103 members, some of them private individuals like the relatives of politicians and bureaucrats, will have to pay just Rs 60 lakh to Rs 85 lakh for their apartments in the sea-facing skyscraper. That's barely 10% of the going rate in the area.
• An average two- to three-bedroom-hall-kitchen (BKH) apartment could cost between Rs 6 crore and Rs 8.5 crore in this area," said a leading real estate consultant.

While the exact extent of the robbery is unknown, it could be as high as Rs. 800 crore for 103 allotments.

(3) Commonwealth Games scam (2010)

Snippets from a Express India article

• The Central Vigilance Commission, involved in probing the alleged corruption in various Commonwealth Games-related projects, has found discrepancies in tenders and alleged misappropriation amounting to about Rs 8,000 crore.

Snippets from wiki link are highlighted below

• Among the alleged corruption and defrauding of the games budget, toilet paper rolls valued at $2 were costed at $80, $2 soap dispensers at $60, $98 mirrors at $220, $11,830 altitude training simulators at $250,190.

(4) ISRO Spectrum scam (2011)

Snippet from Tehelka news report.

• According to preliminary CAG estimates, the spectrum largesse to a private customer could have caused the exchequer a loss in excess of Rs 2 lakh crore. According to the contract with Devas, Antrix would have earned Rs 50 crore a year per satellite for 12 years. By comparison, the presumptive loss incurred in the allocation of 2G spectrum by the DoT, as estimated by the CAG, is Rs 1.76 lakh crore

What does it really mean?

• Total expected loss of income to Government (excluding ISRO scam) : 1,85 Lakh
• Total expected loss of income to Government (including ISRO scam)  : 3,85 Lakh crore

Admittedly, the ISRO scam was brought up by media at correct time to stop it. But no credit to the GoI for the process, so it is included in the metrics as well.

To provide a picture of the magnitude of (projected) loss, here are various ways to look at this loss of 3,85 Lakh crore with respect to the budget of 2010-2011 (Link to Union budget 2010-2011 sumary).

• Would have fed every family below poverty line for 88 months ( more than 7 years)
• The budget deficit  : 3,81,408 crore. (Could have been wiped clean)
• Defense allocation  :  1,47,344 crore. (Could have been doubled to make India a power house of defense research)
• Social service allocation : 1,27,570 crore
• Rural development allocation : 55,190 crore
• Science and Technology Allocation : 13,677 crore. (Increasing this could do wonders for the future of Indian scientific research, hence laying groundwork for a technological powerhouse.)
• Youth affairs and sports : 2,844 crore (Could have been increased to invest more on training the youth towards manufacturing and other high-yielding professions)

So, is the above identified theft of resources really a big deal? Is it akin to "Rome is burning"?

What do you think?

2G Scam : The Sponge Factor - 97.3

Sponge Factor

For those unfamiliar with the term "The Sponge Factor", click the link for my previous post. While the previous post discusses corruption in Government spending, the same could be applied to Government income.

Government Income
Summary of Government income in 2G auction (from Wiki ) :

• Swan Telecom, a new company with few assets, bought a license for 1,537 crore and sold 45% of the company to Etisalat for 4,200 crore (Total valuation of Rs 9,333 crore).
• A company formerly invested in real estate and not telecom, the Unitech Group, purchased a license for 1,661 crore and 60% of the stake was sold for 6,200 crore (Total valuation of 10,333 crore)
• All nine companies paid DoT a total of Rs. 10,772 crore for 2G licences
• Projected loss of income to DoT is Rs. 1.75 Lakh crore for 2G licences

Prospective income to GoI from the 2G auction      : 1.85 Lakh crore
Actual income to GoI from the 2G auction              : 0.10 Lakh crore
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Income absorbed by Corruption (Sponge Effect)    : 1.75 Lakh crore
--------------------------------------------------------------------



Sponge Factor (income ) = Income stolen / Total prospective Income
                                      = 1.75 Lakh crore / 1.85 Lakh crore
                                      = 94.6

In other words, out of Rs 100 that should have gone to GoI's purse, Rs. 94.6 made its way to A. Raja and his group's purse. In the end, only Rs. 5.4 made it to GoI's purse.

But that is only one half of the story.

Overall Sponge Factor

The second half of the story is about how much of the money in GoI's purse is reaching the downtrodden.

Lets consider just the income from 2G :


Actual income to available at GoI's disposal             :    10,772 crore
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Misused funds from expenditure (Sponge factor 50) :      5,386 crore
Income lost Corruption (from earlier section)            : 1.75 Lakh crore
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Total income absorbed by Corruption                     : 1.80 Lakh crore



Sponge Factor (overall) = Income stolen / Total prospective Income
                                      = 1.8 Lakh crore / 1.85 Lakh crore
                                      = 97.3

In other words, out of prospective income of Rs. 100, Rs. 97.3 is eated by the rodent-infested system, and only Rs. 2.7 is likely to be actually spent on the downtrodden.

2G Scam : 39 months of hunger

How do you know we are in 21st century? How about when your fingers are not enough to count the digits of swindled Rupees!

Lets take a look at the recent champion : 2G scam. The reports in media nonchalantly talk about "Lakhs of crores" and "Millions of Millions". Does the common man, or for that matter anybody, really understand what those figures exactly means to each of us?

Here is one breakdown.

• The official tally of the money swindled from what could otherwise have been Government income, is 1,70,000 Crores. Or to put it in full, Rs 1,70,000,00,00,000.
• Thats correct, it has thirteen digits.
• Population of India is 115 Crores and there are two estimates for poverty numbers in India.
• Going with Government of India's (GoI) estimates : 27.5% of the population lives below poverty line, meaning 32 crores of Indians are considered poor on paper. (Wiki Link)
• Assuming a family of 4, 8 crore families are officially categorized as poor by the GoI.
• If the 2G scam never happened, and if we had an ideal distribution system (Refer to Sponge Factor for views on distribution system), and lets say GoI decided to spend all the money on distribution of rice.
• It would mean that each "poor family" can have an allocation of Rs. 21,502.
• Estimates indicate that it costs Govt. approximately Rs. 18.5 to buy 1Kg of BPL/ration rice from the farmers. (Link)
• At this rate, Government could have procured 1,162Kg of rice for each family below poverty line.
• If Government decided to distribute the rice completely free of charge, then at consumption of 1K/day, each poor family could have survived for 1162 days or 39 months or more than 3 years.

So, what is the price of 2G scam to the nation?

Not going into technicalities of what is the best way to relieve poverty, I am just using the oft-used simplistic notion to shed light on the magnitude of theft at highest levels.

Bright side of Media : Gopikrishnan (Pioneer)

Note : More often than not, I try to stay away from airing my views and instead stick to providing a perspective. But media is a long time grouse of mine and will make an exception.

The contrast between the disgraceful and inspiring sides of media has never been as stark as now. With the so called "prominent" media personalities overwhelming the airwaves with their theatrics and showmanship, it turns out there are still a few who silently do the real work.

While several media persons have played the role of watchdog in the 2G Spectrum allocation, one person that stands out is J. Gopikrishnan at the Daily Pioneer. Kudos to a certain unnamed whistleblower, jounalist Gopikrishnan and the management of Pioneer for staying true to the mission.

Here are excerpts from a chat with Gopirksihnan in The Man who felled the King (Nov 16, 2010)

• We sensed a scam when Swan and Unitech started offloading shares at whopping prices of `4,500 crore and `6,200 crore in September 2008. Bureau chief Navin Upadhyay asked me to dig for information and luckily we got a great whistleblower, who knew the ins and outs of the Telecom Ministry. He once told me the PM was totally unhappy with Raja and had summoned him to ask what was going on.

• Slowly, the whistleblower narrated the entire range of corruption in the Ministry. Those days, Minister Raja was making false claims that he had followed his predecessors. This young Government officer told me about the parking of funds in front companies by the Minister and his associates in the name of relatives. He told me who the actual beneficiaries of the scam were, including corporates, politicians and lobbyists.

• This officer asked me to talk to my Editor and get his consent and only then would he reveal further. The Editor told me to go ahead and the whistleblower became a goldmine of hidden information for The Pioneer. Days and nights of discussion and checking the authenticity of facts happened in his office and at many crowded places in the city, once it became important to avoid detection.

• After finding out the gamut of front companies dealing in real estate, we decided to expose Raja’s ill-gotten wealth. Chandan Mitra and Navin Upadhyay saw all documents and decided to go ahead with the series. The first story appeared on December 11, 2008, on Raja’s main real estate front company, Green House Promoters. The details of other companies and hidden irregularities in the spectrum scam were published over the following days.

• I met Raja (A Raja, the now disgraced minister of Communications and IT) after the first report, as directed by the Editor. He alleged that I was being funded by his rivals in the party and even told me some names. He was visibly shaken asking me how I got the details of his personal assets. He requested me to avoid writing. My reply was that I had been deputed by the Editor only to take his version, nothing else. Raja agreed to speak, but repeatedly requested me to stop writing further on this.  

Interestingly, unlike the news media like NDTV and IBN which are backed by well-endowed entities, foreign or domestic, Daily Pioneer had to sweat it all the way. Pioneer came close to a collapse owing to financial hardships in 1998. It was revived by the dogged efforts of Chandan Mitra and his team, and has grown to set a fine example of journalistic traditions.

Readers may recall my sentiments in the post "Rann : Brutal and Taunting". It in some sense reminds me of the battle Pioneer waged for survival. Here is the story of Pioneer's revival in the words of Chandan Mitra himself : "Mission Impossible : The Pioneer Story". Excerpts below.

• The story began on January 17, 1998 when I was called to Mr LM Thapar's Amrita Shergill Marg house for an "important discussion." LMT and Gautam grimly informed me that given the group's financial position and spiralling losses of the paper, it had been decided to close it down.

• We began hunting for buyers in real earnest with Sanjeev helping me with elaborate project reports, revenue projections and other forms of financial wizardry, none of which I comprehended those days. We met all kinds of prospective buyers ranging from NRI barons to Okhla printing press owners, real estate dealers and self-styled confidants of corporate bigwigs. We were too naïve to realise that all the effort at documentation and presentation of our case was a complete waste of time and energy.

• In 1999, we failed to pay salaries for five months in a row. The staff still hung on, believing in The Pioneer's destiny. The spirit refused to evaporate. Whenever it threatened to, we replenished it by pooling in for office parties that continued into the wee hours. Friendly MPs and MLAs obliged by allowing us to use their lawns, often joining us in the merriment amid prognostications of doom.

• What amazed me was some top-notch journalists actually came and joined The Pioneer in full knowledge of the situation. Hiranmay Karlekar and A Surya Prakash were among the notable ones. In 2000, Amit Goel, former corporate bureau chief of The Economic Times, also enrolled in our adventurers' club.

• At least on 10 occasions, I was advised to cut losses, sell out and set myself up as a columnist, TV personality or seek employment with another established group. Several times, I seriously pondered the option, especially when at the end of the first year of our operations we notched up a loss of Rs 2.78 crore without the remotest idea how we would ever cover the deficit. But the loans came just then. Another time, I had virtually made up my mind to sell out only if somebody agreed to just pick up the losses. I even negotiated. But somewhere, it hurt. I felt humiliated at the thought of giving up.

• When I still go out myself seeking ads for The Pioneer I never feel any sense of shame or dishonour because we are still waging a war to save an institution. Purists may disagree, but I must honestly admit that at times old-fashioned ideas of the strict line between editorial virginity and commercial promiscuity need to be crossed for the greater good. But quitting after an admission of failure? Going back to taking dictations from the management? Letting this historic publication die or fall into avaricious hands? Pleading for somebody to be sacked or employed? The old adage of a hungry, free bird as opposed to its well-fed counterpart in a golden cage keeps us going.

• Our readers have been The Pioneer's greatest source of strength. We did not reduce our cover price of Rs 2 when both the market leaders cut theirs to Re 1. And we offered just 16 pages against their 32. Still, we did not lose even one subscriber. For a significant number in Delhi and Lucknow, The Pioneer remains the paper of choice for its quality, not raddi value. Arguably, we cannot afford the latest technology; nor can we hire enough journalists or marketing staff at prevailing industry salaries. Each time there is a shake-out in the media with the launch of new TV channels or publications, we lose good people. But we haven't lost the will to rebuild. And I know that as long as we don't give up the battle, nothing can stop The Pioneer from pulling through in yet another miracle.

Ugly Side of Media : Barkha

This post is triggered by recent disclosure, that has mostly been kept out of main pages by the Indian media. But, here is the first of several of the tapes, thanks to Open Magazine.




One of the previous posts, "Rann : Brutal and Taunting", ends with the following commentary on media, which is vindicated by recent expose.

• Here is the List of Padma Shrees : Lookup the achievements of the Padma Shree awardees for Journalism to see the decline in matter of couple of years.
• 2006 : Sucheta Dalal, Mrinal Pandey
• 2008 : Vinod Dua, Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt  

About the awardees
Sucheta Dalal is a financial journalist who has to her credit co-authorship of book "The Scam: Who Won, who Lost, who Got Away".  Mrinal Pandey is a writer and prominent journalist, who spent several years looking into the conditions of rag-pickers, domestic help etc, among her other accomplishments.
 
In contrast, Barkha Dutt, the Group Editor of NDTV, has a list of controversies that is longer than her achievements. It started with her coverage of the Kargill war, where her actions purportedly lead to death of 3 soldiers and resulted in dismissal of a colonel, while Ms. Dutt kept climbing ladders on her so called "coverage of Kargil". Thanks to NDTV's Prannoy Roy, she continued to muzzle opposing views with law suits and supposedly contributed to several deaths due to irresponsible and sometimes factually incorrect reporting. And yet she was awarded the Padma Shree somewhere in her sensational career.

If one is still wondering how she became the chosen one, the answer lies in the series of tapes now available on Youtube. Here are the transcripts from Open Magazine "Tell me what should I tell them.". 

While on the topic, also exposed is Vir Sanghvi, selling his column space to Radia. Open magazine transcripts of the conversations are here: "What kind of story do you want?".

Accountability
Barkha Dutt seems to have weathered the storm with NDTV (Prannoy Roy) and IBN (Padma Shri Rajdeep Sardesai) trying hard to defend the indefensible.

But there is hope. Vir Sanghvi is now removed from the position of "Advisory Editorial Director" at HT Media and his weekly column "Counterpoint" is, in the words of Vir, "taking a break"!

26/11 : Two Years On

Two years ago on Nov 26th, India woke to a monstrosity in Mumbai : a monstrosity that was staring in its face for most of it's independent journey.

Drunk with a misguided sense of victory against the British, the country managed to delude itself into thinking all opponents are innocent bunnies in disguise. While some leaders have been more honest, society and media in general bought into a hysteria of non-violence and blind faith in humanity.

What most fail to realize is, history (including that of India's own) is replete with instances where blind hatred and sense of superiority have managed to annihilate civilizations and states.

However, one also needs to watch from making a sweeping generalization about people of Pakistan. Indians are at least in a position to act against the leadership. The Pakistani citizens are victims and pawns to those in power (Pakistani Army, Mullahs and ISI), willingly or unwillingly.

Here is a Channel4's documentary on the Mumbai attack that is a must watch. In this context, let me share a quote from "Lord of the Rings : The two towers" towards the end of "Battle of Helm's Deep".

• "What can men do against such reckless hate" - Théoden, King of Rohan

Whatever his options, he certainly knew and acknowledged what he was up against. Are WE there yet?

The Sponge Factor

This post is motivated by certain viewpoints prevalent in the air lately. Here are a few sentiments that are representative of the views I refer to.

A quote from a poster on popsci.com

• Personally I am one of those people who believe that India of all places should not have a space program. If there are people living on the streets of Calcutta who still require aid from other countries in Europe and elsewhere, Then now is not the time to start developing space technology.

Several critics in the British media have carried a vigorous campaign pointing out that the money should be spent on poverty as subtly put in one British media outlet.

• Critics have argued that the money would be better spent on helping those mired in chronic poverty on the ground.

Others feel that spending money on technological advances should be lower priority until poverty in India is fixed.

• Some here in India wish the world would stop focusing on the country’s poor  but the sad fact remains that there are more people living in poverty in India than in all of sub-Saharan Africa. 
• In this context, I think it is perfectly legitimate to question India’s spending priorities.

Such views resonate with several commentators and readers in the west. For some, it is out of genuine concern for people still languishing under the poverty line. For others, who are used to viewing India as a 3rd world country, this is a convenient tool to embarrass the new kid on the block. As India makes its way up the ladder, this free-advice will only get louder. These simplistic views also resonate with some of India's own.
What ever be the mouth, this flawed narrative needs to be called on. Before I proceed, let me get something out of the way. It is outrageous that after being free of foreign rule for more than 60 years, we still haven't lifted the masses above poverty and that is a whole different topic by itself.

Free Advice
Back to the free-advice. Does taking money from various research endeavors and throwing more and more of it on poverty solve the problem?

Let me answer that with a question of my own: Does throwing more and more food grains in a rat-infested warehouse really fill the stomachs of poor waiting at the other end of the warehouse? If it does, at what cost to those that are paying for it?

It seems that the issue is less of "insufficient government spending on welfare" and more of "the ecosystem and the mechanism administering the welfare mechanism".

Ideal World
Every governing body has a certain overhead expenditure that is essential to its functioning, like staff, office space, facilities etc. This overhead expenditure is a mandatory price and may or may not be paid with welfare funds. Either way, in an ideal world, the mandatory overhead should be the only non-welfare expense and it should ensure that almost all the money and resources are spent on the intended goal of welfare, like a funnel.

Reality
In reality however, the whole administration from top to bottom is mostly focused on enriching itself. Instead of effectively administering the budget allocations to uplift the poor, the welfare mechanism and ecosystem has grown into a gigantic sponge sucking up all the resources passing through it. Hence the term "The Sponge Effect."

However, the simple analogy breaks down a little. A sponge, no matter how large, at some point gets saturated and cannot absorb any more liquids. But our conceptual sponge has no such physical bounds. The more it absorbs, the more it grows and the hungrier it gets. It has an endless appetite. Its a living wild sponge that spread like cancer and defies all logic, with contribution from each and every one of us.

The Sponge Factor
To extend this further, there needs to be a way to measure "sucking" capacity of the system, aka, the sponge. Lets call this "The Sponge Factor". Lets say the government allocated 100 Crores for food subsidy. If we say 20 Crore is the actual worth of the goods and services needed for the welfare program, then it means 80 Crores was sucked up by the distribution system itself. That would be a sponge factor of 80. Any distribution system will need to to be maintained, so a zero Sponge Factor is impossible. But, what is a healthy Sponge Factor?  How much of it is necessary and how much of it is negligence and corruption?

While this needs a deeper analysis, for the sake of this article, let’s assume a Sponge Factor of 50, which is conservative in the view of the author. So, when one hears a statement that Government is allocating Rs.10,000 Crores towards a welfare program, what it would really mean is "Government donates Rs. 5,000 Crores to the Sponge. Long live the sponge."

Nothing in the article can be considered novel, with the exception of possibly the analogy itself. Not only have we been surrounded by this sponge all our life, we have actually contributed to its growth and even became part of it when convenient, directly or indirectly. Even though we stare into this living sponge everyday, we are buried too deep in it to acknowledge it as the real problem. Disregarding the sponge that is sucking up all the resources may seem practical on the face of it, but it spells disaster when one starts throwing money at it in desperation.

So dear readers, is throwing more and more money on poverty the actual solution to the poverty? Think hard before you answer, the sponge is listening and salivating!!

Mangalore Air Crash : How?

Based on video posted on Wall Street Journal, this picture probably shows the path that the flight took as it crashed below the hill. This snapshot shows runway towards right of the picture, sandtrap in the center and hill slope to the left of the picture.

Here are some dots connected, note that it is speculation based on reports

• Flight enters the picture from the right as it approaches end of the runway (runway is visible in white)
• As the flight enters the sand trap, it starts veering towards left, possibly to avoid the structure in the end
• Right wing, hits the structure at the end (first bubble) and flight goes over the cliff
• Catches fire as it plunges downhill, crosses a street and comes to a halt (second bubble) 

Avoidable Tragedy : Mangalore Air Crash

Mangalore crash: Rescue ops stopped; all bodies recovered

The Air India Express flight was carrying 166 people.

• 137 Adults, 19 children, 4 infants & 6 crew

A total of 158 perished in the tragedy, including a mother and 3 children, known to dear friend of mine. May they all rest in peace.

In what would be be considered a normal day with a visibility of 6 Kms, the flight from Dubai to Mangalore overshoot the runway precariously located on the hill top. So, once past the runway and the overlook, the flight plunged into a wooded area, catching fire on its way. The bodies, badly charred, have all been recovered.

The Mangalore airport sits in tightly packed space on top of a hill, with little margin for error. Specifically on the runway in question, the terrain drops on all four sides of the runway. Here is a possible view as the flight approach the runway and overshoot. Notice the drop in terrain on either side of the runway.



Background : Mangalore based Environment Support Group (ESG) has been campaigning by filing Public Interest Litigations (PILs) for the past decade.This project started witnessing resistance in 1989 and a writ petition was filed as early as 1997. All petitions filed by ESG are available in the documentation section.

The PIL in 1997 points to certain facts. Among others, the PIL points to a previous incident that came very close to current incident.

• 2.1 That there is an existing airport near Bajpe about 20 kms. from Mangalore city by road, and that the same was developed in 1953 to cater to the needs of flight movements of Dakota planes and later modified to accomodate flight movements of Avro and Boeing 737 planes. This is a table-top airport with a run-way strip of 1,700 metres approximately, and is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world, as it is surrounded by hillocks on the eastern and western sides, limiting the possibility of safe flight movements.

• 2.2 This airport witnessed an accident when an Avro plane over ran the runway in about the year 1983, and fortunately the plane stopped at a rock beyond the runway on the slope of the table-top and major disaster was averted. The petitioners have produced a relevant picture of this accident from the Kannada Weekly “Taranga” dated 25 September 1994 and the same is shown in Annexure A.

The petition also points out the lack of margin for error on the new runway.

• 3.1 It is now proposed to build another airport stretching east to south-west encompassing Kolambe, Adyapady and Malavoor villages, hereinafter referred to as the said project. This is once again being developed as a table-top airport, about 100 metres above sea-level. The proposed runway length is 2980 metres, and the width of the airstrip, by and large, does not exceed 200 mts. The location is surrounded by steep hillock drop all around, except on the north-eastern side. A rough sketch of the proposed location is produced as Annexure B. 

The new runway proposed as part of the extension has no room to accommodate any unforseen incidents, including burst tyres and overshoots, which are common in aviation. The reason they are not heard of normally is because more often than not, the airports and supporting facilities are built to handle such eventualities.

While the detailed response of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) is unavailable, suffice to say that MCA's inputs, whatever they may be, have prompted the Supreme Court to rule out the PIL.

•  Delay condoned.
  
  
  We see no reason to interfere with the impugned order.   Accordingly,  the  special leave  petition  is dismissed. We, however, clarify that in  constructing the  Airport,  the  Government shall  comply  with  all applicable laws and also with environmental  norms.