A marathon exercise initiated by the ministry of corporate affairs [MCA] early this year which got consummated on September 15, 2018 on KYC [know your customer] norms for company directors has thrown up results that tell a lot about the existence of a monstrous ghost economy and the manner in which the present dispensation led by Modi is endeavoring to stem the rot. The exercise reveals that a total of 5000,000 DINs [director identification number] were issued by the authorities. On records, these were the number of directors serving on the companies. Out of these, only 3300,000 were ‘active directors’ implying that the balance 1700,000 were inactive or ‘defunct’. Put in simple terms, an inactive/defunct director is a person who...
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Category: Black money & Corruption
Rafale deal – looking for corruption where there is none
During the last four-and-a-half years of his term, prime minister, Modi has brought about a metaphorical change in the very institution of governance – its central point being ‘honesty’ and complete ‘transparency’ in its wheeling-dealing with all stakeholders and the public at large. The running theme in all the governance processes is zero tolerance for corruption which is very aptly encapsulated in the euphemism coined by him ‘naa khaoonga, naa khane doonga’ [neither, I will take bribe nor let anyone else take]. Modi has not merely talked about it but demonstrated through his actions. Even his most ardent critics are unable to pinpoint a shred of evidence about corruption or nepotism in any of the departments/ministries or undertakings/agencies coming under...
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Demonetization forces tax compliance on Indians
Nearly two years after the demonetization [November 8, 2016] announced by the prime minister, N Modi, the Reserve Bank of India [RBI] has released – in its Annual Report for 2017-18 – the numbers on the value of the demonetized old 500/1000 rupee notes that were not returned to the banking system. This is about Rs 10,700 crore out of a total of Rs 1541,000 crore which were with the public as on November 8, 2016. This has triggered waves of exhilaration among the critics of demonetization [especially the main opposition party Congress] who have been quick to point out that this was a flop show. They contend that it achieved nothing in terms of its stated objective of denting...
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Modi’s photo-up with industrialist – it’s all about transparency
Ever since Prime Minister, Narendra Modi took charge, the grand old party, the Congress has repeatedly attacked him for allegedly being in the company of “corrupt” industrialists and businessmen even while accusing him of neglecting the farmers and the poor. To buttress its charge, the latter has blasted the former of waiving loans of the defaulting industrialists and showing no sensitivity whatsoever towards the mounting debt of the farmers. All of this is encapsulated in the ever resonating jibe of Congress President, Rahul Gandhi ‘soot boot ki sarkar’ – a euphemism for a government that is obsessed with advancing the businesses of the industrialists. In his first ever blunt rebuttal, while launching as many as 81 investment projects worth over Rs...
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Don’t kill Aadhaar at the altar of privacy
The Comptroller and Auditor General [CAG] has exposed diversion of subsidized food meant for poor households under the National Food Security Act [NFSA] in Delhi – using fraudulent means such as fake ration cards, fake mobile numbers etc – causing loss of over Rs 7000 crore to the exchequer. This is one among several such scams resulting in massive leakage from Rs 145,000 crore being the food subsidy spent by the union government annually. Likewise, there are monumental leakages from other welfare schemes such as fertilizer subsidy, LPG subsidy, MGNREGA [Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act], education subsidy, pension, power subsidy etc. In other areas such as real estate, a handful of persons appropriate public land in prime locations...
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Scam tainted PSBs – is privatization the way forward?
In the wake of Punjab National Bank [PNB] mega scam in which it has lost a mammoth Rs 13,000 crore [about US$ 2 billion] and bunch of other public sector banks [PSBs] related scams, commentators have resurrected the idea of privatizing PSBs. The NDA-government under the then, prime minister Vajpayee [1998-2004] had mooted union government relinquishing majority control [it implies lowering of its share holding to less than 50%] in PSBs initially and eventually to 33%. Recently, a committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India [RBI] under P Nayak also recommended reducing its share to below 50% and housing the residual shares in a holding company. But, finance minister, Arun Jaitely even while expressing serious concern over proliferating...
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Fight against corruption – targeting crusader is unconscionable
After taking charge, in his very first Independence Day address on August 15, 2014, prime minister, Modi declared himself as ‘Pradhan Sewak’ – a colloquial term for principal servant. Coining yet another term ‘chowkidar’ [security guard], Modi roared that all of country’s resources – physical and monetary – belong to the people and that he was duty bound to protect these resources. In the same breath, he vowed to bring back all the resources that were looted by corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists and re-deploy for welfare of the poor. A cursory glance at the actions taken by his government during the last 45 months or so, would show that he has walked the talk. Be it demonetization, Goods and...
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NPAs – will the patient survive surgery?
Replying to the debate on President’s address during the opening of the budget session of the parliament, prime minister, Modi squarely blamed the erstwhile UPA dispensation led by Congress for the most serious problem of NPAs [non-performing assets] of the banks – mostly public sector banks [PSBs]. What Modi was alluding to was that there had been massive proliferation of loans given by the banks on the directions of the ruling political establishment to favored industrialists and businessmen without conducting due diligence, assessing the viability of the projects/businesses and seeking mortgages. During 2008-2014, loans worth Rs 3500,000 crore were given. A big slice of these loans turned in to NPAs. Yet, these were kept under cover even as a host...
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Will SEBI protect minority shareholders of Tata entities?
The Securities and Exchange Board of India [SEBI] is looking at whether Tata Sons’ plan of becoming a private limited company from a public one would impact shareholders, especially minority shareholders of listed Tata entities that own shares in Tata Sons. Meanwhile, new structure has also been challenged before National Company Law Tribunal [NCLT]. Tata Sons Limited [TSL] is the primary holding company of over US$ 100 billion conglomerate having presence in almost every major sector viz. power, steel, automobiles, telecomm, chemicals, information technology [IT] etc. It has controlling interest in high profile companies such as Tata Motors Ltd [TML], Tata Steel Ltd [TSL], Tata Consultancy Services [TCS], Tata Power Ltd [TPL], India Hotels Co. [IHC], Tata Chemicals Ltd [TCL] [to name a...
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Fiscal slippage real worry, not growth
At this critical juncture when the next general election is just about a year away and in a month from now, Modi – government will be presenting its last full fledged budget, prime minister faces two major challenges viz: deceleration in GDP [gross domestic product] and slippage in fiscal deficit. After registering fairly impressive growth during the first three years of its stint [2014-15: 7.5%/2015-16: 8.0%/2016-17: 7.1%], the current year is expected to end with a significantly lower growth of 6.5%. Though, according to the chief statistician, the figure may be revised a bit upward [on receipt of more data], that may not alter the position drastically. However, the government is not unduly perturbed. In fact, from its perspective, the...
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