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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON May 10, 2013 AT 23:56 IST
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Edited At: May 10, 2013 23:56 IST
File Photo
April 27, 2013 | No Question of Law Min Resigning Over Coalgate: PM
"There is no question of the Law Minister resigning. The matter is now in the court and it is sub-judice. It is not proper for me to do anything. But there is no question of the Law Minister resigning"
May 10, 2013 | Finally, Pawan Bansal, Ashwani Kumar Made to Quit
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Like a stuck record, a few random quotes from a few random blogs from the archives:
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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON May 10, 2013 AT 23:56 IST, Edited At: May 10, 2013 23:56 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON May 09, 2013 AT 23:59 IST
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Edited At: May 09, 2013 23:59 IST
Pratap Bhanu Mehta pulls no punches in the Indian Express:
The responsibility for a culture of corruption, evasion, lying and sheer contempt for institutions lies directly at the door of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh...
The republic is now at a delicate crossroads. The government may brazen it out. But in doing so, it is creating a crisis of institutions not seen since the Emergency days, when an executive took on the judiciary on the dubious grounds that it had a mandate. Effectively speaking, there is no Parliament left. What does the claim to democratic mandate mean? Karnataka may have voted for Congress to punish one set of rascals. But in her heart, every voter knows that democracy is being subverted in its very exercise. The lasting damage this government has done to institutions will take a long time to repair. Seldom before have we seen a government that poisoned its own mandate, and so needlessly. The prime minister is honest, we will hear. But never before has someone been so thoroughly compromised through abdication. Sonia Gandhi stands for the poor. Never before have the poor been so brazenly used to cover a multitude of sins; and never before has so much emphasis been on policy that will condemn the poor to poverty. The government's position is untenable. It has a choice: inflict governance torture on the country, or let the people speak as soon as possible. As Karnataka showed, democracy may give them a second chance. But at the moment, the government is not giving the country any chance.
Read the full piece at the Indian Express: Phantom Democracy
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON May 09, 2013 AT 23:59 IST, Edited At: May 09, 2013 23:59 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON May 08, 2013 AT 20:19 IST
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Edited At: May 08, 2013 20:19 IST
The lack of Congress enthusiasm for Prime Minister Mamohan Singh is well captured in the above photo posted on Twitter by @ShivAroor
We are not sure whether or not the Supreme Court's stinging criticism of the Manmohan Singh government had anything to do with this dampening of enthusiasm, but what should the PM do now? Do tell us on by participating in our Facebook poll
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON May 08, 2013 AT 20:19 IST, Edited At: May 08, 2013 20:19 IST
POSTED BY Sundeep
ON May 01, 2013 AT 08:20 IST
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Edited At: May 01, 2013 13:54 IST
For those who came in late: the latest controversy involving Dr Manmohan Singh and his UPA government has its genesis in a March 2012 Draft CAG report on 'allocating coal blocks in an inefficient manner' during the period 2004–2009, when the coal ministry was directly under the charge of prime minister. Team Anna picked up the issue, and the otherwise reticent PM went to the extent of saying: "If it turns out that there is even an element of truth in these charges, I will give up my public career and [the] country can give me any punishment."
As the controversy spread, after names of the recipients of coal block allocations were revealed, the case was handed over for investigation to the CBI. The CBI draft status report, submitted to the SC on March 8, pointed out that allocations were done without verifying the credentials of companies which allegedly misrepresented facts about themselves. The government vehemently refuted these findings of "arbitrary allotments without scrutiny" and claimed that the "CBI is not the final word on this"
A bench of Justices R M Lodha, J Chelameswar and Madan B Lokur, in an unprecedented move then asked CBI director Ranjit Sinha to file an affidavit affirming that its report "was vetted by him and nothing contained therein has been shared with the political executive". Attorney General (AG) Goolam Vahanvati, when asked, told the court he had not gone through the report. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Harin Rawal went on to make an unequivocal statement that the status report had not been shared with anybody from the political executive.
After much speculation and many denials the CBI director in his affidavit to the SC admitted that the draft of the status report had indeed been "shared with Law Minister as desired by him prior to its submission before the Supreme Court. Besides the political executive, it was also shared with one joint secretary level officer each of Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Coal as desired by them."
As demands rose for the law minister's resignation, the PM stepped in to aggressively defend him: "There is no question of the Law Minister resigning. The matter is now in the court and it is sub-judice. It is not proper for me to do anything. But there is no question of the Law Minister resigning."
Meanwhile, the ASG blamed the AG, corroborated the CBI claim, and said that he "felt embarrassed and was forced to take a stand in the court consistent" with that of the AG because he had already stated that the "contents of the status report were not known" to him.
And now comes the stinging indictment from the SC, asking the CBI, inter alia, "Can you tell us, is the Law Minister entitled to call for such reports? Joint Secretary Coal, Joint Secretary PMO -- can they also look into the status report? Why were details of changes, and under whose instance these changes were made, not disclosed in CBI chief's affidavit?"
The questions for the PM are piling up. One doesn't have to research too hard to name many such times in the past when the stand taken up by him does not quite square with his reputation for honesty. Here's a quick list from memory:
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POSTED BY Sundeep
ON May 01, 2013 AT 08:20 IST, Edited At: May 01, 2013 13:54 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON Oct 28, 2012 AT 18:17 IST
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Edited At: Oct 28, 2012 18:17 IST
Khurshid Gets External Affairs, Moily Petroleum
Some reactions on Twitter to the changes in the council of ministers. Tell us what you think
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Oct 28, 2012 AT 18:17 IST, Edited At: Oct 28, 2012 18:17 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON Sep 22, 2012 AT 18:26 IST
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Edited At: Sep 22, 2012 18:26 IST
Aditi Phadnis in the Business Standard:
Singh conveyed to Chidambaram well before he was made finance minister that he was getting the job. Chidambaram had some conditions. “It is easy to be finance minister during a boom,” he told Singh. “But times are bad.” Just as PV Narasimha Rao had backed his finance minister (Singh), would Singh back him and keep the wise men of the party out of his hair? Singh told Chidambaram that he would get his full support. He also promised to intercede on his behalf with the party.
Actually, this was unnecessary. Chidambaram has a new place in the dispensation at 10 Janpath since he became home minister in 2008. He has taken a lot upon himself, including the blame for making an “announcement” offering to think about granting statehood to Telangana — when it wasn’t his idea at all but that of the MP from Amethi; in fact he had counselled against it. The party realised later that it was a mistake and it was left to Chidambaram to take the flak — which he did without complaining. When he became finance minister, Chidambaram met Congress President Sonia Gandhi several times to explain how delicately poised the Indian economy was, between stupendous success in hard times and complete disaster...
...at the end of the day, the transition from “with Mamata” to “without Mamata” has, if you think about it, been pretty smooth — leading the chatterati to ask why it wasn’t done sooner. The answer seems to be: because Chidambaram was not the finance minister...
..Is Chidambaram becoming to the government what Mukherjee was? Actually, a lot more. It is Chidambaram, with his unique powers of persuasion, who is now going to act as the channel of communication between 10 Janpath and the PMO. Unlike in the past, nothing will be lost in translation.
Read the full piece at the Business Standard: The Knight In Veshti
So why is the Rahul-was-behind- the-Telangana-statehood-announcement story out now? One obvious possibility: it was clearly a blunder way back then, but now when Congress is close to granting it, perhaps it wants some of the goodwill in the new state to transfer to the yuvraj.
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Sep 22, 2012 AT 18:26 IST, Edited At: Sep 22, 2012 18:26 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON Aug 20, 2012 AT 23:51 IST
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Edited At: Aug 20, 2012 23:51 IST
Pratap Bhanu Mehta in the Indian Express says the three reports are raising deep and fundamental questions about governance. Taken together they amount to an incontrovertible indictment of government.
A lot of the whispering against the CAG reports comes from an unstated fear: such scrutiny will slow down decision making. It will create economic uncertainty. These risks are present. But we have to face the fact that there is a lot more poison waiting to come out of the system. The system now needs to respond constructively and internalise new norms of governance, based on horizontal accountability, transparency and public reason, instead of arbitrary discretion. The CAG’s reports are part of the great cleansing now under way. In the medium to long run, these will make government stronger, not weaker, because it will be forced to ask the right questions.
You can contest the CAG’s numbers. But the reports, even if they do not say it, leave us in no doubt that the government is a rotting ancient regime. It is a deep morass of evasions, dereliction of duty, and outright fraud on the taxpayers. The responsibility for this runs to the highest levels, including the prime minister. He is, doubtless, an honourable and honest man. But will he admit that the government is at least guilty of a sin even worse than corruption: gross incompetence of the kind that has put the country’s future at risk?
Read the full column at the Indian Express: Great cleansing act
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Aug 20, 2012 AT 23:51 IST, Edited At: Aug 20, 2012 23:51 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jul 16, 2012 AT 20:33 IST
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Edited At: Jul 16, 2012 20:33 IST
 Screen Shots courtesy NDTV.com
UK's The Independent newspaper seems to be having a difficult time making up its mind about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Independent's website started the day with the headline which asked: "Manmohan Singh: India's saviour or Sonia's poodle?"
Perhaps someone thought "poodle" is what Tony Blair was of George Bush, so it was replaced with "puppet" and the headline thus stood amended to: "Manmohan Singh: India's saviour or Sonia's puppet?"
Within a few minutes, however, the headline was back to "poodle" till finally it was edited to the Time magazine formulation, viz: "Manmohan Singh: India's saviour or just the underachiver."
The administration has been accused of sitting on reforms that could bring in new foreign direct investment (FDI), such as the opening of the food retail sector, and failing to create a sufficiently stable investment, leading to a plunge in FDI of up to 38 per cent in the first part of the year. A decision this spring by the then finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, to allow retroactive taxation of companies was seen as particularly harmful. Last month, the ratings agency Standard and Poor's threatened to downgrade India's investment category and pondered whether it could become the first "fallen angel" of the so-called Bric nations. Inflation is high and there is a trade deficit of around $13bn...
...Observers say one of Mr Singh's problems is that he has no genuine political power. Rather, he owes his position to Sonia Gandhi, widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, mother of Rahul and Congress Party chairwoman, who to the delight of India's middleclass selected him for that role when her party won a surprise victory in 2004. This has meant he has sometimes been unable to even control his cabinet and his failure to more quickly address the actions of a coalition minister, accused of defrauding the country up to $40bn in a telecom licence scam, led to him being accused of further weakness.
Read more at the Independent
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jul 16, 2012 AT 20:33 IST, Edited At: Jul 16, 2012 20:33 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jul 09, 2012 AT 22:20 IST
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Edited At: Jul 09, 2012 22:20 IST
If Time magazine Asia edition cover story— with the caption "India needs a reboot. Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh up to the job?" — was the understatement of the year, the resultant brouhaha has certainly been over the top.
Clearly, this is not the worst report card the PM has received. He has been called far worse things, far less euphemistically. Nationally. And internationally. So what explains the over-defensive reaction which saw Congress leaders going into an overdrive in trying to rubbish the "biased" coverage of the magazine?
That the beleaguered BJP and its vocal cheerleaders were quick to remind all and sundry about the rah-rah Narendra Modi cover the magazine had done earlier in March, followed by an opinion poll featuring the Gujarat leader, was only par for the course.
So perhaps the only way to parse the Congress reaction is in the timing because the story — even if it, just as the Modi story, is only in the Asian edition of the international magazine — comes just when the party was hoping for a turnaround in its fortunes with the exit of Pranab Mukherjee from the finance ministry, and the Prime Minister taking charge of the economy.
That the resultant hype over how the PM as FM means business, following the initial spurt in the stock market, has been punctured by this story is perhaps what irks the UPA and Congress spin meisters. Not to miss the fact that the magazine seems to have been provided access to 7, Race Course Road prior to this story.
If the Time story on Narendra Modi in March had appeared almost simultaneously with a Brookings profile of Narendra Modi, this time the story on the prime minister is accompanied by an article for the Project Syndicate by Professors Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya titled The Bell Tolls for India’s Congress Party.
Some of the reactions on Twitter:
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jul 09, 2012 AT 22:20 IST, Edited At: Jul 09, 2012 22:20 IST
POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jun 06, 2012 AT 23:58 IST
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Edited At: Jun 06, 2012 23:58 IST
The Prime Minister's former media advisor Harish Khare in the Hindu: Guilty on many counts, not corrupt:
Manmohan Singh, and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, are guilty of making a virtue of seeking reconciliation to the extent of avoiding confrontation; a luxury, statecraft does not permit a prime minister. Not being a politician or a lawyer or a policeman or a revenue officer or a businessman, Manmohan Singh happily assumes attributes of reasonableness, fair play and decency in everyone else. That is precisely his fault — and his undoing...
Manmohan Singh is guilty of making the grievously erroneous assessment that Mob Anna was just a bunch of well-meaning civil society busybodies; he is guilty of not seeing through their incurable political agenda. And, he is definitely guilty of underestimating Mob Anna's cunning ability to manipulate the media's penchant to promote and project anyone masquerading as a modern-day Savonarola...
He is guilty of not being ruthless enough to crack open the Nira Radia tape case, a rogue operation carried by unscrupulous corporate elements...
Manmohan Singh may be charged with having led the country on a path of development which could only produce a greedy and rapacious capitalism with all its attendant aberrations of inequity and injustices. He is certainly guilty of not going after the corporate charlatans who have used and exploited the very openness of the democratic system to weaken the legitimate state so that their thuggery goes undetected and unpunished...
Manmohan Singh is guilty of not marshalling the intellectual and policy arguments to tell the nation that Vinod Rai's maximalist interpretation of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)'s mandate has dangerously undermined the constitutional structure of equilibrium.
Above all, Manmohan Singh is guilty of pursuing the noble quest for reconciliation at the expense of another maxim of statecraft: those who spurn the public authority's hand of reconciliation must be made to learn the cost of confrontation. He is guilty of not learning the lesson from the mid-1970s and early 1990s when mobs were allowed to overwhelm the democratic institutions and their liberal ethos. A king who chooses to ignore the first principle of statecraft that the royal staff must be tapped — and, tapped hard — once in a while should be prepared to be called corrupt.
Read the full piece at the Hindu: Guilty on many counts, not corrupt:
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POSTED BY Buzz
ON Jun 06, 2012 AT 23:58 IST, Edited At: Jun 06, 2012 23:58 IST
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