Asset Building

The Government says that Nira Radia built up an empire of 900 crores in a short period of 9 years. Hence she was investigated.

As per a magazine article, Jagan Reddy has done a similar thing in probably an even shorter time. Raja's company has gone to become a 600 crore company from one crore I believe. What about them? Some time back, before the Karnataka Assembly elections, NDTV showed the rise in income of politicians over a few years. The appreciation of a few was over 1000%! Are they being investigated? Can you throw stones at somebody if you are living in a glass house?

Deferred Accelerated Revenue Receipt Every Year, are you kidding me?

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has defended the telecom minister's actions in awarding 2G spectrum to operators in 2008 as per an article in the ET. I do not understand the term but I am assuming that it means increasing revenues that will accrue in the future. When awarding carbon credits there is something called a baseline criterion. Please correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I know this means that there should be emission reductions in excess of what would have been there anyway had the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) or JI (Joint Implementation) project not been implemented. Only then are carbon credits given. 

If I may take an analogue, revenue will accrue to the government irrespective of whether or not spectrum was auctioned. So the argument of the DoT does not seem to hold water. They also talk about India being a different market where profits in the telecom sector are of secondary concern. All of this is beside the point that giving away spectrum at such low prices was not something that should have been done. The DMK is steadfast in its defence of its MP. The point is whether or not he deserves to be.

Also, what is Jairam Ramesh thinking? Does he even remember 1962? I am not asking ourselves to be demonized by the past, but look at the situation! China is Pakistan's "all-weather friend". It is developing has developed a fighter in coordination with Pakistan. It is accused hacking into computers worldwide, with or without government approval. What was the minister thinking badmouthing his own government in a foreign nation? He says the Home and Defence ministries are being paranoid. These are the ones who are expected to know the security situation, not an environment minister. Does he know about Chinese listening posts on Myanmar's Coco Islands just off the Andamans? So will this turn out to be another Tharoor saga?

A Few Observations

I was going through the matrimonial section of India Today. Before any conclusions are drawn let me clarify that I had time to kill and had read the rest of the magazine. So anyway, one thing that was clear was that the brides want professionally qualified grooms. One or two asked for post graduates specifically. Today there are many instances when a woman says no to a man (this is normal in a proposal but probably less so in an arranged setup :P). One of the reasons why people opt for a post graduate degree/diploma is that there are just too many graduates out there. Probably in the coming days it will also be to be able to marry the right girl!

The opposition in the Parliament is vociferously demanding that A Raja has to resign for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation "scam". I am just curious to find out whether someone has asked for a legal investigation. If the minister has indeed received kickbacks he must pretty happy from a financial point of view. So he stands to lose more if there is a proper investigation than if he is just dismissed (please don't say duh!). If he is dismissed it will only be a matter of time before he is back. People and political parties especially have very short memories. Anybody remember the BJP asking for the removal of a certain "tainted" minister who they later joined hands with to come to power?