Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO INDEPENDENT INDIA INDEPENDENT INDIA COMPLETES 64 YEARS OF AGE

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO INDEPENDENT INDIA 

 INDEPENDENT INDIA COMPLETES 64 YEARS OF AGE 

 India completed 64 years of its independence on 15th August this year. This year too, the celebration of Independence Day will be no different. There will be Political speeches, TV and Radio channels beaming patriotic programmes, a compulsory holiday bringing the working class in leisure mode, National flag sale across every corner and traffic signals, Mere Desh ki Dharti… playing all around etc. etc.. 

 In the past 64 years thence, India has produced billionaires, a burgeoning middle class with surplus disposable incomes, thriving services and industries, enough to eat, excess automobiles than our demand, a little better infrastructure, increased productivity and much more. 

 And on the other side of the coin, there are too many negatives to list. But, this Independence Day, we glance with a bird’s eye view on the various developments and achievements of Independent India that indeed make us proud. 

 CULTIVATING INDIA 

 In the earlier years, India was dependent on other countries. Then, the focus on Agriculture resulted in exceptional growth in Agriculture and soon India became self reliant. In fact, further down the years, India marked phenomenal growth and became an exporter of many produce to the world. 

 INDUSTRIES 

 The industrial sector was no less in growth. While the emphasis was equally laid and the Industrial sector encouraged, India witnessed subsequent growth in all the divisions that is small, medium and heavy Industries. It is evident today with the huge foreign investment that the industrial sector attracts. Besides, it has also produced a number of industrial titans that compete with the top industrialists of the world. 

 SERVICE 

 The growth of service sector is phenomenal. Today, India commands a distinctive status worldwide in the service sector. The BPO sector in particular is exceptional in India compared to any other country in the world. 

EMPLOYMENT 

 The rise of Industrial and Service sector made openings for employment opportunity to millions of people. Of course, due to the massive population of billion plus, India still faces the unemployment evil. But, nevertheless, the graph of unemployment has seen the decline.

 EDUCATION 

 During the time of independence, India had only around 30% (percentage) of literates. But down the years and in spite of booming population, India today, has approximately 65% (percentage) of literates. And mind it there has been an enormous rise in the percentage of women education. In fact, today, Government has made education for all up to the age of 14 years as a fundamental right. 

WOMEN LIBERATION 

 From being associated to kitchen, women have improved significantly. Today, they have become rulers of the state. In fact, while the major developing and so called liberal countries are yet to experience, India already has registered a Woman President. 

 INFRASTRUCTURE 

 Needless to say that India today has one of the finest and biggest transport and connectivity network across its massive geographical spread. Roads, Railways, Communications are all spread and wired across Indian cities, towns and villages. There are projects under execution and in pipeline to ensure sufficing infrastructure to the Indian masses. 

 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 

Whether it is Space technology, Medicine or IT sector, India has made remarkable progress in all. Several space missiles have been successfully launched which have contributed to the communication development of the country. Besides, India today boasts of internationally renowned medical facility and IT establishments. Saifee Hospital in Mumbai, Infosys, Wipro of Bangalore are leading examples for the same. 

 ARTS & SPORTS 

 Even in arts and sports, India boasts of many achievements and records. Saina Nehwal, Abhinav Bindra, Rajya Vardhan Singh Rathode, Vijender Singh, Sania Mirza, Pankaj Advani, Anju George, M.S. Dhoni and many many more have done India proud in many international sporting events. Even the movie industry is one of the biggest of the world. It produces around 5000 movies many of which are internationally acclaimed. 

 BILATERAL RELATIONS 

Apparently, India is for peace and co-operation with the whole world. It is evident with India’s policy and practice that India does not belong in any cheap international politics to become a super power. India is for peace and co-operation with the whole world. Many peace treaties have already been signed and continue to be renewed and formed by India. In fact, India is even trying hard to establish peace with the neighbouring countries with whom it had engaged in war in the past. 

AIDS TO OTHER NATIONS

 Beside, executing its own developmental plans, India is also leading in lending aid to many needy countries. From being a receiver to now a support giver, the progress of India is self explained. 

 CONCLUSION

 Further, many schemes, policies, regulations and laws are in the process of planning and implementation to provide a fair, transparent and progressive tone to the various departments. In the past 64 years India has undoubtedly made a mark in almost every field and mind it, for a vast country like India which has varied culture and heritage, it is indeed difficult to mobilize growth. Yet, the pace has been satisfactory. Let us hope that India successfully continues its movement towards total prosperity and the current social evils that haunt the Indian society are contained soon. 

Happy Independence Day….

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter POWERLESS SURVIVAL CAN YEDURAPPA SURVIVE THE FUTURE

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

 POWERLESS SURVIVAL 

 CAN YEDURAPPA SURVIVE THE FUTURE? 

 B. S. Yedurappa, the former CM survived his turbulent past through sheer power of absolute power, manipulations, money power, poly tricks and a team of eminent lawyers who rushed to his rescue at the drop of the hat. But during the last few months, Yedurappa suffered setbacks on all fronts and finally, the Lokayukta Report on illegal mining costed him the CM post. 

 Now, this is the beginning of the actual downfall of Yedurappa. As an ex-CM, Yedurappa can not count on his followers, advisors, manipulators anymore. Even assuming that his successor becomes his dummy, he cannot totally remote control the Government. At the maximum he can ask the CM to bail him out from the mess and as an ex-CM, he simply cannot dictate terms. 

Besides, Yedurappa through his short temper, arrogance, corruption, nepotism etc. has lost many loyal friends and even the RSS support. The BJP High Command which stood behind him like a rock in all the previous ‘revolts’, is now little interested in him. Had he resigned immediately on High Command’s order, his stock would have risen higher. But his cat and mouse game, blowing hot and cold, his attempts at dictating terms and conditions etc. have not gone well with the High Command. 

 Further, Yedurappa in public opinion is seen as a highly corrupt who worked for the benefit of him and his family. His total identification with the Lingayat Community and using it as a shield to protect himself is criticized in general by all. 

 Now, Yedurappa, after his resigning will have to face tough challenges both in the political and legal field. The high drama enacted by him prior to his resignation has already damaged his standing. Most of the leaders, who built the BJP in Karnataka brick by brick along with him, were slighted by him. He even manhandled Anantha Kumar in Delhi, under whose president ship the BJP grew tremendously and bagged 79 seats in 2004 elections. Similarly Yedurappa completely ignored the senior leaders and even the strong RSS who is the guiding spirit of BJP. He regularly played his lingayat card such that at one time many lingayat seers had even threatened to take to the streets if Yedurappa was to be harmed. Everybody from the RSS to the BJP High Command was afraid of losing the major community vote bank in case Yedurappa was sacked. However, the High Command had to take a firm stand and cleared him that he must resign or be expelled from the party even if it may cost BJP its first ever Government in South. 

 Whatsoever, Yedurappa is now out of power. Despite his all out efforts, he can not be a super CM. He can not imitate the total control of the Government just like Sonia Gandhi who is the supreme leader of the Congress and the UPA Government. Her word is law to the Congress party and is given due respect by the allies in the UPA as she accommodates their views. Moreover, Sonia Gandhi had turned down her selection as the PM of the country and that commands respect for her. Where as, in the state, Yedurappa has made more enemies than friends. 

 In fact, Yedurappa toyed with the idea of forming a regional party after his unceremonious exit. But that is easier said done. There have been cases of many leaders breaking away from the party and forming regional parties but, they have all failed miserably. 

More than political, Yedurappa has to face the legal cases that are in plenty. Up till now, he had blocked all probes against his multi faceted and multidimensional scams, but the story is different now. There are five criminal cases against him under Prevention of Corruption Act of which one case has been referred by the court to the Lokayukta police for investigations. Yedurappa who got the HC ‘stay’ against the probe, will have to face the music with the ‘stay’ vacated by the HC. The entire family members of Yedurappa are accused in these cases along with few ministers. 

 The Lokayukta report had also indicted Yedurappa, his kith and kin and recommended their prosecution under PC Act. There are complaints against him before the Lokayukta with regard to some more scams. With absolute power at his disposal, Yedurappa had blocked any probe through ingenious ways. Now that he is out of power, the law will catch up with him sooner than later. Even if he is convicted in one case, his future is doomed.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE YEDURAPPA OF JUDICIARY JUSTICE DINAKARAN RESIGNS ON CORRUPTION CHARGES

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

THE YEDURAPPA OF JUDICIARY 

JUSTICE DINAKARAN RESIGNS ON CORRUPTION CHARGES! 

 The resignation of Sikkim Chief Justice P. D. Dinakaran, has gone unnoticed by the media which was busy with the resignation drama of B. S. Yeddyurappa. In a way the resignation of Dinakaran and Yedurappa are startlingly similar as both resignations were corruption related. For ordinary people, the resignation of Yedurappa is not a surprise as they perceive the politicians as unscrupulous and corrupt. Actually, the resignation of Justice Dinakaran should have got huge publicity as it concerns with judiciary which people view as the last hope for protection of democracy and human rights. As the people and media treat judiciary as the holy cow, Dinakaran’s resignation did not make much news. 

 The Indian judiciary in spite of being a party and parcel of the society with all its positive and negative aspects, has never allowed anybody to talk against the corruption, favouritism, nepotism etc. in judiciary. It has a powerful trump card of ‘contempt of court’ proceedings against anybody who whispers against judiciary or Judges. 

 Despite the insulation, there are cases of some judges bringing bad name to the judiciary. However, people still perceive the judiciary as the last hope for protection of democracy and human rights. 

 Whatsoever, there are some very serious corruption charges against some judges and unfortunately no mechanism to punish such judges even if the charges are proved by internal probe. The highest penalty for judges could be to ask them not to sit on the Bench and here too, it is only a ‘request’ by the CJ, and, at the maximum the CJ may not assign any cases to such judges. 

 Interestingly, an ordinary man and even Chief Ministers, Ministers when caught accepting a bribe gets a jail term. But for a judge who accepts a bribe or does some thing wrong or illegal, there is no mechanism to bring him to book like ordinary people. 

 The Dinakaran episode is a case in the point. Dinakaran was serving as the Judge of the Tamil Nadu High Court when some advocates made allegations for acquiring properties disproportionate to his income and also of favouritism while handing out the judgements. But no enquiry was held. Later Dinakaran was posted as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court and here too, there were allegations of his misuse of power. The Chennai advocates who had formed a forum of Judicial Accountability continued their crusade and taking a cue from them, Karnataka advocates also took up the issue. They even boycotted his courts. 

 Dinakaran smartly defended stating that he is targeted as he is a dalit. Few advocates even stood behind him and some dalit organisations too rushed to his rescue. The Supreme Court collegiums took up an internal probe and found prima facie substance in the charges, but still, could not take any action against him. Some judges of the HC too objected to Dinakaran hearing the cases and only after a lot of heartburn, the SC collegiums ‘requested’ Dinakaran not to sit on the Bench. 

 For few months, Dinakaran functioned as CJ without hearing a single case limiting him to administration. This has created a record of sorts as he is the only Chief Justice who had not heard the cases and passed orders for few months, passing only administrative orders like posting matters to other judges for hearing. Dinakaran executed all other works of a CJ except the judicial work. 

 Finally this piquant situation ended with Dinakaran getting transferred to Sikkim High Court but even there, he faced opposition. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the world to take punitive actions against Dinakaran and realizing this, few Rajya Sabha members moved an impeachment motion against him. The Rajya Sabha Chairman admitted the motion and formed a probe committee to probe the charges. 

 From day one of the probe committee, Dinakaran fought fiercely to block the probe. He took objection to the inclusion of senior counsel P. P. Rao in the committee who had argued against him in the SC. He filed a petition in the SC and it later asked for the replacement of P. P. Rao in the committee. Dinakaran later filed another petition in the SC to stay the proceedings of the probe committee but was rejected. 

 There after, there was no way Dinakaran could stall the probe as there were documentary evidences of his misdeeds. He again played his dalit card but there was no way for him except to face the probe and subsequent impeachment and the removal thereon. That is why Dinakaran himself tendered his resignation. 

 However, there is no way he can be booked for the offences unless the concerned State Government treats him like an ordinary citizen who violated the law of the land and take action accordingly. But that is only a wishful thinking as one has not witnessed instances of retired judges facing the law of the land for the violations committed by them during their service. 

Unless, there is a mechanism in place to deal effectively with the charges against judges with provision for penalty, the malaise will continue. It is for this reason that there are demands for bringing the judiciary under the Lokpal Bill. Whatsoever, Dinakaran a Chief Justice of the High Court followed Yedurappa and resigned his post on corruption charges. And that explains the whole thing.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter JUSTICE DONE SANTOSH HEGDE’S FAREWELL, MINING SCAM A FEATHER IN HIS CAP

By. Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

 JUSTICE DONE! 

 SANTOSH HEGDE’S FAREWELL, MINING SCAM A FEATHER IN HIS CAP!

 The Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde completed his term in office and has retired. When he took over as the Lokayukta in 2006, he gave a clear indication that he will function within the rules of the game and not lead raids etc like his predecessor. This disappointed the people at large as they thought that Santosh Hegde will not be a success as Lokayukta as they were used to previous Lokayukta raiding Government offices amidst much publicity and conducting spot enquiries of the ‘raid victims’ before the glare of the video cameras etc. In fact, people enjoyed such scenes because of their helplessness to fight corruption and corrupt officials. 

 But very soon, Santosh Hegde took the command and started his own style of functioning with the unadulterated backing of Upa Lokayukta Patri Basavana Gowda. He strengthened the Lokayukta office by replacing some corrupt officials with some worthy men. While all these years, people were used to Lokayukta nabbing only petty officials and not even going near to big fishes, Santosh Hegde was much more serious in his job. People got the shock of their life as he raided many IAS-IPS-IFS-KAS officers and unearthed their huge wealth and possession. 

 He dared not to even spare the politicians in power. People were shocked out of their wits, when he ‘trapped’ an MLA in the Legislature’s Home while accepting a bribe. People thus started respecting him for his different style of functioning. His plain talk, exposures and catching ‘big fish’, holding grievances meet, helping out people in distress who cry for help et al endeavoured himself with the public at large. 

 Besides, Santosh Hegde also made all out efforts at educating people especially school and college students about the need to fight the cancer of corruption. He was successful at least to have instilled a fear against corruption. He was a hit with students’ community as a whole and was the darling of both electronic and print media. 

 However, while he became an ‘idol’ to the common people, the same can not be said about the disposal of complaints lodged against corrupt officials. Thousands of complaints with Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta still remain pending. More than the sound and fury, it is the disposal of the complaints that reflects the functioning of the Lokayukta and as such, there is no mechanism in the Lokayukta for quick disposal of the complaints against officials and politicians in power. 

 In his five year term, Santosh Hegde was entrusted with many high profile scams. Except the KIADB scam where former Industries Minister Katta Subramanya stands accused today, there are no other cases which have seen the light of the day. The probe into the famous mining scam was also started in 2006 and after almost five years, it was finally prepared and submitted. The relief and rehabilitation of the flood victims where the Lokayukta had pressed its own probe team is already forgotten and so is the BPL card issue. There are scores of such scams taken up by the Lokayukta which have been washed away. It appears that the ‘Mine Scam’ was the only big scam taken up by Santosh Hegde in all its seriousness and in all other probes; Santosh Hegde has become a sort of failure. 

 Of course, due credit should be given to Santosh Hegde who faced criticism sportingly. Even though he could slap contempt notices to anybody who criticised Lokayukta, he did not do so even once, unlike Venkatachala who used to slap contempt notices against anybody who dared to question him and his actions. In this respect Santosh Hegde stands head and shoulders above Venkatachala. 

 Unfortunately, some leaders took it as his weakness but he still tightened the screws of some bigwigs. When AICC General Secretary and Former MP Chief Minister Digvijay Singh made caustic remarks against Santosh Hegde, he was made to tender unconditional public apology to Santosh Hegde within 24 hours. Similarly the then Law Minister Veerappa Moily took exception to his style of functioning and offered his profuse apologies to Santosh Hegde the very next day. 

 Apparently, the cherry on the cake was his voluminous report on the Mining scam which shook the first ever BJP Government in South. The Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa had to lose his priced possession of the CM chair and about 800 officials who were named in the report wait to face serious consequences over their role in the mining scam. 

 To conclude, on can say that Santosh Hegde has left the office of the Lokayukta carrying with him the wishes of lakhs of people who have hailed him as a ‘Daniel, coming to Judgement’. And that is all.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter INJUSTICE FOR HIGH COURT STRANGE BUT TRUE, HIGH COURT EMPLOYEES = LOWER PAY

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

INJUSTICE FOR HIGH COURT 

STRANGE BUT TRUE, HIGH COURT EMPLOYEES = LOWER PAY LOWER COURT EMPLOYEES = HIGHER PAY 

 Karnataka Judiciary is witnessing a strange phenomenon of the High Court employees getting lesser salary and perks than the employees of Lower Courts. Apparently, the employees and officials in High Court are highly discriminated when compared to their counterparts in Lower Court and Central Administrative Tribunal. And interestingly, this unique situation exists only in Karnataka. 

 Check the pay scales of some cadres of High Court and Lower Court employees. The Chief Administrative Officer/Assistant Registrar in the Lower courts enjoys the pay scale of 14050-25050. While their counterparts in High Court, that is, Court Officer/ Section Officer/ Sr. Judgment Writer in the High Court get the pay scale of 11400-21600! Taking into consideration the DA, HRA etc, the Lower Court official get about Rs.4600 more than the High Court official. This is just an example of the vast difference in pay scales of employees of High Court and Lower Court who are equivalent in cadre. Needless to say that High Court is the highest court in a State and just below the Supreme Court, where as the Lower Courts and the CAT comes under the High Court. 

 When we compare the pay scale with the Administrative Tribunals, the difference is more pronounced. A Registrar in the CAT receives the pay scale of Rs. 14300-18300, while a similar post in High Court gets the pay scale of Rs. 12600-16720. Similarly, a Deputy Registrar in CAT gets the pay scale of Rs. 10000-15200, while, the similar cadre official in High Court receives only Rs. 7400-13120! When this is the case with Group A and B officials, one can only imagine the differences in other cadres. A peon in the CAT gets a minimum of Rs.12850 as gross salary, and the same post in the High Court fetches a gross salary of Rs. 8660 only. 

 True, the High Court employees are making demands for pay parity with the Central Government employees for the last so many years. But they have not been successful due to the apathy of the State Government. 

In fact, the High Court employees come under the control of the Chief Justice, who has to take action regarding their service conditions and pay structures. Accordingly, the Article 229 of the constitution which deals with the appointment of officers and servants of the High Court, gives full powers to the Chief Justice (CJ) to decide the service conditions, salary etc. of such officials. It is his prerogative. But, the only rider is in respect of salary, leave, pension etc, which needs the State Government’s approval. In fact, the Supreme Court in its landmark judgment on Article 229(2) has clearly laid down that when the rules relating to salaries, allowances, pensions, leave etc, are framed by the CJI, the precedent then should be looked upon with respect because the same have been framed by a high signatory of the country. The State can not refuse approval unless there are good reasons to do so. Even if the state wants to disapprove the rules, it can not straight away refuse to grant such an approval without some exchange of thoughts between the state and the Chief Justice. But, shockingly for Karnataka, the State Government has failed to provide parity of pay scales to HC employees in spite of CJ’s recommendations. 

 Arguably, the successive CJs tried for pay scale equality but, for no outcome as yet. The then Chief Justice Bhaskar Rao in the year 2000 had taken up the issue seriously. He was of the opinion that the HC employees deserve better pay and wanted at least the pay scales of the HC employees on par with the HC employees in Delhi or Kerala. However, he stopped short of taking a decision and left it to his successor as he was to demit the office as CJ in Karnataka. 

 Then, for the next four years, there was no development until Justice N. K. Jain, the then CJ evinced keen interest in this regard. On 06.10.2004, Justice N. K. Jain addressed a letter to the then Chief Minister Dharam Singh highlighting the plight of HC employees and the discrimination in respect of pay scales. The CJ had made out a strong case for giving Central Government employees pay scales to the High Court employees. 

 In his letter, the CJ had explained in detail the work culture, work load etc, of the High Court employees and how different and difficult they are compared to the CAT employees. He had asked the then CM Dharam Singh to consider giving HC employees parity with Central Government pay scales, but, nothing came into effect. The CJ had also sent the letter to the then Governor TN Chaturvedi, but, for no outcome. In fact, the Government referred the matter to the Finance department where it started gathering dust. 

 After having exhausting all means, the HC employees have now resorted to Writ Petition in the HC for redressal of their grievances. The HC has also disposed the Writ Petitions on the pretext that a committee of judges has been formed to understand the problem and recommend suitable action in this regard. But this is not the solution as the CJ has already recommended central pay scales to the HC employees. The only thing left is the approval of the State Government to the recommendations of the CJ, which is not a big task. If the CJ writes a strong letter to the CM in this regard drawing his attention to the recommendations of the CJ in 2004, one can be sure of the CM approving the recommendations in a matter of few days, thus ending the decade old discrimination.

 It may not be out of place here to mention that the B.S.Yeddyurappa Government is highly afraid of the High Court. When the CJ took the Government to task for not providing residences to the judges, the Government went to the extent of emergency acquisition of lands in UAS, Hebbal and the quarters for Judges are almost ready and they can occupy their bungalows by August 15th. Such is the hurry the Government had shown towards welfare of the judges. And it can very well show the same enthusiasm towards HC employees. The sooner, the better.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE POLITICAL FASTING Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev and now Kumaraswamy

By. Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

THE POLITICAL FASTING 

Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev and now Kumaraswamy 

 In the last few months, ‘fasting’ politics has occupied the center stage. It was all started by Anna Hazare for implementation of his Jan Lokpal Bill to fight corruption followed by Baba Ramdev who undertook fasting for bringing black money stashed in Foreign Banks. And now, H. D. Kumaraswamy underwent fasting undo death demanding CBI probe into his own family assets. 

 The fasting mania has now become a rage in today’s politics. Ironically, while Anna Hazare’s fast for Jan Lokpal Bill was aimed at curbing corruption at high places, Kumaraswamy’s fast was meant to clear his and his family’s name from the charges leveled against them by Chief Minister B.S Yeddyrappa. Kumaraswamy’s fasting was for demanding the Government to order a CBI probe into the charges of amassing Rs. 1500 crores by himself and his family! This ‘Fast’ is unique in nature as it is the former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy fasting himself for a CBI enquiry about himself and his family. In a way, there is not a single instance of a leader demanding and undertaking fast to get himself probed. 

 It may be recalled that Chief Minister B.S Yeddyurappa used to hurl charges of irregularities, illegalities etc. against Kumaraswamy and the HD Deve Gowda family whenever Kumaraswamy exposed a scam of Yedurappa. In fact, almost all the so called scams exposed by Yedurappa against Deve Gowda family are nothing new, but, debated and probed earlier. In some cases, the High Court and the Supreme Court too have given clean chit to Deve Gowda family. Some of the so called scams as unveiled by Yedurappa actually date back to eighties! So, there is nothing new to these exposures. 

 Exasperated by the lukewarm reaction to the exposures against Deve Gowda family, Yedurappa in a desperate bid to pin them down compiled all the exposed scams in a booklet form and released it by bringing BJP’s spokes person Nirmala Seetharam from Delhi! The booklet estimate the wealth of Deve Gowda family at Rs. 1500 crores and questions the bonafides of Deve Gowda family especially Kumaraswamy in exposing the scams of Yedurappa and his Government. 

 But the release of the booklet did not create any political storm as expected. On the contrary, Kumaraswamy took it very seriously and demanded that the Government order a CBI probe into the charges leveled by Yedurappa against Deve Gowda family. He took the matter very seriously and gave one week’s time to the Government to order CBI or any other probe into the allegations. Kumaraswamy also threatened that he will undertake fast unto death if the Government does not order a CBI probe. 

 Of course, Yedurappa did not bother about fast unto death threat seriously and refused to order a CBI probe. Eventually, Kumaraswamy underwent fast unto death as revealed. Interestingly, Yedurappa also refused permission to Kumaraswamy to sit on fast before Vidhana Soudha. Later he made his police officials deny permission to stage fast at Chalukya Circle also. Finally, Kumaraswamy settled for Freedom Park. 

 Kumaraswamy’s fast for a probe into charges against his own family has set a precedent. Of course, nothing prevented Yedurappa in taking action against the violations by Kumaraswamy family and their amassing of 1500 crores as he is the Government. But, instead of taking action, Yedurappa belittled himself by releasing age old scams (?) of Deve Gowda family. 

 Whatsoever, while Kumaraswamy was on fasting, Yedurappa sent him a request letter to end it. Kumaraswamy as expected ended his fast in two days claiming that he ended his fast for his mother and his party colleagues who pressurized him to give it up. To conclude one can say that the Fast by Anna, Baba and now Kumaraswamy have indeed caught the imagination of the people. 

And that is all.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE DISCLOSURE AND THE DENIAL TASK FORCE REPORT ON LAND GRABBING, GOVERNMENT IN DENIAL MODE

By.Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metero Reporter 

THE DISCLOSURE AND THE DENIAL 

 TASK FORCE REPORT ON LAND GRABBING, GOVERNMENT IN DENIAL MODE 

 When H. D. Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister, he formed the Task Force committee of legislators under the chairmanship of A.T Ramaswamy, to probe Government land encroachments etc. in and around Bangalore. 

 The ATR committee after a lot of efforts, scrutiny of revenue records submitted two reports and submitted the exposure report of land grabbing by powerful politicians and notorious housing societies and others. The ATR committee estimated the land grab to the extent of 30 thousand acres and directed the concerned authorities like BDA, KHB, KIADB, Revenue and Forest departments to take steps to recover the encroachment lands. But before anything could be done in this regard, the Karnataka State came under the President’s rule and the ATR committee stood dissolved. 

 The BJP Government later formed the Task Force to detect encroachment of Government lands. V. Balasubramaniam, a former IAS official, famous for his honesty, integrity and efficiency was made the chairman of the Task Force to detect encroachments on Government lands in the entire State. It may be recalled that Balasubramaniam was the Secretary to the A.T Ramaswamy Committee. Many heads of various concerned departments were made members of this Task Force. 

 The Task Force carried out a systematic and scientific investigation, based on the revenue and other records and detected encroachment of more than two lakh acres of land! And before the term of the Task Force ended on 4th of this month, Balasubramaniam, as the chairman of the Task Force, submitted the voluminous report to the Government and released the same to the press. Shockingly, the Revenue Principal Secretary, Ashok.C. Manoli, refused to bear the cost of printing the report as it contained adverse remarks against the present political rulers. Balasubramaniam then spent money from his own pockets and got the report printed. 

 Once the report was made public, the Revenue Minister Karunakara Reddy whose actions have come in for severe criticism, made a statement that Balasubramaniam has not submitted the report to the Government and that he will not accept the report. Balasubramaniam retorted that the report was submitted to the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary. It is another matter that Balasubramaniam has brought to light the Chief Minister’s direction to the authorities in Chickmanagalur, not to proceed with resumption of Government lands which were encroached. It is for this exposure that the Government or rather Karunakara Reddy, has refused to accept the report. Besides, there are adverse remarks against the Revenue Minister himself in the report. 

 Of course, Balasubramaniam has done his job despite the hostile attitude of the Government. The Revenue Minister Karunakara Reddy has no business to pre judge the report. The usual practice is that the report of the Task Force will be studied in depth by a committee of senior officials and follow up actions are recommended. It is not for Karunakara Reddy to reject the report even without going through it. Needless to say that Reddy does not understand the basics of administration. 

 Balasubramaniam has disclosed that many of illegal order actions of the Chief Minister, Revenue Minister and other Ministers and leaders have not found place in the report due to time constraints. Interestingly he also did not ask for extension of the Task Force Chairmanship. On the day before his term expired, he got the report printed at his own cost and submitted it to the Government. There is no rule that the report should be submitted to the Revenue Minister or CM. 

 Whatsoever, the Balasubramaniam report which is yet to be digested by the political leadership and the media will definitely turn out to be a real bombshell in coming days. And that is for sure.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE BOGUS CLAIM BBMP INTRODUCED B-KHATA, COMMISSIONER TERMS IT BOGUS.

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

THE BOGUS CLAIM 

BBMP INTRODUCED B-KHATA, COMMISSIONER TERMS IT BOGUS.

 The other day, the BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah made a shocking revelation that the B-khatha given by the BBMP for revenue sites are bogus and have no legal backing! This statement of Siddaiah has shocked more than five lakhs BBMP revenue site owners, who have obtained B-khatha from the BBMP after paying house tax. 

 Well, Siddaiah may have dubbed the B-khathas as bogus, but then, what action did he take to stop this bogus business? 

 It may be recalled that the B-khathas were introduced by the BBMP itself. On 25.08.2009, the then Commissioner Bharathlal Meena issued a circular outlining the procedure for issuing khathas - both regular and B-khatha. He stipulated that properties which are legal and eligible for assessment had to be entered in A-Register and properties which are not legally assessable had to be entered in B-Register. It is the extract of the ‘B’ Register that is known as B- khathas! 

 Bharatlal Meena had clarified that properties under Gramathana, converted lands with single unit, approved layouts, BDA, KHB, properties with approved plans from BBMP, Ashraya sites etc. distributed by the Government to the weaker sections etc. will have to be brought under A-Register. The revenue properties which does not have any of the above elements had to be recorded in B-Register with a house that can be registered in B-Register. 

 While registering revenue properties in B-Register, sufficient care is required to ascertain the ownership of the same through sale deeds etc. in favour of the owner. Precaution is needed to verify the documents so as to prevent Government/public lands getting entry in the B-Register. And the property tax also has to be assessed for all properties entered in the B-Register, most importantly as per the existing rates. This means that property owners in B-Register has to pay same tax as that of A 

 Even with regard to revenue properties, the circular laid down several conditions like not entering revenue properties of more than 6000 sq ft in B- Register. The only exception in this stipulation is the fenced agriculture land Register entrants. 

 Arguably, the idea behind the introduction of B Register was to levy the property tax from the revenue properties which were provided with basic civic amenities like Roads, drainage, water, electricity etc. In fact, it was specifically clarified that the B-Register entry does not provide any right, title to the properties. It was meant to recover a part of the money spent by BBMP to provide civic amenities which the revenue property owners enjoy ‘free of cost’ all these years. It is no secret that these revenue properties can be legalised only after Akrama - Sakrama scheme is introduced which is a remote possibility as on now. 

 It is another matter that B-khatha extract can be obtained by paying a fee of Rs.100. However, khatha certificates are not given to these properties and only B-Register extracts are issued. It is this B-khatha extract that is accepted by the Sub Registrars for registration. Here the Sub Registrar has no role to play except registering the documents with B-khatha extracts. It is for the BBMP to accept the registered deed for change of khatha. On the face of it, the BBMP can not change the khatha of the property with B-khatha. But the hard fact is that BBMP officials are effecting the change of khatha in respect of B-Register extracts. 

 Of course, the circular has stipulated that revenue properties with less than 4000 sq ft. can be given entry into the B-Register by the ARO with the written approval of the RD (except in apartments). For properties above 4000 sq ft, the same has to be brought into the B-Register by directly submitting the file to the DC for approval. All these logically imply that a lot of thinking has gone into before introducing B-Register. 

 But, all of a sudden, the present commissioner Siddaiah has termed the B-khathas as Bogus! It is to be reminded that two months back, the same BBMP had asked the revenue property owners to pay up property tax with arrears from 2008-09 till date by getting an entry into B-Register! What was Siddaiah doing then? Why did he not clarify at that time itself that B-khathas are bogus? After keeping quite for more than two years after the circular was issued on date 25.08.2009, Siddaiah suddenly proclaims that B-khathas are bogus! It is time the commissioner Siddaiah explain his B-khatha ‘Bogus’ stand.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE BEST BARGAIN IGR AND CS MAKE WORLD RECORD IN TENDER NEGOTIATIONS

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

 THE BEST BARGAIN 

 IGR & CS MAKE WORLD RECORD IN TENDER NEGOTIATIONS 

 In our last issue we had published the story about how the Tendering process to Computerize the Sub Registrar offices were manipulated by the respective concerned and liable authorities. The terms and conditions were tailor made to suit a particular bidder named CMS Ltd. and many other prominent bidders who also submitted the tenders were rejected by simply writing irrational, idiotic and false reasons. 

 Whatsoever, after the tenders were submitted and the favourite pre determined bidder selected, the department went through a historical record. How much could one expect a bidder to negotiate after he has quoted his rates in the tender? Never in a life one would have seen, heard or expected but the bidder CMS Ltd. reduced his rates with a massive margin after its quotation was selected. 

 The tender was called for undertaking the work required in the computerization of the Sub Registrar offices that is scanning the documents admitted for registration by the Sub Registrar, taking the photo and thumb impression of the parties and printing the registration details and certificate on the document and then to save the scanned image of the document in CD from. All this including the stationary, investment and administrative cost would not have costed more than Rs. 5/- per document containing an average 10 pages. However, CMS had quoted massive rates for the same in the tender. It had quoted mind boggling Rs. 52/- to Rs. 100/- per page for different districts that would sum up to Rs. 520/- to Rs. 1000/- per document containing an average 10 pages. Subsequently, if this rate was accepted by the department, the people would have had to pay Rs. 600 crores in the next five years. 

 However, after the receipt and finalization of tender, there were embarrassing moments for the department officials as they were about to charge excessively high rates from the public. There was also fear of exposure of reality at any point of time which would invite the wrath of public and the political condition prevailing at that time. The department officials then decided to reduce the rates to certain extents. 

 To save the face, the department enacted a drama of calling the company for negotiations. Now, in the so called negotiations, the CMS Ltd. Company was called and it shockingly reduced its rates from 50 % to 75% which is unheard in the history of tenders or contracts. The company which had quoted Rs. 52/- to Rs. 100/- per page in the tender, surprisingly negotiated the rate at Rs. 30 per page. One could imagine the amount of manipulation, the quantum of kick-backs etc. with this arrangement itself. 

 Finally, the rate fixed for the computerization process of the Sub Registrar office between the department and the Company was negotiated at flat Rs. 30/- from the quoted Rs. 52/- to Rs. Rs. 100/- per page in the tender. This is perhaps the record breaking negotiation undertaken by any company. How is it possible for a company to reduce the rates so massively? 

 One can easily understand that the CMS Ltd. had intentionally over quoted in the Tender as it was the only company that had quoted for the Major Districts due to the tailor made conditions by the department that would only suit the CMS Ltd. Company. One can further understand that while CMS Ltd. had quoted between Rs. 52/- to Rs. 100/- in the Tender, another Company named ECIL, which had submitted Tender for Minor districts had quoted Rs. 8/- per page for the same work. Eventually, both ECIL and CMS Ltd. were awarded contacts with ECIL getting contact for Minor Districts at Rs. 25/- per page and CMS Ltd. begging the contact for Major Districts at Rs. 30/- per page. 

 Even these reduced rates are not a small deal and the contract is now worth 150 crores. 

 It is time that Government make a review of the computerization as proposed by the then IGR & CS and take stock of the on going computerization in the department.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter DEAD END AHEAD RIGIDITY, IRRATIONAL DEMANDS HITS LOKPAL BILL

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

 DEAD END AHEAD 

 RIGIDITY, IRRATIONAL DEMANDS HITS LOKPAL BILL 

 The fierce fight between the Government and Anna Hazare group is becoming a serious threat to the Lokpal Bill itself. The Hazare group is lashing out at the Government nominees charging them with scuttling the draft committee and the draft itself. The Government on its part is charging the Hazare group with arm twisting, blackmail etc. Apparently, there is no meeting point between the Government and the Hazare group. 

 The current blockage for Lokpal bill is the issue of Prime Minister and Judiciary coming under the ambit of Lokpal. While the Government nominees want the PM to be left out, Hazare group is particular about the inclusion of the PM in the Lokpal domain. In a way though, both groups have valid arguments in this regard. 

 The PM represents 120 crore Indians in the International community of Nations and is treated as the representative of the country and not as a political leader. There are many international treaties, defense treaties and other decisions that have to be inked by the PM. 

 Therefore, in case the PM is included in the Lokpal and some unscrupulous elements submit some cooked up charges against the PM in the Lokpal which then starts the probe, the PM will be under the cloud. It would take the Lokpal at least six months to probe and clear the PM of the same. Thus, at least for full six months, the PM will be handicapped by the Lokpal enquiry with his image tainted for the rest of the world. The Hazare group has no alternative to such situation as yet and they still want PM to be under Lokpal, which indeed is absurd.

 It is required that some understanding prevails in this regard. Nobody opposes the PM in Lokpal and even the PM himself is in favour. But, there should be some insulation to the PM post. For example the charges against the PM should be heard by the Lokpals to detect a prima facie and only after the prima facie is established, the Lokpal start the probe by issuing notices to the PM. Further, in such cases, the probe should be completed in a shortest possible time and the Lokpal should also levy heavy penalty against those who file mischievous and false complaints against the PM. One should understand that PM is not an individual but the symbol of the country. 

 On the contrary, who gave the Hazare group, the right in first place to represent the Indian civil society is a pending question? In contrast, the Government is elected by the people and has a legitimate right to represent the people. Besides, there is the parliament which enacts the laws of the land. Its members are also directly elected by the people and even the Government is responsible to the parliament. Even if the Lokpal drafting committee prepares the draft, it is still the parliament that has to pass it before it becomes the law. 

 Hundreds of bills introduced by the Government in the parliament have undergone changes, modification and even withdrawals after the MPs discuss the same in minute details. This is not a new phenomenon but, is going on since the parliament came into existence and nobody can dictate terms to the parliament. Most importantly the Lokpal drafting committee should also have representatives from various sections of the society including the opposition to make it truly representative. But the present drafting committee has no representation from the opposition and other important segments. 

 Whatsoever, the Hazare group wants the Lokpal Bill to be ready by month end and the parliament to pass it before 15th of August which is highly unrealistic. Even though the Government is committed for placing the Bill in the monsoon session beginning this July, no body can guarantee its passage before 15th August. The Bill has to be discussed and debated threadbare in the parliament. If the parliament decides, it can refer the Bill to the standing committee for further vetting. There can be amendments/ modifications suggested by MPs which may be accepted and incorporated by the Government. Only then the Bill can be passed and sent for the President’ assent. Again, there are also chances of the President sending the Bill back for reconsideration to the Government. By any stretch of imagination, one can not fix any deadline. 

 As on now, both Government and Hazare group have prepared their own drafts and the cabinet has to take a decision in this regard. Already the Hazare group is spewing venom on the Government. They are on confrontationist mood and this will definitely damage the Lokpal Bill itself. Presently, the Lokpal bill is under severe threat, unless wiser sense prevails upon both the sides.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter Waiting to Explode HDK Exposes Yedurappa’s another Scam probe dangerous for BJP

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

 Waiting to Explode 

 HDK Exposes Yedurappa’s another Scam probe dangerous for BJP For ordinary people, the recent expose by HD Kumaraswamy against the Chief Minister B.S Yeddyurappa is a damp squib. But if one ponders deeply, it will be a real bomb waiting to explode. Kumaraswamy’s exposure is a well calculated move and it will have a serious repercussion on the national leadership of the BJP. 

 If one reads between the lines and words of Kumaraswamy’s exposure and the documents released, one can dare say that there is a similar pattern in Ratna scam compared to other scams of Yedurappa and family, where ‘deal’ money was deposited in firms floated by them, in white. And there ends the similarities. In case of acquisition of Ratna Cements, Yedurappa had adopted a round about approached to prevent the needle of suspicion pointing towards him. Yedurappa (meaning his kith and kin also) acquired a little known Finance Company- Indivar Kutir in Kolkata and waived off the interest of for 7.5 crores before acquisition and allowed it to pay the principal of 4 crores loan. This principal amount was paid by former Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu’s son-in-law to the KSSIDC, from where the company had raised the loan few years back. 

 Yedurappa took over the Indivar Kutir by investing around 3.70 lakhs through his daughter- in- law and one of his firms Bhagat Homes which later acquired the controlling stakes in the Ratna Cements and settled its other loan liabilities to the tune of more than 80 crores. The company was then given mining license over an extent of 1400 acres despite opposition from the revenue authorities. This is mere gist and essence of Ratna Cement scam. 

 After the exposure, Kumaraswamy has demanded that inflow and outflow of money to the Indivar Kuteer Company be probed by the central agencies. This demand is the real bombshell. In fact, it is widely rumoured even before the exposure by Kumaraswamy that Yedurappa was ‘donating’ liberally to some of the top BJP leaders, through a company situated outside the state to avoid any detection and subsequent embarrassment to the BJP High Command. It is no secret that Yedurappa had to keep some powerful leaders in the High Command in good humour, to protect his CM guddi, which is always under threat, sometimes from his own party leaders or opposition. The liberal donations, mostly in terms of crores will have the required result. 

 Nobody knows the net value of this finance company. While the net value of the Indiver Kuteer was shown as 6 crores, Yedurappa had acquired the same for 75 lakhs! Interestingly, this company has not filed its financial statements for the last two years that is after Yedurappa acquired the same. 

It is here the scam becomes intriguing. Indivar Kuteer, after it came into the hands of Yedurappa, for a throw away price, later had paid more than 80 crores for acquisition of Ratna Cements and clearing its outstanding loans to the tune of more than 75 crores! 

 How could a finance company whose net value is less than six crores be sold to Yedurappa for a mere 75 lakhs? Either it should be a sick company or its value was inflated. This implies that Yedurappa had acquired the company by paying through black money and by showing white money of 75 lakhs for purchase of its share. 

 Assuming that Yedurappa had acquired the company only for 75 lakhs, how one could imagine this ‘sick’ company mobilizing more than 80 crores to acquire the share of Ratna Cements and settling its outstanding loans? This is highly impossible. One can safely come to the conclusion that the sudden turn around of the company was due to pumping of crore of rupees by Yedurappa. If the affairs of this company is as white as show, as is being made out, why it had not submitted its financial statements for the last two years? And here is the catch. Kumaraswamy has indirectly alleged that Yedurappa had made huge payments to some of the BJP leaders from this company. It is another matter that Kumaraswamy must have the details of such payments. But he has chosen not to reveal such details and preferred the central government holding a probe. In a way he has given an ammunition to the central government to expose the BJP leaders who are the recipients of Yedurappa’s largesse. 

 Of course, it is very easy for the central government to conduct the probe into the Indivar Kuteer as it is a NBFC (Non Banking Finance Companies). It is mandatory for the NBFCs to file their financial statements with the government and the RBI has full powers to control their activities. RBI can straightaway take up the probe for the mere charge of the finance company not filing its financial statements for the last two years. This is as simple as that. Once a probe is ordered, one can be sure of skeletons in the cupboards of this ‘wonder’ company starts tumbling out. The outflow of money to various channels including payments will start coming out and so are the inflow of money to the company and the sources of such inflow. In that event, the nation will witness an unprecedented scam and put the BJP’s national leadership to shame. May be it is for this purpose that Kumaraswamy has choosen not to reveal the names! 

 Forget about everything. It is interesting that Yedurappa had choosen to acquire a ‘sick’ finance company in West Bengal. He could have very well floated a NBFC in the state itself. Why he chose the Kolkata firm remains a mystery. Yedurappa could have registered the NBFC in Shimoga itself even with a meagre share of 2 to 5 lakhs instead of paying 75 lakhs to Indivar Kuteer. Here lies the secret. If funds are routed through this Kolkatta firm for acquisition of Ratna Cements or paying ‘donations’ to BJP leaders then nobody will have any suspicion. This highly intelligent move by Yedurappa has backfired on him after Kumaraswamy exposed the scam. Occupying centre stage in national politics particularly so when the BJP is undertaking national movement to fight corruption.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter IN THE NAME OF LORD YEDURAPPA USES PUBLIC MONEY FOR PERSONAL USE

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

IN THE NAME OF LORD 

YEDURAPPA USES PUBLIC MONEY FOR PERSONAL USE ADS FROM PUBLIC MONEY TO CHALLENGE HDK ALLEGATIONS 

 Well, the meaning of Democracy is changing day by day. Particularly in Karnataka, where the politics has reached rotten low, any new insult and abuse of Democracy by the bigwigs in power is just expected. 

 So, here is another one from the Yedurappa camp. To ask you a simple question, what would you do when you are in power and have to settle a personal score with someone? Forget about you, in case of Yedurappa, besides using the power to curb, he will even use the taxpayers’ money for his personal matters. 

 Few days back, major newspapers carried front page advertisements of Chief Minister B.S Yeddyurappa’s open letter to former C. M., H. D. Kumaraswamy daring him to swear before Lord Manjunath regarding his charge that Yedurappa had tried for a compromise. Shockingly, the advertisements were issued by the State Information Department which means that the payment was done by the Government from the taxpayers’ money to settle personal score of Yedurappa with Kumaraswamy which indeed is a case of misuse of taxpayer’s money. Yedurappa has no right to issue advertisements funded from the State treasury to in reply to any of his personal allegations. He could have used the media to refute the charges and dare Kumaraswamy to swear before Lord Manjunatha, but, he has no right to spend huge money from public treasury to settle his personal scores. If he was indeed interested, he should have paid from his own pocket. 

 Charges and counter charges between the ruling party and opposition are very natural in a democracy. But, in the case of B.S Yeddyurappa’ Government, the charges by the opposition particularly the JD(S) and especially its boss and former C.M. H.D. Kumaraswamy has never allowed Yedurappa to sleep peacefully particularly for the last one year. Kumaraswamy has been exposing scams after scams against Yedurappa, his kith and kin and Ministers and he had also made the charges with irrefutable documents once. Consequently, the BJP High command at one time had almost decided to send Yedurappa packing, but of course, Yedurappa proved too powerful and continues to be the Chief Minister of Karnataka till today. 

 On the Contrary, this is not the first time Yedurappa tried to manage Kumaraswamy. Earlier when Kumaraswamy was to release scam related documents in New Delhi, Yedurappa had tried to rope in the JD(S) leader M.C Nanaiah to contain Kumaraswamy. But, Nanaiah refused to play the ball and embarrassed Yedurappa then tried in vain to defend his move. Subsequently, it is not surprising that he used his wheeler dealer to bridge fences with Kumaraswamy. 

 While many State BJP leaders were in denial mood about the patch up efforts, Kumaraswamy dropped another bombshell by declaring that he will be exposing more scams of Yedurappa at New Delhi to make it a national issue. Naturally, Yedurappa became restless on this declaration. 

 In reply, instead of denying his patch up efforts, he wrote a letter to Kumaraswamy and published it in all major news papers as advertisements through the Information Department. In this letter cum advertisement, Yedurappa challenged Kumaraswamy to come to Dharmasthala and swear before the Lord Manjunath about the whole incident! He also made some personal allegations against Kumaraswamy, the former PM, H.D. Deve Gowda and his family. 

 Democratically, Yedurappa has every right to deny or rebuke charges made by Kumaraswamy or anybody else against him. But as the Chief Minister, he has no right to use the taxpayer’s money to publish newspaper advertisements to deny or level charges against anyone to defend him personally. There can be no justification to Yedurappa spending public money, on advertising his open letter to Kumaraswamy. In fact, he could have just sent the copies of the letter to the Media and they would have gladly published the full text of the letter with their comments. That would have been easier and cheaper particularly so when the media is following the feud between Yedurappa and Kumaraswamy. But he chose to misuse the tax payer’s money to settle his personal scores. This is highly immoral and illegal too. 

 This only explains the disastrous democratic system that we are following and helplessness of the people for whom Democracy is to function. But, there is no stopping the political bigwigs who are in power and no body to question them against their illegal and insane activities. God save Karnataka.

Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter ERASING THE SCRIBE CRIME REPORTER BRUTALLY KILLED IN MUMBAI

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter 

ERASING THE SCRIBE 

CRIME REPORTER BRUTALLY KILLED IN MUMBAI 

 You can kill the body but not the spirit. In the world of opportunists and people full of vested interests, there exist people who take the risk of their lives in search of truth. 

Jyotirmoy Dey, a 56 year old senior journalist working with the Mumbai’s famous daily tabloid ‘Mid-Day’, was one such man who unfurled the flag of Fearless Journalism. Dey was shot dead by four gunmen on two motor bikes who shot him four times at point- blank range in broad daylight in Mumbai on 12th June, Sunday afternoon near his home. The murder has of course shaken the country and particularly the Media fraternity. 

 Dey started his career as a freelance photographer and also worked with The Indian Express and Hindustan Times. He became famous particularly for his writing about Mafia, crime and underworld activities in the financial hub of the country, Mumbai, and was Mid-Day’s Investigations- Editor. He had been reporting crime for the past 22 years in Mumbai and he can be regarded as the senior most Investigative journalist of India. He was the first reporter who exposed the Rs. 8000 crores Oil scam in Maharashtra and had also authored 2 books on Mumbai’s underworld namely Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers and Khallass. Though a victim now, Dey, was a symbol of fearless journalism. 

History says that Media has a vital role in a Democracy and efforts to curb it do not materialize. India is the world's largest democracy and has a vibrant media in English and other languages. Even the journalists here are highly respected among the readers and society in general. Though rare, attempts to stifle free speech and attacks on journalists do occur now and then. 

About 27 journalists have been killed in India since 1992 of whom most of the victims were from print Media covering politics, business and corruption. But, the fear of death also does not repel scribes to run away from the dark realities of the society. They continue to explore the hidden secrets and bring it to surface for the society to learn and react. 

 On the contrary such attacks on journalists out of fear of exposure or in retaliation challenge the freedom of the press and the pursuit of objective reporting. Such incidents signify insanity affected by insane individuals which kills innocent citizens. And definitely, such kind of attack on freedom of press cannot be tolerated by any society. Of course, the whole Media and society in general has condemned the brutal killing of the Journalist. 

The racketeers will continue to hold the society ransom with their illegal and harmful activities and there will be scribes who will fearlessly bring their truth to surface. If one Dey is killed, a dozen more will rise. No one can kill the spirit of fearless journalism. One can only kill Jyotirmoy Dev, but no one can cease the becoming of Jyotirmoy Dev.