CHAPTER 8

8.

APPROPRIATION

The Union Government on 9 September 2004 constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers to take decisions on the final price of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). The group comprised Mr. P.Chidambaram,  Finance Minister, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, and the Minister of the Administrative Ministry to which the Public Sector belongs.

In this connection, it must be noted that the members of the above group are not specialists capable of ascertaining the real value of the PSUs. It was a decision taken to bypass not only the Union Cabinet but also the Constitution of India. It was a decision taken in bad faith.

Now Mr. P.Chithambaram reiterated that he would support amalgamation of Public Sector Banks if they - on their own - came up with such a proposal.

The above thinking was a dangerous one. The industrialists had been approaching different banks for money. Once amalgamated, they will be able to remove the entire money through one bank. This would lead to flight of capital. Many others would not get it.

Besides the above, the industrialists wanted to bring the co-operative banks under the control of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This again is to remove the money from the co-operative banks. These tendencies must be nipped in the bud.

Therefore,  on 10 September 2004  the letter No.39 was sent to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India. The first 10 letters and the events that prompted those letters were also sent to him along with that letter.

The letter decried the efforts taken by the industrialists to bring all cooperative banks under the sole control of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).  This was to thwart the proposal of Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India and Mr. P.Chithambaram to amalgamate the Public Sector Banks. Further, the word “ex-propriatocracy” was coined to describe the situation.  It was letter No.8 sent after Dr. Manmohan Singh assumed charge as the Prime Minister of India. Overall, it was letter No.39 

The letter  follows.

 From

V.SABARIMUTHU

Thattankonam

Vellicode

 Mulagumoodu 629167

To

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

His Excellency the President of India

Presidential Palace

 New Delhi

Your Excellency

             Kindly consider how 1000 million people are being expropriated.      

1.   Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, on 27 September 2004 said that the decision makers would make “honest mistakes” and the people must live with such mistakes. All right thinking people would agree with this. However, the people draw their own conclusions on the charges against any leader. Tomorrow, the present Finance Minister would become the Prime Minister of India. Therefore, the Prime Minister or the CVC must have given answers to the four questions present in the letter dated 31-5-2004 even if they were likely to be unpleasant. Dr. Manmohan Singh, apparently, believes that such mega manipulations must be swallowed and not questioned by the mortal man. Why should the people be kept in perpetual darkness? Is it not expropriation?

2.   Dr. Manmohan Singh, further, said that the leaders were living in a world of great uncertainties. In this connection, it must be pointed out that the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Governor of the RBI, Chief Justice of India, CBI Director, CVC and above all the President of India have no right, duty or responsibility to manipulate the financial institutions to the advantage/disadvantage of any industrialists because of the simple reason that they must be the powerful supervisors in India. Therefore, they should not allow themselves to be destabilized by breeding manipulations. Apparently, former RBI Governor, one Finance Minister, at least one Cabinet Minister and a Director of the BSNL lost their positions because of the manipulations. At least three Chief Justices and many learned judges lost their lusture during the last five years. Former and present Prime Ministers also are being affected. Therefore, all financial institutions - other than the UTI - must be barred from manipulating the Stock Exchange by advancing money to anyone in any manner. The 5% that  is equivalent to about Re. 100,000 crore allotted to less than1000 broker boys is out and out unconstitutional as it leads to the expropriation of 1000 million people.

2.In response to the letter No.1dated 1-6-2001, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, former Prime Minister, conducted a series of meetings with various committees. He then convened the meeting of the Advisory Council of the Trade and Industry in September 2001 for reviving the economy.  Most of the ministers, higher officials and the prominent industrialists attended the meeting. To the utter disappointment of the industrialists, he conveyed the decision of the government to utilize the surplus deposits in banks for development purposes.  Shocked by the announcement, the industrialists did not allow him to sleep peacefully even for two days. They demanded him to convene the Economic Advisory Council immediately. He obliged. All the above dignitaries attended the meeting.  Keeping him in a tight corner, the Finance Minister opposed the decision and wanted to garner money through privatization. Four months of active discussion went in vain. The Prime Minister was no more in full control of the system. He tried to wriggle out but partially failed. The will of the people was snatched away by the will of the industrialists. Thus, within a few days, the Government sold Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC) to Tata Sons for Re. 207 crore, a price lower than the market price; and the HTL to Himachal Futuristic Communication Ltd for Re. 152 crore. When the VSNL was sold, the Prime Minister cried and compared the PSUs to pillars. The media began to flatter him whenever they succeeded in snatching one PSU or other from the government. When the VSNL was sold, this writer clubbed it with the Re. 850 crore deal by Bank of India. Then, the Prime Minister began to apply brakes on banks and the interest rates fell. Further, he kept in abeyance several Cabinet decisions presumably through his Principal Secretary and hence many PSUs like the SCI escaped. The industrialists occasionally criticized him for not carrying out the privatization with full vigour. The nature of the forces working in Delhi to expropriate 1000 million people could be gauged.

3.     In an election meeting at Rajkot in Gujarat, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, had asked the people whether a Government that ‘cheated people of their hard-earned money ever do any good for Gujarat and it went down well with the people. “The Hindu” reported this on December 9, 2002. The people have a natural right to enjoy the benefits of the words of political leaders. Any denial would go down as expropriation.

5.    Again, addressing a meeting in Himachal Pradesh on 11 December 2002, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi lashed out at the ‘disastrous’ economic policy of the Government.

      In contrast, Mr. P. Chithambaram,  on 31 December 2002, in a lengthy article in “The New Indian Express” said, “Why are some people happy with government control? The reason is it enables rent seeking. Ministers want control, so they oppose disinvestments. Bureaucrats want control, so they write meaningless rules and regulations. Bankers want control, so they put retired bankers on the boards of companies. Judges want control so they enter the field reserved for the executive under the pretext that the executive has failed to act. Government policies must be designed to break this stranglehold of controls. There is no better place to begin than disinvestments in PSUs and downsizing the central government. Before the year 2003 is out, Mr. A.B.Vajpayee must ensure disinvestments in at least two dozen PSUs (including some banks) are privatized and that totally redundant jobs in the central government are abolished”. The people reposed their faith in the words of the former and rejected the words of the latter. However, the latter rules the Nation. Is it not expropriation by the expropriated?

6.   What happens in India cannot be understood easily as the media concoct stories for every letter. Apparently, the industrialists, through one side, gave extraordinary pressure to the Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to relinquish power by giving wide publicity to the private and unofficial utterances of some political leaders. Form the other side; the industrialists pick pocketed the mandate of the people from her by indicating the groomed people. They wanted the post of Prime Minister besides the portfolios of Finance, Commerce and Petroleum. They got all the four in one go leaving her with all residual powers. Within hours mega manipulations started.  Now the industrialists proclaim to the world that she is the real power centre in India! Is it not for ex-propriation?

7.        The argument in the JMM case was that Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao, the then Prime Minister used money power to defeat the will of the people. Here, the industrialists utilized the media inclusive of the public sector TV channel (DD) to pocket the mandate of the people. Why should the DD expropriate 1000 million people?

8.      It is said that no lines can be laid down for civil or political wisdom. It is said that they are a matter incapable of exact definition.

    The people from east, west, north and south becoming the Prime Ministers of India would definitely kill regionalism.

    However, due to the manipulations of the financial institutions in the last three months, the bankruptcy of the LIC would be hastened by one year, Pay Commission benefits of state government employees would be delayed by at least one year, not less than 1000 children would die of malnutrition and more than 1000 aged would die of starvation besides affecting the economic activity all over India. This is worse than the terrorism in the Chechen School where 300 children had been killed by terrorists. Therefore, if the LIC and the banks had released any money to buy any shares to the advantage/disadvantage of any company directly or indirectly with the knowledge of the Prime Minister, he must consider the question of dispassionately examining whether the letter No.14 addressed to his Excellency the President of India on 19 October 2002 is applicable to him as well or not.

9.       It is said that if there is an idea of the Good, the people must have the freedom to discuss it, eagerness to discuss it and to apply it. It is said that the duty of the Government is to combine the entire three.  So long as the four questions regarding the “cash rich enterprises” and other questions remain unanswered people would think that democracy has passed on to  “ex-propriatocracy”-an extremist form of democracy unknown to Political Science.

 10. This is the letter No.39.The disqualification of these letters is the culmination of expropriation. However, these letters might go down as a highly specialized contribution to society. The letters fit well with the structural needs of the society. As Plato says that men have an unquenchable thirst for the Good, Dr.Manmohan Singh could publish all letters one by one in all newspapers - giving answers to unanswered questions. This will show how precisely the media directed attention to wrong things. The first ten letters along with the facts that prompted those letters are sent to His Excellency the President of India, CVC and the CBI Director for this purpose.

Vellicode                                                                                          Yours faithfully

10-9-2004.                                                                              

                                                                                                              (V.SABARIMUTHU)

           

         

Perhaps as a consequence of the letters, Dr. Manmohan Singh on 12 September 2004 sent a circular to all ministries requesting them not to air out any policy decision without his approval. Apparently, he felt that that people were watching every move of the government. Still another reason was to take the Left parties into confidence.

On the next day, he told the officials and the ministers that 2004 was not 1991.

CHAPTER 7

7.

THE IDEA OF THE GOOD

The Tata Iron and Steel Company on 16 August 2004 announced that that it had signed definitive agreements with Nat Steel Ltd, Singapore, to acquire all of NatSteel’s steel business for $486.4 (1313 crore). In this connection Mr. B.Muthuraman, Managing Director of Tata Steel, said that the acquisition was for the globalization of Tata Steel. With this transaction; Tata Steel increased its manufacturing footprint to seven new countries in Asia. On the same day, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) got the ownership and the management control of the German specialty polyester manufacturer Trevira, following European Commission’s approval.

Trevira had a capacity of 1.3 lakh tones annually of polyester yarn and with this the combined polyester yarn capacity of Reliance increased to 18 lakh tones.

The amount paid by the RIL was not given. These acquisitions confirmed the conclusion that the industrialists in India wanted to buy assets all over the world through simple manipulations of the Indian financial institutions.

On 17 August 2004, the letter Nos. 31 to 37 was sent the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) with a covering letter.

In the August 23, 2004 issue of the “Businessworld”, Mr. Mr.Ranjit Shastri, Director of PSi’s strategic Consulting and Private Equities Activities, said that the biggest threat to the progress and integration of Afghanistan was its local warlords. Perhaps, keeping this writer in mind, he deplored that in India the incumbents did not use the sward to maintain their position but used the pen to argue against foreign investments.

In the same issue, a Mr. Subroto Bagchi said that enemy was within, and it was going to be more difficult to engage. Obviously, he considered this writer as the enemy of the nation.

In the August 29 issue of the “Business Today” published as “Business today” a Mr. Ashish Gupta said that the public sector banks were under the constant watch of the CVC, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Parliament. The message was that none others need to bother about corruption.

On 21 August 2004, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, in an AICC session at Delhi, described Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, as a man of great learning, administrative experience and impeccable reputation. On the next day, she requested the party men not to waste their time praising her.

          Inaugurating the JRD Tata Centenary Celebration organized by the Assocham on 24 August 2004, the Prime Minister promised to end the tyranny of “inspector raj”(investigation agencies). He said that the first hundred days were painful days and were wasted. Further, he said that the common people would have to be associated with the government. Curiously, Mr. Ratan Tata was not present in the meeting.

     On 27 August 2004, inaugurating a two-day biennial conference of State Anticorruption Bureau and the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Prime Minister said, “There must be a code of ethics for all individuals in public life. However, the investigation agencies should not adopt investigative procedures that kill management initiative and stunt individual enterprise and risk-taking. Management is an art - and not science - requiring individual initiative, creativity and willingness in the larger interest of the enterprise. Therefore, it is not possible for the government to depend purely on individual ethics or morality or public opinion to deal with the malaise of corruption.

      There has been a spurt in economic offences such as financial frauds, bank and stock market scams and money laundering and cyber crimes. A strong link has developed between economic offences, and the anti-social and terrorist organizations. In these circumstances, the criminals could hide anywhere in the world.

The aim of economic reform is to make the government less intrusive and discretionary and more transparent. Many of those reforms have an added beneficial effect of ending the hypocrisy that had come to characterize some of the industrial policies where one said one thing on paper and allowed another in reality. Rational politics, transparent procedures, simple rules are having the positive externality of reducing the scope of corruption.

The investigation officers must know that in public life one is living with a world of great uncertainty and as such honest mistakes could be made. Hence you must distinguish between “honest mistakes”, and “willful defiance” of the rule of law”.

His speech showed that a feeble investigation was going on based on the letters. Further, his words, “one said one thing on paper and allowed another in reality” are the characteristics features of his rule.

Now Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Petroleum Minister, said that “a responsive government” had to give priority to holding the price line when inflation is creeping and hence the petroleum prices would not be increased immediately.

Now, the system released money from the banks to buy the shares of TCS. Many such manipulations began to happen secretly and in bad faith. Therefore,  the letter No.38 was sent to His Excellency the President of India. The letter criticized the system for releasing money for buying the shares of the TCS at an inflated price. The letter follows.

From

V.SABARIMUTHU

Thattankonam,

 Vellicode,

Mulagumoodu 629167

To

Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

His Excellency the President of India

Presidential Palace

New Delhi

Your Excellency

                Kindly consider the reasons why the Prime Minister of India and the Finance Minister of India are expropriating 1000 million people.

1.       Several letters have been sent to the President of India to annul some false, wicked and unconstitutional doctrines of the Supreme Court.

     However, the Supreme Court is not ready to rectify the error.

    Though heterogeneity in the constitution of the benches would foil unity of judges to some extent, the reason for the problem, it seems, is not caste or religion but defective education.

 Plato, 2300 years ago, said that the root of human trouble is defective education and the cure for those troubles is education that is not defective. His view appeared as an abstract one. However, it required 37 letters for this writer to realize his foresight.

      The new Prime Minister could have taken effective steps to annul such judgments.

 2.      When the Unit Trust of India (UTI) sought a loan of Re.2000 crore from the State Bank of India (SBI), this writer sent a letter to the Chief Justice of India to restrain the SBI from lending money to it.

     But for that letter, the banks- at the instance of the government- would have given money to it and all nationalized banks would have fallen into the “black hole” and met the fate of the Global Trust Bank. That letter actually saved the nation from a great crisis.

      Now, as soon as assuming power, the new Prime Minister wanted the LIC to invest Re.9000 crore into the Stock Market without any thought for the Constitution, 31 letters and the experience gained by the UTI.

       As if these were not sufficient, the Prime Minister – apparently- released more than Re. 30,000 crore through banks to buy the shares worth Re.5000 crore.

        The banks and the LIC were created not to gamble in the stock market like the UTI. Is it not expropriation? 

3.      The Union Cabinet under the NDA had barred the PSUs from importing anything exceeding Re. 5 crore. Later, High Court, Delhi permitted the BSNL to import cell phones worth Re. 5000 crore. This writer brought this to the notice of the President of India. The BSNL on 11 August 2004 disclosed its decision to buy GSM equipment orders worth about $862 million with Canada’s Nortel Networks Inc and Finland’s Nokia.

The Government might say that there is nothing wrong in buying and selling. However, did the Union Cabinet cancel the earlier decision? Did the BSNL buy the cell phones worth Re. 5,000 crore? Did the present Government take any decision in this regard?  All right thinking people would think that the people are being expropriated because nothing is known to anyone.

4.     This writer has been writing letters to prevent the flight of capital from the states and conversion of public money into private money.

The NDA government permitted the industrialists to take money for investments abroad. This was for expropriating Indians.

The letters now lead to a new realization that the industrialists want the FDI not for the progress of India but to sow public funds in foreign countries as private money. Their reasoning is that a country that invites the FDI must allow flight of capital as well. Is this theory not for expropriation?

5.      A Union Cabinet Minister has been knocked out. A Chief Minister also has resigned and is now in jail. This writer reported to the President of India that “The New Indian Express” and “The Hindu” on 26 October 2002 threatened to eliminate this writer. No action has been taken presumably because they are more important than the Union Ministers and Chief Ministers. Why do the law enforcing agencies retreat on seeing them? Is it a false complaint? All right thinking people would think that those who are inclined to expropriate alone would hesitate to take action against the expropriators. 

6.     The newspapers continue to point out the progress of China. China - just like England before 1947 - imports iron and iron ore worth Re. 10,000 crore from India and sells its finished products worth Re. 20,000 crore through normal and abnormal routes. Every Indian has a Chinese pen in his pocket and a “Made in China” bulb in front of his house. The Chinese makes the lock of his house too. As a result, a large number of industries in India have decomposed.

     In 1962, China subjugated India by force. Today it does the same through business.

      India needs large investments. Yet, the industrialists in India invest public funds in China although a large part of Indian Territory is still in its hands.

      Less than ten industrialists control the whole system in India. This is not so in China.

     Unlike the Chinese, Indians still die of starvation. The starving population in India is several times greater than the total population of many countries like Afghanistan, Australia.

     Unlike India, China is neither ready to sell their ships nor ready to sell their airliners. China would not have attained the present position if it had permitted expropriation as in India at all although there also must be some expropriating groups.

7.     Further, even the President of the Newspapers Society of India refuses to publish these letters. The Delhi edition of the TIME magazine too apparently ignores these letters. It is said that in Greek even the horses and asses were gorged with freedom. Are the people not entitled to know this? The media including the DD are executing press freedom.    

8. The Finance Minister - opening his budget speech on 8 July 2004 - talked about the mandate of the people.

The truth apparently is that that the mandate remains pledged to the industrialists.

Did the Congress President ask the Government to privatize airports or direct the Prime Minister to release Re. 9000 crore from the LIC to the Stock Market?

Did the Congress President tell the Government to sell the shares of the NTPC without devising a scheme for reserving them to the people of various States? 

Did the Congress President force the Prime Minister to release more than Re. 30,000 crore from the Public Sector Banks to buy shares of the TCS?

Did the Congress President want the Prime Minister to convert the money collected through public issues into private money abroad?

Does the Congress President stand in the way of giving answers to the questions in letter No.32?

These are simply preposterous questions.

The truth is that the Prime Minister expropriates 1000 million people as if he has a mandate for the same.

9.     This is letter No.38. Letters from 31 to 37 were sent to the CVC on 17-8-2004. The earlier letters were sent to the CVC on 22-8-2004. Yet, the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister were single minded in their decision to buy the shares of the TCS. It is unlawful and unconstitutional. It is clear that the evil latently exists everywhere. 

Commerce Minister, Petroleum Minister and the HRD Minister would have supported the Prime Minister.

The former Prime Minister gave public money to an industrialist to buy the VSNL.

The Present Prime Minister gave the same money to the same person for buying companies all over the world.

 The former gave the money as loan. The latter gave the money in the name of buying some papers, the value of which is negligible or unknown. The latter Prime Minister did this presumably because the industrialists made him the Prime Minister of India. This is nothing but pinnacle of corruption.  It is equivalent to more than Re. 100,000 crore.

Now, unless otherwise prevented, the Prime Minister would permit the conversion of public money into private assets abroad.

10.The knowledge that any defeat for this Government today might lead to enslavement tomorrow would force the people to support this Government.

 However, the expropriated becoming the expropriators is very dangerous because people would think that the good does not exist and that there is no way to escape from their predicament. The Government is now “impelled to seek a good, that is, a good suited to the expropriators”.

       But Plato insists “a passionate longing for the good, will drive the best of Souls, in which Reason commands, to know and to identify themselves with the Reality behind all Realities, the Idea behind all Ideas, the Idea of the Good”. According to him, when Reason rules,  man is following the Idea of the Good.

Vellicode                                                                                  Yours faithfully,

27-8-2004.

                                                                                               (V.SABARIMUTHU)

           

         

The letter sent through email might have reached His Excellency the President of India while he was on his way to Madurai in Tamil Nadu. When he was asked to give his reaction to the view of the Prime Minister that there must be a code of conduct for everyone, the President said that this must occur in the inner mind of “the people”.

The President left for New Delhi at night.  It appeared that the President handed over the letter immediately after reaching Delhi. The Prime Minister cancelled all his public engagements on health grounds. Thus he cancelled his scheduled visit to Chennai on 28-8-2004.

There was a Coordination Committee meeting of the UPA on the next day.

Everything remained secret.

 However, Dr.M.Karunanidhi - in a message - said that the dubious campaign unleashed by the opposition would have no bearing on his credibility. He disclosed his belief that his integrity could never be eroded.

Mr. Arjun Singh, Human Resource Development Minister, on 31 August 2004 said that there were no two power centres at the centre.

On 2 September 2004, the Business Line said that Dr. Manmohan Singh had a baptism by fire. The paper added that his first 100 days were really hot. The reason given by the paper was that the Budget for 2004-2005 was passed for the first time without a discussion in the Parliament. Obviously, it was a trivial reason.

Further, the newspapers concocted a story by saying that the Prime Minister was hurt because his colleagues were knocking at the doors of the Congress President on all issues related to governance.

The paper disclosed that a coterie close to the Congress President was seeking to drive a wedge between the Congress President and the Prime Minister.

Describing the Congress President as the real power center in India, the paper requested the Congress President to give more elbow room to the man she had chosen to head the Government in the best interest of the farmers and the downtrodden.

The Prime Minister, in his first press conference on 4 September 2004 said that the people had rejected the NDA Government and given him a mandate. He added that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was a natural product of that mandate. He explained that there was no foundation to the insinuation that there were two power centres. He asserted that he would not be pressured into giving up his job half way on any account.

To a question that the greatest threat to Dr. Manmohan Singh was Manmohan himself, he predicted that his Government would last its full five years. The worry of the industrialists was that he should not relinquish power.

The reporters were very restrained; and they asked only one question regarding the so-called reform. To that question, the Prime Minister said that there were different perceptions regarding reforms and he had to take everything into account.

On the next day, in connection with the “Teachers Day” the Prime Minister said that the teachers were the builders of the Nation. He added that he himself was a teacher and he came to politics by accident. The President on the same day described teachers as walking encyclopedias.

On 7 September 2004, the Prime Minister directed the Defense Minister to bring the country’s watchdog organizations- Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) - in the Arms Procurement Board.

Actually, those who monitor purchasing should not take part in purchasing. Further, the Defense Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee disclosed that the Government was in the process of reconstituting these Procurement Boards in his ministry to make the process more transparent. It is clear that the 38 letters sent to the CVC had that much effect.

On 8 September 2004, Mr.Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group, said that his group would open a cancer hospital in West Bengal besides making major investments in West Bengal.

On the same day, Mr. R.K.Krishna Kumar, Vice Chairman of Tata Tea Limited, said that their aim was global acquisitions. Mr.Ratan Tata said that his group was looking at acquisitions of hotels and resorts at overseas locations.

On the same day, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former Prime Minister of India, said that the political situation was changing fast. He attributed the reason to the “satyagraha” organized by his party for the withdrawal of the “false cases” against Miss Uma Bharathi.

6. Manmohan Singh- Sonia Gandhi-Poison

6

POISON

Economic matters:

The Supreme Court on 28 July 2004 issued notices to the Centre, Dabhol power Company, Enron Power Development Corporation, Central Electricity Authority and Maharashtra Electricity Board on an application by the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU).

A farmer on 30 July 2004 went to the District Collector Office at Nagapattinam in the Tamil Nadu State seeking relief from the District Collector. As the Collector had left the office, he consumed poison and died.

The initial public offering of the TCS on 30 July 2004 was over subscribed by 1.6 times (8.5 Million shares) on the second day of the offer itself. 60 % of the offer was reserved for Qualified Institutional Bidders (QIB). The FII limit in TCS was 24%. There was a green shoe option of 83.17 lakh shares. The IPO of the TCS was oversubscribed by 8 times within a few days. There were reports that the banks lavishly gave Re.10 lakhs each to individuals to buy shares.

The decision to lend money to some individuals was an arbitrary decision. It was out and out unconstitutional.

 Instead of saying that the money in LIC belongs to about ten industrialists, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, and Mr. P.Chithambaram, Finance Minister, gave the money to the TCS. In this way, they discharged their contractual obligation. The Union Cabinet also might have approved their policy.

Mrs. Sonia Gandhi knew the above policy. But it was not clear whether she had any view over this or not. However, the industrialists had been projecting her as a national leader only because she had been ignoring such decisions. Therefore, she might not have discussed this matter with anyone.

The above development prompted this writer to send the Letter No.6 on 10-8-2004 through email. Overall, it was Letter No. 37.

The copies of the letters were sent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The letter follows.

From

V.SABARIMUTHU

Thattankonam

Vellicode

Mulagumoodu 629167. e-mail :sabarimuthu@rediffmail.com

To

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

His Excellency the President of India

Rashtrapathi Bhavan

New Delhi

Your Excellency

            Kindly consider the reasons why the new Government must work in “good faith”.

1.Mr. Shekhar Gupta, Editor of “The New Indian Express” revealed in August 2002 that 50 per cent of the petrol pumps allotted since the NDA came to power had gone to the kith & kin of the BJP and the RSS. He wanted the people to support privatization as the MPs had misused their official position.

          This was a sufficient cause for the  Supreme Court to hand over the petrol pump sanctioning power itself to the industrialists in December 2002. It remains as a false, wicked and evil doctrine.

       When the courts in one state act in bad faith, the Supreme Court changes the cases to some other states. There must be an escape route when the Supreme Court acts in bad faith. One way is conducting Orientation Courses and Refresher Courses to give to the learned judges the knowledge of the good.

2.       The Supreme Court is now sitting on the ruins of the Constitution due to the BALCO verdict. It remains crippled as the appeal against the HPCL/BPCL verdict is still pending in the Supreme Court. Is the President of India not duty bound to restore the Constitution to its pre-eminent position?

3.         It was Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, during his stint as the Finance Minister of India introduced the concept of privatization in 1991. None realized that he had been destroying the Constitution of India from within. Brokers had been allowed to transact business worth Re. lakhs of crore. Banks had been allowed to manipulate public funds. The stock Market scam ensued and all small investors perished.

     Dr. Manmohan Singh – standing on the floor of the Parliament - then advised the people to invest their money in mutual funds like the UTI. Those who believed his words were again expropriated. None could imagine that Dr. Manmohan Singh, who had been holding the key to all treasuries in India in his capacity as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India- was oblivious of the manipulations of the industrialists?

        The spurt in the NRI remittances saved the Nation then is another matter. According to the CBI, the industrialists earned through expropriation in five years more than what they did during the preceding several years. 

            4.         The Enron Corporation forced the UF Government to sign an illegal and unreasonable agreement. It was a wrong agreement because the Enron did not increase the salaries of the employees as and when the value of the Indian currency fell. At best Enron could have been given the 1996 exchange rate for imports and profits.  Therefore, India must have filed a case against it.

      Now Enron is chasing India. It might have used political pressure also, as Mr. Dick Cheney,  Vice President of the USA, intervened with India on its behalf to make the best out of the Dabhol Power Project. It is strange that this Government did not learn any lesson from this fiasco.

            5.         In the previous month, a farmer went to Nagapattinam Collector Office in Tamil Nadu. As the District Collector was not there to receive his petition, he consumed poison and died.

      If the Government had given Re.200 or Re. 300 per month to him directly, the news of his suicide would not have disturbed many people.

     If the Government had no money to give to such people then also none would have said anything.

    The condition of the employees is not a different one. Their salaries used to double in every five years. Now it remains stagnant.

     Even part of the 1996 pay commission arrears and the periodical D.A. remain unpaid in some states.

     The recent pay benefits are also not given.

    Why should India suffer like this? Though the Government could double its income instantly, through the suggestions of this writer alone, the Government is not acting. What will the people do? Is inaction, not an act of corruption?

6.         Now Dr. Manmohan Singh,  Prime Minister, apparently, in consultation with the Finance Minister and the Governor of the RBI has asked the financial institutions to buy the shares of the TCS and other companies. Apparently, some individuals have been granted permission to take Re.10 lakh each from the banks to buy the shares. Some individuals might have availed themselves of the loan from 10 different banks or through 10 different individuals.

      If the Government continues to release money like this to the stock market, or the TCS is allowed to use the money thus collected to manipulate the stock prices, the TCS share prices will reach Re. 5000 within a year. Thus some privileged people would earn not less than Re.1crore without burning a drop of midnight oil or paying even income tax. The banks also would gain. If the share prices fall, everything will disappear as non-performing assets.

       Further, even without the help from the banks, the TCS would have sold all its shares. It wanted just Re.5000 crore but collected Re. 40,000! Why should the public money in banks go along with this? Is this the way to make the Nation rich? An investigation would reveal that the favoured people of a few states got the money from the banks.

7.    Mr. C.Rammanohar Reddy of “The Hindu” on 12 August 2001 said that the favoured companies were manipulating the policies and rules in the economic ministries over which the Office of the Prime Minister had total control. “The Indian Express” on 20 August 2002 disclosed that several corporate houses absconded after collecting Re.several crore through mega issues. In this connection, the paper mentioned Mrs. Rita Singh, Mr. Sailesh Kattary and Mr. Kumar of Delhi.

    Mr. Chandra Shekhar, former Prime Minister of India, on 21 August 2001 revealed in Parliament that a particular industrial house had stranglehold over the Government.

     Mr. Dasmunshi expanded the initialism of the UTI as the United Thieves of India.

     Mr. Kirit Somayya of the BJP said that Reliance Industries had looted the UTI.

     Mr. Alvi of the BSP said that the Prime Minister did not answer his letter against Reliance (RIL). His complaint was that the RIL used the money collected through a public issue for playing on the floor of the stock exchange. He said that even the portfolios were determined by the RIL. The Prime Minister knows this better.

8.     In the light of the above, it could be easily said that the banks and the LIC must be debarred from lending money to buy shares or using it for any speculative purposes. The 5 percent permitted in the budget to the financial institutions for brokers or for any investment in stock market is an illegal act.

      This leads to flight of capital and economic deprivation.

     It creates payment problems to the states.

      It affects the salaries of employees and wages of the workers. It is an act of corruption.

     This is misuse of prime ministerial power.

     The act of removing the public funds to invest abroad too is expropriation.

      Therefore, no due certificates from the Indian banks must be furnished before taking money abroad.

        Further, it is the convention of the Prime Minister to determine the priorities of the banks through simple nods.

     The Attorney General would tell the President that expropriation of 1000 million people by the Prime Minister through any ploy is unconstitutional.

       The Prime Minister and the Finance Minister would not agree with this.  

       Mrs. Sonia Gandhi would say that she was ignorant of everything connected with the economy. This is, perhaps, the reason why Plato said that power in the hands of the ignorant is poison. 

9.     It is letter No.37. It is said that men will not always reconcile themselves to continual stinging.

       Plato says that the very means whereby the brutal man sought to become the better man would ensure that he became the worse.

   Hence, there must be a limit for writing letters. In fact, it is not possible for this writer go on writing like this.

     But some one must convey the aberrations of the people.

    One would imagine that the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and the old “Super Cabinet” are the real beneficiaries of the above manipulations.

 This would propel the people to think that the Prime Minister owes his present position to the industrialists.

    This would push the people to think that the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister are enjoying the rewards of the benefits they bestowed to the industrialists in the past.

10.Even the Greek - 2300 years ago -said that no greater calamity could come upon a people than the privation of free speech.

        All newspapers are aware of the existence of these letters. More than 20 letters of this writer are with Mr. M.P.Veerandra Kumar, President of the Indian Newspaper Society. They are not ready to mention the name of this writer at all.

      The public sector TV channel, DD, under Dr. Manmohan Singh too remains as a distorting vicious force.

 Further, there is a real threat to the life this writer. This shows how brutal and barbarous man can be to man. Does the system act in good faith? The President alone knows.

Vellicode                                                                                               Yours faithfully

10-8-2004 

                                                                                                            (V.SABARIMUTHU)

The developments after the above letter.

On 9 August 2004, the Prime Minister addressed a letter to the Cabinet Ministers not to use their power to exploit the PSUs.

Mr. Mani Sankar Iyer,  Minister for Petroleum, said that even if the import duties on petroleum products were eliminated, the benefits would not reach the people.

Hectic consultations and some meetings ensued. The DD said that the Prime Minister was undertaking a review of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). The Finance Minister consulted the RBI Governor. The DD concocted a story as it described this as a discussion to control inflation.

The RBI on 9 August 2004 said that the depositors of South Indian Co-operative bank Ltd would be allowed to withdraw only upto Re. 1000/- of the total balance in every saving bank or current account or any other deposit account.

The BSNL on 11 August 2004 informed its decision to buy GSM equipment orders worth about $862 million with Canada’s Nortel Networks Inc and Finland’s Nokia.

“The New Indian Express” on 14 August 2004 reported that some $450 -$ 500 million of foreign money would flow into India to pay for the  initial public offer of the Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

In his 58 Independence Day eve address to the Nation on 14 August 2004, Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India stressed the need for improving the education policy. He advocated a uniform All India Examination System. He said that the education in its real sense is the pursuit of truth. This went down as an encouragement to this writer.

The President of India - during his visit to South Africa - wanted the younger generation to learn an educational value system, transform religion into spirituality and remove economic disparity. This again was consistent with the theme of these letters.

In his 58th Independence Day address to the Nation on 15 August 2004, Dr. Manmohan Singh said that he had to make the officials more accountable and the Government more transparent.

He emphasized that the national progress was a collective enterprise.

He acknowledged that the citizens increasingly demand a Government accountable to the people.

He pointed out that the people wanted not only probity but also efficiency in public affairs.

He stressed the principles of secularism, social justice and the equality of all before law.

As the question of ethics was agitating the mind of the people, he wanted a code of ethics for all political parties, all individuals in public life and a code of best practices for the Government at all levels.

He gave a promise to look within the political parties and themselves to find out the root cause of the decline in the values in public life.

“The Hindu” said that the accent was on reforming the ways the Government functioned.