CHAPTER 10

10

      BULLETS

On 24 September 2004, Mr. Jain, Chairman of the public sector NTPC, disclosed that 86.5 crore shares of the NTPC would be sold. He said that the issue would open on October 7 and close on October 14. He added that the shares would be listed in the stock exchanges on November 8-9.  

The principal opposition party –the BJP – , the Left parties and the other political parties did not oppose the sale of the NTPC with any seriousness. Even the workers digested this.

The Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Mr. Vayalar Revi, on the same day said that a new initiative to outline the opportunities for Investments for Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) would be announced in January 2005.

The High Court, Cochin -  on the same day - admitted a public interest litigation and issued notice to the Civil Aviation Ministry to give reason why the 2003 amendment to the Airport Authority of India Bill 1994 should not be annulled on the ground that the amendment would adversely affect the security of the airports. The amendment empowered the Government to lease out Airports to private parties.  Joint Forum of Airport Authority Employees filed the petition. Later, the case went into oblivion.

Mr. Soli J.Sorabjee wrote a half page article titled “Rights have duties” in “The Indian Express” on 27 September 2004. He concluded the article saying,  “the youth who retain some idealism are the best investment”. It must be noted that many right thinking people believe that nothing would move in Delhi without his permission.

Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav - on the same day - said that that the NDA Government sold rice to foreign countries when Indians died of starvation.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, His Excellency the President of India - on the same day -said that he favoured the post of President being brought under the purview of Lok Ayukt or Lok Pal- an independent organization to probe the charges against the Public Servants.

On the next day, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India - presumably for public consumption - said that public functionaries, including him, should be brought under the ambit of the Lok Pal. He promised that the UPA Government would enact the Lok Pal Act and the Freedom of Information Act (FIA) as per the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the UPA. He added that the Lok Pal was more urgent at that time than ever before. These words indicated that the CBI, CVC and the NHRC were severally or collectively giving some troubles to him.

Mr. Singh, however, did not mean what he said because the Lok Pal remained elusive till May 2011.

On 27 September 2004, Tata Motors listed its securities on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It was the first Indian Engineering Company to list its securities on the NYSE.

The CBI on 29 September 2004 carried out countywide searches and registered a case against a former director of the National Highway Authority of India against whom Mr. Satyendra Dubey had leveled allegations of corruption.

The Union Cabinet on 29 September 2004 decided to set up Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the print media policy. This GoM –for all practical purposes - became defunct from the date of formation to May 2011.

On the same day, the Union Cabinet approved the constitution of a National Commission for the welfare of the socially and economically backward sections among the religious and linguistic minorities. What the above commission did was not known to the people till May 2011.

On 1 October 2004, the Government promulgated an ordinance to regularize the licenses granted to Cooperative Societies registered under Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act (MSCS Act) to overcome the Supreme Court judgment of October 29, 2002 and to make MSCS Banks “eligible banks” under Section 2(gg) of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) Act. It was a highly positive step.

Talking to students at Chennai on 2 October 2004, Dr. Abdul Kalam said that his dream was for a prosperous, peaceful and safe India. He said that India needed good human beings to accomplish it. This was consistent with these letters.

Speaking to teachers on the same day, Dr. Kalam said that education in its real sense was pursuit of the truth, an endless journey through knowledge and enlightenment. It opened new vitas and there was no room for pettiness, enmity or other base emotions. He said that education, besides enhancing the dignity and self-respect of a person, transformed a “being” into “a noble soul”. This, again was an act of encouragement as the suspicion regarding the points raised by this writer deepened.

The words “base emotions” must be noted. He used the words while in Chennai. He knew that his words would reach this writer. He, apparently, thought that the present writer quoted the words of Plato - “they concern the relations of men in the dimness of the cave”- in the previous chapter in the wrong sense. He wanted to see that this writer did not use any inadvertent words that might spoil the value of this work. It was not actually so. He might have understood this in due course.

On October 2, 2004 about 50 people were killed and over 100 injured in powerful bomb blasts in the railway station and nearby markets at Dimapur in Nagaland. The hand of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) was suspected. The Government had to rush 40 companies of paramilitary forces to control the situation.

The October 4, 2004 issue of “Business World’ published an article by Mr. Ashok V. Desai, consultant editor of “The Telegraph”. In that article he demanded Mr. Dayanidhi Maran, Minister for Communication, to privatize the MTNL and BSNL to save them from competition. He cautioned that the cost of his delay would run into trillions. He said this to usurp the above Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) using public fund or ill-gotten fund. In fact, they withstood the competition while paying higher salary to its employees.

The two-judge committee probing the petrol pump scam concluded that almost 70% of the allotments were irregular and should be cancelled. The system simply connived at the report and nothing happened till May 2011.

Dr. Manmohan Singh on 6 October 2004 said that 1. Those who generate wealth were worthy of the nation’s respect. 2. Corruption in public life was another evil. 3. The tax system leads to harassment and delays. 4. The Government would look at many proposals before it. However, there was no time before the budget to bring the changes.5. The Government was committed to extend reservation for weaker sections in the private sector, as the inherent inequalities of the weaker sections should not become a cumulative burden. However, it must be done voluntarily by industry. The problems in India are not the creation of the international economic system but were caused by the deficiencies within the system. In this connection he said, “Nobody can prevent an idea, whose time has come…those opposing the move will not be able to do so once a natural policy is put in place.6.The National Advisory Committee chaired by Sonia Gandhi was examining the lacunae in the Right to Information Act. 7. The “Lok Pal Act” that had been discussed for 22 years would be placed before Parliament.8. He could not see why India could not duplicate the efforts of China to attract foreign direct investment.

Dr. Singh quoted “Nobody can prevent an idea, whose time has come…” thereby indirectly meaning this work.

Further, the private sector did not introduce reservation till May 2011. His assurance that the “Government was committed to the reservation in the private sector” had no practical meaning. His other observations were similarly related.

The Government on 7 October 2004 sold 8.6583 crore shares of the NTPC within 15 minutes of its opening. None in India uttered even a word against it. Mr. L.K. Advani latently supported it. Even the Left parties did not open their mouth. On the next day, it was oversubscribed by 4.83 times.

The October 10, 2004 issue of the “business today” wrote an article titled “Starting up isn’t easy”. The sub-title of the article was “Doing business in India is pain. Nepal or Bhutan make more sense, reckons the World Bank”.

This writer on 10 October 2004 sent his Letter No. 41 to Dr. Abdul Kalam at 2.30 P.M. The sale of the shares of the NTPC prompted this letter. The letter clearly said that the Government was selling shares to some people through one side and giving bullets to some other people through the other side. 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 predicament of the 1000 million people.

1.    The four questions in the letter No.32 dated 31-5-2004 still remain unanswered. None would have doubted the integrity of Dr. Manmohan Singh if he had acted on the letter through law to regulate the motive of self-interest for the production of happiness.

2         The logical consequence of the HPCL/BPCL judgement is that all privatized PSUs must be taken back forthwith. The inaction of Dr. Singh in this matter vitiates the “unity and integrity of the nation present in the Constitution.” The Attorney General would tell the President that it his paramount duty to point out this to the Prime Minister. When the President of India fails, Constitution of India fails.

3.    The Life Insurance Corporation if India (LIC) must have trainloads of useless physical shares in its go downs. Considering this and other manipulations, the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) was on 17 August 2004, requested to restrain the LIC and banks from advancing money directly or indirectly to anyone to buy the shares of any stake. The CVC would have promptly done his job because it is his duty to prevent manipulation. Apparently, the LIC and the banks advanced huge amounts to buy the shares of the TCS at an inflated price. As the financial institutions proclaim to the world that they take orders from Delhi to release money, the RBI Governor is liable for prosecution. However, Dr. Singh would protect him to save his own position. What would the people do?

4.   When this writer sought permission to send US$ 12800 as co-contribution to “The American International Publishers” to publish his book in Inorganic Chemistry, the RBI rejected the request vide Ref.No.M.A.E.C.TPM/1231/126(Misc)/95-96,22nd February 1996. Now, though the foreign exchange reserve has increased, the foreign debt burden too has increased. There is no respite in misery and poverty of the people. The distressing situation of the farmers and others reveals this. Therefore, the industrialists must be forbidden from taking at least public money abroad to invest as private assets. The President of India could watch all big transactions of the LIC, banks and other PSUs through his computer everyday. However, the Prime Minister is not directing the financial institutions to reveal their transactions to the media now.

5.    The President would have noticed through his computer the transactions of V.Sabarimuthu, Loan A/C 4600006967 in the LIC-HFL. It is clear that the computer of the LIC-HFL has added several plus and minuses on 3-6-2004 and increased the outstanding loan from Re.194841. 70 to Re.204841.70 after swallowing Re.10.000/- paid in cash for rewriting the loan. There is no reply from anyone even for this. What would the people do?

6.    Despite 40 letters, the Dr. Singh has proved tellingly that his Government could sell the shares of the NTPC to anyone in whatever way it likes. In this connection, it must be pointed out that attacking the privatization of the HPCL/BPCL the present Minister for Water Resources on 24 April 2003 single handedly disrupted the Parliament. The other members of the Congress supported him saying that the Government was ‘looting and plundering’ the nation. Is there any difference between the privatization of the HPCL and the HTPC? Further, Sonia Gandhi too proclaimed to the people of Assam - during election canvassing - that the Congress Party would make Assam as rich as Maharashtra or Gujarat. This is nothing but the dominant theme of these letters. On 1, October 2004 - during election canvassing at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh - she said that the Government was committed to the development of the North-East. Did the people of the North-East get any shares of the NTPC? Alas, they are getting bullets in equal proportion! Even England, a capitalistic but a small country, did not allow anyone to hold more than 10% shares of any important company during privatization. The Government would not have lost anything other than private interest if it had apportioned the shares of the NTPC among all states. The Attorney General would tell the President that discrimination by the Union Government under any pretext between citizen and citizen on grounds of place of birth is illegal and unconstitutional. Surely, the strength of the Constitution depends on the strength and wisdom of the President of India.

7.    The insurgents in the North-East kill our innocent children like animals. We, in turn, shoot down our own boys like birds. They seemingly want to protect their assets for their children. We ostensibly want to preserve the same to enable less than ten industrialists to buy or build castles in the UK and USA at the cost of unity and integrity of India. The Prime Minister could have solved 75% percent problems of the North-East within one weak of assuming office. He could have asked the states to take full control of petrol/diesel/kerosene/gas distribution. He could have apportioned the BSNL and the LIC to various states. He could have asked the states to sell or buy various commodities and exploit their mineral resources, all for happiness. Instead, he wants to give the mineral wealth of India to companies like Sterilite. He wants to give all roads in India to the Reliance to lay cables. He wants to give all exploration and distribution licenses to the Reliance within two months for obvious reasons. In fine, he wants to give everything to less than ten industrialists, all at the cost of unity and integrity of India present in the Constitution. The Government shall take gun only after discharging its minimum duties for the unity and integrity of the Nation.

8.    This is letter No.41. Copies of most of the letters have been sent to the NHRC, CVC and the CBI. The Attorney General would tell the President that the concealment of the letters could be construed as a conspiracy. There is nothing new in it. Jeremy Bentham, (1748-1832) was an English. However, Parliaments in Spain and Portugal voted to publish his book on legislation at the national expense long before it gained acceptance in England. Now, it is the paramount duty of the NHRC to publish these letters one by one in all newspapers along with all events at the national expense because only public opinion would restrain the abuses of power. Further, Domosthenes says, and Euripides proclaims:

              “ This is true liberty, when free-born men,

                 Having to advise the public, may speak free”

 9.   Therefore, Dr. Manmohan Singh  was requested to impose 0.1% transaction tax on all payments and withdrawals. This one line suggestion would fetch not less than Re.1000 crore per day. All Highways could be converted into two-way roads in one year, D.A. could be given to employees, jobs could be given to workers, and income tax burden could be averted. Dr. Singh save 10,000 human lives in one year.  However, he simply ignores this presumably to feign dearth of funds. What would the people do?

10.      The only consolation is that it is the condition everywhere. Thus, Plato saw “ every where the predicament in which men found themselves. Doing what their natures suggested to them, they found not what they sought, but turmoil and strife and agony and death. This was so because to be mistaken seemed part of their very natures. They desired, as all men must, “the good for man”; “that would make man’s life happy,” “that without which man can never know peace”. But they looked for it in the wrong places. They chose evil because they thought that would be a good for them. Even the best of these were unhelpful. Themistocles and Pericles were accounted great statesmen, but they failed to make their people “better and gentler… They directed attention preciously to those wrong things to which man anyhow was so likely to be attracted.” Is it not the predicament of 1000 million people now?

Vellicode                                                                                      Yours faithfully

10-10-2004

                                                                                                (V.SABARIMUTHU)                                                   

             

It appeared that Dr. Abdul Kalam handed over the letter to the Minister for Water Resources Mr. P.R. Munshi as Dr. Manmohan Singh was in the Maharashtra. Immediately, the media concocted a story saying that the Minister for Water Resources would meet Dr. Singh to take a decision on the question of interlinking of rivers. Apparently, he cancelled his programme slated for 11 October 2004 at Maharashtra in connection with the State Assembly Elections to discuss the fall out of the letter. On the next day, the Government said that Mr. Shivaraji Patel, Minister for Home, would meet the Bodo militants on 13 October 2004.

On 12 October 2004 the Supreme Court took up the appeal against the HPCL/BPCL judgment. The counsel for the Government said that the Government was undertaking a review of the policy of disinvestments and sought time to submit a detailed reply. It was clear the Government had not taken any concrete decision with regard to disinvestments despite the Common Minimum Programme.

 Justice Santhosh Hegde and S.B.Sinha heard the case. The Court, at the instance of the Government, assumed to itself the cases pending in Delhi, Mumbai, Jarchand and Rajastan High Courts.

          An emergency meeting of the Coordination Committee of the UPA and the Left parties was held on 12 October 2004 presumably in response to the letter No.41 dated 10-10- 2004. It marked the radical change in the approach to the problems in the North-East, Jammu and Kashmir and other internal problems with militants.

      Now, it appeared that there was a sea change in the policy of the Government to militancy. In the meeting, the Government informed the Left parties that the Government would very seriously consider the ceasefire offer of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB). The Government said that it had taken a decision to vacate the personnel’s of the Assam Rifles from the Kangla Fort in the heart of Impal, which had become an emotive issue.

       The Home Minister said that socio-economic development and other economic measures would be taken up in a big way in the North-East and in Jammu and Kashmir. Naturally, Mr. Sitharam Yechury,  Polit Bureau member of the CPM, said that they were highly satisfied with the discussion.

       A meeting of the Secretaries of various ministries ensued. 137 Secretaries attended the meeting. In the meeting, Dr.Manmohan Singh said that: 1.The Secretaries must work without fear or favour.2.Civil Service must be more accountable, effective and transparent. 3. They must be innovative and produce results.4. If they had any problem, they could approach him. 5. They must address the problems in the North-East, Kashmir and Naxalite affected areas sensitively.

       On the same day, addressing a function organized by Red Cross and St. John’s Ambulance at Delhi, Dr. Kalam said that he was concerned with the frequent road accidents. This was consistent with the demand of this writer to convert all National Highways into two-way roads.

       Meanwhile on 13 October 2004 the Government cleared the expansion plan of Nalco at the cost of US$ 895 million to raise its smelter capacity by 1,15.000 tonne to 4,60,000 tonne. Similarly, the Government approved the plan of the ONGC to buy back   at a cost of Re.10.800 crore 9.6% shares held by IOC. The NDA Government had been shelving all expansion plans in the hope of privatization.

       The New Indian Express on the same day reported that Tata and Reliance were vying with each other to buy the US based Tyco Telecom network which had the largest optic telecom network in the world. According to the paper, Reliance had already acquired Flag Telecom in the US. The paper reported that the Tata Sons was flush with funds from the TCS issue and that it was planning to invest Re.20,000 crore in their telecom business. Further, the paper said that Tata was planning to buy Tyco Global Network for $200 million. The paper said that Tata had a subscriber base 5.42 lakh whereas Reliance had 81 lakh. The reports indicated that Tata, apparently, mobilized resources through the TCS public issue to invest abroad, and, again apparently, Dr. Singh asked the financial institutions not to release money in bad faith.

CHAPTER 9

          9

NIP A MANIPULATION IN THE BUD

On 14 September 2004 Mr. Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office, gave the inaugural address at a 3- day conference on “Global Banking Paradigm Shift” organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers and Industry at Bangalore.  Managing Directors of nationalized banks and many industrialists attended the conference. The inaugural address was reserved for the Prime Minister of India, or the Finance Minister. They were conspicuous by their absence.

Mr. Chavan said that the centre would unveil new policy guidelines for encouraging mergers and acquisitions in the Indian banking sector. He informed the people that the government would not force mergers and acquisitions (M&A), but would definitely encourage M&A. He said that the current banking scenario required smaller number of very large banks rather than large number of small banks. For that, he wanted M&A activities on a large scale.

Further, he said that the Public Sector Banks would have to raise capital in the financial market and the current ownership on the public sector banks would have to be relaxed. He said that the required relaxation would be done without altering the public sector character, both in management and in ownership.

Mr. Purwar, Chairman, State Bank of India, said that the theme of the time was consolidation, competition and stability with growth - through mergers and acquisitions. He wanted this to compete for a piece of the pie in the international market. For this, he said that the banks should have size advantage of most foreign banks. He predicted that sooner or later the growing institutions would reach saturation point in the domestic market and there would be little choice but to move overseas.

The forces that worked for the amalgamation of the Public Sector Banks could be discerned.

The present writer alone said that the industrialists wanted to remove the entire money from the banks through one counter, and wanted the Government to abandon the move.

The prediction of this writer proved correct when the State Bank of India (SBI) gave Re.15,815 crore to the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) between April and July 2010. Had all the banks been merged the RIL would have removed Re.158,150 crore through one counter.

In this connection, it must be stated that the report about the above Re.15,818 crore came to the knowledge of the people only in June 2011.

  

Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, on 15 September 2004, said that he was unperturbed by “foul language” used against him but he was concerned about tackling issues like corruption and speeding up economic reforms.

The copy of the letter addressed to His Excellency the President of India on 10 September 2004 was sent to the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and the Director, CBI on 15 September 2004. On the next day, Dr. Manmohan Singh convened a Cabinet meeting, and invited Mr.Jothi Basu for talks on the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

The Economic Times on 17 September 2004 reported that the Bank of India (BoI) with an asset base of Re. 84,860crore and profit of Re.1,008 crore during 2003-2004 would be-very soon- merged with Union Bank of India (UBI) with an asset base of Re. 58,317 crore and profit of Re. 712 crore. There were reports that all formalities for the merger had been completed.

Mr. M.B. N. Rao, Managing Director of the public sector Indian Bank said that his bank would concentrate on acquisition of a domestic bank. This bank got a profit Re. 405 crore during 2003-2004. Two years ago, the government infused Re. 1300 crore to save it.

On 18 September 2004, inaugurating the third Conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers, Dr. Manmohan Singh urged the judiciary to do some soul searching.

Dr. Manmohan Singh - on 19 September 2004 - embarked on a nine-day foreign tour of Britain and the USA.

On 23 September 2004, “The New Indian Express” in its editorial described Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia as the best face of the UPA Government. The paper said that they were upright and intellectually well regarded and they were attacked viciously.

The paper said this because some industrialists succeeded in removing public assets secretly.

On the same day, when Dr. Manmohan Singh was in New York, the letter No.40 was sent to Dr. Abdul Kalam, His Excellency the President of India.

The above letter clearly said that Dr. Manmohan Singh was echoing the views distilled by the industrialists. 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

          In the light of the 39 letters, kindly consider the question of:

1.Giving answers to four unanswered questions in letter No. 32 dated 31 May 2004.

          In this connection, it must be stated that Mr. P. Chithambaram, Finance Minister, would not have occupied the present post, if the CBI had acted on the letter No.17 dated 8-1-2003 and informed the public about the fate of the “cash rich” enterprises. In the absence of a reasonable reply, people would consider this as asphyxiation of the Constitution.

2. Restoring the Constitution to its pre-eminent position.

          The degeneracy of the Supreme Court was marked after the retirement of Chief Justice Anand, who is now functioning as Chairman, NHRC. The NHRC could now take effective steps to annul the BALCO judgment. Some “False and wicked” doctrines also could be invalidated. Now, Justice Ms Ruma Pal and Justice V. Reddy have delivered a judgment in favour of the ITC. The judgment might be a correct one. However, did the authorities impose a fine of more than Re. 800 crore without any real cause? Further, these learned judges were in the Bench that delivered the BALCO judgment. Therefore, the Chief Justice should not have given this case to them as it involves a huge amount. Apparently, the Chief Justice has acted in bad faith in constituting the bench.

3. Abolishing bulk buying or delegating buying and selling to the states

          When everything is for sale, two or three Union Ministers and a few officials would also like to have one or two PSUs for themselves. However, this needs money. The easiest way to earn money would be to buy something on behalf of a PSU for huge commission. Thus, when this writer took the Re. 2200 crore deal by the BSNL, the Finance Director had to quit the BSNL. Whatever happened, the CBI, CVC and the NHRC simply failed to check the manipulations of the Union Ministers. Therefore, all acts of buying other than those related to defense could be delegated to the states.

4.Realizing 0 .1% Transaction Tax.

          The Government could impose 0.1 % transaction tax on all payments and even all withdrawals. It will prevent many starvation deaths and ameliorate the suffering of millions of people. Not even 24 hours shall be wasted to implement this suggestion. The theory that he who is not in office has no right to give suggestions for Nation -building may not be a correct one.

5. Preventing the merger and acquisition of big banks.

          Notwithstanding 39 letters sent with the objective of splitting the banks, the new Government has mooted the idea of merging big banks. Thus, if the things proceed as planned, the Bank of India (BoI) would be merged with Union Bank of India (UBI) within two months.  It is not the idea of Dr.Manmohan Singh, Mr. P. Chithambaram, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Congress Party, Coalition Parties, Left Parties, M.Ps or the people.  It is the idea distilled by the industrialists. It was first disclosed by Mr. Ashok Soota, the President of the CII on 11 May 2002.They consider this as the model of all models because they could silently avail themselves of all monies from all over India through less than ten counters. They first wanted to bring the Cooperative banks under the sole control of the RBI. Mr. Agit Singh in the Union Cabinet opposed it. He paid the price by sacrificing his position in the Cabinet. However, Mr. Vajpayee, former Prime Minister, did not succumb to the pressure of the industrialists fully presumably due to the intense pressure from this writer. Now, apparently, Dr. Manmohan Singh himself wishes to misuse his official power. Who, how and when the “Superior Men” injected this idea into his mind  are the important questions.

          Dr. Manmohan Singh is not disclosing the truth regarding the Re. 845 crore deal by the BoI. If the same industrialist takes Re.85,000 crore from the merged banks and convert it into personal assets abroad, will anyone in India disclose it? The CBI, CVC, NHRC, DD and the print media would not open their mouth. Even the President of India would not murmur! Therefore, all right thinking people would think that Dr.Manmohan Singh is sucking the lifeblood of 1000 million people by projecting the idea of the industrialists as his own   idea.

          Hundred of small countries like Japan, Singapore, Hong Hong, Korea, Spain have world class banks. Therefore, two or three banks could be given to each state. They could have all India or Global presence.

6. Splitting the LIC into State level units.

          It appears that the LIC has become bankrupt. The LIC-HFL is falling heavily on its own customers. The outstanding loan of  A/C: 460006967” as per the letter of LIC-HFL Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli 627002, PH: 2574378, itself was Rs.190350.36 as on 1-8-2004. However, it has sent an advocate notice on 11-9-2004 stating that A/C 460006967 has an outstanding loan of Rs. 201763 as on 1-8-2004. LIC-HFL did this after verifying the account with the help of a hired underworld person.

          The crucial point is that the electronic accounting system simply fails. The CBI, CVC and the NHRC would reject it as a computer or inadvertent clerical error. The CBI, CVC and NHRC would consider it as a customary incident involving Re.8,000 and would ignore it. The truth is that not less than Re. 80,000 crore would have gone out of the LIC in a similar way. Tomorrow an industrialist would remove Re.800,000 core in one day and buy an island in Great Britain. Day after tomorrow the amount would vanish from the computer. None, including the President of India, would dare to murmur! The media would proclaim the industrialist as the honest man of the world. What would the people do? It is imperative that the LIC must be split into separate State level units immediately. However, the will of the industrialist alone would prevail is another matter.

7. Restraining the financial institutions from investing in shares directly or indirectly.

          It is a three-year-old demand. Dr. Manmohan Singh would say that it the convention for the Prime Ministers to manipulate the stock market daily. However, the Constitution does not condescend this. The experience gained during last five decades reinforces this view. Therefore, if any money had gone out of the banks and the LIC, the system must objectively examine whether the letter No.15 dated 16-11-2002 addressed to His Excellency the President of India is applicable to the present system itself or not.

8. Exposing the manipulations in rice exports.

          There were reports that huge subsidies had been granted for exporting rice and that the rice meant for export had been circulated internally and thereby some industrialists got Re.9000 crore. None knows the truth in this matter.

9. Taking action for Human Rights violations.

          When the human right issue pertaining to of Mr. Xylesh Kumar Yadav,IPS, was submitted, the NHRC rejected it by stating that it was sub-judice. The review petition was rejected vide Case No1311/22/1999-2000 dated 28-9-2000 under section 36(1) of the Act. On 26 May 2004, the NHRC again rejected the matter vide Case No.11/22/2004-2005/OC as only copies of the letters addressed to His Excellency the President of India were sent to it. As there are no new points, the NHRC is requested to take appropriate action and withdraw the case against this writer through competent authority.

10.Publishing these letters in all newspapers.

          This is letter No. 40. The letters are written not out of the conditions chosen by this writer. Recently, Dr. Manmohan Singh requested his colleagues not to disclose any policy decision without his approval. Now, nothing that takes place in the higher levels reaches the common man. Envisaging such a situation Plato says that politics are an affair of the twilight; they concern the relations of men in the dimness of the cave. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam could examine whether such descriptions are applicable to his Government or not. The Greek believed that great impediment to action is not discussion, but the want of that knowledge which is gained by discussion preparatory to action. Therefore, these letters could be published in all newspapers. Any disqualification might go down as a conspiracy of the CBI, CVC, DD, print media and the NHRC. Further, the CBI, CVC and the NHRC could give answers to all unanswered questions and give concrete suggestions to curtail huge commission, rank corruption and giant manipulation to save 1000 million people.

Vellicode                                                                                    Yours faithfully,

23-9-2004

                                                                                                                             (V.SABARIMUTHU) 

         

 The media, including the DD, blacked out the impact of the above letter.

However, the Thina Malar, a Tamil daily reported that hectic consultations took place at Delhi. Thina Malar reported this on 26 September 2004 in its front page. The Tamil paper said that Mr. Pranab Mukergee, Defense Minister, had met the Congress President several times on 23 September 2004. The paper reported that he had convened the Cabinet meetings in the absence of the Prime Minister. The paper added that the Congress President had overlooked the seniority of Mr. Arjun Singh, Mr. Shivaraj Patel and Gulam Nabi Azad.

On 24 September 2004, as a reply to this writer, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Urban Development Minister, said that the Government would investigate scams that had allegedly taken place during the previous NDA regime. He said that the BJP was disrupting the Parliament because they did not want their corrupt deeds to be exposed.

On the same day, Mr. Jothi Basu, the leader of the CPM described Mr. Ahluwalia as a World Bank man. He said this while opposing the presence of foreign experts in the Planning Commission. However, Mr. S.Raja M.P. (CPI-M) said that the Communist Party was not sincere in its opposition to the privatization of Airports and in the FDI matter.

The Minister for Heavy Industry, Mr. Santosh Mohan Dev on 24 September 2004 said that the Government was attached to Maruthi and hence it would not offload its 18.24 percent equity in Maruti Udyog Limited.

Now, the talks about the merger of banks faded.  The manipulation was nipped  in the bud.