Waterways are not pipelines: Why inter-linking rivers is a recipe for disaster

By DINESH C SHARMA
You would be shocked if someone told you that the apex court has recently directed the central government to redefine the geography of India. This made no 'breaking news' on television but this is exactly what the court has directed.Yet this is the precise implication of the court directive asking the centre to implement the project to inter-link Indian rivers - the grandiose plan which had been lying in cold storage for many years.

In both its original shape when it was conceived several decades ago and in its resurrected form during the NDA regime, the project starts with a map of India with rivers marked in blue, decides that all the rivers need to be linked, and then talks of modalities of joining all the blue lines with a red pen.Once all the rivers are linked up as part of this grand design, then the map of India would certainly look different and we will have to change Indian maps in all our geography text books. It is this plan of re-engineering India's geography that the court has put its seal on and wants the government to implement because, in its opinion, it is in 'national interest'.

The ecological, economic and social costs of interlinking rivers are going to be enormous. All these concerns were articulated during the public debate that took place when the NDA government wanted to push this project as a 'nationalist' dream a decade ago.The interlinking would involve about 30 large projects and construction of 80 dams all over the country. Just imagine the ecological devastation it would cause in different parts of the country.

There is no estimation as yet of how much it would cost, but one can say it certainly has all ingredients of giving rise to a million scams.All this apart, the project goes against basic tenets of sustainable development as it solely focuses on traditional approach of supply-side response to a projected or imagined demand. A group of concerned experts and individuals have appealed to the court to reconsider its judgment. They argue that the idea of transferring flood waters to arid or drought-prone areas is flawed because there will be hardly any flood-moderation and the project would not benefit drylands in any case. Arguing that water from 'surplus' basins needs to be transferred to 'deficit' ones is unscientific. When you say a river is 'surplus' you are ignoring multiple purposes that it serves as it flows through different regions before joining the sea. (dailymail.co.uk)

Senior minister Sutradhar of coup report?

By-MADHAV NALAPAT
NEW DELHI: ources involved in tracking sensitive developments claim that a senior minister of the UPA government was the mastermind of the April 4 front page item in a daily newspaper about a suspected coup attempt. The sources claim that the minister is connected - through his close relative - with the defense procurement lobbies gunning for Chief of Army Staff General V K Singh,and that the decision to "trick the
newspaper into running a baseless report was to drain away support for General Singh within the political class",who could be expected to unite against any effort at creating a Pakistan-style situation in India. However,the minister in question appears to have miscalculated the response of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defense Minister to the report."The minister assumed that both would decline comment on the report, in view of their strained relations with the Army chief, but instead both came out foursquare against the newspaper.This surprised both the minister as well as journalists who relied on him for the initial information," a source claimed.

Others say that a close relative of the minister in question has been "regularly meeting with arms merchants and their lobbyists,including on his many visits abroad".They say that the Intelligence Bureau seems clueless about such activities,as "its net does not cover the influential people in question". Those connected with national security say that "the net of arms merchants is very wide, with Dubai,London and Bangkok being the three locations where they usually wine,dine and otherwise entertain VVIPs from India". In order to ensure protection for their operations,a lot of which involves dubious money transfers, such agencies and individuals "usually function as auxiliaries of foreign intelligence agencies, and are told to ferret out sensitive and secret information from their contacts". These sources claim that "non-declared units of selected NATO member country intelligence agencies (especially one with a huge presence in the defense procurement market in India ) regularly liase with lobbyists and employees of arms manufacturers,and  use them for operations such as honeytrapping".In such a context,"their link with relatives of ministers is a worry."

Armsgate: Is CBI shielding VVIP sons-in-law

By-MADHAV NALAPAT
he CBI is wary of opening an enquiry into certain decisions made by Lt-Gen Dalbir Suhag,whose date of birth has ensured that he will succeed Lt-General Bikramjit Singh as Chief of Army Staff within three years. Part of the reason may be the fact that such an investigation could lead to the examination of past procurement decisions taken by an intelligence agency of the government. A previous head of that agency
was known for doubtful ethics,and succeeded in destroying much of the esprit d'corps in his organisation during his tenure at the top. This gentleman owed his position to a prominent political family.Were the complaint forwarded by Chief of Army Staff V K Singh to be corrrectly investigated by the CBI , attention may get focussed on procurement decisions taken by this former head of the intelligence agency (now
deceased) and at least two of his then subordinates,thereby angering their political backers. Although the CBI is nominally under the PM, because of his influence over promotions and postings of IPS cadre officers,Home Minister P Chidambaram has a decisive -if recessed -influence over its functioning.

Within the UPA,senior ministers such as A K Antony and Pranab Mukherjee have been encouraged by Sonia Gandhi to take up assignments which are overtly political in nature,as have two other Congress heavyweights within the Union Cabinet, P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal. Hence it is unsurprising that decisions may get taken on grounds other than administrative expediency. Interestingly,the very department which  supervises the intelligence agency sought to be shielded from a CBI  probe was the one tasked with "investigating" complaints against Lt-Gen Suhag. This is the Cabinet Secretariat,which in effect probed its own actions. Not unexpectedly,it gave the Lt-General a clean chit,and this exoneration has been seized upon by the CBI to reject General V K Singh's request for a comprehensive probe into allegations of malfeasance against his subordinate, a decision that must have the concurrence of ministers P Chidambaram and A K Antony,both of whom are respectful of the need for loyal ministers to hew close to the wishes of the Congress High Command.

Who is Lt-Gen Tejinder Singh?‏

By-MADHAV NALAPAT
hose involved in the making of purchases for security agencies under  the Home Ministry or the PMO say that retired Lt-General Tejinder Singh,who has been explicitly accused by the Army of having floated  reports that Chief of Army Staff General V K Singh spied on Defense  Minister A K Antony, is not an unknown figure within the world of  suppliers of equipment. One source said that Tejinder Singh "operates in tandem with a Major Hooda (retd) and his son, both of whom are well  known to Karthik Chidambaram,the influential son of Home Minister P Chidambaram". The younger Hooda, a presumed relative of the Haryana Chief Minister, is alleged to be "active in promoting the products of certain agencies, including foreign entities". 


These sources claim that Tejinder Singh was very close to a former Chief of Army Staff and that 
he "knows the incoming Chief of Army Staff,Lt-General Bikramjit Singh, very well". None of these claims could be verified,especially suggestions that a such link "could influence procurement decisions by the Army in the future". General V K Singh is known to have had a series of battles with established cartels involved in military procurement,unlike some of his predecessors,who "played along with such elements". That the incoming Chief of Army Staff has very powerful support within the UPA was made clear by the government's decision to announce that he would succeed General V K Singh,even if the latter were to quit prematurely. It needs to be said that Lt-General Bikramjit Singh is widely regarded as a capable officer,with an excellent record in counter-insurgency operations.


Surprisingly,the CBI has thus far not shown any interest in investigating the many allegations that Lt-General Tejinder Singh,Major Hooda and others are involved in efforts to influence procurement decisions in the Home and Defense Ministries,besides those in NTRO,RAW  and the Aviation Research Service. Reports of suspicious transactions in these agencies have been buried under a carpet of official indifference. By avoiding an enquiry, what has happened is that the miasma of suspicion that is hovering over the head of Karthik Chidambaram is continuing. Numerous sources allege "undue attention and interest" by the young politician in matters relating to equipment suggested as being needed for national security. 

Dumping of dead & hazardous US Ship, former Exxon Valdez in Indian waters‏

Letter to Shri G K Vasan,Union Minister of Shipping

Sir,
This is with reference to The Washington Post news report, “The many lives of the Exxon Valdez” (March 29, 2012) that relates to a hazardous end-of-life vessel Oriental Nicety (formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, Sea River Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean) has been purchased by Best Oasis, a subsidiary of Priya Blue Industries based in Alang, Gujarat. This purchase is in violation of the Supreme Court’s order of October 14, 2003 and UN’s Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal to which India is a party. This is a second such ship originally from USA that is outwitting Indian laws since 2009. The picture of the ship and its profile is attached.
I submit that USA’s regulations and European Union regulations prohibit the entry of such vessels. The collusion among maritime officials appears to have facilitated its entry into the Indian waters violating apex court’s order and the precedent set by Le Clemenceau. Such criminal acts of omission and commission merit a high level probe to ascertain the dubious circumstances in which this has happened.
I am an applicant in the Supreme Court in the hazardous wastes/shipbreaking case. The case came up for hearing on March 28, 2012. The next date of hearing is on April 18, 2012. The application for dead and hazardous US ship Platinum II which entered Indian waters in 2009 on fake documents forms part of this case. In an Office Memorandum No.29-3/2009-HSMD, Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests, (HSM Division) dated 9th May, 2011 relating to implementation of Supreme Court directions in respect of ship breaking activities, it has been admitted that the issue regarding the submission of fake certificates by the ship owners/agents remains unresolved. I apprehend that ex-Exxon Valdez may also have fake documents.
I submit that Oriental Nicety (formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, Sea River Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean) was purchased in March 2012 by a US based company Global Marketing Systems (GMS), which is one of the biggest, cash buyers for dead ships. It has been sold to Best Oasis for about $16 million. This 301 meters long tanker is 50 meters wide, 26 meters depth, weighing 30,000 tons empty and powered by a 23.60 MW diesel engine. US based National Steel and Shipbuilding Company built this tanker for Exxon Mobil Corporation, a US multinational oil and gas corporation and a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. It was built in San Diego, California in 1986.

Parliamentary Committee’s deadline for Planning Commission’s reply on questionable UID/aadhaar and related projects

Letter to Prime Minister 

Sir,
I wish to draw your attention towards two news reports ‘House panel raps Planning Comm for breach of trust on new UID law’ (The Pioneer, 30 MARCH 2012, SEEMA SINDHU) and ‘Rein in the bureaucracy if you want us to deliver, perform: private sector stars in govt let PM know’ (Indian Express, March 30 2012, P. Vaidyanathan Iyer). I submit that the Planning Commission has breached the trust by the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Finance. The Parliamentary Committee has raised grave concerns on the proposal of the Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar and collection of biometric data of the citizens without legal mandate in its report National Identification
Authority of India (NIDAI) Bill, 2010 that has been presented to both the houses of Parliament in December 2011. The Commission has ignored its recommendations in utter contempt toward the Parliament and towards the Parliamentary Committee and has got more fund allocated for the UID/Aadhhar project.


I submit that in a meeting on March 28, 2012, PSC Chairman, Yashwant Sinha told Planning Commission’s Member Secretary that it was “bypassing parliamentary procedure and inviting serious problems by not having re-introduced the Bill and simultaneously making further fund allocations for the project”. This has been brought to light.


I submit that the joint letter of Shri Sam Pitroda, adviser to the PM on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India, S Ramadorai, adviser to the PM in the National Skill Development Council, Planning Commission member Arun Maira, and National Intelligence Grid CEO P Raghu Raman was given to you. Their letter has sought your intervention to streamline the institutional framework in which they work, so that they have more


autonomy. It reveals that they are troubled by democractic processes and safeguards. Prior to this letter a memorandum opposing Aadhaar and other anti-people policies was submitted to you along with a big truck load of signatures numbering 3.57 crore on March 14, 2012 by Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist). One has learnt that the joint letter has been referred to your Principal Secretary, Shri Pulok Chatterjee to study the suggestions and take necessary action. I wish to know what is your response to the memorandum that was submitted to you with 3.57 crore signatures.

NOBODY IS LISTENING TO OUR CRY - ALL INDIA JEWELLERS ASSOCIATION

Jewellers of India wishes to bring to notice to the central government of India with re-implementation of the central excise duty law once again onto to us. The entire India jewellers association has been protesting against this law since 17th of March’12 now and we are in a very bad financial state. We have seen and have faced the hazards of the same in the past and was finally put to a stop in 1990. 

This entire law does not help the government to extract more tax from the people but it increases corruption both in the officers and the public. .

THE HAZARDS OF THE RE-IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CENTRAL EXCISE DUTY RULE – DICTATORSHIP OF CUSTOM OFFICIALS

1. Sentenced to jail for 7 years is too harsh a rule to be enforced, if found guilty .
2. Officer would have the authoritative power to seal stock and the shop. History of this law says, this power has been misused and had increased corruption
3. Penalty amount could be anything what the officer will demand for.
4. If one fails to pay the duty, the penalty would be four times the duty
5. The officer can take over and seize one’s property and valuables for 6 months
6. If officer catches any error in stock management report, the stock could be seized and the shop could be forced to be closed
7. Purification of the metal (gold melting), would be only done from Mumbai’s official houses
8. The manufacturer or labour’s stock would be seized if found any correction in their stock report
9. Pure gold could be only bought from the government through banks by paying through cheques. This would once again increase smuggling of gold.

What could help is to introduce extra tax as (for e.g. cess tax) and rollback this dictator law and avoid inclusion of custom excise officials and cause sense of insecurity to the jewellers.