IS ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA IMPARTIAL?: January 2011

Saturday, January 22, 2011

2G SCAM: ARITHMETIC OR HOW TO HELP THE CORPORATE HOUSES? - PRABIR PURKAYASTHA

KAPIL Sibal has now thought fit not only to pick up all the arguments given by A Raja for giving 2G license and spectrum at throw-away prices to favoured corporate houses, but has also added a few of his own. Thus, if Unitech and Swan made thousands of crores by selling a part of their equity within months of securing the 2G licenses, we should not complain as this somehow has also helped the consumer. Further, according to the minister, the CAG is entirely devoid of arithmetic – it cannot distinguish between Rs 1.76 lakh crore and the number zero; if it only knew its numbers – according to Kapil Sibal -- they would have known that the exchequer has really suffered no loss. In other words, there was no scam, no undervaluation of the spectrum and no loss to the exchequer, only some minor procedural lapses.

Some of the arguments produced by Sibal are not new. Raja had been advancing them ad nauseum and they have been refuted a number of times. It is unfortunate that with a new minister of telecom, we now have to refute them once again. But some of Sibal's arguments are novel, particularly his arithmetic and therefore does call for new refutation. Let us take them first.

In his arithmetic attack on the CAG, Sibal starts by saying that CAG used the 3G license prices which were auctioned in 2010, ergo it cannot be used for 2008, when the 2G licenses were awarded.

It is interesting that Sibal is arguing that 2010 prices cannot be used for 2008 as the value of money has changed in these two years, as also the subscriber base and the annual revenue. However, he seems to have no such problem in arguing that 2001 license prices be used for 2008. This is, in spite of there being only four million cellular subscribers in 2001 as against a 75 times increase in subscriber base by 2008 and a seven year gap!

The CAG computed the loss by estimating the market price of the 2G spectrum. This market price was estimated in different ways – by the offer of S Tel for a pan-India license, the sale of equity by Unitech, and Tata Teleservices and by comparing it to the 3G auction price. This gave the figures of Rs 57,600 crore to 1.76 lakh crore -- depending on the method adopted. The reason that CAG did not differentiate between 2010 and 2008 prices is quite simple – the market prices in 2007 and early 2008 would have been higher than 2010 as the financial crash took place later and the markets had not fully recovered even in 2010.

CLAIMS OF NO UNDERVALUATION

CAG also stated that an alternate method would have been to choose econometric models for projecting the 2001 prices to 2008 and then computing the losses. It chose the market prices as the basis because it felt that this was a better indicator than projecting the 2001 prices to 2008. Incidentally, the methodology that Sibal is suggesting of using time value of money and increase of subscriber base and revenue would be a form of econometric model exercise. Though CAG did not do this, TRAI has done this exercise. In its Recommendations on Spectrum Management and Licensing Framework dated May 11, 2010, TRAI estimated the price of license in 2009 using just the time vale of money. With a standard discounted cash flow, TRAI calculated that based on a 15 per cent discounting rate, the 2001 price of 1658 crore would have been worth 5074 crore. Taking the Adjusted Growth Rate per MHz, TRAI also computed a figure of 8,285 crore for the 2G license or five times the amount that the government collected. If indeed Sibal felt that this was a better method to compute loss to the exchequer, why did he not suggest any of these figures for computing the loss? Why claim that actually, there has been no undervaluation of the spectrum at all?

TRAI however, like CAG, finally suggested using the 3G license fee price for fixing all future license fees. The reason given was the same as CAG – this is the price discovered through a market mechanism and is a better indicator of price.

Sibal has argued that the efficiency of 3G spectrum is more than 2G spectrum and as it will be used for high value added services, it should have a different price. This is the same as Raja's BPL rice as 2G and basmati rice as 3G. In its May 11 recommendations, clauses 3.80 to 3.82, TRAI has discussed this in great details. It has analysed why the efficiency of the 2G and 3G spectrum is not very different and has shown that 2G spectrum should really be regarded as 2.75G with current technologies in terms of efficiency. It has also pointed out that it is not just efficiency of the spectrum but also the size of the market and supply-demand position that determines the price of the spectrum. Obviously, the existing voice market is much the larger market and will be a major determinant in deciding the price of the spectrum. Taking all this into account, TRAI's recommendations were: The Authority, therefore, recommends that the 3G prices be adopted as the ‘Current price’ of spectrum in the 1800 MHz band. (Clause 3.82, page 189, Recommendations on Spectrum Management and Licensing Framework dated11th May, 2010)

The last point that Sibal raised was with respect to the quantum of frequency allotted to the new 2G licensees. He claimed that since only 4.4 MHz has been given as start-up frequency to new 2G licensees, therefore the amount computed as loss should not have been based on 6.2 MHz as CAG has done. Unfortunately for Sibal, he himself has queered his case by stating that additional charges for spectrum will be levied only beyond 6.2 MHz. Obviously, the contracted amount – as per the 2G license -- is 6.2 MHz, even though only 4.4 MHz is being given initially.

TRAI in its recommendations of May 11 quoted above has also dealt with this issue. In its executive summary, it notes “After due examination of the provisions of licences issued from time to time and related factors, the Authority concludes that the committed spectrum is 6.2 MHz in respect of GSM and 5 MHz in respect of CDMA”.

FACTUALLY UNTRUE

The argument that the consumers have benefited from the low license fees is factually untrue. If the companies receiving the licenses had not resold it to others (what DoT now calls “dilution of equity”) at 6/7 times the price that it had itself bought the licenses, there might have been some merit in this argument. However, once sale of equity was allowed by Raja by changing the merger and acquisitions guideline all that has happened that instead of a public auction held by DoT, the licensees have held private auctions. The impact on the consumer is same, irrespective on who has held the auction.

This is one of the points that the Left had brought repeatedly – that if keeping the price to the consumer low as the objective, there should have been a lock-in so that buyers cannot buy cheap and dear by holding private auctions. Instead of a lock-in, even the existing guidelines on M&A and the TRAI recommendations of not allowing any change of equity before the roll-out obligations are met, were changed by the then telecom minister, A Raja.

The issue of which corporate house was favoured over which one is certainly important but not the major part of the 2G scam. The key issue is that a scarce national resource was given away at a fraction of the price. No amount of arithmetic jugglery can take away this simple fact. The reason that Sibal is unwilling to accept this is equally simple. Making a gift of natural resources – from spectrum to mineral wealth -- to the capitalist class is the hall mark of this neo-liebral order. This is what Sibal wants to continue.

The neo-liberal order in India has been different from, for example, the regime of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Lula in Brazil in the way it has used its natural resources. In Venezuela and Brazil, the oil wealth of the country was used to make large scale resource transfers to the poor and building up a social infrastructure. In India, the mineral, oil and other resources like spectrum are being looted by big business with full co-operation of the government.

While people in the country are highly exercised by the colossal nature of all these scams and would like the government, ministers and bureaucrats who are a party to the loot be brought to book, the question is which class benefits from such scams? Obviously, giving away natural resources cheap is nothing but a huge subsidy to the rich or the capitalist class. What we are now seeing is the use of natural resources not to develop the country's economy but exclusively to develop the capitalist class. This is why Sibal is not willing to accept that there is a loss by giving away spectrum. Procedural lapses yes, recovery of the loss from the capitalist class is a big no, even if the rules of arithmetic have to be changed. This is the Manmohan Singh's path of development for the Indian economy. Subsidise the rich and tax the poor – the mantra of this government.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/

BHOPAL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: MEMO POINTS OUT INJUSTICES TO GAS VICTIMS

FOR about a quarter of a century, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti (BGPSSS) has been fighting, in collaboration with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), for the cause of the gas victims. Recently the Samiti sent a memorandum to Dr Manmohan Singh, the prime minister of India, to draw his attention to the injustices which are still meted out to the gas victims. The memorandum sought to point out that for the last several years, the trust set up by the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and the DOW company, under the chairmanship of Justice Ahmadi, has been indulging in irregularities and corruption in the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC). This is tantamount to doing grave injustice to the seriously ill and suffering gas victims of Bhopal, the memorandum said.

It was after a long struggle of the Bhopal gas victims that the central government took over the hospital. But the memorandum expressed concern over the present situation of Bhopal Memorial Hospital after its take-over by the central government. There is complete lack of transparency in its functioning and paucity of information regarding the decisions about the hospital at all levels.

The BGPSSS memorandum said the organisation has come to note that old trustees of the UCC-DOW trust efforts are making all-out efforts to become members of some committee that is going to be formed to run the hospital. It was due to this reason that Robert Percival, former trustee, came to India and tried to meet the concerned minister in Delhi. He also came to the Bhopal Memorial Hospital. This is completely against the norms and the public opinion. He had also come to Bhopal a few months back and met the chairman of the empowerment committee of BMHRC in an attempt to assert his stake.

The memorandum sought to bring to the prime minister’s notice that the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre is in the city the most important hospital with complete infrastructure and expertise, where the lives of gas victims may be saved. But due to the poor management, aristocracy and the self-centred attitude, the BMHRC has become a centre of grave corruption of different types. Since long, a nexus of the corrupt higher staff, some doctors, medical and other suppliers, contractors and some internal personnel has been indulging in acts of corruption of every kind, as they have practically hijacked and taken full control of the hospital. This has severely damaged the functioning of the hospital and threatens the life of the surviving gas victims of Bhopal as there is grave shortage of doctors as well as lack of motivation in the staff. All this is having a direct effect on the gas victims who are being denied treatment here. Hence the gas victims have to wander here or there or go to less equipped private hospitals, and spend money which they are unable to afford. They are thus being compelled to die. For the last few months, several departments of the hospital have not been working and there have been no experts either, while the medical expenses of the hospital have increased to nearly “400 times,” as the claim goes!

Recently a case of unethical drug trial on serious victims by some senior doctors in the hospital has been exposed. Action is still awaited in this regard also.

A few days back, the BGPSSS found a case of “consent for death,” called “Sahamati Patra” in Hindi, for which a seriously ill gas victims, admitted in the hospital, were being pressurised. In case these patients had signed such letters, they would have been held responsible for all the perils involved in the treatment, including death due to the lack of medical experts in most of the departments in the hospital. Copies of this letter’s draft were given by the hospital to seriously ill gas victims, admitted there, bringing pressure upon them to sign it.

The organisation has also brought to public notice the official letters issued by the hospital, referring seriously ill gas victims to private doctors. In this way they are compelling them to get admitted into private clinics and spend money on private doctors. The management has falsely claimed that it has been paying back to the patients, which is not true.

The BGPSSS memorandum to the prime minister also highlighted that it is a common complaint of the seriously ill Bhopal gas victims that they are discouraged from coming for treatment and getting admitted to this hospital. Also, dates for investigations and admission are being given to private patients on a priority basis, and these are treated as VIPs.

Due to poor communication from the local management and very slow movement on part of the Government, the staff of this hospital was once compelled to start an agitation. It is the insecure environment, biased attitudes, creation of local committees for purchases, and the uncertainties regarding regularisation of pay scales that brought the employees to the path of agitation.

The above issues are the life and death concerns for the seriously ill and suffering Bhopal gas victims who were compelled to launch an agitation to save their life.

In view of all these facts, the BGPSSS memorandum to the prime minister has put forward the following demands.

1) There must be transparency in all decisions regarding the formation of any committee for running the hospital. Formation of a national level committee etc must be discussed in advance with the organisations of the gas victims and hospital staff, and all the discussion must be made public. All future must be made with the consent of gas victims’ organisations and the staff.

2) There must be clear-cut guidelines and protocol regarding all aspects of treatment, admission, services to the gas victims, and coordination with the gas victims’ organisations, Indian Council of Medical Research etc.

3) There should be separate timings for private patients in the hospital, and it should not at all affect the services and quality of treatment to the common gas victims for whom the hospital was built.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/

BHOPAL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: MEMO POINTS OUT INJUSTICES TO GAS VICTIMS

Recently a case of unethical drug trial on serious victims by some senior doctors in the hospital has been exposed. Action is still awaited in this regard also.

The above issues are the life and death concerns for the seriously ill and suffering Bhopal gas victims who were compelled to launch an agitation to save their life.

In view of all these facts, the BGPSSS memorandum to the prime minister has put forward the following demands.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/

Friday, January 14, 2011

SAFDAR HASHMI: JANAM REMEMBERS MARTYR. A FITTING TRIBUTE TO A COMMUNIST ARTIST - Sudhanva Deshpande

THE first of January is a very special day for the residents of Jhandapur. This is the day that they come out in large numbers, in a festive spirit, to remember and celebrate the legacy of Safdar Hashmi, the actor-playwright who was killed as a result of an attack on Jana Natya Manch on January 1, 1989. Also killed in that attack was Ram Bahadur, a Nepali migrant worker, who worked in a factory near-by.

Jhandapur itself is about 14 kilometres from the centre of Delhi. It is an urban village near Maharajpur, housing mainly industrial workers. There are a large number of industrial establishments here, in what is called the Site IV, Sahibabad Industrial Area. Many are relatively small units, but some are large, like bicycle manufacturers, iron smelters, pharmaceutical units, machine tools manufacturers, employing a thousand workers or more.

Given its proximity to Delhi, and especially because of its proximity to Anand Vihar which is becoming a major transport hub, the area itself is changing quite rapidly. Over the past five-seven years, many industrial establishments have shut down. On both sides of the Maharajpur border stand imposing shopping malls, and there is another big mall down the road near the Dabur factory. As you turn left to go towards Jhandapur past Maharajpur, you can see a huge ‘business park’ on the right and a Ford Endevour showroom on the left. Both stand at sites that housed factories earlier. Indeed, many factories in the area have shut down, because the owners find it more profitable to sell or rent out the premises. While the industrial area is still pretty large, the signs of de-industrialisation are also unmistakable.

As you go into Jhandapur (or anywhere in the Site IV Industrial Area, for that matter), you can sense a feeling of anxiety and anger among the workers. There is an overall sense of something smoldering below the surface. In the second week of November, a manager of a brake-shoe manufacturing unit in the area was killed following an altercation with workers. 27 workers have been accused of beating him to death, including two senior trade union leaders, neither of whom was present at the site of the incident. A further 350 unidentified workers are named in the FIR.

Upendra Jha, a CITU leader and one of the speakers at the rally of workers on January 1 following the performance of Jana Natya Manch’s play, did not refer to this particular incident in his speech – but he did not need to. When he spoke about the conditions under which workers today have to work, the audience of several thousand understood exactly what he was referring to, because the conditions at the brake-shoe factory are in no way unique. The two major issues facing workers today, he said, are (1) while the workday is supposed to be eight hours, everywhere 12 hours is becoming the norm, and (2) a large majority of workers are kept on contract and not regularised, even though they may have worked at a factory for as long as a decade.

Consider the case of the brake-shoe factory where the incident took place. Frontline magazine reports that this company ‘employed workers on contract basis and it is said that even workers who had put in over ten years of service had not been regularised. The company has 375 workers on its permanent rolls and 900 on contract; of the 900, around 700 are employed in direct production work, which is of a permanent nature.’ In other words, workers who are doing non-seasonal, steady, stable production work for years are not given the security of employment. Naturally, one of the major demands in this company (as elsewhere) is that workers on regular, production-related work be given regular employment.

Jha made the observation that increasingly, the type of people that the management was employing as ‘managers’ was changing – in the past managers had no compunctions in turning to goons to intimidate workers, but now increasingly, goons themselves were being employed as managers. When Jha said that today ‘personnel manager’ means a person with a pistol, a murmur of recognition ran through the workers, who knew this to be all too true. Again, though Jha did not take names, the case of the brake-shoe factory should be noted. A few weeks before the incident in mid-November, the management had sacked eight workers without notice. A number of other provocative steps were also taken by the management. The workers had remained peaceful, and wanted to sort out the issue through negotiation. On the day of the incident, the management arbitrarily moved two union leaders to different departments without even informing them. When the workers protested, the manager opened fire. This led to the altercation that resulted in his death. Jha said that the workers were not going to take the strong arm tactics of the management lying down, and warned of impending struggles if the employers did not mend their ways. The meeting to celebrate the legacy of the communist artist Safdar Hashmi became, quite fittingly, an occasion to assert workers’ rights and solidarity.

The other speakers at the meeting included Vasudev, Rajasthan state secretary of the CPI (M), and Amra Ram, leader of the legislative group of the CPI (M) in the Rajasthan assembly. Vasudev paid glowing tributes to Safdar Hashmi. He recalled that barely a week before the fatal attack in Jhandapur, Safdar had come to Sadarshahar in Rajasthan with Jana Natya Manch. Janam had performed Halla Bol (the play which was to be attacked in a week’s time) and Aurat. Watching Halla Bol, Vasudev, said, was a moving and inspiring experience, because the play was connected to the struggles of the Delhi working class. Vasudev recalled that after the play, he said to Safdar that Janam must prepare a similar play on the peasant situation. He said that his connection with Safdar was very personal, since his wife also acted in plays, and in fact the very first meeting he attended, just a day after his wedding, was to protest Safdar’s killing.

The programme on January 1 this year began with Janam singing songs in memory of Safdar and performing its new play, Jab Chale Khap Ka Latth, on the infamous khap panchayats. After the play, there was a performance of a play by Jana Natya Manch, Kurukshetra, based on Munshi Premchand’s classic story, Sadgati. The group also sang a number of melodious songs.

The attack took place on January 1, 1989, and Safdar died in hospital on the 2^nd. Accordingly, every year on that day, Janam organises a small intimate meeting where friends and comrades remember Safdar and share his memories. This is also a wonderful way of acquainting younger comrades with the many facets of his personality. This year, the main speaker at the meeting was Murli Manohar Prasad Singh, who used to be a leader of the teachers’ movement in Delhi University and is now connected with the Janwadi Lekhak Sangh. He recalled that he first met Safdar in the early 1970s, when Safdar was still a teenager and Singh himself was a Naxal. Safdar posed some sharp questions to him. Later, during the Emergency, when Singh was arrested, he recalled that the police also questioned him about how he knew Safdar. After his release, and his disenchantment with Naxal adventurism and their refusal to take part in mass politics, Singh came over to the CPI (M) and had occasion to work closely with Safdar over several years.

The other speakers at the meeting were Sania Hashmi and Brijesh. Sania, a Janam actor who is also Safdar’s niece, was four when he was killed, and came into Janam later because she wanted to connect with Safdar’s work. Brijesh, Janam actor and writer, came in contact with Safdar because he was part of a group of young doctors who were in the 1980s quite interested in cultural activities. He recalled how Safdar gradually started bringing him closer to the movement without his even realising it. He was appreciative of the fact that Safdar had a way of communicating his politics without thrusting it upon people.

Janam also organises a poetry reading session in memory of Safdar, since he himself was very fond of poetry. Last year, poems by Faiz and Majaz were read, and this year, the focus was on three more centenarian poets: Nagarjun, Shamsher, and Kedar Nath Agarwal.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/