Realty boom behind graft in land registration

     The registration department of late leads other departments like revenue, transport, police and the state electricity board in the number of cases filed against it by the Department of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption Cell. Interestingly, the number of cases filed against officials of registration department was only five during 2003-04 when the state witnessed the first real estate boom of the decade. In fact three years back, the land registration department trailed behind other departments in the number of corruption cases it faced. The focus has now shifted to registration department and its number has gone up although the departments like, revenue, transport, police and electricity Board were notorious for bribes since ages. One is at a loss to understand and prescribe a fool-proof remedy to such a situation prevailing in the country. Despite changes in governments and the presence of a bunch of good-intentioned bureaucrats and technocrats, the issue of high-level corruption and petty bribes continues to flourish at the cutting edge level of government and public agencies unfortunately.

Rajiv Gandhi Equity Scheme [RGES]

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his last budget speech announced the introduction of RGES. God knows the real reason for naming that scheme after the former Prime Minister and the justification for it.

It seems the SEBI, the regulator has asked the Finance Ministry (G.O.I) to route the tax-saving Rajiv Gandhi Equity Scheme through mutual Fund (M.F). The chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India U.K.Sinha had submitted a proposal in this regard to minimize risk associated with direct stock investment for new investors. A good proposal indeed!

Instead of naming it after Rajiv Gandhi who already has many schemes and public assets in his name all over India, it could have been named after Harshad Mehta so that it could act as a good deterrent to the new investors!!

(May 20, 2012 Karur)

On the eve of India's Presidential poll.

Shri Pranab Mukherji, the former Union Finance Minister was nominated by the UPA as its candidate for the post of President of India. NDA's truncated alliance along with AIADMK and Biju Janata Dal led by Mr Navin Patnaik supported Shri P.A.Sangma as their candidate for the elections.

Ms Mamta Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal vehimently advocated the candidature of Dr Abdul Kalaam who of course very correctly refused such an offer. It is her gesture that earned a very bad name in the public. Her stand was totally devoid of any reason and mature understanding of the current situation in the country . Ultimately she had to come round and support the UPA's candidate. What a poor showmanship in political arena! Pranab Mukherji is bound to win the elections and become the President of India. A well-managed affair by Smt Sonia Gandhi!

Heading For Grain Drain -

As Kirit S. Parikh points out, if FCI does not cover the whole country with an effective procurement network ensuring MSP to every farmer, the danger of destabilising food production and unsettling foodgrains trade is a very real one. This would suggest a more universal scheme while excluding the clearly identifiable rich. He also suggests that if cash is distributed instead of foodgrains, we can rely on markets and do not have to rely on FCI whose operations are more expensive than that of traders. It would eliminate the need for the FCI and even the PDS itself. I am reminded of an article written by the author in 1990s in this regard.

Govt. May Hike SME Investment Cap

New Delhi: Small is set to get bigger. Government is planning to revise investment limits for classification of micro, small and medium enterprises and also link it to employment and turnover, as is the case in several parts of the world.

At present, in case of manufacturing, any unit with investment between Rs. 25 lakh and Rs. 5 crore is classified as a small enterprise, while those with investment of Rs. 5-10 crores are classified as medium. In case of services, the limits are lower, given the lower capital requirement in the sector. Investment includes funds invested in tools, plant and machinery, power generator and fire fighting equipment. Although the issue has been discussed with stakeholders, a final decision has not been taken and the new caps have not been worked out so far.

Let us wait and see.

The Cabinet recently cleared a policy that mandats at least 20% government procurement from the units.

Corruption - a Way of Life at TTD

Taking a bribe or charging a commission in all purchases and sales have become a part of the game both in the private and public sectors not only in India but probably even in other parts of the globe. That explains the reason why even the Tirupati Tirumla Devasthanams are no exception to this rule. The annual income of TTD is supposed to be around Rs. 2,000 crore with a work force of around 10,000 persons in 98 wings of its adminsitration. G. Arun Kumar reports in the Time of India, Chennai that corruption has seeped into its system very badly. He reports that right from the time a pilgrim gets down at Tirupati to catch a bus to the Tirumala hills for a darshan, has his head tonsured, obtains an appointment with the joint executive officer for accommodation, buys laddu prasadam, he has to grease the palms of employees and agents.

Lord Venkateswara's darshan is available to pilgrims with varying amounts of entry fees and depending on the status of a pilgrim. As is true of every other organisation in the country, TTD also is manned by people with varying degrees of demands and greediness. Unless a drastic surgeory takes place under the able leadership of the Chairman and the Chief Executive officer of TTD, nothing will improve there for quite some time.