Corruption Within Our Apex Court

Prashant Bhushan has brought the goodies out in his supplementary affidavit! The ongoing contempt of court proceedings against Mr. Bhushan continues to be one of the most important court proceedings in lieu of public interest in a long-long time. Here is Mr. Bhushan's original affidavit, which in Jack's opinion was itself a historic document. And here is Mr. Shanti Bhushan's affidavit in support of his son. For the background to this, please turn to the Campaign for Judicial Accountability & Judicial Reforms.
PrashantBhushan_20100917

Kachri Bai's 1944 FIR

Verrier Elwin and his Man Friday Shyam Rao Hivale had quite a romp while Elwin churned out 'seminal' writings on central India's indigenous people. The image here is of Kosi Bai, a Raj Gond, Elwin's second wife, who is still alive in Dindori. The muck-racking efforts of a few journalists like Raman Kripal have brought to light Kosi and some of the personal failures and exploits of Elwin. As Kripal's articles appeared after Ramachandra Guha's 'comprehensive' biography on Elwin, Guha was forced to respond. Guha's book does detail how Elwin came to shake-off the moral yoke of both the Church and Gandhi, and sheds light into the casual relationships both Elwin and Hivale entered into. Guha has said, 'the truth is rather more complicated.' The truth is that the truth is even more complicated than Guha understands it to be. There were a lot of simultaneous relationships going on. Elwin, the poet anthropologist, 'married to his typewriter', was far behind Hivale when it came to women. While Elwin's relationships have become subject to attention, Hivale's exploits, even more numerous, remain less known. This document is an FIR filed by one Kachri Bai in 1944, where she shows how she was used by Hivale (Chhote Bhaiya). The FIR does not show up in Guha's book and it provides a rather interesting peek into those productive times.

Kachri Bai FIR

Mamata for Didi?

Singh-ji's 'Will Didi Slay the Railway Demon' is spot on in its recommendations of how Railways can stop its procurement leak running over Rs. 50,000 crore in the last decade. Well, it is almost spot on. Singh-ji has made one error. It might be a strategic error, but it is an error nonetheless. His articles assume that the Minister herself wishes to clean up Railways. Big mistake. Didi is interested in only one thing. While it is true that it is bureaucrats that have eaten and continue to eat over 90% of the kickbacks involved in Railways procurement and operation, one cannot be so naive to think that her party has not begun to channel Railways booty into its party-fund for the greater glory of Bengal. By not attacking the Minister directly Singh-ji may have been able to get his news printed, but this has prevented the issues he has exposed from taking a political and thereby public turn. One must turn to a different kind of hack, Suresh Tripathi, not without his own problems, to understand what Singh does not say. Tripathi's writings in his publication Rail Samachar are an informative window into the inside world of Indian Railways. He shows the kind of officials Didi has used to get her Railways work done. Chairman Railway Board Vivek Sahai, enmeshed in recruitment corruption found no problem in becoming Didi's chosen one for CRB or take the continued existence of RDSO Director K.B.L. Mittal legendary for his own exploits. Tripathi also exposes what it is in Didi's management that led to the latest rounds of RRB scams. Bureaucrats are still ruling the roost in Railways gobbling up far more than they can digest. But, Didi is not clean, because her clean image is being used for a feast by both bureaucrats and her party fund collectors. So should there be mamata for Didi, Singh-ji?

Indian Media Wakes Up to Railways Corruption

News of the Great Railways Procurement Robbery has leaked. Will our plumbing job help the nation plug its Railways leak? NDTV belatedly followed The Statesman's initial and comprehensive break to release what it had been holding on to for weeks. The coverage by NDTV shows that since the scam volume is so big, Rs. 5,000 crore annually, they were unsure about it even while they were running the story. This explains why they held on for so long. No such problem for The Statesman, who went whole hog. Dainik Bhaskar then simply stole the NDTV article. The NDTV kicker was when they got Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniappa to call the entire Railways procurement system 'transparent.' Gill fell off his chair in peals of laughter. I can still hear him giggling from some corner of the earth. Mr. Muniappa you have done a great service to the nation by your comments. You, in fact, do not know just how much you have helped. We salute your transparent transparence. For more coverage of the scam so far, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. Some more plumbing to do, I, Jack, have got to go. Scams away...

Baba Maharia & Chief Seattle

It happened in North America 2 centuries ago. It has accelerated for us in the past two decades. Catching up is India. We, of course, are speaking of the destruction of our central Indian indigenous communities. As promised we will continue to intersperse the colossal leaks behind our 'accelerating growth', with documents related to those communities that show a mirror to our environment and community compromising, centralized, and corrupt system. This document is like our own Chief Seattle or to be more accurate Chief Si'ahl speech. What the original Chief Si'ahl speech was, we will never know. But there are many doctored versions available to us. Likewise Baba Maharia, a Bhilala, whose father's name is Maharia, made a speech in the early 90's in Bhilali. What he spoke was documented and translated in English and Hindi. This is the Hindi version. He addressed his speech to the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh, explaining his stand to drown in the Sardar Sarovar dam waters that would flood his village Jalsindhi. It is a speech that hits at many levels. The obvious mis-match between how a community is inextricably linked to its river-forest-gods which are not replaceable or monetizable. Resettlement plans have also no understanding of community labour, which even in simple economic terms makes a community far richer than the assets of its individuals. But, our economic system is of course built on devaluing certain kinds of labour and monetizing of natural resources, so that benefits always accrue upwards and true costs are never calculated.

Baba Maharia Letter to Chief Minister

How to Fix Yourself Crores in Railways

This document shows the corrupt modus-operandi used by firms to set themselves up as preferred suppliers. Pioneer Friction 4th-tier subsidiary of Pennsylvania based Wabtec, thought nothing of informing its parent company in 2005 about the huge bribes it had been paying to the Railway Board and other senior Railway officers. Wabtec, however, got scared of the provisions of the US anti-corruption FCPA law. To escape with a light punishment, Wabtec informed US law-enforcement agencies about the greasing of palms. In 2008, the US Department of Justice penalized Wabtec a sum of $675,000. This is the DOJ document, which also lays bare how those bribes were made. Pioneer Friction was subsequently banned by the Railway Board, but till today the officers who took bribes have not been named. Incidentally Pioneer Friction was one of the 7 companies listed in Indian Ambassador to US Meera Shankar's 2009 letter to PM Manmohan Singh for bribing Indian government officials. The list of parent companies involved includes (A. Manusinghvi, R. Tata, and M. Ahluwalia protected) Dow Chemicals. The CBI is 'investigating' the cases, so 'sincerely' that still no officers have been brought to book.
US DOJ Wabtec Penalty for Corruption Details
Banning of Pioneer Friction

Railways Vigilance Wakes Up

It is institutionally near impossible for the Railways vigilance to defeat even one platoon in the army of Railways corruption, if senior officers are involved. The highest ranked vigilance officer is still subordinate to a Zonal Railways General Manager. And any serious investigation reports against senior officers, must still pass through the Railway Board on the way to the CVC. And, on the way back from the CVC, the file must again meet the Railway Board. This is why vigilance has had to sit tight and watch the big game in Railways continue to unfold. That said, this time vigilance appears to have found a new lease of life. The following document shows the ongoing massive investigation taking place right now. The purchase of 16 items over 5 years throughout the Railways is being investigated. Will it affect the greater game? Time and 'Didi' will tell.Investigation Into Procurement Corruption