JP Morgan Chase in talks to invest 1,200 crore in SpiceJet
NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: A fund managed by JPMorgan Chase is in advanced discussions to team up with Ajay Singh to invest around $200 million (Rs 1,200 crore) in cash-strapped SpiceJet - a move that will help the ailing airline to take off again, said multiple sources aware of the ongoing discussions.
On Tuesday, Tanmaya Misra, Mumbai-based managing director of JPMorgan's Asian Infrastructure fund, accompanied Singh, a co-founder of the airline, to meet senior aviation ministry officials to submit a revival blueprint. "They (JPMorgan) have shown interest in the airline and talked about investing about $200 million along with Ajay Singh. All of these are under discussions at various levels," said a government source.
Besides JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley is another institutional investor which is believed to have shown interest, said one of the sources mentioned above, although it is still not clear if it is the PE or any other unit of the US investment bank that had displayed interest. Singh and JPMorgan are also in touch with representatives of billionaire Kalanithi Maran. Maran's Sun Group is the current promoter of the airline with a 58% stake. The sources cited above say that Marans want to exit the airline completely to let Singh and other investors take control.
The sources add Singh - known for his close ties with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and reportedly the man who coined the catchy election slogan Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar — has already started a detailed due-diligence process. SpiceJet has an immediate liability of Rs 1,400 crore and other liabilities of Rs 600 crore. Analysts estimate that the airline would require up to Rs 2,000 crore. Ajay Singh could not be reached for comments.
Mails sent to Misra, the JP Morgan official involved in the talks, did not elicit a response till the time of going to press. He did not respond to calls on his mobile. The SpiceJet stock reacted sharply as the possibilities of fund raising brightened, ending the day up 5.3% at Rs 17.65/share. A source in the know said that various investors interested in SpiceJet have met, at some point or the other, civil aviation ministry officials, accompanied by Singh.
In the recent past, the promoters of SpiceJet had also reached out to a consortium of US private equity investors TPG and Indigo Partners for an urgent bailout. The duo - which had earlier also looked at Kingfisher Airlines - did spend some time examining a potential investment but backed out in the end as the airline's viability became suspect and the issue gathered political hues.
"Both TPG and Indigo love the distressed airline space. For SpiceJet too they spent considerable time since they know both Marans and Ajay Singh. But eventually they pulled out. Once there is a concrete blueprint in sight, they may possibly revive their interests," said an official in the know. Indigo Partners LLC was founded in 2002 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona and owns Denver-based Frontier Airlines while TPG is one of the largest buyout funds in the world, known for turning around distressed assets.
One of the largest dedicated infrastructure funds for the region, JPMorgan's asset management division had raised around a $860 million Asia Infrastructure Fund in 2010. While most of this is already deployed, efforts are on since last year to raise a second fund called JPMorgan Asian Infrastructure & Related Resources Opportunity Fund II. This fund is slated to have a corpus of between $1 billion and $1.5 billion to invest in core infrastructure assets across Asia.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing last month, the Wall Street bank so far has managed to raise $285 million. In India, these funds have invested in Nandi Infrastructure Corridor, Hyderabad-based Soma Group and Seven Hills Hospitals and Narayana Hrudayalaya among others. In his previous avatar as SpiceJet's boss, Singh had roped in Wilbur Ross, Goldman Sachs and Dubai-based investment firm Istithmar.
These investors have since exited. Earlier in December the civil aviation ministry asked SpiceJet —which was raising some of its working capital through advance ticket sales — to stop tickets sales more than a month in advance. That restriction came into force in the wake of the airline cancelling around 1,800 flights in December after it shrunk its fleet due to mounting losses. Several of its lessors seized aircraft due to non payment of dues as well.
With reports of unpaid salaries surfacing, the aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), had to intervene to prevent a repeat of the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. Last week, SpiceJet had to briefly ground its fleet for more than 10 hours after oil companies refused to fuel their aircraft, citing dues. Amid rumours that the airline was shutting down, the aviation ministry permitted SpiceJet to accept bookings till March-end, asked banks to give short-term working capital loans worth Rs 600 crore and requested state-controlled oil companies to extend a credit line for jet fuel for two more weeks.
The politicization of the language on communal grounds only reflects the leanings of politicians. And the repulsion to Sanskrit is a phenomenon that owes much to short-sighted pro-Sanskrit champions who care little about the actual problems facing Sanskrit studies in the country.
The Sanskrit debate is back, and our civil society isn’t getting enough of flashing its diplomas in subaltern studies.
To begin with, there are two major arguments against the implementation of Sanskrit in schools. The first one is a racial argument. According to it, white Aryans invaded India. The aboriginals were all black. The Aryans were Sanskrit speakers and not only imposed Sanskrit on the aboriginals but also drove them down south. This view gained coin back in the 19th century and continues to dominate the psyche of Indians thanks to our—to quote sociologist Dipankar Gupta—“westoxicated” academicians and middle class.
The theory of racial invasion has been severely critiqued and has been mostly given up in mainstream academia. The contributions of Dr B.R Ambedkar in breaking this theory are commendable. Anyone in doubt must read his work Who Were the Shudras? to understand the untenable nature of the racial invasion theory.
This however does not mean that the invasion theory is terminated in its entirety. It has its stock of variants which are invoked to ignite communal and ethnic issues as and when required.
The second argument against Sanskrit, the Brahamnical Sanskrit theory, is one such variant, still alive and doing well. It goes way back to the 19th century and has been nicely preserved in the early Marxist Indian historiographies of D.D. Kosambi and R.S. Sharma, though their invasion theory has been sidelined. The theory that Sanskrit language represents Brahmanic hegemony and therefore is the medium of subjugation of the ancient subalterns (who are only remotely connected to the present ones: see Ambedkar’s Who Were the Shudras?) is based on the following gross observations in the Sanskrit texts, especially Sanskrit plays.
Prakrit was the language of the masses. Only upper caste men are depicted as conversing in Sanskrit. Women and lower castes regardless of their gender are depicted as conversing in Prakrit. Other than these observations, our anti-Sanskrit champions sight the prohibitions sighted in the law books like that of Manu to conclude that Sanskrit belongs to the upper castes. Well, these arguments overlook the some telling exceptions.
The Brahmana court jester depicted in Sanskrit plays invariably converses in Prakrit. Merchants and courtiers are also made to speak in Prakrit. Parivrajikas or female ascetic nuns are seen speaking in Sanskrit along with courtesans and at times queens. Children, regardless of their gender, are depicted as Prakrit speakers. The languages of the characters of the plays are decided by the characterisation, ethnicity and vocation of the protagonists, phonetic peculiarities of the audience, situations in the plays, not on caste hierarchies.
Both Sanskrit and Prakrit used in the kāvyas are of standardised form, thereby not letting one have literary privilege over the other. The fact that the kāvyas included dramas that were to be enacted on various occasions, and thus must have been accessible to a wide audience of various castes and classes, goes against the idea that Sanskrit was reserved for the upper castes. The various female and lower castes depicted as speaking in Prakrit are usually in conversation with the Sanskrit speakers. From this we can also infer that though a character is speaking in Parkrit, he/she is understands Sanskrit fully so as to be active participants in the conversations. Finally, most of the actors were usually from the so-called lower castes. This suggests that they knew how to at least converse in both the languages with ease.
In her book Imagining The Urban: Sanskrit and the City In Early India, Delhi University professor Shonaleeka Kaul refers to American Sanskrit scholar Sheldon Pollock’s thesis, in which he argues in favour of the universal nature of Sanskrit and designates it as cosmopolitan, and also states that its linguistic affiliations were genuinely trans-regional and trans-ethnic, like its sphere of cultivation and circulation. Thus the Brahmnaic Sanskrit theory is also untenable.
The Dharmashastric texts forbid the recitation of the sacred texts by the lower castes. So restriction to it is applicable only to the religious texts. Sanskrit is not a religious language and not at all a language reserved for mainstream Hinduism. Plays, poetry, medical, astronomical and other treatises are available to substantiate this point. Sanskrit literature would also include works by the sects which disagreed with Hindu practices like the Buddhists. Asvaghosa’s Budhhacharita and Saundarananda are testimony to this. Many argue that Buddhism represented the subalterns. That might be true. However, the use of Sanskrit in a sect which represents subalterns refutes allegations about the elitist nature of Sanskrit.
Yet another argument against Sanskrit learning, which is closely associated with the above theories, is that there are languages which represent the subalterns and these do not have any connection with Sanskrit.
But most of the languages which are being claimed as languages of the subalterns, like Tamil and Prakrit, have standardised and canonised versions. This by itself reveals the existence of hierarchies among the speakers of these languages. Therefore, the allegations that Sanskrit is subjected to must be shared by these as well. There is no language then whatsoever which does not represent social hierarchies. Even languages like Santhali represent gender and generation divisions. Moreover, tenets of Sanskrit are found in languages of all parts of the country, ranging from the North East (Assam) to the South (Tamil and Malayalam). The obvious question that arises is whether the strong tenets of the supposed subaltern languages are found all over the country or not.
So we are in a position to conclude that Sanskrit is not as “problemtic” a language as suggested by our self-serving politicians and politically inclined academicians. Introduction of Sanskrit as a language to be learnt should not face such unwarranted opposition. And if such opposition is not unwarranted, then all languages must be banned. Following such arguments, we must stop talking.
Strangely, we find most of the anti-Sanskrit pro-subaltern champions mumbling in English. Is that not a language that represents subordination or domination? Wasn’t it introduced by force? So should we renounce it? Not at all. Language has politics, but that politics is defined by who speaks in it. After all, Gandhi and Ambedkar wrote and spoke at length in the same language that was spoken by Lord Curzon and Lord Dalhousie.
Well, then does it mean that our pro-Sanskrit champions are correct in their assertions? Their arguments are acceptable only to the extent that Sanskrit is a rich language and is one of the main sources to understand our past and present culture. Other than this, repulsion to Sanskrit is a phenomenon that owes much to these very same champions.
The desire to learn Sanskrit needs to be kindled among the young. This has to be done by positive nurturing, not by imposing it in place of a European language that a child has been learning and is keenly interested in (regardless of the politics behind such interest). Doing so would only make the child repelled by Sanskrit.
There is no proper planning involved in the measures adopted to promote Sanskrit among the young. The sudden and compulsory introduction of the language does not pre-suppose that children are humans, but treats them as objects under manufacture. There should be no problem with Sanskrit as far as it is introduced as an option to choose from at the school level. However, it should not be imposed at any cost, as this can only lead to its destruction in the long run. This is only a glimpse of the lack of planning and administration in the Sanskrit world.
Most of the colleges offering an Honours degree in Sanskrit try to promote the language through any measure possible. This overlooks quality and leads to fatal implications for both students and faculty. The cut-off for taking up Sanskrit in graduation is compromised so much that it has become a lucrative option for securing a random degree by uninterested and academically disinclined students. A look at the list of students who fail in the first year finals in most of the universities makes this point clear.
The syllabus designed for Sanskrit Honours mostly aims to ensure its survival and therefore does not subscribe to general academic standards. A university which accepts students from gurukuls (who have studied Sanskrit since childhood), those who have studied Sanskrit till higher secondary, those who have studied it till secondary, those who studied it only till eighth standard and those who have never studied it, all in one honours degree programme, reveals a lot about the superficial and arbitrary nature of the syllabus and the credentials of the planners.
The gurukul student doesn’t learn anything new and leaves cursing, while the novice and the eighth standard Sanskrit scholar graduates from the university pondering over three years of mumbo jumbo and truths behind a certificate that claims a first division. The quality of teachers coming out of such a system can well be imagined.
Even at the research level, in most of the Sanskrit departments, socio-political and economic implications of the texts being studied are not taken into account. Understanding the texts through academically accepted theoretical frameworks is hardly ever undertaken. Rather, a mystical and theological approach is engaged with. The quality of students produced by the Sanskrit departments, given their arbitrary nature and lack of planning to build aptitude, is not compatible with mainstream academics nor are they of any use outside pure academics. Thus the saviours of Sanskrit are equally responsible for its doom.
The politics around this language is completely unwarranted. A culturally rich language must be learnt and allowed to grow. The politicization of the language on communal grounds only brings forward the leanings of the politicians. Sanskrit is innocent and nobody should have a problem with its introduction in schools. But we must be careful about how we introduce it. Imposition only creates rebellion. Unwarranted imposition would lead to unwarranted rebellion. Furthermore, for the promotion of Sanskrit, its introduction in schools is not enough. There is an urgent need to revise the entire structure of Sanskrit studies in colleges and universities. Until that is done, Sanskrit will continue to be a “subaltern discipline” in relation to mainstream academics.
Though the career options for Sanskrit students are in plenty, it is finally quality that would determine access to jobs. Till the Sanskrit field does not come to terms with mainstream academic standards and market forces, the departments will continue to produce sub-standard scholars vying for the limited jobs in pure academics.
The “String of Pearls” describes the manifestation of China’s rising geopolitical influence through efforts to increase access to ports and airfields, develop special diplomatic relationships, and modernize military forces that extend from the South China Sea through the Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean, and on to the Arabian Gulf. ..
Each “pearl” in the “String of Pearls” is a nexus of Chinese geopolitical influence or military presence. Hainan Island, with recently upgraded military facilities, is a “pearl.”
An upgraded airstrip on Woody Island, located in the Paracel archipelago 300 nautical miles east of Vietnam, is a “pearl.” A container shipping facility in Chittagong, Bangladesh, is a “pearl.” Construction of a deep water port in Sittwe, Myanmar, is a “pearl,” as is the construction of a navy base in Gwadar, Pakistan. Port and airfield construction projects, diplomatic ties, and force modernization form the essence of China’s “String of Pearls.” The “pearls” extend from the coast of mainland China through the littorals of the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean, and on to the littorals of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. China is building strategic relationships and developing a capability to establish a forward presence along the sea lines of communication (SLOCs) that connect China to the Middle East.
One Sunday morning last December, China’s defense ministry summoned military attachés from several embassies to its monolithic Beijing headquarters.
To the foreigners’ surprise, the Chinese said that one of their nuclear-powered submarines would soon pass through the Strait of Malacca, a passage between Malaysia and Indonesia that carries much of world trade, say people briefed on the meeting.
Two days later, a Chinese attack sub—a so-called hunter-killer, designed to seek out and destroy enemy vessels—slipped through the strait above water and disappeared. It resurfaced near Sri Lanka and then in the Persian Gulf, say people familiar with its movements, before returning through the strait in February—the first known voyage of a Chinese sub to the Indian Ocean.
The message was clear: China had fulfilled its four-decade quest to join the elite club of countries with nuclear subs that can ply the high seas. The defense ministry summoned attachés again to disclose another Chinese deployment to the Indian Ocean in September—this time a diesel-powered sub, which stopped off in Sri Lanka.
China’s increasingly potent and active sub force represents the rising power’s most significant military challenge yet for the region. Its expanding undersea fleet not only bolsters China’s nuclear arsenal but also enhances the country’s capacity to enforce its territorial claims and thwart U.S. intervention.
China is expected to pass another milestone this year when it sets a different type of sub to sea—a “boomer,” carrying fully armed nuclear missiles for the first time—says the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, or ONI.
China is hardly hiding its new boomers. Tourists could clearly see three of them at a base opposite a resort recently in China’s Hainan province. On the beach, rented Jet Skis were accompanied by guides to make sure riders didn’t stray too close.
These boomers’ missiles have the range to hit Hawaii and Alaska from East Asia and the continental U.S. from the mid-Pacific, the ONI says.
“This is a trump card that makes our motherland proud and our adversaries terrified,” China’s navy chief, Adm. Wu Shengli, wrote of the country’s missile-sub fleet in a Communist Party magazine in December. “It is a strategic force symbolizing great-power status and supporting national security.”
To naval commanders from other countries, the Chinese nuclear sub’s nonstop Indian Ocean voyage was especially striking, proving that it has the endurance to reach the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s headquarters in Hawaii.
“They were very clear with respect to messaging,” says Vice Adm. Robert Thomas, a former submariner who commands the U.S. Seventh Fleet, “to say that, ‘We’re a professional navy, we’re a professional submarine force, and we’re global. We’re no longer just a coastal-water submarine force.’ ”
In recent years, public attention has focused on China’s expanding military arsenal, including its first aircraft carrier and stealth fighter. But subs are more strategically potent weapons: A single one can project power far from China and deter other countries simply by its presence.
China’s nuclear attack subs, in particular, are integral to what Washington sees as an emerging strategy to prevent the U.S. from intervening in a conflict over Taiwan, or with Japan and the Philippines—both U.S. allies locked in territorial disputes with Beijing.
And even a few functional Chinese boomers compel the U.S. to plan for a theoretical Chinese nuclear-missile strike from the sea. China’s boomer patrols will make it one of only three countries—alongside the U.S. and Russia—that can launch atomic weapons from sea, air and land.
“I think they’ve watched the U.S. submarine force and its ability to operate globally for many, many years—and the potential influence that can have in various places around the globe,” says Adm. Thomas, “and they’ve decided to go after that model.”
China's nuclear-sub deployments, some naval experts say, may become the opening gambits of an undersea contest in Asia that echoes the cat-and-mouse game between U.S. and Soviet subs during the Cold War—a history popularized by Tom Clancy's 1984 novel "The Hunt for Red October."
Back then, each side sent boomers to lurk at sea, ready to fire missiles at the other’s territory. Each dispatched nuclear hunter-killers to track the other’s boomers and be ready to destroy them.
The collapse of the Soviet Union ended that tournament. But today, as China increases its undersea firepower, the U.S. and its allies are boosting their submarine and anti-sub forces in Asia to counter it.
Neither China nor the U.S. wants a Cold War rerun. Their economies are too interdependent, and today’s market-minded China doesn’t seek global revolution or military parity with the U.S.
Chinese officials say their subs don’t threaten other countries and are part of a program to protect China’s territory and expanding global interests. Chinese defense officials told foreign attachés that the subs entering the Indian Ocean would assist antipiracy patrols off Somalia, say people briefed on the meetings.
In the 1990s, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official told the then-US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs to not preach to India.
The media is abuzz about veteran US diplomat Robin Raphel getting caught in the counter-espionage net. Many former Indian diplomats blame her for towing the pro-Pakistan line, which prevented New Delhi and Washington from developing their relations with full throttle.
A former Foreign Secretary and India’s Ambassador to Washington recently recalled that talking to her was like talking to a Pakistani diplomat.
Whatever is the reality that the probe by the US counterintelligence will show, her pushy anti-India stance had once forced Moscow to tell her to stop ‘teaching India.’
Raphel was then Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the Clinton Administration and used to frequently visit Moscow for bilateral consultations with her counterparts in the Russian Foreign Ministry.
It is believed that she had played some role in formulating certain pro-Pakistan statements emanating from Moscow, which raised hackles in New Delhi, casting doubts about Russia’s true intentions about India. Russia’s pro-West liberal Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev was in power at that time.
Many still remember the ‘cryogenic deal’ with India, when under the US pressure Moscow backtracked on the agreement signed by the government of Mikhail Gorbachev for the transfer of cryogenic technology to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), casting a long shadow of doubt on the future of bilateral India-Russia defence and technological cooperation.
However, things changed after President Boris Yeltsin in January 1996 appointed the seasoned Russian scholar-cum-intelligence chief, Academician Yevgeny Primakov as his Foreign Minister.
It was sometime in mid-1996 when Raphel visited Moscow for consultations on South Asia, a senior foreign ministry official, who was Russia’s new pointman at the US-Russian consultations frankly told her to stop ‘teaching India.’
“We in Russia with our one thousand year old history and you with your little over two century long history have no moral right to teach and preach to India, a living, over five thousand year old civilisation,” the Russian foreign ministry official told Raphel.
Since, I was told about this episode in a private conversation and off the record, I will not be able to disclose the Russian diplomat’s identity, as he is no more among us in this world. I can only describe him as a true Russian nationalist and a great friend of India, who always came forward to help the members of the Indian community in the initial period after the Soviet collapse.
The Russian President is using asymmetrical strategies to stop – and ultimately bring down – the enemies of the Russian state.
Putin is employing asymmetrical strategies to stop – and ultimately bring down – the American empire. Source: RIA Novosti
There are 7.2 billion people in this world but the United States fears only one man – Vladimir Putin. That’s because on virtually every front of the new Cold War, the Russian President is walloping the collective challenge of the West. Fear can make you do strange things. Forbes magazine has named Putin as the most powerful person on the planet for the second year running.
It is said about the Russians that they take a long time to saddle their horses but they ride awfully fast. After slowly nursing the collapsed Russian economy back to health, Putin is now going for broke. In Syria, Crimea and Ukraine, the West has melted away at his approach and has faced humiliating setbacks. In the field of energy, it will be Russian – not western – pipelines that will dominate the Eurasian landmass.
But instead of scorekeeping, a more instructive exercise would be to try and understand how Putin has managed to keep Russia ahead in the game.
He knows their DNA
More than any other leader, the Russian President by virtue of his KGB experience understands how the United States operates. The American modus operandi – in sync with the British – is to organise coups, rebellions and counter revolutions in countries where nationalist leaders come to power. Iran, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama and Ukraine are the classic examples.
John Perkins writes in Confessions of an Economic Hitman how he and other ‘hitmen’ like him were sent to developing countries as consultants to bribe or coerce diplomats, economists, administrators and politicians to do the bidding of the United States. Often they succeeded, but if they failed then the CIA would send in the ‘jackals’ – professionally trained assassins who would engineer the deaths of those who stood in the way of complete American domination.
This one-two punch by economic hitmen and assassins was so effective in creating banana republics that the United States rarely had to use any other means. Among the rare occasions the Americans had to use the military in pursuit of commercial aims was in Iraq, and to a limited extent in Libya.
Putin knows the US has attempted a similar approach in Russia. As a former KGB general stationed in East Germany he knows the hitmen are on the prowl. “One of the things to understand is that he in particular studied counter-intelligence which is key in understanding why he’s the critical player,” writes Joaquin Flores in the Center For Syncretic Studies. “Counter-intelligence is not just finding spies, but it’s actually countering the work of other agents who are embedded or whose work involves embedding themselves to destroy institutions from within.”
Parallel to American black ops is naked war. It is now plainly evident that the United States economy – and that of its sidekick Britain – is a war economy. Russian presidential adviser Sergei Glazyev, known to be close to the nationalist core of Putin’s party, said at a round table in Moscow: “The Americans have gained from every war in Europe – World War I, World War II, the Cold War. The wars in Europe are the means of their economic miracle, their own prosperity.”
The war in Ukraine is clearly a pretext to pull Russia into a direct military confrontation with Ukrainian armed forces, in order to create a regional war in Europe.
Russia’s response is two pronged. One, by refusing to get into a shooting war with the Ukrainian thugs, it keeps the Americans frustrated. Washington’s inaction in Ukraine was brilliantly described by a Chinese general as a symptom of America’s strategic “erectile dysfunction”.
Hitting the economic jugular
Secondly, Putin is employing asymmetrical strategies to stop – and ultimately bring down – the American empire. The primary target is to strike hard at the heart of American power – the dollar. Russia – with support from the BRICS – is moving away from dollar trade, a step that will seriously impact the barely growing American economy.
According to financial portal Zero Hedge, “Glazyev’s set of countermeasures specifically targets the core strength of the US war machine, i.e. the Fed’s printing press. Putin's advisor proposes the creation of a ‘broad anti-dollar alliance’ of countries willing and able to drop the dollar from their international trade. Members of the alliance would also refrain from keeping currency reserves in dollar-denominated instruments….An anti-dollar coalition would be the first step for the creation of an anti-war coalition that can help stop the US' aggression.
“Unsurprisingly, Glazyev believes the main role in the creation of such a political coalition is to be played by the European business community because America’s attempts to ignite a war in Europe and a cold war against Russia are threatening the interests of big European business.
“Judging by the recent efforts to stop the sanctions against Russia, made by the German, French, Italian and Austrian business leaders, Putin's aide is right in his assessment. Somewhat surprisingly for Washington, the war for Ukraine may soon become the war for Europe's independence from the US and a war against the dollar.”
Russia is also pushing for institutional changes. The $100 billion BRICS New Development Bank will not only counter the influence of western lending institutions but also stop the flow of cash from the developing countries to the West.
The current lending system is skewed in favour of the western countries because when the World Bank and IMF offer a loan, it comes with a basketful of conditions. For instance, the money can be used to purchase goods and services only from the West. Or the money can be used only for building dams but not to improve drinking water supplies.
Of course, the expertise and material for building dams will have to come from the West. And when the drinking water supply remains poor, it creates demand for bottled water from the West. The new bank will therefore hit the West where it hurts most – in its pocket.
While Putin has been making all the right moves on the geopolitical chessboard, his opponents aren’t sitting idle watching their empire fold up. Currently, the rouble is sliding against the American dollar even as the price of oil is being driven into the ground by the Saudis – most likely at the bidding of their American overlords. The Americans will relentlessly try to subvert Russia as it is the only country that stands between the United States and world domination.
However, Putin is a judoka who knows how to use his opponent’s force against the opponent itself. At any rate, all he needs to do is stop the barbarians at the gate. Reinforcements are coming from the East – mostly from China but India too – and it’s only a matter of time before the American-led forces are defeated.
Meanwhile, here’s a scoreboard for keeping track of how Putin stacks up against President Barrack Obama.
SOME EXTRACTS FROM MEDIA COVERAGE OF DAYANIDHI MARAN, KALANIDHI MARAN AND THEIR ILLEGAL ANTI-NATIONAL DIVERSION OF BSNL HIGH SPEED LINES TO THEIR RESIDENCE & USING THOSE FOR TRANSMITTING SUN TV PROGRAMS LIVE.
CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS IS HAPPENING IN INDIA AND YET NOT MUCH IS TALKED ABOUT IT.
Mr AG, Isn't Maran Money Laundering Threat to National Security?
By S Gurumurthy
Published: 14th July 2015 03:26 AM
Last Updated: 14th July 2015 03:38 AM
Former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran (File Photo/PTI)
CHENNAI: The Attorney General’s firm opinion is that economic offences, which include charges of money laundering, do not constitute a threat to national security.
The AG says that to hold Marans’ offences as constituting prejudice to the security of the state, they must have done something “threatening national security”, in the sense of actual or imminent threat, to deny them security clearance. The test of actual and imminent threat adopted by the AG to exonerate Marans seems totally misconceived. The threat to national security need not be actual or imminent. Even potential threat prejudices national security. The Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 2000 uses the words “in the interest of the security of India” or the words “in the interest of the security of the State”. They comprehend potential threat, which is markedly different from “threatening the security of India” in the sense of actual threat. According to the Home Ministry, Marans have caused prejudice to the security of the State in two ways.
One, they had set up an unlicenced, clandestine and unmonitored telephone exchange of 764 high-speed telephone lines, which undeniably constitute potential threat to national security [Mr Attorney, you got facts and law right on Marans? NIE June 13, 2015]. Two, they also stand charged for money laundering, which according to the Home Ministry constitutes potential threat to economic security of India. A critique of the AG’s view to the contrary not only confirms the Home Ministry’s view, but leads to the position that his view that money laundering is no threat to national security is itself a national security risk. Read on.
Security of State
The AG says that Marans’ television and cable businesses are protected under the right to freedom of expression guaranteed under Art 19(1) (a) of the Constitution. The freedom is only subject to the restrictions imposed by Art 19(2).
One such restriction, security of the state, is discussed by the AG in his opinion. The AG refers to the decided cases on Art 19 to contend that “Security of State” in Art 19(2) means crime or violence intended to overthrow the government, levying war and rebellion against the government, external aggression and crimes and the like.
On the decided cases, the AG says that, from the stand of the Home Ministry itself, it is clear that none of the cases instituted against the Marans — meaning including the charge of money laundering — would fall under threat to “national security”.
By that logic, the AG then boldly says that the Home Ministry “seem to suggest that economic security of the state should be covered under the Article 19(2) of the Constitution. I do not warrant for the same”.
Mr AG, do you really mean that economic security is not comprehended within the meaning of security of the State in Art 19(2)?
Mukul RahtogiIt is obvious that the AG has not been updated on the law, including on the Madras High Court judgment on Kal Cables, by those who had briefed him. In the Kal Cables judgment, which the AG is relying on to give his opinion, the Madras High Court has discussed extensively whether economic security is integral to security of the State. The court had referred to a recent judgment of the Supreme Court of India (in the case of Ex-Armymen’s Protection Services Private Limited Vs. Union of India, 2014). In that case, saying that while it is difficult to define in exact terms as to what national security is, the SC indicated that national security would include economic solidarity and strength. The court also added that what constitutes “security” is a matter of policy for the government to decide and not for the court to define. Mr AG, your opinion does not refer to this judgment or that of the Madras High Court at all. Both say that what is security is a matter of government policy and economic security is integral to it. Yet, you say, Mr AG, in your opinion that economic security is not integral to national security according to courts — thus contradicting both the Supreme Court and the High Court. Referring to the Supreme Court view and also the abuse of power by the Marans noticed by it, the Madras High Court has gone further and ruled, “May be a time has come to hold that the abuse of official position by a person and amassing of wealth of unimaginable proportions, is an assault on the security of the State. Economic aggression may soon become more dangerous than military aggression.”
Mr AG, you seem to be unaware of this observation of the High Court in Marans’ case itself, which directly conflicts with your opinion.
AG Needs to Update Himself
Again, the AG’s contention that economic security is not comprehended within national security is clearly based on an outdated view of law. The AG needs to be updated on this branch of law fast in the interest of national security, as he will be advising and arguing for the government time and again on this vital issue. The world has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades. The Center for Strategic Conferencing Institute for National Strategic Studies 2011 [National Defense University Press Washington, DC] says: “Economic security is a major element of national security, even as borders are less important than ever.” The Congressional Research Service Report to US Congress titled Economics and National Security: Issues and Implications for US Policy [Jan 4, 2011] says that the US national security consists, among others, first, physical security and second, economic security. How then can any one doubt that economic security is integral to national security? Then, Mr AG, is not your view that in Art 19(2) of the Constitution of India “there is no concept of economic security which the Home Ministry seeks to rely on” clearly outdated? The Home Ministry seems to be far more updated on the issue than you, Mr AG.
Money Laundering: Threat to Security
Mr AG, you say that, in your considered view the “charge of economic offences for denying security clearance in the instant case cannot amount to threatening national security.” It means that economic offences are no threat to national security. Now see how outdated are the AG’s view here too. A report on Economic Crimes by the Indian Audit and Accounts Service [2007] says: There is a growing recognition in the world that the economic offences are, many times, part of other serious crimes posing serious threat to the security of the nation.” And, of all economic offences that endanger national security, money laundering is the most serious.
A report titled “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing: A Global Threat” published by the US Department of State [2004] says that money laundering poses international and national security threats through corruption of officials and legal systems and threatens the financial stability of countries and the international free flow of capital. Mr AG, none of the cases relied on by you had had occasion to consider whether money laundering is a threat to national security. They are, therefore, no authority to say that money laundering is not a national security threat. Mr AG, can you deny this? And yet you say that according to decided cases economic security or economic offences are not integral to national security.
Mr AG, bribery and money laundering are considered the world over as a deadly combination against national security. You seem to have ignored this totally. You have even failed to notice the Preamble to UN Convention On Corruption to which India is a signatory. The UN Convention has noted that all member states are concerned about the seriousness of problems and threats posed by corruption “to the stability and security of societies” and points to links between corruption and other forms of crime, “in particular, organised crime and economic crime, including money laundering” and that cases involving vast quantity of assets can threaten political stability and security of the country”. The Marans have been charged with both bribery and money laundering, Mr AG. They allegedly got paid `740 crore for Dayanidhi Maran, as Minister, pressuring a businessman who owned the Aircel cellular company to sell his company to Maxis Group of Malaysia. They are believed to have laundered the bribe back as genuine investment in Sun Group. The Enforcement Directorate has seized the asset representing the bribe under the money laundering law. This is precisely what money laundering means. An article in the US Federal Bureau of Investigation Law Enforcement Bulletin [May 2001] titled “Money Laundering: A Global Threat and the International Community’s Response” defines money laundering as “the process by which one conceals the existence, illegal source, or illegal application of income to make it appear legitimate”. This is precisely the charge against the Marans. They are alleged to have concealed the bribe taken by them in the Maxis deal and recycled it to make it appear as legitimate capital.
Mr AG, will you still assert that the allegation of money laundering against the Marans is no threat to national security? No, you cannot. And how ridiculous then it is for the I&B Ministry to ask the Home Ministry for “clinching evidence” that can prove allowing Sun TV network operate would impinge upon national security?
Finally Mr AG, will you withdraw your opinion and give another one consistent with the latest law and correct facts?
Noose tightens around Dayanidhi Maran in BSNL case
Neeraj Chauhan, TNN | Jun 17, 2014, 05.55AM IST NEW DELHI: Trouble seems to be brewing for former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran with CBI recently questioning him in the case related to alleged allocation of over 300 BSNL high-speed phone lines at his residence in Chennai. The three-year-old matter saw some movement in May-June with the agency interrogating Maran, besides officials of Sun group and department of telecom.
Sources said they want to finalize the enquiry soon as directed by the top brass. The case saw movement recently with the change of government as during UPA government, CBI had gone slow in its probe.
CBI sources said Maran was examined last month in Delhi for his alleged involvement in allocation of the lines which were purportedly used by Sun TV, owned by his family.
The development comes at a time when the agency is waiting for the attorney general's opinion in another case - Aircel-Maxis deal probe - against Maran, where CBI wants to know whether a chargesheet could be filed against him with the available evidence or not.
The agency had filed an FIR in the telephone lines case following its preliminary enquiry in which there was enough material to proceed with a regular case against Maran and BSNL officials — the then CGM K Brahmanathan and M P Veluswami.
According to the case, 323 residential lines allegedly in the name of BSNL general manager connected the Boat House residence of Maran with the office of Sun TV through a dedicated underground cable during his tenure as telecom minister, sources said. The probe had started in 2011, nearly four years after getting complaints that a 'virtual' telephone exchange was set up at the then telecom minister's residence for facilitating data transfer from Sun TV.
The agency had recommended action to the then telecom secretary in 2007 but the department allegedly did not give its nod in the case, sources said. Finally, CBI filed a preliminary inquiry in 2011.
Sources said these lines were not ordinary telephone lines but costly ISDN, capable of carrying huge data, thus facilitating faster transmission of TV news and programmes across the globe. CBI in its report to the telecom secretary had claimed that these lines were for use of large commercial enterprises to meet special needs such as video conferencing or transmission of huge volume of digital data for which heavy fee was charged but Sun TV got it for free. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Noose-tightens-around-Dayanidhi-Maran-in-BSNL-case/articleshow/36687038.cms
Illegal telephone exchange case: Ex-BSNL official who exposed Dayanidhi Maran gets justice
R. RAMASUBRAMANIAN | Chennai, December 12, 2013 | 15:09
Dayanidhi Maran
A retired BSNL officer C.K. Mathivanan, who exposed a secret telephone exchange allegedly set up at
Dayanidhi Maran's residence in Chennai, has finally got justice. The exchange was set up at the former
telecom minister's house in Chennai for transmission of data and visuals of his brother Kalanidhi Maran's
TV channel. BSNL at last has restored Mathivanan full pension benefits.
BSNL took the decision after rejecting a recommendation made by a group of senior officials who sought
to penalise Mathivanan and 78 of his colleagues for carrying out agitations in September 2011 against the
Maran brothers and former BSNL chief general manager M.P. Velusamy.
Mathivanan and the agitators wanted the BSNL to take action against the Maran brothers and Velusamy
for setting up a private telephone exchange and thus throwing all relevant rules to the wind. In fact, the
323 high-speed ISDN lines were allotted in the name of Velusamy and used by Dayanidhi Maran, they
alleged. Though Mathivanan retired six months ago, his pension benefits were stopped.
After repeated submissions, BSNL CMD R.K. Upadhyay ordered CGM A. Balasubramanian to review
the case. In a latest order which was communicated to Mathivanan, Balasubramanian said he would be
given full pension benefits with immediate effect.
Mathivanan retired as sub-divisional engineer in June.
"Yes, BSNL CGM has informed me that my pension benefits have been restored. I'm happy. At last,
justice has won. I never bothered when my pension benefits were stopped as I have full faith in justice."
Mathivanan told India Today Online on the phone.
He said that on Wednesday, a CBI DIG had questioned him in Chennai about the case and he furnished
all the details.
"In fact, the scam is wider than I thought. Originally, we estimated that 323 ISDN lines were used by
Maran for his brother's television channel, but yesterday, the CBI DIG told me that they have stumbled
upon 40 more ISDN lines," Mathivanan said.
"I'm fully confident now that the Maran brothers will sooner or later go to jail because the CBI has a solid
case in its hands today," he said.
The CBI, in its preliminary report on the case, had estimated that the BSNL lost Rs 440 crore due to the
illegal exchange.
Though Mathivanan brought this issue out in 2007, the CBI swung in to action only after the Supreme
Court gave directions in this regard in 2012 and a fresh FIR was registered against Maran two months later.
BSNL man loses pension for exposing Dayanidhi Maran's illegal telephone exchange
CHENNAI: The whistleblower, who exposed the secret telephone exchange set up by former Union telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran at his Boat Club residence in Chennai, was a BSNL subdivisional engineer, whose pension has now been stopped on disciplinary grounds.
CK Mathivanan carried out a campaign within BSNL against Maran for three years for alleged misuse of infrastructure to facilitate free transmission of data and visuals for a television channel owned by Dayanidhi's elder brother Kalanithi Maran.
After retiring in June 2013, Mathivanan found that he was among the staffers who were penalized for an agitation against superiors, including those under whose names Maran was allotted 323 ISDN lines. Mathivanan is yet to receive his pension, but the fact that his actions helped expose a Rs 440-crore revenue loss to the PSU is a matter of his satisfaction.
'Feud in DMK exposed scam'
Today, the National Federation for Telecom Employees deputy general secretary says he was relieved when he heard the news that the CBI had filed an FIR in the case. His modesty does not permit him to take credit for it, though. "In fact, it was not I who exposed the scam. It got exposed because of the feud in the DMK," he told TOI.
According to him, Maran's exchange was secretly set up by the BSNL Chennai circle office in 2007. "I happened to see a file in which then general manager (operations) G Selvam had written that other than himself, chief general manager (CGM) and deputy general manager (operations), no one else should come to know about the 323 lines being provided at Maran's house. It was a state-of-the-art exchange, which was connected by just one pair of optical fibre cables. It could carry huge amount of data and visuals at very high speed," said Mathivanan.
After a preliminary probe, a CBI team had filed a report recommending action against Maran and senior BSNL officials. But the departmental nod remained elusive. The issue came back into focus after a PIL was filed in Supreme Court in 2012 seeking action against the former Union minister.
Trouble had started for the trade unionist in September 2011, when he, along with 100 colleagues, protested against former BSNL CGM MP Velusamy (in whose name the 323 lines were allotted) visiting BSNL Chennai circle headquarters after his retirement.
"We had information that he had visited CGM's office several times to destroy files pertaining to the secret exchange. The new CGM, A Subramaniam, acted with a vengeance against us. Seventy-eight people faced a break in their service. I was given the maximum penalty, which would have led to my dismissal or compulsory retirement. The next CGM allowed me to retire, but recommended a cut in my pension. BSNL CMD, however, did not accept the recommendation. The CMD referred the case back to the CGM for review and it is pending there," said Mathivanan.
His prayer to the CBI is that it should expand the scope of its investigation to find out whether such secret exchanges were set up in other parts of the country as well. "What BSNL has lost is huge money. It (Rs 440 crore) is adequate to pay minimum bonus to 2.89 lakh employees of BSNL for four years in a row. It should be recovered from Maran," Mathivanan said.
A CBI probe has found that in 2004-2007, former Union telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran had allegedly caused a loss of Rs. 1.2 crore to the exchequer by illegally installing more than 323 high-speed up telephone lines at his Chennai residence. This was done in collusion with two senior BSNL officials, who are now retired. The agency’s FIR, lodged in 2013, had accused Maran and the officials of criminal misconduct. They have denied the allegations. Despite efforts, Maran could not be reached for comments .
The virtual telephone exchange connected Maran’s Boat House residence with a television channel office
via a dedicated underground cable link, said a CBI official.
“The high-capacity telephone lines and lease circuit facilities were set up illegally in the name of two then
chief general managers of the BSNL, Chennai, to ensure that they fell under the service category,” said the
official. As a result, BSNL could charge nothing for either the installation or the subsequent use of the lines
and other facilities.
The lines, usually procured by commercial enterprises, were capable of digitally transmitting audio and
video data simultaneously, video-conferencing, and faster transmission of TV news and programmes.
“But nothing was paid to the BSNL. No user bills were generated during the period, which resulted in
a loss of around `1.2 crore to the exchequer,” said the official.
“Our probe will be over soon, after which a final report be submitted in the trial court,” said a source.
RS.1.2 crores?? What a joke. What about the money earned from all those hours of telecast on Sun TV. What about the loss caused to others who were denied of these lines? What about the cost for laying the lines? And besides - isnt it ANTI-NATIONAL ACTIVITY TO PULL 323 HIGH SPEED TELEPHONE LINES FROM BSNL WITHOUT ANYBODY'S KNOWLEDGE FOR THEIR PERSONAL USE. THE DAMN GUY HAS USED GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AS HIS OWN AND PROFITED FROM IT AND NOBODY SEEMS TO BOTHER.
Why an illegal telephone exchange in Maran's
house?
January 21, 2013 12:42 IST
Was something bigger and better getting transmitted from the illegal telephone exchange set up in the residence of former telecommunications minister Dayanidhi Maran in Chennai? M R Venkatesh analyses...
The startling details of a secret and possibly
illegal telephone exchange set up in the residence
of former telecommunications minister
Mr. Dayanidhi Maran in Chennai are in public
domain for over three years. In fact, it is part of
political folklore in Tamil Nadu.
The UPA Government, despite its avowed zero
tolerance policy towards corruption, has
maintained a stoic silence on these allegations.
The PM, as is his wont, not spoken anything on
the charge.
Yet, the CBI continues to "relentlessly
investigate" the matter since 2007 without reaching any definitive conclusions. Left to itself, it may well do so for eternity.
All this when a preliminary report of the CBI dated as early as 10th September 2007
prima facie established that Maran had set up a telephone exchange with 323 high-speed
telephone lines. Importantly, these were set up in the name of Chief General Manager of
BSNL apparently to be used as a ruse at a later date.
Interestingly, these 323 high speed telephone lines were (stealthily?) linked through
separate and exclusive cables laid down by BSNL to the office of Sun TV Network
(a company promoted by his brother Mr. Kalanithi Maran and located a few kilometers
away from his residence) for its commercial use in January 2007.
Consequently, the aforementioned arrangement allegedly facilitated data transfer
requirements of Sun TV Network and caused a whopping loss of Rs 440 crore to
BSNL and national exchequer (estimated by CBI) with a possible concomitant gain
to Sun TV Network.
Thanks to a family feud, it may be recalled, Maran resigned as minister in May 2007.
What is galling to note that while these information were with the PM (remember CBI
reports to the PM) as early as September 2007, Maran was re-inducted into the Union
cabinet in May 2009 by Dr. Manmohan Singh. Witness UPA's zero tolerance to corruption!
Mr. S Gurumurthy exposed the fraud in a series of articles in the New Indian Express
[NIE] on 02.06.2011, 04.06.2011 and 09.06.2011. Further, the NIE published the file
noting of BSNL which clearly demonstrated not only the existence of the telephone
exchange but also attempts to suppress its very existence.
Maran initially issued a notice of defamation to the author of these articles and NIE.
Amusingly, after his initial show of bravado, Maran has remained silent. And once
Maran became the cabinet minister in 2009, expectedly the CBI too became silent.
It is obvious that the investigations into these allegations have been virtually aborted
purely on political grounds. And this is UPA's zero tolerance to corruption!
It is in this connection, a Writ Petition was filed by Gurumurthy in the Hon'ble
Supreme Court seeking a free and fair probe by the CBI on the matter.
The Court has recently issued notice to the parties concerned.
But questions arise. Does it require direction of the highest Court of the land in 2013
to the CBI on a matter in which the CBI itself had come to a preliminary adverse finding
in 2007? Or is it that given the involvement of a powerful political personality, CBI is
programmed to diffuse the matter over a period of time?
Or is it something more than what it meets the eye? But first the facts of the case.
Understanding the fraud
According to the petition filed in Supreme Court, the preliminary report of CBI concludes
that installation of 323 lines "was programmed in such a way that no one other than the
authorized BSNL staff were aware of the existence of such an Exchange created for his
exclusive use."
Accordingly, the report further adds that by "such an arrangement, it would appear as if all
the lines were used in the residence of the former Minister, but actually the cable laid
facilitated SUN TV Network to utilize the service of BSNL provided at his residence."
The CBI had inquired into the fraud and sent their preliminary report to the Telecom
Secretary in September 2007, disclosing complete details of the fraud and estimating the
loss involved.
Incidentally all these telephone lines were ISDN lines, which are used for mass transfer of
data, voice and video. Out of these, 23 lines were provided with Basic Rate Access facilities,
which would facilitate communicating one socket to three channels, which can be used for
transmission of signaling information.
All these amounted, in effect, to creating a separate telephone exchange – yes an exchange -
at the residence of Maran and probably for the exclusive benefit of Sun TV.
Now why would Sun TV network want to save money on a few phone lines? Well, it wasn't
just that. Remember they were no ordinary lines. Recall these were ISDN lines which could
carry programs faster than even satellites to any part of the world.
These lines, experts point out, are normally used by commercial enterprises to meet
special needs such as video conferencing, transmission of huge volume of digital data -
precisely the facility that Sun TV would need for its operations. For this, the Sun TV
would have paid huge cost. But it got it all free; at government's cost.
As a sample study, it is learnt that 48,72,027 units of calls have emanated from one
Telephone no. 24371515 in the month of March, 2007 alone, which is indicative of
massive multi-media transfers from the underlying connections. This clearly gives
credence to the Sun TV network angle.
It is also learnt that similar service connections with ISDN facilities have been provided
at the office of Dinakaran, a Tamil daily, belonging to the Sun TV group at Madurai, though
the specific telephone numbers are unknown.
Needless to emphasize, the joke doing rounds in political circles in Tamil Nadu is that
BSNL is a wholly owned subsidiary of DMK.
Another Dimension
Now extrapolate this to 323 lines for a 4 month period when the lines were reportedly
operative – we have an astounding consumption of 630 crore call units. At a rate of 0.70 rupee
per call, this works out to a staggering Rs 440 crores. In turn, that implies a savings in excess
of Rs 1,300 crores for a full year for Sun TV Network.
But there is a flaw in this argument. The total turnover for Sun TV for 2006-07 was a mere
Rs 678 crores. Surely, Rs 1,300 crores cannot be a presumptive expenditure (or potential
savings) under one head of viz., data transmission. Surely, something is seriously amiss.
The CBI report allegedly points out that there are 23 lines with '2437' as the first four digits
with the following numbers, namely, 2211 to 2213 (3 lines); 2222; 2233; 2244 to 2246
(3 lines); 2255 to 2257 (3 lines); 2266 to 2268 (3 lines); 2277 to 2279 (3 lines); 2288 to
2290 (3 lines); 2299; 2300; 2301 and 300 lines starting with 1500 and ending with 1799.
Further, sources within the BSNL confess that "no information" was "available about these
numbers" as such details were neither with the computer cell nor with Public Grievances cell.
It implies that these 323 numbers had been kept out of the exchange system itself and hence
was not known even to the telephone department. But pray why?
Obviously, the idea was not only to deny the existence of the lines but suppress its existence
to everyone including the telephone department. Surely such subterfuge gives clue to a
different dimension altogether.
Put pithily, as per the CBI preliminary inquiry a telephone exchange did exist in Maran's
residence in Chennai, it was linked using ISDN lines and the exchange in turn was hooked to
the offices of Sun TV. But as argued above these lines could not have been used only by
Sun TV to send their programs and data. The mathematics simply does not add up.
To that extent Sun TV using all lines for its commercial use looks far-fetched.
That takes us to the next logical question – was the telephone exchange used for some other
purposes? Was something bigger and better getting transmitted from these telephone lines?
Or better still, was Maran using this exchange for eavesdropping on some of India's most
powerful and influential?
Is that why the CBI is reluctant to act despite being in the know for the past five years?
Is that why the PM is loath to act on this matter? Is that the reason why UPA government
is coerced into inaction? Does that explain why the hunter has become the hunted in
this matter.
Before one dismisses all this as a figment of my imagination let us not forget that in this day
of advanced communication technology, eavesdropping is easy, especially if one has telephone
exchange at his residence connected to 323 ISDN lines. Can someone come with a better
explanation?
Whatever be it, the debate in political circles now is on the end use of this telephone exchange,
not on the telephone exchange itself. And probably, this time around, one can explain the
silence of our PM.
A classical case of M for Manmohan, M for Maran and M for Mendacity too!
The author is a Chennai-based Chartered Accountant. He can be contacted at mrv@mrv.net.in
In a bid to finalize the case in alleged allocation of over 300 BSNL high-speed phone lines given to the then Telecom
Minister Dayanidhi Maran, CBI has examined him in connection with the case.
CBI sources said Maran was examined here last month for his alleged involvement in the allocation of the lines
which were purportedly used by a company, owned by his family, involved in electronic media. The agency had
registered a case against Maran and BSNL officials for allegedly allotting over 300 high-speed telephone lines
to his residence in Chennai.
Maran did not respond to SMS seeking his reaction on the development. The agency had filed the FIR following
its preliminary inquiry to proceed with a regular case against Maran and BSNL officials the then CGM K Bramhanathan
and MP Veluswami. The sources said these 323 residential lines were allegedly in the name of the BSNL General
Manager connecting the Boat House residence of Maran with the office of the company through a dedicated underground
cable during his tenure as Telecom Minister.
The probe had started in 2011, nearly four years after getting complaints that a ‘virtual’ telephone exchange was
allegedly set-up at the then Telecom Minister’s residence for facilitating data transfer. CBI has alleged these lines
were not ordinary telephone lines but costly ISDN, capable of carrying huge data thus facilitating faster transmission
of TV news and programs across the globe. CBI in its report to the Telecom Secretary had alleged these lines were
for use of large commercial enterprises to meet special needs such as video conferencing or transmission of huge
volume of digital data for which heavy fee is charged.
In a bid to finalize the case in alleged allocation of over 300 BSNL high-speed phone lines given to
the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, CBI has examined him in connection with the case.
CBI sources said Maran was examined here last month for his alleged involvement in the allocation
of the lines which were purportedly used by a company, owned by his family, involved in electronic
media.
The agency had registered a case against Maran and BSNL officials for allegedly allotting over
300 high-speed telephone lines to his residence in Chennai.
Maran did not respond to SMS seeking his reaction on the development.
The agency had filed the FIR following its preliminary enquiry to proceed with a regular case against
Maran and BSNL officials -- the then CGM K Bramhanathan and MP Veluswami.
The sources said these 323 residential lines were allegedly in the name of the BSNL General Manager
connecting the Boat House residence of Maran with the office of the company through a dedicated
underground cable during his tenure as Telecom Minister.
The probe had started in 2011, nearly four years after getting complaints that a 'virtual' telephone
exchange was allegedly set-up at the then Telecom Minister's residence for facilitating data transfer.
CBI has alleged these lines were not ordinary telephone lines but costly ISDN, capable of carrying huge
data thus facilitating faster transmission of TV news and programmes across the globe.
CBI in its report to the Telecom Secretary had alleged these lines were for use of large commercial
enterprises to meet special needs such as video conferencing or transmission of huge volume of
digital data for which heavy fee is charged.
Chennai: Is the sun setting on the Maran empire? This was the inevitable question floating in the minds of many as news spread that the Home Ministry had denied security clearance to 33 television channels belonging to the Sun TV Network. With a reach of more than 95 million households, one of India’s largest media groups faces the threat of going off air if its broadcasting licences are cancelled.
In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Chief Financial Officer, SL Narayanan said it will be an “armageddon event” if the Information & Broadcasting Ministry decides to revoke their licences. Hinting at moving court, Narayanan added, “'If we do reach a point where something like that happens, I do believe that there are sufficient recourses for us to get protected because at the end of the day, I don’t think anybody can be condemned without giving a fair hearing.”
So why has the Home Ministry decided to “condemn” Kalanithi Maran-controlled Sun TV Network? The decision to cancel security clearances reportedly has to do with three pending criminal cases against Sun Group’s Chairman Kalanithi Maran and his brother and former union minister Dayanidhi Maran.
The CBI is investigating the Maran brothers and Sun Network in the Aircel Maxis deal, the Enforcement Directorate is probing a money laundry case and the Marans also facing an enquiry into the illegal telephone exchange run from the premises of Sun TV. All these cases date back to Dayanidhi Maran’s tenure as telecom minister between 2004 and 2007.
Born to former union minister Murasoli Maran, Dayanidhi Maran, who is also the grandnephew of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi entered the political arena in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. While older brother Kalanithi Maran chose to sit out of politics, Dayanidhi had the backing of his sibling’s Sun Network media empire. A political novice, Dayanidhi Maran defeated his AIADMK rival by a margin of 1,30,000 votes. He was inducted into the Union Cabinet as Minister for Communication and Information Technology despite the glaring conflict of interest.
“The Maran brothers were at the right place at the right time - both in terms of entrepreneurship and political leverage. One without the other wouldn’t have helped them,” says N Sathiyamoorthy, director of the Chennai Chapter of Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
Before becoming one of India’s largest media conglomerates, the Sun Group had a humble beginning. With a bank loan of reportedly $86,000 Kalanithi Maran launched Sun TV, South India’s first private satellite channel in 1993 from the DMK headquarters in Chennai.
Launching with three hours of programming every day, Sun TV’s instant popularity saw the channel gradually increase the amount of programming. By January 1995, Sun TV became a 24-hour channel.
Over the years the Sun Group’s business has grown and expanded multi-fold and now consists of 33 TV channels spanning the South Indian languages, service provider Sun Direct DTH, 45 FM radio stations, 2 newspapers, 5 magazines and an IPL franchise – Sunrisers Hyderabad.
But can the Sun Group’s success be attributed to the political clout that the Marans enjoyed, especially when the DMK was in power both at the Centre and at the state? While Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK government was in power in Tamil Nadu when Sun TV launched, the DMK took over the reins of the state in 1996. At the Centre, the DMK was part of the United Front governments between 1996 and 1998 under prime ministers HD Deva Gowda and IK Gujral.
The DMK was a party to the NDA government between 1999 and 2004, with father Murasoli Maran being the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry until his death in 2003. The Dravidian party then switched loyalties to the Congress and was an alliance partner in the UPA.
“Things seem to have worked in their favour especially in terms of government clearances,” says political commentator Sathiyamoorthy. But given that the Sun TV Network was present across the southern states he notes, “You have to remember that the Sun TV group in its various avatars and various south Indian languages was a pioneer of sorts.”
Media analyst Badri Seshadri explains how the Marans used their political leverage in the state and at the Centre to unfair playing field for rival channels. “They nicely gamed the system to get the most. They made sure that serious competitors never got an inch in the Tamil TV space. For a long time no one could get a news licence for a Tamil channel. On the cable distribution front, thugs were deployed to cut rival's cables. Competing channels found themselves off the air in the Sun controlled Sumangali cable vision or were asked to pay exorbitant carriage fees,” he says.
The Marans have, however, had their fair share of hurdles. Dayanidhi was forced to step down from his Cabinet position following the controversial survey published in 2007 by Kalanithi Maran’s Tamil newspaper Dinakaran suggesting that Karunanidhi’s younger son MK Stalin was the preferred successor to lead the DMK over MK Alagiri. The family feud forced the DMK to break the TV and distribution monopoly of the Marans by launching its own channel – Kaliagnar TV and a government-controlled cable company –Arasu cable.
Although, the Marans were brought back into the DMK fold shortly ahead of the 2009 general elections, Dayanidhi’s power weakened in the party following the family feud. With party colleague A Raja taking control of the telecom portfolio, Maran was handed the Textile Ministry in 2009.
But two years into his second term as a union minister, Dayanidhi was forced to resign once again – this time over his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam. With corruption and the 2G scam fresh on people’s minds, the DMK was routed in the 2011 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Dayanidhi Maran, a two-time MP from Chennai Central lost to the AIADMK.
While Dayanidhi Maran’s alleged sins have caught up with him on the political field, will these criminal cases be the beginning of the end to the Sun Group? Is the sun setting on the Maran Empire? Experts say it is too early to predict the future of the Sun Group based on the Home Ministry’s decision to cancel security licences.
“It may not be possible in India to completely shut out an entity like the Sun group, just like that. I think Kalanithi Maran will fight it out. I expect him to move the courts and the courts to give him at least temporary relief,” states Badri Seshadri. To predict the downfall of Kalanithi Maran and his vast media empire would be reckless and foolish. After all, as in politics, comebacks are everything.
Maran Brothers Lost in Delhi What They Won in Chennai
By Express News Service
Published: 28th July 2015 04:03 AM
Last Updated: 28th July 2015 08:59 AM
Former communications minister Dayanidhi Maran | PTI
CHENNAI: The media had reported on Sunday that Marans have won the battle against denial of security clearance for
Sun TV FM Channels in the Delhi High Court as they had won by the interim orders of Justice Satyanarayana of Madras
High Court. But the order of the Delhi High Court which came out on Monday indicates that what the Marans seem to
have lost in Delhi what they had won in Chennai.
This interesting turn in the Marans case needs understanding of some basic facts. The FM radio companies from Delhi
and Mumbai which had petitioned against denial of security clearance to Delhi High Court were joint venture companies
in which Marans did not hold the majority shares nor were Marans directors in the two companies. It is only on this ground
that the Delhi High Court has okayed the participation of the two companies in E-auction for FM radio license.
The Madras High Court on the other hand had passed favourable orders in respect of companies where Marans are
majority shareholders and/or directors. The Madras High Court had said that prima facie Marans had established that the
security denial was not proper. The Court had gone into whether the government was right in denying security clearance
to Marans. The central issue is whether the court could indeed go into national security issues. Whether this aspect was u
rged on behalf of the government in Madras High Court is not clear. But in Delhi High Court this point was brilliantly argued by the Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who represented the central government. The Delhi High Court has held the court cannot go into government policy to permit or deny security clearance. It means Sun TV controlled by Maran can’t challenge government order on security clearance. Denial of security clearance cannot be challenged unless it is malafide. The Delhi Court has clearly ruled “We also make it clear that we are not touching upon the policy of requiring a security clearance. We are, as rightly pointed out by Mr Mehta, not sitting in appeal over the decision of the respondent as to the security angle assessment insofar as Shri Dayanidhi Maran or Shri Kalanithi Maran are concerned. We are also not called upon to comment upon, nor have we, as to whether the allegations/charges against the said two individuals and Sun TV are well-founded or unfounded.”
“Those would be decided in criminal proceedings.”
The Court also said that not only the companies but also its Directors as individuals -- that is Marans -- have to be security
cleared. Noting that Maxis, 300-line telephone & money laundering cases as the basis for security denial the Delhi High
Court has refused to go into whether the charges in the cases are adequate for denial of security clearance which is the
prerogative of the central government.
“Let us clear some ground with regard to the scope of challenge and the amplitude of our consideration in these writ
petitions. We are not adjudicating on the validity of the stipulation regarding security clearance.” The Court noted that
even though the petition had prayed for quashing [Cl 3.8] for security clearance it was not argued.
The Delhi High Court has passed final judgement against all arguments on the basis of which Marans have secured
interim order from the single judge of the Madras High Court. Marans have challenged the denial of security clearance
on the ground that there is not adequate ground for denial and also on grounds of violation of the freedom of expression
guaranteed under the constitution.
The Delhi high court overruled all the arguments and has virtually decided the case against the Sun TV group -- not only
in FM radio matter but also potentially in the case of Kal Cables which runs the cable company and also Sun TV which
runs the channels of the television.
Also the Delhi High Court was not persuaded by the Attorney General line of Constitutional disaster if the security
clearance was denied. In fact neither Kapil Sibal nor Abhishek Singhvi dared to have touched the constitutional point at all even though their
petitions had raised it.
The Delhi High Court order is a division bench order which would prevail over the interim order of f the single judge in
Madras. It is evident that what Marans have gained from the Madras High Court in Chennai they have lost in Delhi.
They have also have had the law decided against Sun TV and Kal Cables.
There is also flaw in Delhi High Court order which seems to have resulted in the favourable order. The Court had held
that the stipulation for security clearance does not extend beyond the company and directors to shareholders as there
was non intent to bring in the shareholders. The Court does not seem to have noticed that the form in which security
clearance has to be applied clearly asks for shareholding above 10% held by any one. The intent is therefore clear
that shareholding is also a factor for security clearance. So the Delhi petitioners seem to have been lucky more than
The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Madras High Court order cancelling former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran's anticipatory bail. Justice T.S. Thakur also asked whether political vendetta was behind the push for Maran’s arrest. Here's a look at the illegal telephone exchange case that the former Minister has been embroiled in:
Triple Trouble
The Madras High Court has observed that it does not find the CBI's allegations against Maran frivolous and that the charges are corroborated by material on record and circumstances.
What exactly is the case about ?
The case by the CBI
Case: CBI says between June 2004 and June 2007, officials provided ISDN, broadband connections and leased line circuits at Maran's residence under 'service category'
Illegal Lines: No provision in rules for minister to get facilities without DoT’s approval
Free Lines: Maran got 364 actual phone numbers with high-end connections at his Gopalapuram residence, no bills were raised and no payments were made
SIM Cards: He also had 19 prepaid mobile SIM cards without entitlement, these cards were used by Sun TV staff without payment
New Address: In December 2006, Maran shifted to Boat Club Road residence. Another 353 connections were given to new residence
Leased Lines: He also got 13 connections from MTNL for his Delhi residence, including ISDN connections, 8+8mbps leased line circuit also
All for Sun: All the exchanges were configured with the main exchange at then Sun TV head office in Anna Arivalayam in Chennai
Huge Loss: Probe revealed estimated loss amounting to Rs. 1.78 crores to exchequer
Complicity: Chief general managers of Chennai Telephones K Brahmadathan (2004-2006), M.P. Velusamy(2006-2007) booked as co-accused.
Dayanidhi Maran's argument
» ISDN PRA connection is just one, and not over 300 as claimed. Anyone can get this facility on payment of RS. 1,750, and only one bill is generated
» As Cabinet minister, he was entitled to 1,50,000 free calls and even assuming 300 connections were used, it was within his eligibility
» Allegation that Sun TV used these connections for data transfer is baseless
» Charge that he did not cooperate with CBI investigation is false. Charge that he was evasive and non-cooperative only meant that the CBI was expecting a confession
Two other cases against Maran
AIRCEL-MAXIS CASE: In August 2014, CBI files chargesheet alleging that Dayanidhi plotted with T. Ananada Krishnan, owner of Malaysian company Maxis, and forced Sivasankaran of Aircel to sell his shares to Mr. Krishnan
MONEY-LAUNDERING CASE Based on the CBI’s case findings in the Aircel-Maxis probe, the Enforcement Directorate opens investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. On April 2, 2015, the Directorate attaches Rs. 742.58 crore worth assets.
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