The leaders of the Opposition
parties and the dominant media in the country may pride themselves of having
won the battle they waged against Thiru A.Raja, who resigned as Union Minister
for Communications and Information Technology; but they seem to be blissfully
oblivious of the fact that they are going to lose the war in due course, when
the people of the country who were misled so far by their sinister campaign,
wake up to the reality of their interests being betrayed.
The whole hullabaloo they
raised of a huge loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore in the allocation of 2G spectrum to
Cellular Mobile Service providers by Thiru Raja, was nothing but a campaign on
behalf and at the behest of a cartel, which sought to retain its monopoly in
the industry and continue to exploit the people. In fact, it was a proxy war
waged by super-profit greedy monopolists against the people as a whole. The
‘sin’ that Thiru Raja committed was taking steps to break this cartel, bring in
more players to turn the field more competitive and make available
teleconnectivity to all sections of the society at affordable costs, and
increase teleintensity in rural areas.
The very nomenclature the
media uses ‘spectrum scam’ is a misnomer, because it is alleged that a
purported, and not real, loss was caused to the exchequer. The inquisitive
politicians and probing media had not, nay could not, even remotely accuse
Thiru Raja of having shown consideration to any particular company / companies
to the detriment of others in the field or any pecuniary gain for him. Then how
dare they call it a scam or scandal?
Thiru Raja had given more
than enough explanations refuting each and every point of criticism against him
so many a times, right from the day the issue cropped up, that even a school
boy could understand. It is not that the experienced leaders in the camp and
the moghuls of the media lack wisdom or senses to grasp them, but they had
deliberately shut off these faculties of mind in service of vested interests.
There is every logical reason to observe a monumental political scandal on the
part of opposition parties and media scam on the part of mainstream media, both
print and electronic. Or else why should the opposition parties shun the offer
of the government for thorough discussion on the CAG report and related
matters, in both Houses of Parliament, after the report scrutinized by the
Public Accounts Committee as per Parliamentary Procedure, and stall the Houses?
Are they afraid of being exposed, as rightly pointed out by Thiru Raja? Why
should they insist on a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Groups, when the PAC
itself constituted one, comprising of members from all parties in Parliament
and also headed by a senior BJP leader, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi? All these and
much more, concerned with compromising principles and ideologies of different
political parties, are valid pointers for an underlying politico-business
scandal!
The mainstream media - both
print and electronic – were virtually conducting a parallel trial where a
pre-trial judgement was made and statements of all the sundry and partisan
reports were given all space and time respectively, to corroborate the
pre-conceived notion. Where is the scope for bipartisan investigation of a
matter when it is referred to as ‘scam’ ab initio. The media trial was so
blatantly partisan that it resembled a court martial under a military
dictatorship. While statements, opinions, columns and articles critical of the
Minister were given all coverage, the stand and responses of the Minister and
his department were rendered total blackout. And these are the houses and
‘enlightened’ journalists who cry hoarse of democracy, civility etc., from roof
tops!
These investigative
journalists and know-all columnists and political commentators, temporarily
kept their much boasted probing and intellectual faculties under suspended
animation while reporting / quoting statements of every Tom, Dick and Harry if
only they denounced the Minister. For instance, the media ‘accorded’ very wide
publicity for the interview of former Telecom Secretary D.S.Mathur, alleging
that the Minister rejected all his suggestions for allocation of 2G spectrum
and that it could be allotted through auction and that he did not sign the
files of allotment of the spectrum. The mediapersons as a whole took his
statement on its face value without posing any probing questions, that they are
accustomed to while taking interviews of ministers and politicians. They did
not find fit to ask him as to why he remained silent on all these days after
retirement, whether he informed his superior official, the Cabinet Secretary or
the Prime Minister’s office of the ‘mid-demeanour’ of the Minister and if not
why and whether it was a fact he had a grievance against the Minister for not
nominating him as a Member of the TRAI after his retirement. Even while all
these questions begged answers, the media did not feel shy to give widest
publicity to Mathur’s statements while covering up the Telecom department’s
statement nailing his lies and the release of copies of the department bearing
his signature on orders of allotment and that he had participated in all
meetings to decide the modus of allotment and his recommendations for allotment
to applicants.
So also the media totally
blacked out the statement of TRAI Chairman J.S. Sarma that they did not
recommend any price for the 2G spectrum allotted in 2008 and that they only
recommended that the price of the spectrum of over 6.2 MHz should be linked to
the prospective price of 3G spectrum and to estimated the price of 2G spectrum given
in 2008 at the price of 3G spectrum and arriving at a loss not proper. The TRAI
only estimated the price of 3G spectrum and recommended. But these sections of
the politicians and media compare the two and make noise of a loss of Rs.1.76
lakh crore. If the CAG had also gone by such calculation, they are also wrong.
If only the media publish this statement, of the statutory authority TRAI, the
hue and cry made in unison by the opposition parties and the media will crumble
down like a pack of cards.
Thiru Raja all along had been
insisting that he did not deviate from the policies and procedures adopted by
his predecessors since 1999. The National Telecom Policy 1999 was approved by
the Union Cabinet during the earlier NDA regime and ratified by Parliament. It
authorized migration from the Auction route to Revenue Sharing Route with the
specific objectives of broad basing mobile phone service and making it
available at affordable rates. Some of the objectives of the NTP 1999 are:
v Access
to telecommunications is of utmost importance for achievement of the country’s
social and economic goals. Availability of affordable and effective
communications for the citizens is at the core of the vision and goal of the
telecom policy.
v Strive
to provide a balance between the provision of universal service to all
uncovered areas, including the rural areas, and the provision of high-level
services capable of meeting the needs of the country’s economy;
v Encourage
development of telecommunication facilities in remote, hilly and tribal areas
of the country;
v Transform
in a time bound manner, the telecommunications sector to a greater competitive
environment in both urban and rural areas providing equal opportunities and
level playing field for all players;
In line with the above
objectives, the specific targets that the NTP 1999 seeks to achieve would be :
v Make
available telephone on demand by the year 2002 and sustain it thereafter so as
to achieve a teledensity of 7 by the year 2005 and 15 by the year 2010
v Encourage
development of telecom in rural areas making it more affordable by suitable
tariff structure and making rural communication mandatory for all fixed service
providers.
Increase rural teledensity
from the current level of 0.4 to 4 by the year 2010 and provide reliable
transmission media in all rural areas.
v Achieve
telecom coverage of all villages in the country and provide reliable media to
all exchanges by the year 2002.
Specific physical targets for
the 11th Five Year Plan:
v To
reach a telecom subscriber base of 600 million.
v To
provide 200 million rural telephone connections by 2012 i.e. to reach a rural
teledensity of 25%.
v To
provide telephone connection on demand across the country at
an affordable price.
an affordable price.
Of all the opposition
political parties, the BJP taking the lead in this campaign is most ironical.
The New Telecom Policy, that Thiru Raja had scrupulously adopted, was approved
by the BJP-led NDA government amidst lot of controvercies that too when it was
a caretaker government in 1999. The Prime Minister’s office itself was accused
of obliging and giving concessions to big players in the industry. Barring the
Left parties all other political parties in India including the BJP and ADMK
are committed to the policies of Liberalization and Reforms, and the benefits
of the policies percolating down to the masses, (i.e.) inclusive growth.
So also the mainstream media
are champions of Liberalization and Reforms and campaign for level playing
field to all players in a sector. Hence all these political parties and the
Media, by their avowed policy and principles, should have lent wholehearted
support to the efforts taken by Thiru Raja in bringing in more players to the
telecom sector, making the field more competitive and make available the
benefit to the people. But again, it is not hypocrisy on the part of the
opposition parties and the media but their collaboration with the Big business
houses, whose monopoly that Thiru Raja had shattered. If the Left parties also
are true to their pro-people and anti-monopoly pretentions, they must have also
welcomed his initiatives, but unfortunately willy-nilly they had become a part
of this Joint conspiracy of the Big Business, Opposition and the media.
The chinks in the armoury of
the CAG report, the sole basis of the anti-Raja companies, have started
showing. The Anil Ambani group has questioned the government auditor’s report
that states Swan Telecom was a “front company” for Reliance Communications ,
saying it had no shareholding in the firm that got a licence in 2008.
“Our group had no
shareholding in Swan Telecom (now Etisalat DB) at the time of grant of licence
to them or any time thereafter, and that issue is accordingly not relevant to
our company,” an RCom spokesperson said in a statement.
Highlighting irregularities
in 2G spectrum allocation, CAG doubted the intention of RCom, saying Swan
Telecom, one of the companies that got the licence, appeared to act as a “front
company”.
Reliance Communications, the
statement said, has always been in full compliance with all applicable laws,
rules and regulations. There has been no violation of our licence conditions at
any stage on account of cross-holdings in excess of 10 per cent.
Another criticism is that the
method of auction would have eliminated dubious companies. The 3G spectrum was
recently auctioned. Infotel, a small Internet Service Provider, was the sole
winner of a pan-India licence for BWA spectrum. They bid an astounding sum of
Rs.12,848 crore. On the day the results were announced Mukesh Ambani owned
Reliance Industries announced that they are acquiring 95% of Infotel for
Rs.4,800 crore, besides paying Rs.12,848 crore for the spectrum. When this sort
of take over is permitted by rules in the country, what do the critics have to
say about it now? The writer in a website concludes saying, “Politicians and
businessmen create scams, media and bloggers cry hoarse about them.” No,
opposition politician, businessmen and the mainstream media together create
scams and cry hoarse together of scam by somebody else to divert the attention
of the people.
If the CAG report or the
political leaders or the media are honest in showing any loss (in real term and
not presumptive) they should point out if the price at which 2G spectrum was
sold in 2008, was lower than those fixed during the previous years since
1999-2000 under the leadership of Thiru Raja’s predecessors.
Nobody can dispute the fact
that Thiru Raja has accomplished the objectives of the NTP 1999 and more than
enough achieved the targets set by the 11th plan. There was an
unprecedented growth in the sector during his stewardship. In the rural areas
tele-density has jumped to 28.46 percent as on September 2010 while the total
tele-density (aggregate of rural and urban) is 60.99 percent. The total number
of telephones now is 728 million as against the 11th Five Year Plan
target of 600 million. The rate per minute was brought down from Rs.1.60 to 40
paise. There may be some procedural lapses as Thiru Raja himself has admitted,
but his noble objective cannot be questioned going by his accomplishments.
More than 70 crore people,
who have been benefited from the steps taken by Thiru Raja and enjoying mobile
phone service at 40 paise per minute, and many more to join the ranks (from
teenagers to grandparents) will ultimately defeat the joint conspiracy of a
coterie, consisting of big business, opposition leaders and the mainstream
media!
(21-11-10)
(21-11-10)
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