The UPA government, in its second tenure, starting from May 2009, again under Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, has been a veritable disaster with one scam after another virtually paralysing it. It has caused tremendous damage to India's image. There is hardly any sign of governance; it is mostly fire-fighting-to defend the indefensible. The latest Minister-a senior one-P.Chidambaram who is currently in the line of fire, was earlier Finance Minister in UPA-1 when the 2G spectrum allocation scandal hit the headlines. No less than the senior-most Minister-Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, No.2 in the Cabinet, has endorsed his Ministry's note to the PMO on March 25, 2011, that his predecessor P.Chidambaram did not assert his authority to scuttle the then Telecom Minister A.Raja's decision to allot the spectrum at 2001 price and not auction it against the advice of the then Finance Secretary, resulting in huge losses to the public exchequer. This note has been submitted to the Supreme Court for examination and action.
In the meanwhile, in the light of this revelation confirming the opposition charge against Chidambaram for the dereliction of duty and failure to stop Raja's manipulative method of spectrum allocation, the demand for his resignation from the Cabinet has been reinforced to facilitate a proper probe into his conduct. Yet, in a typically characteristic Manmohanesque style, the PM pleads ignorance to Pranab Mukherjee's note to his office, on the non-application of his predecessor's mind to the crucial matter. He stated this with straight face to a media question on this note during his flight to New York, on September 22. At the same time, he and his govt. has vociferously come out in defence of Home Minister Chidambaram and his integrity, forgetting the fact that his critics were not doubting his integrity; the questions were being raised about his competence, alertness and serious application of mind. The PM has asked him to keep quiet until the former returns home from New York, and tries to sort out the crisis. In other words, the PM is again indirectly defending himself, because in our democratic system of collective responsibility of the Cabinet, the buck finally stops with the head of the govt; hence, Manmohan Singh cannot escape his own lack of alertness and intervention to stop the loot of public money!
To add to the misery of the Indian people, who have yet to emerge from the current crisis of a series of scams, and the resultant chaos, drift and disarray, Manmohan Singh-headed Planning Commission has submitted to the Supreme Court a new bench mark of poverty in rural and urban India: Any Indian earning Rs.26 and Rs 32 per day, respectively, is above the poverty line, hence, not entitled to poverty alleviation programmes of the govt! These incredible norms of determining the people below the poverty line (BPL) in these days of stunningly spiralling prices of essential commodities, have been widely condemned as sheer lunacy and insensitivty of the govt, supposedly headed by a world-known economist! Perhaps, the idea seems to be to project a healthy, happy picture of lower percentage of millions of Indians living below the poverty line!
In the meanwhile, in the light of this revelation confirming the opposition charge against Chidambaram for the dereliction of duty and failure to stop Raja's manipulative method of spectrum allocation, the demand for his resignation from the Cabinet has been reinforced to facilitate a proper probe into his conduct. Yet, in a typically characteristic Manmohanesque style, the PM pleads ignorance to Pranab Mukherjee's note to his office, on the non-application of his predecessor's mind to the crucial matter. He stated this with straight face to a media question on this note during his flight to New York, on September 22. At the same time, he and his govt. has vociferously come out in defence of Home Minister Chidambaram and his integrity, forgetting the fact that his critics were not doubting his integrity; the questions were being raised about his competence, alertness and serious application of mind. The PM has asked him to keep quiet until the former returns home from New York, and tries to sort out the crisis. In other words, the PM is again indirectly defending himself, because in our democratic system of collective responsibility of the Cabinet, the buck finally stops with the head of the govt; hence, Manmohan Singh cannot escape his own lack of alertness and intervention to stop the loot of public money!
To add to the misery of the Indian people, who have yet to emerge from the current crisis of a series of scams, and the resultant chaos, drift and disarray, Manmohan Singh-headed Planning Commission has submitted to the Supreme Court a new bench mark of poverty in rural and urban India: Any Indian earning Rs.26 and Rs 32 per day, respectively, is above the poverty line, hence, not entitled to poverty alleviation programmes of the govt! These incredible norms of determining the people below the poverty line (BPL) in these days of stunningly spiralling prices of essential commodities, have been widely condemned as sheer lunacy and insensitivty of the govt, supposedly headed by a world-known economist! Perhaps, the idea seems to be to project a healthy, happy picture of lower percentage of millions of Indians living below the poverty line!
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