2G SPECTRUM SCAM. PM-Sonia, sack Raja, recover loss of Rs. 1.9 lakh crores.
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
2G spectrum scam. PM-Sonia, sack Raja, recover loss of Rs. 1.9 lakh crores.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
CPM pegs 2G scam at Rs 1.9 trillion, brings new evidence against Raja
1 Jun 2010, 2123 hrs IST,PTI, Economic Times
NEW DELHI: Alleging that the exchequer has lost a staggering Rs 1.9
lakh crore from the 2G spectrum, the CPM on Tuesday demanded dropping
telecom minister A Raja at least during the period of the probe.
Quoting the observations made by the post and telecommunications
audit office in a memo to the department of telecom, senior CPM
leader Sitaram Yechury said the issue of 2G spectrum licence to
private telcos "lacked" fairness and transparency.
"There are coalition compulsions. There are compulsions of commitment
to principles and values and law of the land. Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh has always placed a premium on value-based politics. If he
wants to value his own premium, I am sure he should act (by dropping
Raja)," the CPM leader told newsmen here.
Yechury was responding to a question whether coalition compulsions
will allow the Prime Minister to take action against Raja, who,
according to the CPM, is instrumental in undervaluing the 2G spectrum
and causing huge loss to the government.
"If we use the recent 3G auction price to benchmark the spectrum
price for 2G as TRAI has recently suggested, the loss is of the order
of a whopping Rs 1.9 lakh crore," Yechury said, adding Raja's
argument that 2G was priced at a low Rs 1,650 crore per operator with
a view to keep the prices of services to the consumer low "does not
hold water".
"Those who bought the airwaves sold it for five or six times more.
Did it result in rise in telephone rates?" he asked.
Asked about Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi's claim that Raja
is being targeted because he is a Dalit, Yechury said they are not
targeting Raja but the telecom minister.
Yechury also distributed copies of the memo issued to the DoT by
senior audit officer (inspector) Rajendra Kumar on March 31 during
the audit of the issue of licences of 2G and 3G spectrum.
The memo cites several instances like violation of TRAI
recommendations by changing the cut-of-date and some of the
applicants preparing bank drafts for entry fee earlier. It also noted
that there is a gap of about two hours in Swan, one of the allottees,
submitting the letter of intent for the Delhi and Mumbai circles and
other areas, which the auditor said is needed to be "justified".
"In view of the above, prima facie it infers that the whole process
of issuing the 2G licence lacked fairness and transparency," the memo
said. The memo has been sent to the ministry for comments.
According to the document, the decision to process the applications
were received up to September 25, 2007 was taken on November 2, 2007
but was conveyed to the applicants at the "eleventh hour", which is
"1:47 pm on 10 January, 2008, the date of issue of LoI".
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6000034.cms?prtpage=1
CPI(M) pegs 2G scam at Rs 1.9 lakh cr
BS Reporter - 2010-06-02 01:41:00
Armed with a new audit report that says the 2G license process
"lacked fairness and transparency", the CPI (M) has again trained its
gun on Union Telecom Minister A Raja. The party demanded Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh take immediate steps to recover the lost
licence and spectrum fee of Rs 1,90,000 crore and drop Raja from the
government to ensure a fair probe.
The party's renewed attack on the telecom ministry comes after Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh spoke about the huge revenue difference
between the 2G and the 3G spectrum allocations and promised that no
one would be spared if found guilty.
"We want the Prime Minister to follow up what he said and recover the
loss of Rs 1,90,000 crore of the 2G allocations. The Prime Minister
himself had said in Parliament that India can't have crony
capitalism. Whatever has happened in the 2G auction is nothing but
crony capitalism," Sitaram Yechury said here.
http://sify.com/finance/cpi-m-pegs-2g-scam-at-rs-1-9-lakh-cr-news--news-kgcbFbagbbc.html
Yechury draws PM into 2G scam
New Delhi June 2, 2010, India Today
The telecom scam heat threatens to scald Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh after he indirectly defended the actions of controversial
minister A. Raja in the sale of 2G spectrum.
Days after the PM's press conference, where he said Raja had acted
according to the guidelines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India, CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury raised the issue.
"If the PM gives Raja a clean chit, he has to answer the questions
raised by us on the scam. The PM's premium is his valuebased
politics, so if he wants value as his premium, he has to act against
Raja." Releasing an audit report by the post and telecommunications
audit office dated March 31, 2010, Yechury said the document
supplemented the growing evidence against Raja.
Yechury also released an open letter, his third, to the PM outlining
the case against Raja. Anticipating Raja's mentor, DMK chief M.
Karunanidhi's stand that he was being targeted as he was a Dalit,
Yechury said: "We are targeting Raja as the minister for
telecommunications. Caste, community are totally unrelated."
Not auctioning 2G spectrum costs govt over Rs 1 lakh cr
TNN, May 31, 2010, 01.10am IST
NEW DELHI: Various figures for the loss to the exchequer due to 2G
spectrum not being auctioned have been tossed about, ranging from Rs
20,000 crore to Rs 50,000. Actually, the figure is over Rs 100,000
crore, when one considers the revenue earned by the 3G spectrum
auction and regulator Trai's recommendations, issued on May 11, that
"3G prices be adopted as the current price of spectrum in the 1800
MHz (2G) ban."
Interestingly, contrary to popular belief, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh did not defend telecom minister A Raja at a press conference on
Monday, but instead, made two leading statements distancing himself
from Raja's deeds.
Significantly, the PM's words were also radically different from the
stance taken by the Congress party's spin-doctors so far. The PM said
Raja had told him that he followed the existing policy, Trai
recommendations, and the Telecom Commission's decision. The PM was
careful to attribute these comments to Raja rather than use them in
his defense.
More importantly, Singh admitted to a huge gap in revenues between 2G
spectrum allocation, which followed a first-come-first-served (FCFS)
policy and 3G spectrum which was auctioned in an open, transparent
manner.
A detailed calculation shows this gap or revenue loss that the PM was
referring to, to be upwards of Rs 1 lakh crore (see chart). Singh
also left the door open on appropriate action in case there was a
hint of corruption, following the ongoing CBI investigation/FIR in
the 2G spectrum scam.
In 2008, soon after being awarded 2G licences with 4.4 MHz of
spectrum at a 2001 pan-India price of Rs 1,658 crore, Swan and
Unitech were able to close equity deals at six to seven times this
value with Etisalat and Telenor respectively.
More recently, another new entrant, Videocon said its pan-India 2G
licence with 4.4 MHz of spectrum was valued at Rs 12,000 crore even
though it has very little by way of customers or revenue. The recent
3G auctions ultimately put the valuation debate to rest by raking in
over 10 times the 2G price or a whopping Rs 16,750.58 crore from the
auction of a single 3G pan-India licence/spectrum.
Trai's 2G recommendations of May 11 became the final nail in the
coffin of the valuations argument. The Trai, in section 3.80, has
held that after careful comparison of spectral efficiencies of 2G and
3G spectrum, The spectral efficiency which influences traffic and
quality of service is nearly the same for the two (2G and 3G)
systems. Further, it has recommended in section 3.82 that 3G prices
be adopted as the current price of spectrum in the 1800 MHz (2G)
band.
The loss on account of Raja awarding 122 licences for 2G since
January 2008 is roughly Rs 1,02,511 crore (Rs 1,11,511 crore at 3G
prices minus Rs 9,000 crore of actual 2G revenue). If one counts dual
technology operators who also received 2G licences at a 2001 price,
the cumulative loss emerges even higher. At present, the CAG is also
engaged in evaluating the extent of the loss.
This should be easy considering that 3G spectrum has been sold at an
average price of Rs 152 crore/MHz against a mere Rs 17 crore/MHz for
2G spectrum or a difference of 9 times.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5992569.cms?prtpage=1
http://tinyurl.com/yl8lvfx Carl Sagan
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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