2G spectrum scam: The shadow over former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 
 By: Express News Service | Updated: December 21, 2017 6:56 am

In February 2011, Manmohan Singh said that “coalition compulsions” had forced him to make compromises.

The 2G spectrum allocation scam rocked the UPA II government. Then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s image was battered in the ensuing storm. In February 2011, Singh said that “coalition compulsions” had forced him to make compromises.

“Raja …was the choice of the DMK and I had no reason to feel that anything seriously wrong has been done. I did not feel that I had the authority to object to Raja’s entry although complaints were coming from some companies who were not benefited…I was not in a position to make up my mind,” Singh said to senior television journalists at a media interaction on February 17, 2011.

Six years later, the CBI, making its final arguments in the case, defended Singh, stating that A Raja, then-Telecom Minister, had “misled” Singh. The CBI argued that Raja wrote a letter on November 2, 2007, apparently “misrepresenting facts and fraudulently justifying his decision” regarding the cut-off date on September 25, on the grounds that on September 25 itself, an announcement of the cut-off date appeared in newspapers. It also alleged that Raja apparently misled Singh by “incorrectly” stating the opinion of the Ministry of Law and Justice to refer the matter to the Empowered Group of Ministers “to be out of context”.

On November 2, 2011, Singh sent a letter to Raja, which appropriately flagged the issue of the “processing of a large number of applications received for fresh licences against the backdrop of inadequate spectrum to cater to overall demand.”

“The suggestion from the high office of the Prime Minister, that availability of spectrum had to be assessed before committing to issue of licences, and that licence without requisite spectrum meant nothing to a telecom operator, were, however, brushed aside by the accused A Raja,” Special Judge O P Saini had said, while putting Raja on trial.

In his order, Saini stated that on the receipt of the letter from Singh, Raja “immediately” called his personal secretary R K Chandolia and “drafted a response to the letter…in the night itself”. “This important matter relating to policy decisions of the DoT, which required serious consideration by the DoT in terms of the policy issues was not even dealt with in the files of the department,” Saini noted in his order on charge. The main accused in the 2G spectrum case, Andimuthu Raja, the former Minister for Communications and Information Technology, is mobbed as he emerges from the CBI office in New Delhi in 2010. (Oinam Anand/Express Archive)

“In his response, Raja misrepresented, with a dishonest intention, the fact stating that, ‘there was, and is, no single deviation or departure in the rules and procedures contemplated in all the decisions taken by the ministry and as such full transparency is being maintained..and further assure you the same in future also’,” Saini observed.

LIC told to pay premium with interest after policy holder declared dead by court

The complaintant then served a legal notice on February 25, 2016, to release the amount against the policy, but LIC rejected it on the ground that the policy was lying in a lapsed condition nothing is payable. She then moved the Consumer Forum and filed a formal complaint.

Taking serious note of a complaint wherein the complaintaint had asked the Life Insurance Corporation(LIC) to release the claim amount against a policy but her application was rejected, the Consumer Forum has now directed LIC to pay the premium along with 9 per cent interest from the date the letter was rejected by the corporation.

Promila Kumari, in her complaint to the Forum had stated that her husband, Narinder Kumar, had taken a life insurance policy of Rs 1 lakh from LIC for 20 years on March 28,1999. The premium of Rs 584 per month, payable by the 28th of every month was deducted from the policy holder’s salary. The last premium was paid on April 2001 and the policy was to get matured on March 31, 2019.
Meanwhile, Kumar went missing on March 19,2001 and a FIR was lodged by Promila on March 22, 2001. Kumar was later declared dead by the court on November 5, 2011. The complaintant then served a legal notice on February 25, 2016, to release the amount against the policy, but LIC rejected it on the ground that the policy was lying in a lapsed condition nothing is payable. She then moved the Consumer Forum and filed a formal complaint.

In reply, LIC stated that the premium was deducted from the salary of the policy holder upto April 2001 and the policy remained in a lapsed condition for non-payment of the premium at the time of death, i.e till January 2014 and, therefore, nothing is payable as per the terms and conditions of the Insurance Policy.

Meanwhile, the Forum concluded that it is necessary for the policy to have been kept alive by punctual payment of premiums until the claim was made. But in the present case, the policy was lying in a lapsed condition since May 2001, on account of non-payment of the premium and the same was not revived. As such the complainant is only held entitled to the paid up value of the policy in question with interest and not the sum assured in the policy as claimed.

The Forum then directed LIC to pay the premium of the policy along with 9 per cent interest from the date of the rejection letter, ie. November 23, 2011 till its realisation.

Govt. doctors to boycott maternal death audit

Special Correspondent 

 

CHENNAI, December 21, 2017 00:00 IST

Presence of victims’ kin resented

The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) has decided to boycott the maternal death audit to be held on Thursday. The State Health Department has introduced a system of monthly review of the reason for maternal deaths. The State conducts two kinds of audits — at the State level and district level.

The district-level audit is conducted in the presence of the family of the deceased woman and all the doctors who examined the patient, from the first obstetrician, who saw the woman to the doctor who certified the death, are interviewed by two retired specialists. This includes private practitioners whom the woman visited. At the State-level audit, the specialists undergo another such session through videoconferencing.

Hurt sentiments
The TNGDA has said the doctors feel intimidated and insulted by patients’ families when the case is reviewed in their presence. “There is no doubt that the CeMONC centres are a success but they must also be staffed adequately. More than 60% of the 124 CeMONC centres have only three or two obstetricians when there should be four. We have four centres per district. The government could merge those that are inadequately staffed,” said K. Senthil, president, TNGDA. The association wants the audit to be conducted based on the evidence and reports presented by the government and private practitioners (if any) and the district administration should prepare its audit report and send it to the State administration based on which action may be taken. Doctors from primary health centres, district and taluk headquarters hospital will not participate in the present system of videoconferencing until the government gives up this mode of audit, Dr. Senthil said.

A health department official, however, said the goal of the audit was to prevent maternal deaths. Sometimes, a woman dies because her BP reading was not tracked or because of haemorrhage. “In the heat of the moment, the family may get emotional but the goal is to address preventable maternal death,” the official said.

RBI may be holding back Rs 2,000 notes, says SBI report 

Press Trust of India, New Delhi, Dec 20 2017, 22:13 IST


The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may either be holding back Rs 2,000 notes or could have stopped printing high denomination currency, says a SBI Research report.

Juxtaposing the data presented in the Lok Sabha recently with the one provided by RBI in its Annual Report earlier, the SBI Ecoflash report said on Wednesday, "we observe" that the value of small denomination currency in circulation up to March 2017 was Rs 3.5 lakh crore.

This implies that the value of high denomination notes was equivalent to Rs 13.32 lakh crore as on December 8, after netting out the small denomination notes from the currency in circulation on that day, it said.

The report further said that as per the Ministry of Finance in the Lok Sabha recently, the RBI has printed 1,695.7 crore pieces of Rs 500 notes and 365.4 crore pieces of Rs 2,000 notes as on December 8. The total value of such notes translates into Rs 15.79 lakh crore.

"This means that the residual amount of high currency notes (the difference between Rs 15.79 lakh crore Rs 13.32 lakh crore) of Rs 2.46 lakh crore may have been printed by the RBI but not supplied in the market," said the report authored Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser, SBI.

Interestingly, the report added, "it is safe to assume" that Rs 2.46 lakh crore may be on the lower side as the RBI must have printed notes of small denomination in the interregnum (Rs 50 and Rs 200).

"As a logical corollary, as Rs 2,000 denomination currency led to challenges in transactions, it thus indeed seems that RBI may have either consciously stopped printing the Rs 2,000 denomination notes/or printing in smaller numbers after initially it was printed in ample amount to normalise the liquidity situation," said Ecoflash.

This also means that the share of small currency notes in total currency in circulation now may have touched 35% in value terms, it added.

The government on November 8 last year had announced demonetisation of high value notes, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, which together accounted for 86-87% of the currency in circulation.

The move had lead to huge cash shortage and large queues were witnessed at banks for exchange or depositing the scrapped currency.

The RBI introduced a new Rs 2,000 note as well as new version of the Rs 500 note.

Subsequently, the RBI, for the first time, also introduced a Rs 200 note.

Paper reserved train tickets can now be booked over phone

By B Anbuselvan   |  Express News Service  |   Published: 21st December 2017 02:26 AM  | 

 

CHENNAI: Rail passengers who prefer to purchase paper reserved tickets at railway counters to e-tickets, can now book paper tickets over phone at Yatri Ticket Seva Kendras (YTSK), private ticket booking counters in the state.

The Yatri Ticket Seva Kendras (YTSK), is a computerised passenger reservation system (PRS)-cum-unreserved ticketing system (UTS) facility authorised by railways functioning at selected locations where railways could not provide PRS counters.

The kendras are provided with the required infrastructure and facilities that are on a par with the railway PRS counters and will have to abide by the rules followed by railways.

However, owing to the ever-increasing demand from rail passengers and YTSKs association, railways have decided to relax the norms in booking the paper tickets.

“Unlike railway PRS counters, YTSK can now book reserved tickets for the passengers by taking the details over phone without any reservation forms. However, before handing over the tickets, they should get the letter of confirmation for booking the tickets,” said railway sources quoting the railway board order issued a few days ago.

The change which came into effect on Monday, is expected to benefit rail commuters who travel frequently with more than four family members and elderly people as they have to book the tickets only at counters.

E tickets through IRCTC website, mobile app and IRCTC authorised travel agents over phone, passengers are allowed to book maximum four passengers in a single PNR.

“Those passengers who go for pilgrims and family tours have to book tickets at counters as there was no restriction on number of passengers. In addition to this, elderly people prefer to book tickets at counters as chances of getting lower berths will be higher,” explained railway sources.

YTSKs are allowed to charge the passengers ` 30 a ticket for sleeper class and ` 40 a ticket for AC class booking.

However, to prevent malpractices YTSK will be allowed to book tatkal tickets 30 minutes after takal bookings open for general passengers.

Regular ticket bookings are allowed between 9 a.m and 10 pm, and tatkal tickets can be booked 30 minutes after opening of the tatkal bookings at 10.30 am for AC class and 1130 a.m for sleeper class tickets.

There are about 38 YTSK centres functioning across Tamil Nadu. Southern Railway is planning to add more YTSK centres across the State.

Chennai: Engineering colleges need less land 

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | A RAGU RAMAN

Published Dec 21, 2017, 2:48 am IST

Campuses with more than 10 acres struggling to increase strength.



CHENNAI: In little over three decades land required to start a new engineering college has come down from 100 acres to just the built-up area in major cities like Chennai.

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) which reduced the land requirement from 1.5 acres last year to just built up area this year in nine mega and metro cities including Chennai, has allowed the existing and new institutions to grow vertical instead of horizontal due to non-availability of land in these cities.

“The first batch of private engineering colleges started in Tamil Nadu in 1984 needed 100 acres of land and it was subsequently reduced to 40, 20 and 10 acres by AICTE. Due to non-availability of land, the rule has been relaxed to the just built-up area in megacities this year,”a source said.

In its approval process handbook 2018-19, the technical education council also has relaxed the 2.5-acre land area required in the urban area by permitting the institutions to have it in two different plots.

“The academic, instructional, administrative and amenities area shall be in one plot not less than 1.5 acres and the distance between the plots shall not exceed 2 km. The remaining land shall only be utilized for sporting infrastructure, hostel and staff accommodation and related educational activities,” the rule has stated.



The technical education council has also permitted the institutions to start other educational courses or institutions in the surplus land arising out of the prevailing and reduced norms of land requirement.

Even colleges with more than 10 acres are struggling to increase their strength due to the various facilities that are needed for the additional intake of students.

“This new rule may help new colleges to be set up at the heart of the city. But, the intake has to be a minimum as they might need the more built up area to have more students. It could be run like training centres with two or three branches,” said B.Chidambara Rajan, principal of Valliammai Engineering College, Chennai.

Anna University former Vice-Chancellor E.Balagurusamy alleged that AICTE has buckled under pressure from college managements.

“What is the need to reduce the required land now? It is true we cannot get bulk land like 100 acres due to the real estate boom, But, for an engineering college reducing the minimum land from 2.5 acres is absolutely ridiculous,” he said.

“An engineering college should have a lot of workshops and labs. If we reduce the required land then where is the place for workshops, labs, playground and green area?” he asked.

But others like career consultant Jayaprakash A.Gandhi supported the move saying it will help students to spare more time for studies.

“Engineering graduates are spending several hours travelling outside the city every day. If the colleges established inside the metro cities they will get a lot of spare time to acquire some extra skills,” he said. While defending the move, AICTE chairman Anil D.Sahasrabudhe said, “There is no land available in metros and megacities.”

“They cannot get additional land in their neighbourhood for expansion. So, we have permitted engineering colleges to have multi-storey buildings in these cities with the approval from local bodies,” Sahasrabudhe told Deccan Chronicle.

தமிழக அரசு பேருந்துகளின் கட்டணம் விரைவில் உயர்த்தப்பட உள்ளதாக தகவல்

By DIN  |   Published on : 20th December 2017 08:45 PM  

தமிழக அரசு பேருந்துகளின் கட்டணம் விரைவில் உயர்த்தப்பட உள்ளதாக தகவல்கள் வெளியாகியுள்ளன.

தமிழக அரசு பேருந்துகளின் கட்டண உயர்வு விரைவில் அறிவிக்கப்பட உள்ளதாக செய்திகள் வெளியாகியுள்ளன. அதன்படி, சென்னை மாநகர போக்குவரத்து கழக பேருந்துகளில் தற்போது குறைந்தபட்சமாக மூன்று ரூபாயாக உள்ள கட்டணத்தை 5 ரூபாயாக உயர்த்த முடிவு செய்துள்ளனர்.

மேலும் சாதாரண பேருந்துகளின் கட்டணம்  கிலோ மீட்டருக்கு 42 காசில் இருந்து 60 காசாக உயர உள்ளது. எக்ஸ்பிரஸ், டீலக்ஸ் பேருந்துகளின் கட்டணம் கிலோ மீட்டருக்கு 56 காசில் இருந்து 73 காசாக உயர உள்ளது. சூப்பர் டீலக்ஸ் பேருந்து கடடணம் 60 பைசாவில் இருந்து 75 காசாகவும், அல்ட்ரா டீலக்ஸ் பேருந்துகளின் கட்டணம் கிலோ மீட்டருக்கு 70 பைசாவில் இருந்து 95 பைசாவாக உயர உள்ளது. குளிர்சாதன வசதி கொண்ட பேருந்துகளின் கட்டணம் அதிகப்பட்ச 25 ரூபாய் வரை உயர உள்ளதாகவும் சென்னையில் இருந்து மதுரைக்கு அரசு விரைவு பேருந்துகளின் கட்டணம் ரூ.325 ல் இருந்து  ரூ.440 ஆக உயரும் என்றும் கூறப்படுகிறது. 

கடந்த 2011-ம் ஆண்டு, தமிழக அரசு பேருந்து கட்டணத்தை உயர்த்தியது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.