PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST SUBMITTED TO THE HON’BLE SUPREME COURT BY GFILES REGARDING THE GREAT LAND ROBBERY IN . HOW HOODA ALONG WITH HIS CRONIES PLUNDERED HARYANA IN HIS 9 YEARS OF RULE. p10

February 10, 2014 ` VOL. 7, ISSUE 11 JAPAN ABEPLOMACY JEFF KINGSTON p76

gfilesindia.com Haryana’s

Venod Sharma Kunal Bhadoo Congress MLA, Ambala Hooda’s son-in-law De facto Chief

Kabul Chawla KP Singh Ministers? Owner, BPTP Owner, DLF

p68

Sameer Gehlaut Arvind Walia Anil Bhalla MG DEVASAHAYAM Owner, Indiabulls Owner, Ramprastha Owner, Vatika Builders RACE FOR PM

From the Editor

T was March 2013, when Chhattar Singh, Principal Secretary (PS) to the Chief Minister of Haryana was about to retire and the Inew incumbent had to be selected. There were many officers in line. At the time, I met one of the senior-most officers, who too desired the prestigious post. We discussed the possibilities about who would be selected by vol. 7, ISSUE 11 | FEBRUARY 2014 , the Chief Minister of Haryana. In the discussion, he said Anil Tyagi | editor that the selection required the tacit consent of Venod Sharma, the controversial TR Ramachandran | executive editor Niranjan Desai | roving editor Congress MLA and liquor baron. I was taken aback. He further said that not only GS Sood | consulting business editor Venod Sharma, but the PS to CM also needed the backing of the influential builder Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant lobby of Haryana. As a journalist, this was the first clue to the Cover Story that Arvind Tiwari | director, business development Naresh Minocha | associate editor we carry in this issue. I sensed a big scam. Following this conversation, I toured Neeraj Mahajan | associate editor the State many times and met a lot of leaders, officers and common people. The Alok Jain | coordinator () Ajit Ujjainkar | bureau chief (mumbai) story built up slowly. What our Associate Editor Neeraj Mahajan unravelled was Harishchandra Bhat | associate editor (bengaluru) shocking—a complete surrender of the State administrative machinery before Venugopalan | bureau chief (bengaluru) Kanika Srivastava | editorial coordinator the almighty builder mafia. I have been covering Haryana for the last 31 years Mayank Awasthi | reporter and in my experience, no Chief Minister had ever been influenced by an extra- Pawan Kumar | production coordinator constitutional authority in the selection of a PS in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. Sumer Singh | assistant manager, logistics Nipun Jain | finance Not only the PS, but also the District Collectors (DC) and Superintendent of Police Gautam Das | legal consultant (SP) have always been the personal choice of the Chief Minister. Crossmedia Solutions | edit & design Madan Lal | Webmaster Venod Sharma; Kunal Bhadoo, Hooda’s son-in-law; Kabul Chawla, business- advertising & marketing man and close associate of Hooda; Anil Bhalla, CMD Vatika Group; Arvind Walia, [email protected] owner of Ramprastha Developers Pvt Ltd; KP Singh, DLF Chairman; and, Sameer U K SHARMA— +919717588883 e-mail: [email protected] Gehlaut of Indiabulls were the names that figured prominently in the search for RAKESH ARORA— +919810648809 the story. Senior officers confided that nothing moved without their go-ahead. SAKSHAY PAHUJA— +918527006688 e-mail: [email protected] According to the whispers, they are the de facto chief ministers of Haryana. mumbai: 48/C-1, Areshwar, Mhada, S.V.P. Nagar, The State has approximately 200 builders, who are constructing the so-called Andheri(W), Mumbai 400 053 bengaluru: 2210, 10b main road, 3 block, modern Haryana. It is astonishing that these 200 builders have around 20,000 jayanagar, bengaluru 560 011 companies registered with the Registrar of Companies. How the web of these CONTACT — +91 9845730298 e-mail: [email protected] companies is allegedly converting huge amounts of black money into white and $1,/7<$*,35,17(5 38%/,6+(5 vice versa, is a matter that needs further investigation. QGIORRUGGDVLWH QHZUDMLQGHUQDJDUQHZGHOKLă In the early 1990s, the Lease and Finance Company (DLF) started devel- 7(/)$; oping some patches of land in , but it was on a very small scale. Getting  licences and acquiring land was a tough task as the land-owning community was +All information in gfiles is obtained from sources that the management considers reliable, and is disseminated to readers not willing to surrender the land for private colonisation. So, DLF first used to without any responsibility on our part. Any opinions or views buy the land from farmers and then allegedly KP Singh personally used to meet on any contemporary or past topics, issues or developments expressed by third parties, whether in abstract or in interviews, the Chief Minister for change of land use (CLU). All the Lals (Bansi, Bhajan and are not necessarily shared by us. Copyright exclusively with Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved throughout Devi) of Haryana were clued into the sentiments of the masses. But, a new era the world. Reproduction of any material of this magazine in of State planning surfaced with Bhupinder Singh Hooda coming to power. It is whole, or in part(s), in any manner, without prior permission, is totally prohibited. The publisher accepts no responsibility for for the architectural institutes, administrators and town planners to study how any material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with any a city can be planned without water, electricity, roads or other public amenities. advertisement without explanation. All advertisements must The clearance of 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in real estate by the comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. Published and printed by Anil Tyagi on behalf of Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd Manmohan Singh government opened up the Pandora’s Box in Haryana. Today, at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt Ltd. E-125, Site-B, Surajpur Ind. Area, Gautam Budh Nagar, Greater Noida-201306 U.P. (). All the real estate sector in Haryana presents an ugly state of affairs—unorganised disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent and unprotected labour working on haphazard and hurriedly constructed castles. courts in New Delhi only Hooda’s vision of development in Haryana includes almost everyone who can enrich him, his friends and families, ignoring the people of the State. gfiles is taking the cause before the Hon’ble Supreme Court as a public interest initiative, to decide what a citizen of a State should do when the State administrative machinery becomes subservient to extra-constitutional authorities. ANIL TYAGI Download the gfiles app [email protected]

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 3 CONTENTS LETTERS [email protected] 6 Bric-a-Brac posts & hosts

MG DEVASAHAYAM HOODA SELLING HARYANA didate. I think the recent assembly elec- 10 Petition in Public Interest TO BUILDERS p26 TTEST p36 LL INSIGHT A tions should be a lesson for Congressmen JIGNESH, FA THE GREAT LAND ROBBERY CAT OF January ,  5 2014 ` VOL. 7, ISSUE 10 OM NARAIN VAID STARGAZER and they better pull up their socks before ‡ KDU\DQDLVQRWDVWDWHLWLVUHDOHVWDWH FIRST STIRRINGS p42 ‡ PHQLQVKDGRZVWKRVHZKRSXOOWKH the general elections.

SROLWLFDOVWULQJV gfilesindia.com R Sharma via email ‡ WKHESWSDQGGOIVDJD ‡ OHJDF\RIFPVDQGSUHVLGHQW·VUXOH *LYHZKDW\RXJHW ‡ XQODZIXODFWVLQKRRGDHUD This is not the first time when an Indian ‡ GHVSRWLFKRRGD  has been treated in a highhanded manner ‡ PRGXVRSHUDQGLKRZIDYRXUVDUH JUDQWHGOHJDOO\ by the US. I must say that the incidences ‡ GHYHORSPHQWRYHUGULYH" covered by the writer Niranjan Desai (‘Give ‡ FU\LQWKHZLOGHUQHVVIHHEOHYRLFHV Fading what you get’, gfiles, January 2014) give us ‡ TXHVWLRQVIRUKRRGD Halo complete overview of the image of India in ‡ KRRGD·VFRWHULH the eyes of the US. This is a matter of self ‡ GZDUNDH[SUHVVZD\QHLWKHUH[SUHVV respect and self-esteem on both the QRUZD\³MXVWDVSHFXODWRU·VGHQ national and international stage, that how ‡ SUD\HU 'LPLQLVKLQJUHWXUQV Indians are being treated by other coun- ‡ UHSO\E\NDEXOFKDZOD·VODZ\HUV IURPG\QDVW\ tries. By compiling previous such incidenc- 62 Politics It is more or less clear from the current es, not only between India and US, but UVVDQGEMSVDPHFRLQ scenario and the results of the elections also with Brazil, Nigeria, UK, the writer has of five states that the ruling party’s rule made an extraordinary effort to highlight 68 Governance E\HE\HPDQPRKDQVLQJK would probably come to an end. such incidences and urge the higher Although speeches and political rallies authorities to take stringent steps. 72 ZKHUHDUHRXUROGDJHSROLFLHV" by Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi Madan Lal on blog is not creating any place in the hearts 76 Global Scan MDSDQH\HVLQGLDQGHDOV and minds of the common people. .HMULZDOVKRZVWKHZD\ Subramanium (‘Diminishing returns from I am not at all satisfied with the way 81 Book Review dynasty’, gfiles, January 2014) has done Kejriwal is working. Kejriwal has con- MDVZDQWVLQJKRQQDWLRQDOVHFXULW\ an excellent analysis of what all is cur- fessed that he intends to bring anarchy in 82 My Corner rently going on inside and outside the India. Besides showing a way to others YHUEDORUGHUVZRQ·WGR Congress. It shows that, by just belong- and being set as an example, he is ing to the first family, Rahul cannot destroying the pattern of governance! 84 Silly Point impact the public without proving him- What is his mission? Does he want to WKHNHMULZDOSKHQRPHQRQ self practically. destabilise India? If yes, who sponsors 87 Stock Doctor A K Saxena on blog him financially? Being a bureaucrat, he is EX\RQGLSV expected to be extremely talented, but his K Subramaniam has rightly said Congress decisions are worrying Delhiites! 88 Exhibition Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is no game John on blog WKURXJKWKHODYDVDV·H\HV changer. I just want to add one or two 96 Perspective things. Rahul in his first TV interview was %XUNLQJRI,QGLDQ3ROLFH IRFXVRQ\RXULQQHUHQHUJ\ looking confused and directionless. After It is absolutely true that the first informa- watching the interview it was saddening tion report by the citizenry does not get its 97 By the Way but he doesn’t bear any quality of a lead- desired way. The writer has well explained SUDVDUEKDUDWLVFDPV WRSYDFDQF\DQGPRUH er who can take a stand. I think the the word ‘burking’ in his own way with the Congress think-tank has realised that practical experiences of his life which also Rahul baba can’t be a match winner for gives a clear message to the Indian police the Congress and that’s why after so to stop burking and let the common man many strong predictions, he has not been walk on the right track to get justice. nominated as the prime ministerial can- Shruti Goel via email

gfiles inside the government 4 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 5 Bric-a-brac posts & hosts

Wooing the media four journalists as information commissioners. One of freebies, high posts and them is his son Prateek Yadav’s father-in-law, Arvind Singh Bisht, a retired journalist from The Times of even marriage India. The others are Raj Keshar of Dainik Jagran, Delhi; Sudesh Kumar of Dainik Jagran, Lucknow; and Vijay Sharma of Charchit Rajneeti, Lucknow. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has also appointed three journalists as information commissioners in the state. Sukhbir Singh Badal has similarly obliged. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has nominated Harivansh, a veteran journalist, for . One should not be surprised that the Aam Aadmi Party’s nickname in Delhi is “Media Party”. Except for Arvind Kejriwal, most of the leaders, be it Manish Sisodia, F one desires to enter politics or get married, the easiest Yogendra Yadav, or Ashutosh, are in one way or the way apparently is to join a newspaper or TV organisa- other connected to the media. It is also learnt that one of Ition. It is well known that media management has the channel heads has been offered the South Mumbai seat become a tough job for political parties and its leaders. The by a national party. It is interesting to observe many politi- media fraternity also knows that every party needs them cians have married TV journalists in the last five years. A desperately to reach to the masses. Top political parties are young and prominent Chief Minister of North India is wooing journalists by distributing all kind of freebies. Some reportedly having an affair with a renowned TV anchor. Chief Ministers are distributing free houses, cars and high- But, things got a bit sour when an MP from Bihar proposed end telephones. The new rage is to appoint journalist at to an agency reporter; the young lady just smiled and constitutional posts. Mulayam Singh Yadav has appointed moved away to do her professional duty. g

Amethi bulletin been completely neglected by the party. He used sanjay singh cynosure of all to wonder what happened to the party, where the facilitators of major industrial houses have become HE parliamentary constituency of Amethi has ministers and political leaders are being ignored. been continuously in the news for the last 3O The moment the Congress realised that winning Tyears as Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Amethi will be difficult without the active support Gandhi have been contesting from this seat for the of Thakur of Amethi, everybody in the party Congress. This seat has some sort of magic; whosoever started talking to him. Singh is well-connected plans to contest from this seat becomes popular in every political party, BJP’s top brass too, across the country overnight. Aam Aadmi has been in touch with him. The Party candidate Kumar Vishwas’ only way to stop Sanjay from candidature has created a furore joining the BJP, would be with an among Congress Party officials. assurance of a settled political It was more so because Sanjay career. Finally, the Thakur got Singh, a strong Thakur leader a Rajya Sabha nomination from of UP and MP from Sultanpur, Assam which has assured him planned to desert the Congress political stability for six years. It Party at a time when the party is is yet to be seen if Sanjay will be fighting its battle for survival. For given some important job in UP so many years, Sanjay Singh has or not. g

gfiles inside the government 6 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com I N S I D E E Y E ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

passes to the sitting MPs which are valid till May 15, 2014. The Ticket to ride happiest lot are the ex-MPs, who have got their yearly pass on getting a parliament car pass time. There are ex-MPs who have been voted out for the last 30 years but are still entitled to an entry whereas the senior INISTERS and Members of Parliament are officials who are working in the Parliament for last 30 years perpetually in a state of being temporary. Their are not allowed with their personal vehicles; they have to park Mentrance to the Parliament is restricted by in Parliament Annexe. g passes issued for parking their vehicles. The 15th had 15 sessions in five years. The MPs never faced any problem in entering the house. So, the Parliament Security was in a fix whether to issue the car passes for the current year to the present MPs or not. Technically, the term of the Parliament is over after the second session. In such a scenario, if the Parliament Security issues the passes for 2014 to the current MPs and they do not win seats in the forthcoming elections, how can the security stop their entry. Parliament Security were finally able to get a solution as the new Prime Minister has to be elected on or before May 21, 2014 and the results of the will be finalised by May 15, 2014. After calculating the dates, Parliament Security officials have issued car

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 7 Bric-a-brac posts & hosts

A Prime Ministerial debate businessman seldom leaves an opportunity to approach the political party in power. The 16th trade, media to ask the questions A Lok Sabha Elections are on and nobody knows who will be the next Prime Minister of India. It is a rare occurrence that no one knows who to bank on. Trade associations are active to grab any opportunity to introduce Prime Ministerial candidates to their influential top business personalities. Prime Ministerial candidates are also happy to meet them before the elections for obvious reasons. One of the top prominent trade associations has finalised ten candidates for a round table discussion before the elections. It is going to be an interesting debate with not only by business personalities but media as well. The prominent prime ministerial candidates are Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Navin Patnaik, Nitish Kumar, Jayalalitha, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who have been invited for the discussion. When gfiles asked one of the chief members of the trade association, what was planned in case none of the candidates became the PM, he did not have an answer. g

gfiles inside the government 8 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 9 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate THE GREAT

Haryana is not a state, it is real estate by ANIL TYAGI that the monopoly of the Lals (Devi who has been elected as a protector Lal, and ) will and guarantor of a sovereign State “We must speak up irrespective be over. They had breathed a sigh in the federal structure of India, of whether it will have its desired of relief and posed faith in the new allegedly became the plunderer of effects or not, because by speaking leadership of Hooda. Alas! Hooda, the State resources. Land, which is up we may not guarantee raising alias Bhupi, has belied their hopes and the prime source of existence of the the consciousness of the people who aspirations. Hooda, in his nine years farmer in the State, is in the hands of listen but by not speaking up we will of rule, has emerged as a coloniser, such a Chief Minister, who has joined definitely let the people to remain builder and a shrewd businessman forces with greedy plunderers of the deaf and dumb”. who worked only to serve the interest State. The latter have nothing to do When in 2004, the citizens of of the elitist class of the country with the development of the Haryana Haryana elected Bhupinder Singh rather than to serve the citizens and Haryanvis; their main aim is to Hooda first time as their Chief of Haryana. It is an astonishing make a quick buck in the shortest Minister, they must have thought scenario where a Chief Minister, possible time.

gfiles inside the government 10 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com LAND ROBBERY

the Land Acquisition Act to greedy Minister can dare to connive with the colonisers. Hooda’s rule is a sordid builder mafia to implement the saga where, in all 21 districts of the Master Plan and forcibly take away State the rules have been amended, farmers’ land without consultation master plans have been malafidely with the stakeholders in that particu- drafted and environmental and eco- lar district. Hooda never bothered to logical laws thrown into the dustbin consult the panchayats, block pra- at the behest of the builders’ mafia, mukhs, zila parishads, local MLAs with the connivance of the political and municipalities in nine years as and administrative machinery. the Chief Minister. He seems to have Land is the one resource which defied all the parameters that define cannot be stretched. The population a democratic State. of India is growing every day. India Our Associate Editor, Neeraj has to debate how an elected Chief Mahajan, after three months of Minister, legislators and the State investigation, has unearthed the administrative machinery should allegedly unholy nexus of Chief utilise the State’s resources only for Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the welfare of the State and nobody his coterie, and the builder mafia in else . Ind ia has to deba te how a C hief a detailed pp,ublic interest initiative, submitted to the Hon’ble Supreme Court. It explains how a Chief Minister can become a despotic ruler PHHOTOS: RAJEEV TYAGI rather than messiah. gfiles, in its Haryana’s state of affairs is a endeavour, has spared 52 pages of bizarre example of administrative, the magazine, which no publication political and economic mismanage- dares to do for one story. In the ment, where the whole administra- forthcoming issues, we will expose tive machinery connived and surren- how individual builders and some dered to serve the builder mafia of the billionaire MLAs of Haryana rather than to serve the poor and the are making castles without proper poorest of the State. Like plunderers mechanism and infrastructure, of yore, Genghis Khan and Mahmud just to befool the poor man, who of Ghazni, Hooda, the Chief Minister is dreaming about having elected for five years planned and a roof over his head one designed the Master Plan for the next day with his hard- 50 years, that too without consulting earned money. g the stakeholders within the State. Haryana is a peculiar State where farmers, land owners, commu- nities and city residents have been coerced to surrender the precious land—which they owned for genera- tions—under the guise of

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 11 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate

A Petition In The Public Interest W.P No……..of 2014 THE HON’BLE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA, NEW DELHI (Extraordinary Writ Jurisdiction) In the matter of: gfiles : A magazine on governance (Regd.No.DL Eng/2007/19719) 118, IInd Floor, DDA Site-I, New Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi – 110060 …. Petitioner

VERSUS 1. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, 5. Department of Town & Country Planning Chief Minister of Haryana & Urban Estate 2. Secretary, Ministry of Finance 4th Floor, Haryana Civil secretariat Department of Revenue Room No. 46, North Block New Delhi - 110 001 6. Department of Labour Government of Haryana, 3. Ministry of Environment & Forests 30 Bays Building, Sector 17, Chandigarh - 160 Government of India 017 Paryavaran Bhavan CGO Complex, Lodhi Road 7. Ministry of Forests & Environment New Delhi-110003 Government of Haryana Room No. 34, 8th Floor 4. Ministry of Urban Development Haryana Civil Secretariat Government of India Chandigarh Through: National Capital Region Planning Board, Core-IV B, First Floor India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road ……..Respondents New Delhi-110003

gfiles inside the government 12 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Haryana Government’s Labour Department turns a blind (Any other Ministry, Departments, organisations and eye to lack of safety norms for workers (above); new individuals as will be deemed just and appropriate to be housing colonies are being built but without water made as parties with the permission of this Hon’ble Court) supply (left)

MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH: medical aid, and the nation will constantly march ‡7KDW WKH SHWLWLRQHU VHHNV WKH LQWHUYHQWLRQ RI WKLV +RQ¶EOH forward and will take its place of pride in the comity of Court by way of the present writ petition for public nations. However, what has happened during the last interest by invoking the extraordinary writ jurisdiction few decades is sufficient to shatter those hopes. The of this Hon’ble Court with a prayer, as mentioned in the gap between ‘haves’ and ‘haves-not’ of the society, prayer clause, to decide once and for all whether people which existed even in pre-Independent India, has sitting in the government, or in other words, State can widened to such an extent that bridging it appears to be arbitrarily decide the use of land resources, especially in an impossibility. A new creed of people (haves) has view of the fact that mass scale favouritism and misuse come into existence. Those belonging to this category of land to benefit a handful of powerful coterie and that have developed a new value system which is totally too in flagrant violation of all existing environmental incompatible with the values and ideals cherished by and other laws, rules and regulations made therein to the Indian society for centuries together. They have protect the control of land uses and to avoid any grabbed power, political and apolitical, and have haphazard development of land and ecological successfully used the public institutions to subserve disturbances and for matters connected therewith. their ends. The system of quotas, licences, permits, etc., has been used and misused by them for increasing their ‡7KDW PDQ\ LPSRUWDQW MXGJPHQWV GHOLYHUHG LQ WKLV material wealth. Their actions have created an respect seem to have no effect on the present day atmosphere of diffidence in all walks of life. The Haryana Government. In one of the much discussed common man has started feeling that this new creed of judgements, the Hon’ble Justice GS Singhvi held that: people, who believe in grabbing whatever comes its The framers of the Constitution and the representative way, is unstoppable and the law will also become its of the people who were responsible for introducing Part servant because quite a few people belonging to this IV-A enacted the above provisions with a fond hope class are creators and administrators of law. However, that every citizen will honestly play his role in building it appears that every thing is not lost. The third organ of of a homogeneous society in which every Indian will be the State, whose primary duty has been to interpret the able to live with dignity without having to bother about Constitution and the provisions of law and to adjudicate the basics, like food, clothing, shelter, education, PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 13 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate

the disputes between the individual (s) and the State virtue of appointment. The holder of the office, and between individuals inter se, or groups of therefore, gets opportunity to abuse or misuse the individual, has been forced by the people and the office. The politician who holds public office must circumstances to take steps to uphold the majesty of perform public duties with the sense of purpose, and law and the authority of the Constitution. a sense of direction, under rules or sense of priorities. The purpose must be genuine in a free democratic ‡ ,Q Secretary,y, JDA vs Daulat Mal Jain, , JT 1996(8) SC society governed by the rule of law to further socio- 387, the Apex Court had the occasion to examine economic democracy. The executive Government allotment of lands to the respondents by the Minister should frame its policies to maintain the social order, and the committee headed by the Minister. Some of stability, progress and morality. All actions of the the observations made in that decision are quite relevant Government are performed through/by individual in the context of the present case and are therefore, persons in collective or joint or individual capacity. quoted below: Therefore, they should morally be responsible for “... The Minister holds public office though he gets their actions.... The Minister is responsible not only constitutional status and performs functions under for his actions but also for the job of the bureaucrats constitution, law executive policy. The acts done and who work or have worked under him. He owes the duties performed are public acts or duties as holding responsibility to the electors for all his actions taken of the public office. Therefore, he owes certain in the name of the Governor in relation to the accountability for the acts done or duties performed. Department of which he is the Head. If the Minister, In a democratic society governed by rule of law, in fact, is responsible for all the detailed working of power is conferred on the holder of the public office his Department, then clearly ministerial or the concerned authority by the Constitution by responsibility must cover a wider spectrum than mere moral responsibility; for no minister can Haphazard construction has created havoc all around possibly get acquainted with; all the detailed

gfiles inside the government 14 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Most favoured, BPTP’s gateway to billions decisions involved in the working of his Department.... The so-called public policy cannot be a camouflage for abuse of the power and trust few favourite individuals and groups, turning them entrusted with a public authority or public servant billionaires overnight at the cost of poor Haryanvis. for the performance of public duties. Misuse implies doing of something improper. The essence of ‡ 7KH ODZV LQ WKH UHOHYDQW ILHOGV ZHUH IUHTXHQWO\ impropriety is replacement of a public motive for a changed, altered or modified with the motive of private one. When satisfaction sought in the favouring a select group of builders close to the Chief performance of duties is for mutual personal gain, Minister and its coterie, benefiting both with complete the misuse is usually termed as corruption. The disregard to systemic planning and the basic laws of holder of a public office is said to have misused his equity. So much so that three Master Plans were created position when in pursuit of a private satisfaction, as in haste, including Master Plan 2031, assuming that the distinguished from public interest, he has done same government will continue for decades to come. something which he ought not to have done. The most elementary qualification demanded of a ‡ 3UHFLRXV SLHFHV RI ODQG ZHUH JLIWHG WR LQIOXHQWLDO Minister is honesty and incorruptibility. He should politicians and others to seek political and other favours not only possess these qualifications but should also i.e. Quid pro quo. appear to possess the same.” ‡ 6RPH RI WKH PDMRU LQIUDVWUXFWXUH SURMHFWV ZHUH DOWHUHG ‡ 7KH JUHHQ FRYHU RI +DU\DQD IRU ZKLFK WKH VWDWH LV VR changed midway to safeguard commercial interest of well known, has been rapidly converted into jungle of some favoured builders with complete disregard to the concrete, taking a heavy toll on existing flora and fauna cost and loss of revenue to the State exchequer. of the State and damaging its reputation of being the food bowl of the country. ‡ ,PSRUWDQW GHFLVLRQV LQ WKLV UHJDUG LQ WKH +DU\DQD Government are allegedly influenced by a select ‡ 7KH &KLHI 0LQLVWHU RI +DU\DQD GXULQJ PRVW SDUW RI coterie, comprising of influential politicians, builders his tenure, kept all the important departments and business mafia, including Venod Sharma, Kunal relating to land and urban development under his Bhadoo, Arvind Walia, Anil Sharma, Kabul Chawla and control with the sole motive of taking unilateral Sameer Gehlaut. decisions regarding sale and allotment of land to a select PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 15 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate Men in shadows: Those who pull the political strings

by NEERAJ MAHAJAN musical instruments all by herself. It neur Jawahar Goel (Dish TV, Essel is next to impossible to imagine that Group of Companies), Kabul Chawla would be difficult to imagine even Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder (promoter of BPTP), Arvind Walia a legend like Sachin Tendulkar Singh Hooda is managing the whole (Director, Ramprastha Group), Sushil Isingle-handedly batting, bowling show all by himself. Ansal (Promoter of Ansal Group), and keeping the field all by himself. As far as taking important decisions Sameer Gehlaut (Indiabulls) as well Likewise, try as much as she might, and deciding the policy on real estate is as Anil and Gautam Bhalla of Vatika singing sensation Lata Mangeshkar concerned, Hooda allegedly depends Ltd. Call it a high-power committee, too would find it difficult to write on his son-in-law Kunal Bhadoo, DLF think-tank or a more informal kitchen the lyrics, compose, direct the music, strongman KP Singh, former Union cabinet, they are the ones who alleged- coordinate, sing and play all the minister Venod Sharma, entrepre- ly decide most actions concerning the

gfiles inside the government 16 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com MNC offices on Delhi-Jaipur highway are edifices to lure GURGAON- URBAN COMPLEX innocent customers Land use Master plan Master plan Master plan 2021 2025 2031 Area in Area in Area in real estate sector in the State. In other hectares hectares hectares words, one may say that these are the Residential 14,930 15,148 16,010 people who are allegedly helping, rath- Commercial 1,404 1,429 1,616 er driving, Hooda to ruin Haryana. Industrial 5,441 5,431 4,613 PART from them, IAS officers Transport and 4,231 4,289 4,420 communication like the on-deputation 1996 Public utilities 564 609 626 Abatch Karnataka cadre IAS officer Rajender Kumar Kataria, the Institutional Public 1,630 1,775 2,035 son-in-law of Haryana Congress pres- and semi-public use ident Phool Chand Mullana, former Open spaces 2,675 2,688 2,775 Haryana additional advocate general Special zone 106 106 114 and advocate Sunil Parti, hotelier Defence land 633 633 633 Kewal Dhingra and foot soldiers like Total land 31,614 32,108 32,842 Hooda’s officer on special duty, M S Chopra, fill in the blanks. Special Economic Zone 4,570 4,570 A former Army Officer, Kushal Pal Existing town 406 406 406 Singh, the son-in-law of DLF Group Village abadis 428 428 478 founder, is allegedly a master in Grand total 37,069 37,512 33,726 the art of give and take and political arm-twisting for strategic business Source: Town and Country Planning, Haryana PPI contd. on next page

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The BPTP and DLF saga HE biggest beneficiary of the Hooda rule is none a bestselling offer as almost all the 4,997 three bedroom other than Business Park Town Planners Limited, also units in its newly launched ‘Park Elite Floors’ were sold Tknown as BPTP, promoted by Kabul Chawla, Punam out in five months—between May and September 2009. (mother of Kabul Chawla) and Anjali Chawla (wife of Kabul Even the 2nd phase of Park Elite Floors was sold by Chawla). Incorporated under the Companies Act on August September 30, 2009, and BPTP was able to mop up nearly 11, 2003, BPTP has a number of companies, like Countrywide `2.41 billion from the market. Promoters Pvt Ltd, Countrywide Home and Farms Pvt Ltd, Today, with licenses for close to 1,606 acre land in Glitz Builders & Promoters Pvt Ltd, Foliage Construction Pvt Ltd, Five Star Promoters Pvt Ltd, Vital Construction Pvt Ltd, Native Buildcon Pvt Ltd, Green Valley Towers Pvt Ltd, Anupam Towers Pvt Ltd, Sunglow Overseas Pvt Ltd, Druzba Overseas Pvt Ltd, Business Park Promoters Pvt Ltd, Fragrance Construction Pvt Ltd, KA Promoters & Developers Pvt Ltd, Westland Developers Pvt Ltd, Poonam Promoters & Developers Pvt Ltd and Vasundra Promoters Pvt Ltd. BPTP was an unknown and insignificant player till 2005. After Hooda became the Chief Minister, its fortunes changed, almost overnight in 2005, and the company started aggressively staking claim over prime land in and around . In just three years, it had acquired licenses to develop 283.88 acres land at unheard of rock bottom prices—`210 per sq ft—in Faridabad. The company starting selling the first of its plots in 2006 and by 2009 it had sold approximately 5,657 residential plots, 10,685 apartments, 463 commercial plots and other commercial space. In January 2009, when the Hooda Government permitted registration of independent floors on residential plots, BPTP took full advantage and re-aligned its business from plotted housing to independent floors. This proved to be Two to tango: The BPTP couple

advantage. He knows how to subtly ITHIN the group, apart from Haryana assembly speaker Kuldeep manage his strengths and weaknesses son-in-law Kunal Bhadoo, Sharma (his daughter Aishwarya is and gain business mileage. This is WHooda depends most on the married to Venod Sharma’s youngest the least you can expect from a man controversial Congress leader from son Kartikeya), seemingly remained who managed to leverage a chance Chandigarh, Venod Sharma, known out of the power circuit, he is one of meeting with Rajiv Gandhi to gain for his troubleshooting and negotiat- those who challenge their luck to the virtual monopoly in Gurgaon. At least, ing skills. A former Union and State limit. That is why despite being out you can say, he was shrewd and bold minister, Sharma had to quit the of power, he enjoys such clout that in enough to move in an unchartered Power Ministry after embarrassing informal conversations he is report- direction. Not many would have dared public disclosures about him trying to edly referred to as “Mr 10 Crore” in to do what he did… even today he is bribe three witnesses in the Jessica Lal real estate circles. The reason is fairly mentally just as sharp in spotting an case, in which his son Manu Sharma obvious—no big land deal is possible opportunity and going all out to grab it was the key accused. Even though in the State without his direct or indi- as if there is going to be no tomorrow. Venod Sharma, who is also related to rect involvement.

gfiles inside the government 18 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Faridabad and Gurgaon, Countrywide DLF holds the largest land Promoters, or BPTP, is way ahead of bank of 10,255 acres (42 sq km), even Ansal Properties & Infrastructure including 3,000 acres (12 sq km) (1,360 acres), or DLF (939 acres). It that has been developed and is so powerful that it virtually runs a 1,000 acres under development in parallel government, at least as far as Gurgaon. DLF Limited is the largest Faridabad and Gurgaon are concerned. commercial real estate developer No government official reportedly in India by revenue, profit, and dares to come in its way. Some say market share. DLF is so powerful Hooda himself is a benamii owner that no government in Haryana in the company, which is currently can chose to ignore it. Whatever it KP Singh developing 24 group housing, IT and wants is reportedly given. residential projects in Faridabad and Gurgaon. gfiles investigations reveal that all almost all propos- The company’s biggest strength is that the average cost als for grant of licenses are directly approved by the Chief of its land reserve is as low as `188 per sq ft. This allows it Minister himself, often overruling senior officials to benefit to sell properties at relatively attractive prices and, in fact, a particular builder. Significantly, within two years of his is the reason behind its phenomenal success in a relatively chief ministership, on December 19, 2006, Hooda changed short time-span. Such is BPTP’s clout that despite a com- the policy for grant of license and change of land use with plaint by the owner of a 14.793 acres land in Sector 106 in retrospective effect—from June 7, 2005. By specifically stat- Gurgaon to the Haryana TCP not to issue the license till the ing that “the licenses shall be granted/refused by the DTCP agreed sale price was paid, the TCP department not only with prior internal concurrence of the State Government at awarded but also renewed the licenses despite the fact the Minister’s Level”, this ensured that Hooda—who was that BPTP still does not have possession of the land, or has the housing minister as well as Chairman TCP and HUDA— begun any construction activity. was the ultimate authority to sanction or deny a license. One of the first developers to focus on Faridabad, Even if the Director, Town Planning, wanted to grant or deny Countrywide Promoters has the ability to identify suitable a license, he needed to get the Chief Minister’s concurrence. land, acquire and consolidate it. This role is played by an This, in effect, sealed the fate of all cooperatives housing, in-house research team of 30 personnel that gathers market giving a free hand to group housing societies and builders. data, assesses the potential of a location, and evaluates its This policy also relaxed the norms for change of land use demographic profile as well as government schemes and and discontinued grant of licenses for cooperative housing incentives, as applicable. societies, even in low potential zones.

One of the richest politicians in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar ber election campaign committee, in the state, Sharma’s `500-crore Pradesh. It is alleged that Hooda is a Sharma’s backroom organising skills empire consists of Piccadily Group of shareholder in Sharma’s hotels, sugar helped Hooda muster the support Industries, 4-star Piccadily Hotel in and construction business. of 53 members in the 90-member Sector 22, Blue Ice bar in Sector 17, house when the Congress had just chain of hotels, restaurants, cinema ON of liquor baron and one- 40 members in the last elections. theatre, sugar mills, distilleries like time President of Punjab Sharma always stood by him—even Piccadily Sugar Industries, Piccadily SPradesh Congress Committee, when Hooda was an aspiring politi- Agro Industries, Shakti Fibres, Kidarnath Sharma, Venod Sharma cian from . On his part, Hooda Piccadily Holiday Resorts and Lyons has a good network in the Brahmin, too lobbied to get Sharma the Ambala Restaurant, besides a number of com- Aggarwal, Rajput and Punjabi com- Assembly ticket when he was a politi- mercial and residential properties in munities in Haryana. Hooda has many cal untouchable after the Jessica Lal Chandigarh. reasons to rely on his school-time murder case. He has big stakes in the liquor trade friend. As the head of the 40-mem- PPI contd. on next page

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Venod Sharma Kunal Bhadoo Kabul Chawla THE ‘H’ COMPANY

KP Singh Sameer Gehlaut Anil Bhalla Arvind Walia

HARMA, who began his politi- ter—more powerful than even Deputy own interests in real estate are taken cal career as general secre- Chief Minister Chander Mohan, a care of through a string of compa- Stary of Chandigarh Congress three-time MLA. Sharma’s youngest nies like Onkareshwar Properties Committee, lost no time in becom- son Kartikeya heads Information TV Private Limited, Mark Buildtech ing Sanjay Gandhi’s blue-eyed boy, Pvt Ltd, which controls News X tel- Properties Private Limited, Shivam general secretary of All India Youth evision channel, Good Morning India Infotech Private Limited and Pegasus Congress under Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Media Pvt Ltd and Aaj Samaj group of Developers Shikhopur Pvt Ltd. leadership, MLA, MP and Union min- newspapers. Kartikeya is on the Board of Director’s ister—all within one decade. There was It is alleged that any builder who and reportedly owns 99 per cent a time when even as a first-time MLA, wants any new license, or any con- shares in Mark Buildtech, which has he was treated as virtual No. 2 and the cession, from Hooda has to neces- business dealings with Onkareshwar most resourceful State cabinet minis- sarily go through Sharma. Sharma’s Properties. The two, incidentally,

GREAT HARYANA LAND USE CONVERSION CIRCUS Area Up to 30 Sq Metre Area Over 30 Sq Metre

Old Rate New Rate Old Rate New Rate

Gurgaon `14,000 `3,000 `16,000 `3,500

Faridabad `7,200 `1,500 `9,200 `2,000

Sonepat `6,000 `1,000 `7,500 `1,200

Panipat `6,000 `1,000 `7,500 `1,200

Panchkula `7,200 `1,500 `9,200 `2,000

gfiles inside the government 20 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com are registered at the same address Top 33 Most Benefitted Builders of Hooda Regime in Nehru Place. Sushil Gupta, one of the Directors of Onkareshwar S.No. Promoters/ Builders Land License Obtained in Acres Properties, is a close aide of Hooda; 1 Countrywide Promoters 1606 Harvinder Singh Chopra, a Director 2 Ansal Properties & Infrastructure 1360 in Mark Buildtech, is also Finance 3 DLF New Gurgaon Home Developers 939 Director of Piccadily Group; while 4 Intime Promoters (TDI) 867 Rajender Bansal, a friend of Sharma 5 Omaxe Housing & Developers 866 from , is on the Board of 6 Unitech 725 Directors of both the companies. The 7 Vatika Land Base 632 other directors include Dhirender Dadwal and Tarun Bhanot, a rela- 8 Parshavnath Developers 603 tive of Sharma. Mark Buildtech alleg- 9 Emaar MGF Land 531 edly has strong business linkages 10 IREO KSS Properties 519 with Vatika Ltd promoted by Anil and 11 Sonika 399 Gautam Bhalla, who seemingly has 12 Chintals India 396 prospered from the association. In 13 AN Buildwell 315 fact, after the Haryana government 14 Bestech India 297 granted three land licenses to Vatika group, the group’s assets skyrocketed 15 Uddar Gagan 291 unimaginably in three years. 16 Reliance Haryana SEZ 251 17 Rangoli Projects 242 It is alleged that any 18 India Bulls Estates 222 19 Vipul Infrastructure Developers 216 builder who wants any 20 Dwarkadhis Buildwell 209 new license, or any 21 Raheja Developers 195 concession, from Hooda 22 Ramprastha Buildwell 189 has to necessarily go 23 Pioneer Urban Land & Infrastructure 177 through Venod Sharma, 24 Herman Fin Properties 154 Congress leader from 25 Grandeur Real Estate 145 Chandigarh 26 Uppal Housing 142 27 Jai Krishna Artec JV 123 28 Mapsco Buildwell 120 F it is not Sharma, another person 29 Parveen Gupta, Vipin Gupta 118 who can come up with miracles Iand has direct access to the CM is 30 ERA Infrastructure 118 Kunal Bhadoo, the prodigal son of 31 Martial Buildcon 117 Vijay Laxmi Bhadoo, a senior SAD- 32 Desert Moon Realtors Pvt. Ltd. 110 BJP leader in Punjab. He is married to 33 Orris Infrastructure 108 Hooda’s daughter Anjali. A Masters in International Accounting and Finance from London School of Economics Jaipur, and Abohar. Kunal is Satellite Forging Pvt Ltd, a joint ven- and qualified Chartered Accountant also Director of Havelock Developers ture with the JBM Group. from ICAEW, UK, he worked for six Pvt Ltd, Bhadoo Agritech at Abohar, He is alleged to be an unofficial years in London for PwC LLP before which is into contract processing member of Hooda’s kitchen cabinet coming back to India in 2006 to start and packaging of citrus fruits and along with his mother-in-law, Asha Kunskapsskolan Eduventures India, fresh vegetables, Navyug Group of Hooda; brother-in-law Deepinder which runs three K-12 schools in Companies, Navyug Eduventures and PPI contd. on next page

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Hooda and Venod Sharma. They by Group Housing Societies in a are virtually running a parallel The arbitrary and ad-hoc particular sector. This has opened government in Haryana which has manner in which up scope for discretionary licenses, a say in everything—from selection, decisions are taken or or refusal, on the plea that the transfer and postings of candidates altered in Hooda’s quota has been exceeded. Another to ‘interviews’ conducted by feature of the Master Plan was to departmental committees to grant tenure can be judged increase population density figures licenses to favourite builders. from just two examples: in specific zones from 250-300 the Dwarka Expressway people per hectare to over 1,000 S per market intelligence gath- and the Northern people per hectare. This has opened ered from buyers, sellers and Express Road up floodgates for manipulation by Abrokers, these days Bhadoo is the politician-builder network. The allegedly on a buying spree in Sector Haryana government is also likely to 70 and 70A, just outside the Master discouraged. In all probability, this come up with a new scheme of one- Plan areas, along the Southern area will be included in another acre farmhouses or country homes Peripheral road. According to revised or extended Master Plan just outside the Master Plan areas in informed sources, unwritten orders before the elections. The price shoots Gurgaon, and other parts are that anyone else who tries to up at least 50 times when it gets of Haryana. That will be another buy lands in this area should be included in the Master Plan. opportunity to make a fast buck for One of the features of the Master builders/developers and brokers. The Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway: Plan 2031, that has escaped attention, Already many people have started Where it starts and ends, nobody is a restriction that only 20 per cent buying huge tracts of land for the knows! of the total area can be taken up purpose. Whenever they get struck,

gfiles inside the government 22 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com LEGACY OF 12 CMs & PRESIDENT’S RULE the last 23 years, Haryana has seen 12 CMs and one President’s Rule. Except for Chaudhary Devi ILal, and (in the initial stages), all others favoured one or Banarsi Das Gupta Bansi Lal Bhagwat Dayal Sharma the other builder. The biggest example of politi- cal favouritism is the DLF, which is what it is today allegedly because of the patronage given by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Bhajan Lal was the Chief Minister for close to five years from January 22, 1980. He was clearly in favour of the DLF, which managed to get 40 licenses for some 1,123 acres of land, largely in Gurgaon. Bhajan lal Bhupinder Singh Hooda Such was DLF’s monopoly that Ansal Properties & Infrastructure, its nearest rival, could just man- age a toe-hold with 11 licenses for 442-acre land. Apart from these two, all the seven others who managed to get licenses from Bhajan Lal were insignificant players. As soon as Bansi Lal became the Chief Minister on July 5, 1985, the wind started blowing in the opposite direc- tion and Ansal Properties & Infrastructure became the hot favourite, bagging the maximum licenses, followed by Hukum Singh Om Prakash Chautala DLF. Another significant contribution of Bansi Lal was the limited entry of Unitech and Utility builders. Chief Minister from July 17, 1990, to March 21, 1991, issued However, when Chaudhary Devi Lal became the Chief licenses for the National Media Centre (21 acres) and to Minister on July 17, 1987, not a single license was granted Durga Builder (127 acre). to any developer. This tradition was maintained even Om Prakash Chautala became the Chief Minister when his son Om Prakash Chautala remained the Chief again—from March 22, 1991, to April 6, 1991—and did not Minister from Dec 2, 1989, to May 22, 1990. issue any license during his term. After this, there was However, Dec 2, 1989—the last day of Devi Lal’s regime President's Rule in the State from April 6, 1991, to July 23, and first day of Om Prakash Chautala—would go down in 1991. Again, no licenses were issued in the period. the . On that single day, eight licenses However, in the following five years of Bhajan Lal’s were approved: DLF Universal (5) in Gurgaon Sectors 24, Chief Ministership—July 23, 1991, to May 9, 1996—60 25, 25A, 27, 28 and 43; Ansal (2) Gurgaon Sectors 1, 2, licenses were given. Those who benefitted included, 3, 17 and Unitech (1) Gurgaon Sectors 30, 40, 41. It may DLF (641 acres), Ansals (258 acres), Unitech (309 acres) be well worth investigating who sanctioned these licenses and others. on a single date and why. More so, when no license was In the next three years—May 11, 1996, to July 23, 1999— allotted two years before or two years after that date! Bansi Lal tried to match the record by sanctioning 39 pro- After Chautala, Banarsi Das Gupta was the Chief jects over 793 acres of land in Gurgaon. Though Ansal was Minister from May 22, 1990, to July 12, 1990, and Chautala the favourite, DLF and others too were granted licenses. again from July 12, 1990, to July 17, 1990. But, no license In his new term, from July 24, 1999, to March 4, 2005, Om was given in this period. Prakash Chautala was a changed person and sanctioned The jinx was broken when Hukam Singh, who was the 35 projects in Gurgaon over 463 acres of land.

PPI contd. on next page

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they approach someone like Bhadoo, In Rohtak, Hooda’s home Development Authority’. who can’t say no to favours from In 2005, when Hooda first became builders. Here are a few examples: district, a clique of Sharad CM, he had 67 seats in the 90-mem- Farms and Holdings, ber assembly. Every third MLA in Hooda fiddles, Haryana burns Sonika Properties and the State was a Congressman. As a VER since he became Chief Uddar Gagan Properties— result, if a minister dared to step out of line, he was firmly told to behave. Minister of Haryana on March 5, all three subsidiaries of the E2005; Hooda has retained all the But today, with just 40 MLAs, to run important administrative portfolios consortium formed by Zee the government at the mercy of inde- like Justice Administration, Law and TV’s Essel Group, Action pendents is a big challenge. Hence, Legislative, General Administration, Group and Odeon to keep the prominent politicians Administrative Reforms, Home, happy, Hooda tried to ‘gift’ HUDA Information, Public Relations and Builders—has acquired residential plots to 79 present and Personnel and Training with him. almost 637 acres former Haryana MPs and MLAs at But his first love is urban develop- Mansa Devi Complex, Panchkula at ment. This is clear from the manner Planning (TCP), Haryana Urban a throwaway price of `28 lakh each. in which he has retained all associ- Development Authority (HUDA) These plots were worth at least `1.5 ated portfolios like Architecture, and Haryana State Industrial crore in the open market. The ben- Panchayat Development, Town and Development Corporation (HSIDC). eficiaries included his son Deepender Country Planning and Urban Estates This gives him complete control over Singh Hooda besides Kumari Selja, and Urban Local Bodies. He is also all land deals in the State. In fact, Venod Sharma, Kiran Chaudhary, the Chairman of the Town & Country he is referred to as ‘Haryana Overall Navin Jindal, Raghuveer Kadian,

UNLAWFUL ACTS IN HOODA ERA OON after coming to power, Hodal, and Sohna were given eration within four months on April 24, one of the first PR exercise massive concessions. For instance, 2007. Also, no explanation was offered Sof Hooda Government was to in Faridabad, the charges for build- why many of these polices needed to drastically reduce the compound- ings along more than 30-metre roads, be backdated by over a year? A deeper ing, or conversion, fee for commer- were lowered from `9,200 to `2,000 probe may unearth many a skeletons in cial properties. This populist move per square yard. While the official plea Hooda’s cupboard. was aimed at gaining the goodwill was that conversion charges would One of the first significant changes of lakhs of building bylaws violators improve the financial position of urban Hooda brought about on April 24, and those running business and com- local bodies, no one can deny that this 2007, was an amendment of an exist- mercial establishments from residen- was actually a reward to the violators ing policy laid down by his government tial premises. Such persons now just of law. on December 20, 2006. Interestingly, had to pay `3,500, instead of `16,000 A detailed analysis of Hooda gov- this new policy, re-defined ‘Reputed per square yard, for regularising their ernment’s policies reveals how arbi- Coloniser’ as someone “who has already buildings along 30-metre roads in trarily policies were drafted, modified obtained a license under the Haryana Gurgaon. Likewise, those in build- and backdated to favour builders and Development and Regulation of Urban ings along roads up to 30 metres had individuals. For instance, a policy for Areas Act, 1975, by the Haryana Town to pay `3,000, against `14,000 per release of land from acquisition (See and Country Planning Department square yard previously. Even peo- Box) was modified within 26 days of (TCP)”. This policy allowed backdoor ple in small towns like Faridabad, being formulated in 2007. Once again, entry to those private developers, who Panchkula, , Sonepat, Karnal, it was modified in 2011. Likewise, policy were applying for the first time. They , Ambala, , dated December 20, 2006, concerning were given the option to sign a col- , Hissar, Rohtak, , group of persons, needed reconsid- laboration agreement with a group of

gfiles inside the government 24 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway: The ugly reality of a ‘beautiful’ highway persons licensed by the department to out whose involvement Cooperative qualify to be called ‘Reputed Coloniser’. House Building Societies cannot Curiously, a ticklish policy—dated even apply for a license. Randeep Surjewala, Phool Chand March 27, 2008—decided to give one- The manner in which HUDA did Mulana, Captain Ajay Singh Yadav, time relaxation to private schools, away with the upper time limit to Chander Mohan, Hansraj Bhardwaj whose applications were pending with complete the construction work, and Shamsher Singh Surjewala. They the Education Department for want of smacks of a sell-out to the builder would all have been richer by a few recognition. The question is, how can lobby. Earlier, allottees could under- crore rupees, but for a last minute the TCP Department provide legiti- take construction on a residential or hurdle created by the Punjab and macy to private schools yet to be rec- commercial plot within two years. Haryana High Court. A division bench, ognised by the Education Department? Now, an extension of up to 13 years comprising Chief Justice Tirath Singh Obviously this was done as a favour. is possible after payment of a fee and Thakur and Justice Mahesh Grover, Significantly, the policy regarding the allottee can take 15 years (2+13 cancelled the arbitrary allotments grant of license to Cooperative Housing years) for construction from the date and the MPs and MLAs were left high Societies, dated September 15, 2008, of possession. This new policy, that and dry. states that application of only those came into effect from April 12, 2013, Cooperative House Building Societies, is nothing but a ploy to renew the IMILARLY, the High Court which have any collaboration with licenses of non-performing builders. quashed the “illegal release builders/developers having financial The Haryana government has also Sof land” to RN Prasher, IAS, capacity and technical expertise to not used over `10,000-crore EDC for a former finance commissioner develop residential colonies, will be creation of basic amenities collected and principal secretary, employed considered for a license. This gave an from the end-consumers through the as principal adviser to CM after unfair advantage to the builders, with- builders in the last five years. retirement. Describing this as a PPI contd. on next page

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Despotic Hooda (March 2005-2014) Questionable Pro-Builder Policies of Haryana Government

Date Name of policy Salient initiative Beneficiary / Analysis 09.06.2006 License for land pockets The only condition is that such land locked pockets Land acquisition policy of Haryana owned by individuals should not be more than 10% of the licensed area Government is based on ‘sectoral develop- forming part of or granted to the developer. ment’ approach. In case a private developer, adjoining existing who has been granted a license to develop a licensed colonies. project, is not able to acquire some pockets of land in between or on the fringes of the licensed area (“land locked pockets”), HUDA steps in to acquire such land locked pockets on behalf of private developer. BENEFICIARY: BPTP—was facing problem due to certain land locked pockets in Project Parklands— integrated township, so HUDA took over the land locked pockets and transferred it to them for development of the area.

19.12.2006 Policy for grant of After careful consideration of the matter the Governor 1. The Minister here happened to be the license and change of of Haryana is pleased to convey the policy parameters Chief Minister himself land use relating to the grant of license and permission for 2. Even if the Director Town Planning wanted change of land use as under :- to grant or deny a license he needed the Came into effect with concurrence of the Chief Minister who retrospective effect 1. Competent Authority to grant licenses: The licens- held all urban development portfolios. from 7 June, 2005 es shall be gypgranted/ refused by the DTCP with prior 3. The fate of all cooperatives housing was internal concurrence of the State Government at sealed Minister’s Level. The State Government will how- 4. Group housing societies and builders were ever, exercise appellate powers under the Act. indirectly given a free hand. 2. Minimum area for grant of licenses under different 5. Change of land use made easy zones 3. Area under group housing should not exceed 20% Beneficiary: of the sector area. 4. Discontinue licenses to the Cooperative Housing BPTP—its strategy has been to quickly Societies even in Low Potential Zones. No such convert land use from agricultural to land restriction for construction of Group Housing pro- eligible for real estate development and jects. create a vast bank of licensed land. This 5. Change of land use (CLU) applications to be con- helped them launch mid-income housing sidered in conformity with land use proposals of projects in a relatively short time frame even the Development Plans and zoning regulations. during the economic recession in 2008-09. 6. Classification of controlled areas under hyper Apart from everything this helped the potential, high, medium and low potential zones. company generate robust cash flow with reduced capital expenditure.

24.04.2007 License to group of per- Amendment of policy concerning group of persons 1. Group of persons were sought to be given sons under Haryana dated 20th December, 2006 the status of a reputed coloniser for setting Development and 1. Reputedp coloniser will be the one who has up a colony. Regulation of Urban alreadyy obtained a license under the Haryana 2. Changed in definition of reputed coloniser Areas Act, 1975—for Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, as one who has setting up of a colony 1975 a. Already obtained a license —as a reputed colonis- 2. In case of collaboration agreement -- a developer b. Pays full EDC, service charges and 100% er. who is not a licensee but applying for a license for bank guarantee for internal the first time full EDC, service charges and 100% development. Policy deemed to have bank guarantee of internal development works 3. Allowed back door entry for private come into effect w.e.f. taken before grant of license “so as to safeguardg developers—without a license to sign but 19th May, 2004. the publicp interest. Those who complypy with desiring to make an entry by signing a these stipulationspp would be termed as reputed collaboration agreement with a group of colonizers.” persons

gfiles inside the government 26 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Date Name of policy Salient initiative Beneficiary / Analysis 30.5.2007 Amended area parame- Utilisation of maximum 5% of the area of a residential What was the need to back date by almost ters for Cyber Parks/ IT sector for establishment of IT Parks/Cyber Parks one year? Parks in residential sectors Ironically all the six licenses for IT City in Gurgaon over 36 acre land in sector 24,25 and Effective for application 25A in Hooda’s tenure have been bagged by received after 7th DLF Universal. Similarly more than 90 % of the August, 2006. 53 IT parks over 412 acre land are concentrat- ed in Gurgaon. Faridabad managed 6 while —a nondescript place got one. 30.9.2007 Policy for release of land Policy formed vide letter no.5/30/2007-2TCP from acquisition 26.10.2007 Policy for release of land The earlier policy formed just 26 days back was super- It is obvious that these revised guidelines were from acquisition seded. Salient features of this policy were: framed to allow big commercial and religious 1. Only those applications will be considered for interests to openly misuse the system. release under section 48(1) where structure exist- 1. All it takes for a builder is to claim and ed prior to section 4 and were inhabited. prove—at least on paper that the 2. Any factory or commercial establishment which structure existed prior to section 4 and existed prior to section 4 will be considered for is inhabited. release. 2. Why special favours for factories and 3. Any religious institution or any building owned by commercial establishment which existed community will also be considered for release prior to section 4? This simply indicates 4. Any land for which an application was made that either section 4 was not required or under section 3 of Haryana Development and now a back door is being opened. Regulations of Urban Areas Act, 1975 by the owners 3. Why should religious institutions be prior to award for converting the land into a colony shown special favours? 5. Same for a land where the ownership was estab- 4. The act seeks to regulate the land use and lished prior to notification under section 4 of the prevent ill-planned, haphazard urbanisa- Act. tion in Haryana and section 3 deals with 6. Land may be released in the interest of integrated detailed process an owner desiring to con- and planned development where the owners have vert his land into a colony has to follow – obtained stay from courts in other words it means that the owner 7. Government may release any land on the grounds prior to the award was himself interested other than stated above under section 48(1) of the in conversion of the land into colony. Act under exceptionally justifiable circumstances 5. When a court has granted stay, where is but reasons are to be recorded in writing the question of releasing the land? 20-11-07 Change of Land Use for No additional CLU should be required where ground buildings that existed coverage or permissible FAR has already been before declaration of achieved up to 75% of the permissible limits. Controlled Area 01-02-08 Policy for Change of t"MM DPOTUSVDUJPO GBMMJOH JO TFUCBDL CFGPSF EFDMBSBUJPO Land use permission for of controlled area, to be retained as is, benefit of buildings that existed 60% ground coverage to be given. before the declaration t "QQMJDBOU XJMM OPU SBJTF BOZ DPOTUSVDUJPO PO UIF of controlled area subsequent floors falling in the setback area, no new construction to be allowed in setback area. 27.03.2008 One time relaxation to t /PSNT NFOUJPOFE JO &EVDBUJPO 3VMFT    Please note how the town and country private schools, whose to apply to applicants, whose applications are planning department is providing legitimacy applications are pending in the Education Department.. to private schools and institutions which are pending in Education t 4DIPPMT FYJTUJOH JO UIF SFTQFDUJWF ZFBS UP CF USFBUFE yet to be recognised by the education Department for want of as per prevalent Education Rules. department recognition t5IF DBTFT NBZ CF DPOTJEFSFE XIFSF NJOJNVN lease period is of 20 years. Could it be because the CM’s son-in-law Kunal t 4BNF QBSBNFUFST NBZ BQQMZ JO 6SCBO "SFBT UP QSJ- Bhadoo is himself in the field of education? vate school whose applications are pending for recognition in the Education Department PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 27 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate

Date Name of policy Salient initiative Beneficiary / Analysis

13.05.2008 Policy regarding remov- 1. Removal of limit on maximum height of buildings Policy likely to affect 391 Group Housing al of height restriction in Group Housing and Commercial Colonies for society projects in Gurgaon, Bahadurgarh, of building for group which licenses are issued under Haryana Urban Daruhera, Faridabad, Jajjar, Karnal, Palwal, housing colony and Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, Panipat Rewari, and covering commercial colony 1975 5451 acre and 57 commercial projects mostly 2. Town & Country Planning Department notification in Gurgaon over 343 acre No. 8DP(ii)-2004/483, dated 22.12.2004 withdrawn One of those who applied for 2 licenses in Com zone in Gurgaon, sector 83 was Venod Sharma—a childhood friend of Hooda who applied as Piccadily Hotels

30-5-2008 Radha Swami Satsang Scrutiny fee of `10/- per sq metre on the entire site. In Such a low rate —`10 per sq/ metre Beas Deras return maximum permissible ground coverage and Change of Land Use permission on vacant lands

15.09.2008 Policy regarding grant License only to those Registered Cooperative Housing of license to Cooperative Societies who collaborate with builders/ developers Housing Societies. who have financial and technical expertise for development of residential colonies.

27.3.2009 Registration of Registration of independent floors shall be allowed BPTP—In Jan 2009, Haryana Government independent floors for in residential plots—180 sq yards or above. permitted registration of independent floors the residential plots of t &BDI VOJU TIBMM CF EFTJHOBUFE BT A*OEFQFOEFOU on residential plots. BPTP took the advantage licensed colonies Floor and recognized as a distinct, identifiable by switching over from plotted housing to property with a separate identification number, independent floors and started offering three along with proportionate rights in the declared bedroom houses at nominal prices. In this common areas and common facilities, rights of manner the company was able to launch and access, easements and other ownership rights as sell 4,997 units in “Park Elite Floors’ in just 5 well as the right to use, transfer or dispose off the months. In August 2009, phase II of Park Elite property in accordance with the rules. Floors was raised out of payments received t 0XOFS PG FBDI A*OEFQFOEFOU 'MPPS UP CF FOUJUMFE from 94% customers in phase I. By late 2009, to separate water supply and electricity connec- BPTP had received `2.41 billion in payments. tions subject to building regulations/ rules of Power Utilities.

29.05.2009 Policy for Low Cost/ 85% of the dwelling units approved under such Mass Housing Projects scheme shall be done through the Government of Haryana at a predetermined cost

20.08.2009 Policy for Low Cost/ 1. The aim of this policy was to provide different 10 leading builders were licensed 200 acre Affordable Housing categories of affordable housing priced at `4 lakh, land in Gurgaon to build 40,000 units. Not a Projects `12.5 lakh, `14 lakh and `16 lakh single apartment has been handed over. 2. This scheme was open only for three months

20.08.2009 Amendment in policy Fallout of a meeting of CM Haryana with colonisers 214 licenses for 13,448 acre land – for plotted dated 19.12.2006, on 14 July: colonies—highest single category of land 29.5.2009 for grant of t %FWFMPQFST TFFLJOH MJDFOTF GPS B QMPUUFE DPMPOZ sold in Haryana. Top beneficiaries who have Group Housing allowed maximum 10% area for group housing cornered almost 50% of land for plotted colo- Component as a part of over and above existing 20% limit for group nies are BPTP (1375 acre), Ansal (1209), Udhar plotted colony and housing in a sector Gagan + Sonika+ Vipul (886), InTime (865), increase in density. t 1SPQPTBM WBMJE GPS POMZ POF NPOUI Omaxe (754), Parsavnath (646) and DLF (491 acre).

22.12.2009 Policy on Original Municipal Limits/ Extended MC limits

gfiles inside the government 28 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Date Name of policy Salient initiative Beneficiary / Analysis 29.04.2010 Occupation Certificate t "QQMJDBOU UP QBZ TDSVUJOZ GFF BOE EJGGFSFOUJBM Change of land-use to general category and composition of amount if any, toward increase in the prescribed group housing alone has made different offence where change rates if any from the date of application for grant of builders richer by around `4,000 crore. of land use permission occupation certificate. has expired. t "QQMJDBOU XJMM BMTP CF SFRVJSFE UP QBZ UIF QFOBMUZ for unauthorised occupation of the building as well as EDC at updated rates 17.5.2010 Change of Land Use Those wanting to open educational institutes in con- permission for Fuel sta- trolled areas were required to get Genuineness tion/ Retail Outlet, Certificate from the DC before being considered for Educational institutes in change of land use permission. DC would issue the Controlled Areas. NOC after receiving reports from various Departments. On the plea that this delay in decision making was causing harassment to public and in order to speed up the cases, the Government decided that: t (FOVJOFOFTT $FSUJGJDBUF JT OPU SFRVJSFE JO DBTF PG Retail Outlets in the controlled areas as the DC seeks reports from different departments before issuing the final NOC. t *O DBTF PG FEVDBUJPOBM JOTUJUVUJPOT UIF %. NBZ issue Genuineness Certificate based on his his/her assessment of the promoter and after seeking report from the Education Department or any other competent regulatory agency. 16.06.2010 Educational Facilities in Uniform norms for Educational Institutions in the Urban Areas/ residential colonies being developed by HUDA, Controlled Areas Colonisers and Change of land use cases in controlled areas as well as municipalities. 24.01.2011 Policy regarding release Release of any land on grounds other than stated of land from acquisition under Section 48(1) under exceptionally justifiable circumstances to be recorded in writing Prime Priorities Areas of Hooda government 1 Policies for Easy and On Demand Change of land Use – Main focus of Hooda government 2 Policies on land acquisition 3 Policies relating to group housing/ plotted colonies 4 Policies related to recognised and yet to be recognised educational institutes 5 Policies for IT Parks/Cyber Parks 6 Policy for Cooperative Housing Societies. 7 Policy for Low Cost/ Mass Housing Projects PPI contd. on next page

gfiggffif llelesess insininsn idideidede ththe govoveovveerrnrnmnnmmeenentnntt wwwwwwwww.inindndndianiiaananbuzbuuzzz.cz.z comom vol.vvoooll. 7, iississusssusssuue 1111 |F| Feebbruuaruaarary2y 201144 2929 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate

“blatant misuse of power”, the court two and, while the Haryana govern- quashed the allotment of the property ment changed the excise policy and AT’S off to the Hooda govern- worth millions just three kilometres system of bidding, Chadha decided to ment for mastering the misuse from Sukhna Lake. “This court cannot withdraw. Hof change of land use (CLU) shut its eyes to a patently illegal act The arbitrary and ad-hoc manner and the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. committed by the State in showing in which decisions are taken or altered Here are a few illustrative examples favouritism to a person who had been in Hooda’s tenure can be judged from of what actually happens: a senior functionary in the State, the following two examples: ‡ 3HRSOH VWDUWHG SDQLF VDOH “Justices MM Kumar and Rajesh x Dwarka Expressway: A after a government notification to Bindal observed while directing disputed stretch of 4 km is holding acquire land about three years ago HUDA to refund the amount received up the Northern Peripheral Road, in Ullahwas. Private builders took from Prasher for the plot. also known as Dwarka Expressway, advantage of the situation and connecting Dwarka with National bought land for `3-4 crore per acre. NCIDENTALLY, the order to allot Highway 8—an alternate link After the final notification, once it the land was passed by Hooda. road between Delhi and Gurgaon. became clear that the farmers could ILikewise, it was Hooda who had Though this 18 km long road was not sell their land, the developers allowed Ponty Chadha to monopo- to ease the traffic on the Delhi- reduced the offered price to `2–2.5 lise the liquor trade in Gurgaon and Gurgaon Expressway, at the last crore. Still, the remaining farmers Faridabad for about eight years till minute powerful builders like Navin sold off 100-150 acres. Once the sale 2006. There was a time when Chadha Raheja allegedly managed to get the deeds were executed, the sold lands used to own 130 vends in Gurgaon alignment of the Dwarka Expressway were "released" by the government. and 150 in Faridabad. This is when changed. Now instead of passing over In this process, poor villagers lost something happened between the empty land, over 300 houses in New their ancestral land but the develop- Palam Vihar Colony would have to ers became stinking rich. be demolished to make way for the ‡&DSLWDOLVLQJRQWKHIHDUSV\FKR- Modus operandi: New highways open road. How to safeguard the interests sis after HUDA issued preliminary up land acquisition opportunities for builders (top right); the entry to of the thousands of householders notification under Section 4 of the Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway (below) without sacrificing the commercial Land Acquisition Act—in Ullahwas, Behrampur, Kadarpur, Ghata, Badshapur and Medawas—to acquire 1,417 acres of land for Sectors 58-63, Gurgaon, private builders spread the word that the government would offer low compensation rates. This helped them corner large chunks of land at throwaway prices in June 2009. ‡ 5HIXVLQJ WR EH FDXJKW LQWR WKH trap after HSIDC issued a notifica- tion to acquire 912 acres of land in Manesar, some smart landowners entered into agreement with private developers and applied for change of land use. Within two years of the final notification, the land acquisition pro- cess was scrapped. ‡ $IWHU WKH ODQGDFTXLVL- tion notice, farmers in Jandli, Kamli, Saunda and Sarai Mehdood sold large

gfiles inside the government 30 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com private builders, developers and col- onisers then approach farmers and landowner, offering them slightly more than what they expect from the government. Most farmers give in at this stage. However, if the landowner refuses, the government department issues a declaration under Section 6. The Deputy Commissioner, or any other competent authority, may then take possession of the land imme- diately, which shall thereupon vest absolutely with the government, free from all claims, whatsoever. Usually this makes the most reluc- tant landowners/ farmers to accept the builder’s offer. Once the deal is MODUS OPERANDI: HOW brokered, the new owner—the build- er—approaches the TCP Department FAVOURS ARE GRANTED LEGALLY to award a license for development of land in the stipulated Master Plan chunks of land to Alaska Construction The process begins with a prelimi- area, under Section 9, and withdraw and Vatika Ltd. Soon after, the farmers nary notice under Section 4 of the Act the acquisition notice. entered into a sale deed with Rajnish for acquisition of land needed or likely As per law, the government is at Sharma, MD of Alaska Construction and to be needed for any public purpose liberty to withdraw from acquisi- Venod Sharma’s cousin. The land was and a notification from the district col- tion of land under Section 16 of the then released under Section 5-A of the lector’s office is published in the Official Act at any stage before the physical Land Acquisition Act. Gazette and two daily newspapers. possession of land. So, in a smooth The modus operandi to favour select The biggest flaw in the Act is that— and legal manner, the government builders is very simple and ‘legal’. The even in those cases where the land is withdraws its acquisition notice and only condition is that an official gov- genuinely required in public interest private developer makes his millions ernment agency, like the HUDA or the —there is a considerable difference from the instant price escalation. Haryana Housing Board or HSIDC, is between the market value of the prop- Another related issue is change to be kept in the forefront. Even today, erty and price offered to the landowner of land use. This invariably requires the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, enacted by the land acquisition officers. Once payment of EDC and official con- first in the 18th century Bengal, is one this notification is made, the owner is version charge, besides an “unof- of the unusually harsh and draconian prohibited from selling his property, ficial convenience fee” of anywhere laws with lot of discretionary executive disposing it off or doing anything that between `25-50 lakh per acre, for powers. Cumbersome and costly proce- might affect its value or compensa- smooth, speedy and hassle-free dures make it a dreaded tool of State tion—without the prior permission of change of land use. The change of oppression. It provides the legal basis the collector. In rural India, where agri- land use seemingly has been one of for acquisition of privately held land by cultural land is being passed on from the unwritten key policies of Hooda the government for public purposes. one generation to another and there government, which has allowed “Public purpose” under the Act means are multiple owners and joint families, conversion of 21,000-acre land from educational, health institutions, hous- this puts the fear of God in the mind of agricultural to residential, industrial ing, slum or rural development schemes the landowner. or commercial over the last seven for general public welfare. Exploiting this loophole in the law, odd years.

PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 31 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate

Expressway, or Kundli-Mansear- Development Overdrive? Palwal (KMP) Expressway, is going to connect Kundli, Sonipat, Manesar, ARYANA today is not a State, but The biggest blockbuster, of course, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Palwal. It real estate. Agricultural, forest or is the 1,483 km-long Delhi-Mumbai will cross NH-1 near Kundli, NH-2 at Hdefence, every bit of land in any Industrial Corridor (DMIC)—a mega Palwal, NH-8 at Manesar and NH-10 corner of the State is up for sale. And US$90 billion infrastructure project at Western Bahadurgarh. Many inves- the person responsible for it—Hooda connecting Delhi and Mumbai—being tors are investing in residential and —is behaving not as the Chief Minister built with financial and technical aid commercial projects on both sides of but Chief Marketing and Business from Japan. The highlights of this project the expressway. Since the commence- Development Officer of Haryana. include a Golden Quadrilateral National ment of work on the Expressway, land First let’s understand why Haryana Highway and a Multi-modal High Axle prices in Kundli have increased from is in need for such developmental Load Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) `25 lakh per acre to `1.5 crore per over-drive? The simple answer is that running parallel to each other between acre. Almost 242.55 acre land from 14 Haryana envelops Delhi on three sides Delhi and Mumbai. Starting from villages has been acquired for Dwarka with well defined roads, rail, nation- Dadri, in Delhi NCR, these would pass Expressway, also called Northern al, international airports and other through six States—Uttar Pradesh, Express Road or Northern Peripheral infrastructure. Almost 29 National Delhi, Haryana, , Gujarat and Road, which will cut down travel time Highways, covering over 1,461 km, terminate at Jawaharlal Nehru Port in between Delhi, Gurgaon and Manesar. 2,494 km-long State Highways and Mumbai, Maharashtra. Over 60 per cent This is going to be the lifeline for major South Asia’s oldest major road Grand area of Haryana is directly or indirectly housing projects in Gurgaon-Manesar. Trunk (GT) Road pass through the State. influenced by DMIC. Several top-of-the- Almost 26 new sectors (99 to 115 and Gurgaon is today the fastest growing line industrial estates, clusters, indus- 58 to 67) are being developed along and most talked-about business hub trial hubs and investment regions, like this Expressway. Phase III of Metro with the highest concentration of mul- Sonipat-Kundli and Manesar-Bawal, rail on this route will link IGI Airport tinational corporate offices. It is soon are being developed along this corridor and Dwarka. Further, 12 specialised going to have the `1,000 crore Rapid with the help of grants and loans from hubs—including Education City (5,000 Metro Rail—India’s first wholly private Indian and Japanese governments as (IL&FS 74 per cent equity share and DLF well as investments by Japanese and 26 per cent) railway project. But, while Indian firms. The project area of this Gurgaon has so far overshadowed other ambitious DMIC project extends up areas like Faridabad, Sonepat, Panipat, to 150 km on both sides of the Delhi- and Karnal, this hierarchical imbalance Mumbai Dedicated Freight Corridor is not going to last long. Even many and opens floodgate of opportunities insignificant and relatively unheard of along NH-8, NH-2, NH-1 and NH -10 for places like Kondli, Manesar, Rewari, industrial, urban and supporting infra- Hissar, Palwal, , Bahadurgarh, structure. Already Bawal has evolved Jhajjar and Bawal are queuing up to as a mega industrial hub with a large break the economic glass ceiling. The numbers of multinational companies effect of all this is a feverish pitch to lining up to set up their manufacturing acquire land and identify new areas for bases. Besides these, two investment infrastructure development to meet the regions at Manesar-Bawal-Nimarana needs of the growing population for and Kundli-Sonepat, as well as two luxury, economy and low-cost housing, mega industrial areas are coming up at commercial and entertainment centres, Faridabad-Palwal and Rewari-Hissar to public utilities, parks, and other urban capitalise on the locational advantages. civic facilities. A 135.6 km-long Western Peripheral

gfiles inside the government 32 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com acres), Sample Township (8,401 acres), Delhi. Many universities and colleges sub-region so that people from nearby Cyber City (470 acres), Bio-sciences are coming up in Khanpur, Murthal, areas do not have to migrate or travel to City (1,370 acres), Jahangirpuri-Badli Karnal, Mewar and Faridabad. A Delhi and the influx of Delhi’s floating Township (14,226 acres), Fashion City women’s university and Rajiv Gandhi population is arrested. (544 acres), Entertainment City (346 University—on the pattern of Oxford But, Hooda has ended up causing acres), World Trade City (650 acres), University in Sonipat—a central univer- more harm than good to Haryana. In Dry Port City (1,770 acres), Leather sity in Mahendragarh, Lala Lajpat Rai the speed to ‘market’ Haryana and City (691 acres) and Leisure City (1,853 University of Animal Sciences in Hissar develop it, he has ended up widening acres)—would be developed along and the first defense university in the gap between the rich and the poor the KMP Expressway. The Southern Gurgaon should transform Haryana into and ignored the real needs of people. Peripheral Road and the Northern an international commercial and edu- Haryana needs development, but not at Peripheral Road (Dwarka Expressway) cational hub in the next 5-7 years. Half the cost of its citizens. will form a ring around Gurgaon, allow- of Haryana’s over 20,412 sq kmform How many farmers in Haryana, or ing long-distance inter-city and inter- part of NCR India's largest and world's their children, are going to benefit from State vehicular traffic to bypass the second-largest agglomeration with a the integrated investment regions, Gurgaon Expressway (NH8). population of 22,157,000. Haryana also mega industrial areas, malls, multi- That’s not all, also on the anvil are takes pride in the fact that large part of plexes, IT cities, educational, entertain- a Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway with the its area is covered under the NCR, for ment, world trade and fashion hubs largest 32-lane toll plaza in Asia on which NCRPB is providing soft loans up being set up on the land of their fore- NH8, a 8-lane flyover on Badarpur- to 75 per cent of the project cost. fathers? Some of them have suddenly Faridabad stretch of Mathura Road Prima facie it may seem that Hooda found tonnes of money in their pock- and a 4-lane highway in Nagar stole a march over Sheila Dikshit who ets, but without the means to spend and Panchkula—connecting Haryana used to say that people from neighbor- it wisely. In most cases, the price of to Chandigarh (without entering ing States could come, work and use all this will have to be paid in terms of Punjab). Haryana already has Metro Delhi’s infrastructure. Hooda’s logic depression, suicides, family disputes, Rail connecting Gurgaon, Faridabad makes better sense from the point of drunken brawls, oppression of widows, and Bahadurgarh to different parts of view of NCR—to develop Haryana as a exploitation of weaker sections and social tensions over distribution of the compensation amount. Likewise, how Builders line the main roads of Gurgaon to many of the literate farming youngsters sell their projects would suddenly land up with smart, sophisticated white collar jobs in IT, multinational and mega-million dollar corporate giants? A bulk of the vacan- cies in such companies will be filled by highly technical foreigners, NRIs and highly qualified public school-educated Indians and the poor citizens of Haryan might be deemed fit only to serve as low-paid security guards, peons, driv- ers or conductors in DTC and buses, or low-level consta- bles in Delhi and . Is this is what’s called development, progress and prosperity? Who wins if Haryana and Haryanvis lose?

PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 33 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate interest of the builders/developers, is proving to be a tricky legal issue. That is besides the interests of people of Sai Kunj, New Palam Vihar Phase- III in Gurgaon, whose land too was proposed to be acquired by Haryana government. x Northern Express Road: About 618.5 acres were acquired from Pawala Khasroorpur, Chauma and Kherki Dhaula villages for construc- tion of a 150-metre wide and 25 kil- ometre-long Northern Express Road. This was expected to cost `120 crore and reduce the travel time between Delhi and Gurgaon, but nothing has been done because of protracted litigations. Fifteen kilometres of this road passes through suburban Gurgaon and 10 km through Delhi. As things stand today, while HUDA has acquired the land, it cannot take

How Uddar Gagan Properties got absolute monopoly in Rohtak Licenses Area Land Licenses in Hooda Regime since 2005 16 Rohtak 958 acre Jop International Ltd. RGH 6.09 Omaxe Construction Plotted 77.48 Omaxe Construction Plotted 41.91 One Point Realty Plotted 59.66 One Point Realty Addl. Plotted 13.44 Parsavnath Developers Plotted 118.19 Ramesh Chander Plotted 4.4 Sharad farms and holdings GH 14.81 Sonika Properties Plotted 175.64 Sonika Properties Plotted 173.03 Sonika Properties Plotted 19.97 636.75 Uddar Gagan Properties Pvt. Ltd. Plotted 92.73 66.5 % Acre Uddar Gagan Properties Pvt. Ltd. Plotted 15.8 Uddar Gagan Properties Pvt. Ltd. Addl. Plotted 32.45 Uddar Gagan Properties & Others Plotted 60.43 Uddar Gagan Properties & Others Plotted 51.89 Total 957.92

gfiles inside the government 34 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com CRY IN THE WILDERNESS FEEBLE VOICES NE can’t but feel sorry for Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is wearing a crown of thorns. OAt any given day, he has more enemies within the Congress than outside. What is worse, most of his one-time friends, supporters and cabinet colleagues are among his sworn enemies. The list of such friends-turned-foes includes four- time MLA and heavyweight former State cabinet minister Kiran Chaudhary and her daughterShruti Choudhry, the Lok Sabha MP from Bhiwani- Mahendragarh. Kiran Chaudhary’s husband, late Surender Singh, was two-time MP and Haryana Agriculture Minister, and her father-in-law, Bansi Lal, was the Chief Minister of Haryana. Likewise, former PWD Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, former Finance Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, his son Chiranjeev Rao, who heads the Haryana Youth Such photographs are used for newspaper Congress, Gurgaon advertisements to show ongoing MP Rao Inderjit Singh, construction to woo consumers former Union Minister Kumari Selja, AICC general secretary Capt Ajay Singh Yadav possession because of a restraint Birender Singh and order by the Punjab and Haryana Rajya Sabha MP Ishwar Singh are all friends- High Court till the final order. In the turned-foes. Many senior Congress leaders, like first place, there was no need for the Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, Kumari Selja, Rao Inderjit road to pass through residential areas. Kumari Selja Singh and Birender Singh, have gone to the Secondly, the original path was alleg- extent of accusing Hooda of a development bias edly altered in the Master Plan after and favouritism towards members of a particular it was discovered that it might other- caste in government jobs. The Chairman of wise run through a commercial plot. Haryana Staff Selection Commission and a close relative of Chief Minister Hooda allegedly Most builder friendly CM played a key role in most of these appointments. Hooda should go down in history Significantly two arch rivals—Capt Yadav and as the most builder friendly Chief Rao Inderjeet Singh—shed their differences and Minister. His is one of the most cor- joined hands to support the demand of 51Ahirwal- rupt, pro-builder and anti-farmer dominated villages of whose 455 Chief Minister Haryana has seen in acres of land was sought to be acquired by HUDA the last couple of decades. Political to develop two residential sectors. pundits allege that big builders, cor- Birender Singh porate houses and industrialists run the government; he is just a proxy— PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 35 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate Questions for Hooda Has Haryana government ever How many builders and colonisers Why did you change the exist- 1investigated the antecedents and 7have been fined by the government 14ing policy on April 24, 2007, to credentials of the companies before on the issue of non-compliance? redefine the term “reputed coloniser”? they were allowed to acquire land in Was it done with the ulterior motive to Haryana and engage in colonisation, Has the Haryana government pave the way for backdoor entry of cer- buildings and consolidations of land? 8investigated why builders, colonis- tain developers of your choice? ers and land consolidators are charg- Has any one, including the income- ing extra amount on flimsy grounds Why did you give one-time 2tax department, ever enquired the from customers due to the delays in 15relaxation to private schools source of funds flowing into these the project, whereas the customer is run by your coterie through Town and companies, as also the fact whether not responsible for any delay. Country Planning Department on their net worth matches that of the March 27, 2008, despite their applica- value of land they own, or have Has the Haryana government tions being pending with education acquired? 9developed any mechanism to department for want of recognition? address and rescue the customers Was it done to accommodate your son- Has the Haryana government from the clutches of builder’s mafia for in-law, who is in the business of edu- 3checked the antecedents of the non-compliance of the terms and con- cation and has ambitious plans in this Chairman/ Managing Director/ tracts of the buyer-seller agreement sector? Directors of the companies engaged in and delay of the project? land acquisition and colonisation? Is it true that your policy dated How many cases have been 16September 15, 2008, regarding Has the Haryana government, or 10filed against various builders in grant of licences to only those cooper- 4any relevant agency, investigated various courts, including the Punjab ative housing societies who enter into the changing shareholding pattern of and Haryana High Court, and what are collaboration with reputed builders the companies that have acquired the issues these cases raise? with certain financial qualification, was huge land in Haryana? It is suspected allegedly created to benefit the build- that by changing the shareholding How almost 1,684 sq km forest ers of your choice? pattern—by selling a big stake—these 11area in the State has become companies transfer the land in the barren? Why did you give an extended guise of transferring the share, due to 17time limit to builders to con- which the government has suffered What was the rationale behind struct the project up to 15 years, huge revenue losses. 12holding all departments related bypassing the earlier limit of two years to land and urban development with from date of possession. It is alleged Has any concrete action been taken yourself? Was there no competent MLA that the order was issued to favour the 5by the Land Revenue Department in entire Haryana Assembly or was it to group of builders of your choice? to assess and recover the said losses? control land deals? Is it true that your government Has the Haryana government It is alleged that as the Chief 18has not yet utilised the amount 6asked for compliance reports from 13Minister, you are responsible of approximately `10,000 crore collect- builders, colonisers and land for conversion of vast stretches ed towards External Development consolidators regarding the (approximately 3,500 sq km) of fertile Charges (EDC) from the end consumers completion of the projects, as claimed and cultivable land into jungles of con- through the builders in the last five by them in the newspapers? crete. Your comment. years for creation of basic amenities?

gfiles inside the government 36 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Why did you gift HUDA resi- Is it true that you favoured Builders control 66.5 per cent of the 19dential plots to present and 25prominent builders—like DLF, total land licences allotted in your former Haryana MPs and MLAs at Unitech, BPTP, Ansals, Vatika Ltd, regime. The same story is there in Mansa Devi Complex, Panchkula, at Suncity Projects, Emaar MGF, Bestech every district of Haryana. throwaway prices of `28 lakh each Ltd, Raheja Developers, TDI and when the worth of the those plots was Omaxe—in May 2009 by one-time Why no action is being taken at least `1.5 crore each in the open relaxation under the garb of reserving 32against the shell companies market? 10 per cent area for low-cost housing and subsidiaries of various builders, in their group housing colonies, which which are out to bypass the land Is it true that the beneficiaries allegedly no builder complied with? holding laws in the State and also 20in the above largesse included avoid registry charges on transfer of your son Deepender Singh Hooda, Why no action has been taken ownership of immovable property? besides Kumari Selja, Venod Sharma, 26against the said defaulting Kiran Chaudhary, Navin Jindal, builders? It is alleged that you and the Raghuveer Kadian, Randeep 33State machinery have helped Surjewala, Phool Chand Mulana, Why did you bring in the policy BPTP suddenly become the biggest Captain Ajay Singh Yadav, Chander 27of removal of height restric- and richest company in the State, Mohan, Hansraj Bhardwaj and tions for group housing and commer- with their business taking a quantum Shamsher Singh Surjewala and select cial projects? This order allegedly jump after you became CM. Your officers of your choice? doled out benefits/favours to 391 comment. group housing societies and 57 com- Why was the direction of mercial projects. Why did you reduce the 21Dwarka Expressway changed? 34compounding and conversion Was it done to safeguard the What was the rationale behind fees for commercial properties? It is commercial interest of some of your 28increasing the per hectare alleged that the decision was meant favoured builders/developers at the population density in Haryana? to benefit the select violators of cost of hundreds of residents of Palam building by-laws, who have also Vihar area in Haryana? You have allegedly created cheated the State exchequer. 29three Master Plans which will Why did you change the origi- create concrete jungles without provid- It is alleged that the 22nal path of Northern Express ing the provisions of water, electricity, 35proposed changes in the Road? It is alleged that it was sanc- sewerage, etc. Your comment? Master Plan were leaked to favoured tioned to please some of your favourite builders like Ramprastha, BPTP, etc., builders and developers? As per the norms, one plan is who took advantage of such 30implemented in full and only information and purchased huge Why did you shift the powers then another plan is envisaged. You stretches of land in the very sectors, 23of the DTCP to grant or refuse have stated that you will implement hence benefitting to the tune of the licences to the office of the minis- the Master Plan of 2031. Who has thousands of crores. ter in-charge, which happens to be the given you this mandate as your Chief Minister, i.e yourself? Don’t you mandate is only till 2014? Are you so It is alleged that the Haryana agree that this was done to directly sure of retaining power for another two 36government is run by de benefit builders like BPTP? decades? facto chief ministers like Venod Sharma, Kunal Bhadoo, Arvind Walia, Why did the State define Why have you created a virtual Anil Sharma, Sameer Gehlaut, KP 24‘Reputed Builder’ to those 31monopoly of builders in differ- Singh and Kabul Chawla. What made allotted the first and the single licence ent parts of the State? Like in Rohtak, you allow these extra constitutional under HUDA 1975 Act? where different subsidiaries of Sonica authorities to act on your behalf?

PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 37 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate a rubber stamp. An example of how prominent builders manage to bend Builders’ mantra: Build dream policy matters is seen in the meet- houses, sewer pipes and civic amenities can wait! ing chaired by Hooda with repre- sentatives of DLF, Unitech, BPTP, Ansals, Vatika Ltd, Suncity Projects, given licenses for 200 acres of land Emaar MGF, Bestech Ltd, Raheja in Gurgaon. But till date, not a single Developers, TDI and Omaxe in May apartment is nearing completion. An 2009. Assembly elections were round irrefutable fact is that no one wants to the corner and the government want- build low-cost housing projects for the ed the developers to announce popu- poor. The builders keep exploiting the list low-cost housing schemes. sentiments behind it to get favours for themselves, but do not actually take O, at the behest of Vatika Ltd, such projects seriously. Hooda announced a “one-time Another example of behind-the- Srelaxation” for all those build- scene administrative support is how ers who applied for Group Housing HUDA first earmarked one million sq. Colony as part of their plotted colony ft land for open auction in Gurgaon’s by the next day and were prepared to Sector 29, but kept unnecessarily reserve 10 per cent area for low-cost delaying the auction to give the build- housing. In fine print it meant that ers a chance to sell their properties at a builder who agreed to do so would high rates. get to build four additional large flats A cruel joke, however, is how the per acre. In one instance, the govern- new Gurgaon Master Plan tries to ment even announced 40,000 afford- pack all economically weaker and able homes for `12.5-`16 lakh each. low-income groups—expected to be About 10 top-notch builders were around 42 lakh plus in 2031—on just

that Tayal was brought in because Hooda’s coterie he had the experience of Town and aryana Chief Minister the Haryana cadre, as his first Principal Country Planning. Sources disclosed Bhupinder Singh Hooda has Secretary in March 2005. Tayal, who that Chhattar Singh, a 1980 batch IAS Hbeen ruling the State with the hails from Hissar, was his college officer, who was already working as help of his trusted officers for the friend and both had good rapport. A Additional Principal Secretary was last nine years. Hooda appointed keen golfer, Tayal was known as a brought in as Principal Secretary at ML Tayal, a 1976 batch IAS officer of frank and blunt officer. It is reported the recommendation of Tayal when the

ML Tayal Krishan Khandelwal Chhattar Singh SS Dhillon

gfiles inside the government 38 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com latter’s term was over. the Chief Minister, he looks after Hooda has looked after the interests media and public relations. of both the officers, given the long Due to his innovative ideas and association and being privy to Hooda’s media management, Hooda won a 50 hectares of land in Sector 68. This secrets, by respectably rehabilitating good number of seats in the last means confining them into unhy- them. Tayal is the member of assembly elections. Ironically, gienic and insanitary ghettoes having Competition Commission of India and Dhillon and Khandelwal are at population density of more than 1,125 Chhattar Singh is a Member of the loggerheads but both are loyal to people per hectare. Union Public Service Commission. the Chief Minister. In his two stints over the last seven Sudeep Singh Dhillon, a senior IAS It is reported that apart from years, Hooda has broken all records officer of 1984, was appointed as the these two important functionaries of the past 23 years and granted over new Principal Secretary on August 30, of the Haryana Government, TC 1,000 licenses to builders to develop 2013. Dhillion, an upright officer, has Gupta, Director General and Special all kinds of plots, group housing soci- varied experience of administration. Secretary, Town and Country eties, commercial plots, IT Parks, IT He has also worked as Vice-Chairman Planning and Urban Estates Cities and low-cost housing projects. of HUDA. Departments, 1987-batch IAS officer While 12 of his predecessors managed The second most important officer is of Haryana cadre is eyes and ears to grant licenses for just 8,550.32 acres, a 1985 batch officer, Dr Krishan Kumar of Hooda regarding land-related Hooda has granted licenses for 21,447 Khandelwal. As Principal Secretary to matters. acres. A majority of these licenses PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 39 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate Dwarka Expressway: Neither express nor way—just a speculators’ den

HE Dwarka Expressway is a builder’s para- dise and customer’s nightmare. Bhupinder TSingh Hooda must have been a dreamer in his life and must have been a good sketchmas- ter, believing in creating castles, towns, casinos on paper. The moment he got an opportunity to turn his visions into reality, he used the Haryana Development Authority’s map and drew a straight line bordering Gurgaon, which is now called the Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway. It is a dreamland and goldmine for builders. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the growth rate of India is 3.2 per cent. The inference of this is that there is no major industrial activity happening in India. So, one needs a place where the resources can be placed for profit. Hooda has facilitated all the speculators and provided them with their playground—the Dwarka- Gurgaon Expressway. As per real estate experts, the expressway is a gold mine worth `2 lakh crore. It is definitely not just a connecting road from Dwarka to Gurgaon—but much more. There is not a single small or big builder who is not present there. Their colourful hoardings indicate the boundary walls of their money spinning mill, acres of what was once flourishing farmland.

gfiles inside the government 40 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com gfiles team travelled to the expressway to ascer- tain first hand what is happening on the ground. It takes almost an hour to locate the expressway as nobody except the builders knows the exact loca- tion. One starts off from Palam Vihar’s 10-feet street, or the chaotic Old Bus Stand of Gurgaon, approach- ing a 20-feet road further and then going zig-zag through the village. Then you see a bizarre scene, the actual sketch drawn by Hooda on the ground – his dreamland. Nobody knows where the express- way connects or what it connects. The moment you reach the expressway and travel from one end to another, it is not a smooth journey at all. The obsta- cles are many – varying from open nalas, blockades, a temple and even houses. Or, suddenly the road just disappears. One has to go through a twisting kachha track to reconnect with the road. The only roads which seem to be of some calibre are the ones leading to builder plots. The builders have started basic construction, just to advertise in newspapers that actual site construc- tion is going on. This is to collect huge amounts of money from unsuspecting and honest customers, who are sitting miles away visualising designer houses at sites which are just fields and mud. The gfiles team visited one of the builders to see his model villa. It was truly a dream house. The price tag: `4.5 crore, but without water, electricity, road, hospital, schools, etc. The builders are there in full strength. When the expressway will see the light of day, nobody knows. But the villages and their acquired lands are already reduced to slums, turning the lives of the people there upside down.

PPI contd. on next page gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 41 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate and bulk of the land in the last seven- and-a-half years of Hooda rule have been cornered by a clique of just 33 builders. These include Countrywide Promoters, Ansal Properties & Infrastructure, DLF, New Gurgaon Home Developers, Intime Promoters (TDI), Omaxe Housing & Developers, Unitech, Vatika Land Base, Parsavnath Developers, Emaar MGF Land, IREO KSS Properties, Sonika, Chintals India, AN Buildwell, Bestech India, Uddar Gagan, Reliance Haryana SEZ, Rangoli Projects, India Bulls Estates, Vipul Infrastructure Developers, Dwarkadhis Buildwell, Raheja Developers, Ramprastha Buildwell, Pioneer Urban Land & Infrastructure, Herman Fin Properties, Grandeur Real Estate, Uppal Housing, Jai Krishna Artec JV, Mapsco Buildwell, Parveen Gupta, Vipin Gupta, ERA Infrastructure, Martial Buildcon, Desert Moon Realtors Pvt Ltd and Orris Infrastructure. Each of them can be said to be a direct beneficiary of Hooda’s benevolence in the sense

that they have not only have managed to get large banks of 100 acres, but in a cool, calculated manner have been given virtual monopoly in different parts of the State.

OODA is the uncrowned king of Rohtak, which is often Hreferred to as Haryana’s political capital. In Jat dominat- ed Rohtak, Hooda’s home district and political constituency, a clique of Sharad Farms and Holdings, Sonika Properties and Uddar Gagan Properties—all three subsidiaries of the consortium formed by Zee TV’s Essel Group, Action Group and Odeon Builders—has acquired almost 636.75 acres of land. This gives them a virtual monopoly in the market with 66.5 per cent land licenses in the

gfiles inside the government 42 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com A housing complex amidst a green belt flouts all ecological norms (left); rising dust adds to the pollution (bottom left)

Many of the builders use shell com- panies and subsidiaries for obtaining the land—circumventing the land ceiling act, done away with recently. A common practice among develop- ers is to have a matrix of companies to conceal the actual purchase. At a later date, the subsidiary, or the shell com- pany, is bought or sold with the land to avoid registry charges, even though this violates the law on transfer of ownership of immovable property.

Planned urban disaster HE fact that three unwanted, undesirable and untimely TMaster Plans 2021, 2025 and 2031 were introduced within 7 years is symbolic of a methodical and bru- tal exploitation of residential, com- mercial and industrial land under Hooda’s leadership. The hidden district since the day Hooda became Many of the builders use agenda behind these frequent chang- CM in 2005. Similarly, in Panipat, shell companies and es in Master Plans was allegedly to Ansal Properties & Infrastructure favour few individuals and builders. has bagged 346 acre land and 25 subsidiaries for obtaining Only Hooda can say what he gained; per cent of all licenses. The same the land—circumventing the only thing that appreciated in the story is repeated in Sonipat where the land ceiling act, done process was real estate prices, that Intime Promoters has managed to get away with recently. too in a few pockets of the State. In 887 acres of land and overall 29 per the overall context, Haryana and its cent of all licenses. Ansal Properties citizens will continue to pay the price & Infrastructure holds 75.6 per respectively. Countrywide Promoters in the years to come. cent, i.e., 167.34 out of 221.24 acres is the undisputed king of Faridabad One of the first things that Hooda licensed in Yamuna Nagar-Jagadhari with 1,282 acre of the 2,402 acre did after coming to power was to and 125 acre, that is 33 per cent land sold—53.4 per cent of all the change the industrial policy of the land licensed in Kurukshetra. Omaxe licenses. Gurgaon is a different ball State and make it favourable for Construction commands Palwal game. Though Ansal Properties, real estate development. Within market with 35.6 per cent land, Anant Raj Industries, Countrywide 15 months of taking over, Hooda while Baderwals Infraprojects, VPN Promoters, Commander Realtors, released the first draft of Master Real Estate and Choice Real Estate Chintals India and Bestech India have Plan 2021 on July 11, 2006. Intime Developers have complete monop- all managed to have their own pock- Promoters, Countrywide, Omax, oly with 100 per cent land licenses ets of influence in the new areas, DLF Vipul Infrastructure, Bestech India, in Mahendergarh, and Bawal, Ltd has the overall edge in Gurgaon. PPI contd. on next page

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Parsavnath Developers, Unitech and HE Gurgaon Master Plan by- M3M were the direct beneficiaries. passes the NCR Planning Board’s Builder hoardings abound every open They allegedly went on a buying spree priorities and is being described tract in Gurgaon (right); one of T the many unfinished construction at the right time and gained heavily as “environment-unfriendly” and sites (below) from the price escalation after Master damaging for the green areas and nat- Plan 2021. Within next six months, ural water bodies in the already eco- Hooda notified the final Master Plan logically fragile area. Many of the new tares (MP 2031). The ulterior motive on February 5, 2007. This plan saw areas in the Master Plan are sought to behind the new Master Plan seems many land use changes from SEZ/ be carved out of natural water stor- to be to allegedly benefit some close public and semi-public/industrial use age and drainage systems, including friends of Hooda. The entire process to residential use in Sectors 37C, 37D, nullahs and bunds. For Gurgaon, is kept so secret that only a handful 95, and 107 of Gurgaon. Significantly, which already has acute shortage and of people with inside information get Ramprastha Builders made a for- absence of any natural source of water the advantage. tune buying land in these sectors. for the growing urban population, 2. Fault lines: The Master Plan The company purchased lands in this has serious consequences in the seems to overestimate the rate of the name of its subsidiary firms long run. The main drawbacks in the population growth to somehow justify Ramprastha Estates, Ramprastha Master Plans are: rapid urban expansion and addition Greens, Ramprastha Towers and 1. Hidden agenda seems to of 58 new sectors to the existing Ramprastha Buildwell in Sectors 37D, be expansion of real estate: 57 sectors. 92, 95. According to informed sourc- Interestingly, the only thing that 3.Just plans, no action: It makes es, Hooda is allegedly one of the silent changes with every revision of the no sense to release three Master Plans partners in Ramprastha Builders. Master Plan (MP) is land available for within 7 years and with so many The State government converted residential, commercial and indus- changes between the Draft and the 500 acres of agricultural land in trial development. For instance, resi- final Master Plan. It defies logic to Sectors 63A and 67A of Gurgaon to dential land increases from 14,930 talk about Master Plan 2031 when the residential land use in the draft Master hectares (MP 2021) to 15,148 hectares planning goals and objectives of even Plan 2025, released on October 4, (MP 2025) and, then, 16,010 hectares 2021 and 2025 have not been met. 2010, and notified on May 24, 2011. A (MP 2031). Similarly, commercial 4. Arbitrary and unfair year later, 2,200 acres of SEZ land was land increases from 1,404 hectares x You scratch my back, I will scratch converted into residential/commer- (MP 2021) to 1,429 hectares (MP yours–this is the mantra for the strong cial use, and parts of Sector 115 (81.57 2025) and 1,616 hectares (MP 2031), politician-bureaucrat-builder nexus in acres)—earlier earmarked for public while industrial land decreases from Haryana. Politicians and bureaucrats and semi-public use—was converted 5,441 hectares (MP 2021) to 5,431 invest their surplus and ill-gotten to commercial use on November 15, hectares (MP 2025) and 4,613 hec- wealth in the construction industry. 2012 in the draft Master Plan 2031, released and notified on September 4, 2012. The only explanation for such unprecedented and frequent revision is lobbying by the coterie of build- ers, developers, brokers and politi- cians to drastically increase the value of their cheaply acquired lands and make a fast buck. The real impact of the Gurgaon-Manesar Master Plans is that even the price of land in relatively nondescript areas like Wazirpur and Hayatpur, acquired for `25 lakh about a decade ago, has skyrocketed to over `6-7 crore an acre.

gfiles inside the government 44 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com The builders, in turn, reciprocate by another disguised attempt to keep the Vatika Builders Ltd—having business providing funds and logistical support builders happy. dealings with Venod Sharma—bought during the elections. x Definitions, as well as rules and 700 acres in R-Zone and turned xAn industrial zone, mentioned in regulations for ‘entertainment’, ‘world billionaires overnight. Similarly, the Gurgaon-Manesar Master Plans trade’ and ‘fashion hubs’ mentioned in Ramprastha Group is developing 2021 and 2025, is suddenly convert- the Master Plan are not clear. Ramprastha City—a group-housing ed into agriculture zone in Master project for Army Welfare Housing Plan 2031. That apart, its land owners HE list of builders who Organisation (AWHO) in Sector 95, are arbitrarily denied permission to benefitted from the frequent Gurgaon. get the land use changed. Tchanges in land use also include All said and done, the worst xIf the idea behind revision of 2025 Ashok Solomon-owned Chintel examples of mis-governance in the Plan was to reallocate the land associ- Group—having 396 acres of prime Hooda’s tenure was how hundreds ated with the failed SEZ, what was the land in Sectors 104, 106, 108, 109 of acres of fertile land was forcibly justification of acquisition of land in and 114 in Gurgaon—Vatika Group, acquired from farmers with the help Wazirpur, Hayatpur, Mohammadpur, M3M, DLF, Bestech, Pareena Group of police, to develop SEZs in the State. Gharouli Khurd, Gharouli Kalan and and Indiabulls Real Estate Limited. The result was hundred of litigations, Harsaru for creation of new residential Indiabulls Managing Director which are pending in the Punjab and and commercial facilities in Sectors Narendra Gehlaut, an electrical Haryana High Court. Despite this, 36B, 37B, parts of 37D, 68, 88A, 88B, engineer from Delhi College of Sabeer Bhatia, the founder of Hotmail, 89A, 89B, 95A, 95B and 99A. Engineering and law graduate from decided to withdraw from the Nano x Though Sector 16 was reserved University of Delhi, is the brother-in- city project after one year of starting it for public and semi-public use, it was law of Deepinder Hooda. Deepinder’s in Panchkula. Likewise, RIL’s 1,383,68 changed to Special Zone where group wife, Shweta Mirdha, is sister of acres of aborted SEZ project at housing, commercial and entertain- Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha, who is Gurgaon and 2,000 acres of Industrial ment projects are allowed. married to Narendra Gehlaut—son of Model Township (IMT) in Ambala x Increase in population density Krishna Gehlaut, a former Haryana were some of the most embarrassing from 250 to 625 people per hectare Congress minister. moments for the Hooda government. of Sectors (part 42), 43, 53, and 54 is Anil and Gautam Bhalla of PPI contd. on next page

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How Countrywide Promoters (BPTP) created a virtual monopoly in Faridabad & Gurgaon Licenses Area Land Licenses in Hooda Regime since 2005 102 Faridabad 2402 acre Achivers GH 30.27 Ajay Enterpriese Pvt Ltd RGH 52.83 Ansal Infrastructure COMM (RZ) 1.73 Bhagat Steel & Forging IT Park 5.87 BVM Projects GH 10.38 Cadillac Buildwell GH 41.53 Cadillac Buildwell GH 8.8 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 221.93 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 123.09 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 108.67 Countrywide Promoters GH 17.97 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 88.54 Countrywide Promoters GH 55.98 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 19.42 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 51.1 Countrywide Promoters GH 10.63 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 279.57 Countrywide Promoters COMM (RZ) 3.81 Countrywide Promoters GH 2.5 Countrywide Promoters GH 13.19 53.4 % 1281.62 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 11.17 Land licenses in Acre Countrywide Promoters Plotted 7.24 Faridabad Countrywide Promoters GH 16.02 Countrywide Promoters GH 10 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 56.15 Countrywide Promoters GH 2.89 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 17.67 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 27.17 Countrywide Promoters GH 14 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 35.28 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 11.11 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 7.7 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 35.88 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 32.94 Crown Buildtech COMM (RZ) 1.14 34.48 Crown Infra Build GH 18.05 Crown Technobuild GH 6.98 Crown Technobuild IT Park 8.31 DD Township GH 6.83 123.2 DD Township GH 13.48 DD Township Plotted 102.89 Deva Buildtech GH 10.5 Dove Infrastructure IT Park 8.5 Ferrous Infrastructure Plotted 102.98 GE Maxi Infrastructure COMM (RZ) 3.94 GH: Group Housing; RGH: Residential Group Housing; COMM (RZ): Commercial (Residential Zone)

gfiles inside the government 46 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Glowstar Marketing GH 1.5 Gopal Global GH 1.87 GPM Developers GH 4.03 GTV International GH 5.25 Hind Enterprises IT Park 8.97 Iris Plaza GH 5.96 Iris Plaza GH 5.36 Jai Shakti Builders GH 10.1 Larsen & turbo IT Park 9.26 Mahindra Gesco Developers GH 4.94 MB Malls COMM (RZ) 3.69 Monnet Sugar COMM (RZ) 1.37 Nehru Palace Hotels COMM (RZ) 2.609 New Age Town Planners Plotted 50.09 Omaxe Construction GH 32.87 53.37 Omaxe Construction GH 16.25 Omaxe Construction GH 4.25 Pioneer Town Planner Plot (IND) 50.13 Piyush Buildwell GH 17.41 Piyush Coloniser COMM (RZ) 1.35 Piyush Coloniser COMM (RZ) 1.58 Printpak Machinery GH 2.08 Robust Buildwell COMM (CZ) 2.0875 Robust Buildwell (OMAXE) COMM (RZ) 8.571 RPS Infrastructure GH 49.02 RPS Infrastructure IT Park 7.59 RPS Infrastructure Plotted 19.98 RPS International GH 10.15 Shiv Sai Infrastructure GH 10.4 Shiv Sai Infrastructure GH 13.01 Shreeji Buildwell COMM (RZ) 2.143 Smart Housing GH 13.29 SN Realtors GH 11.01 Snow Temp Engg Co IT Park 13.01 SPR Buildtech GH 10.26 Sri Sat Sahib Housing & GH 2.74 Infrastructure Sri Sat Sahib Housing and GH 11.39 Infrastructure SRS Real Estate GH 15.06 SRS Real Estate GH 19.72 SRS Real Estate GH 19.02 SRS Real Estate GH 3.33 SRS Real Estate GH 2.28 Standard Frams GH 2.37 Swatantra Land & Finance GH 3.12 Swatantra Land & Finance GH 10.93 Swatantra Land & Finance GH 1.09 PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 47 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate

Tarang Entertainment Pvt Ltd COMM (RZ) 2.08 Triveni Infrastructure GH 39.68 Development TriveniFerrous Infrastructure GH 48.04 TriveniFerrous Infrastructure GH 11.71 Tulip Housing GH 1.23 Universal Buildwell GH 10.93 Usha Spinning & Weaving Mills GH 4.79 Vashistha Builders & Engineers Plot (IND) 52.92 Pvt Ltd Vipul COMM (RZ) 3.46 Zion Promoters and Developers GH 4.24 ZNR Builders GH 4.02 Total 2402 Acre Licenses Area Land Licenses in Hooda Regime since 2005 594 Gurgaon 8066.53 acre HS Realty GH 4.078 Magic Info Solutions GH 22.12 Shamrock Infrastructure COMM (RZ) 3.231 Shiva Profins Private Limited GH 11.09 1000 Trees Housing Pvt Ltd RGH 13.08 A & D Estate COMM (CZ) 5.75 A & D Estate COMM (CZ) 12.66 A & D Estate COMM (CZ) 1 A & D Estate COMM (CZ) 2.04 46.18 Acre A & D Estate GH 11.42 A & D Estate COMM (CZ) 1.86 A & D Estate GH 11.45 Aakansha Infrastructure COMM (RZ) 2.47 Aakarshan Estate Pvt Ltd COMM (RZ) 2.5 Aakarshan Estates GH 15.72 Aakarshan Estates GH 3.518 ABC GH 15.6 ABW Infrastructure GH 13.89 ABW Infrastructure GH 19.64 ABW Infrastructure COMM (RZ) 3 60.07 Acre ABW Infrastructure IT Park 12.45 ABW Infrastructure GH 11.09 Active Promoters COMM (RZ) 3.65 Active Promoters IT Park 13.01 Active Promoters COMM (CZ) 5.46 Active Promoters COMM (CZ) 2.65 Aditya Buildwell Plotted 104.91 Adson Software Pvt Ltd RGH 2.66 Afresh Builders COMM (RZ) 2.94 Aggarwal Developers GH 13.01 Airmid Developers Ltd COMM 5.45 Airmid Developers Ltd GH 24.1

gfiles inside the government 48 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Airmid Developers Ltd COMM (RZ) 1.08 Ajay Aggarwal Enterprises COMM (RZ) 2 Ajay Aggarwal Enterprises COMM (RZ) 2 AJS Builders GH 11.01 Alden Developers GH 11.93 ALM Infotech City GH 13.01 ALM Infotech City COMM (RZ) 3.31 Ambience Projects and GH 14.819 Infrastructure AMD Estates & Developers (P) COMM (RZ) 2.97 AN Buildwell GH 11.5 Anant Raj Industries Plotted 100.262 Anant Raj Industries Ltd COMM (RZ) 2.95 Anant Raj Industries Ltd COMM (RZ) 2.03 Ananya Land Holdings IT Park 13.55 Anjuman & Estates COMM (RZ) 3.72 Ansal Buildwell COMM (RZ) 2.24 Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Plotted 4.38 Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Plotted 1 Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Plotted 111.59 Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Plotted 1.55 178.63 Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Plotted 25.75 Acre Ansal Properties & Infrastructure COMM (CZ) 4.24 Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Plot (IND) 13.01 Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Plot (IND) 12.71 Ansal Properties and Plotted 2.156 Infrastructure Anurag Sharma COMM (RZ) 3.8125 Anurag Sharma COMM (RZ) 3.8375 Aquarious Buildcon IT Park 10.75 Arrow Infraestate COMM (RZ) 2.03 Ashutosh Developers COMM (RZ) 2.77 Asthetic Township Developers COMM (RZ) 2.85 Athena Infrastructure GH 1 Athene Infrastructure GH 3.256 Atlantic Realtors COMM (RZ) 2.03 Atlantic Realtors IT Park 10.03 Aurochem Buildprop GH 11 Automax COMM (RZ) 2.85 Automax COMM (RZ) 2.22 Bal Prada Info Services COMM (RZ) 2.24 Balvinder Uppal COMM (CZ) 2.98 Barmalt India GH 13.28 Base Exports GH 13.01 Basic Developers Pvt Ltd IT Park 9.67

PPI contd. on next page

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 49 PETITIONMDC Limited isIN a p ublicPUBLIC sector com -INTEREST In addition it is also pursuing the develop- haryanapany under the Ministry of Steel, ment of path breaking technology in coal NGovernment of India. Primarily sector. engaged in the business of exploring min- Human Resources: NMDC is known for its erals and developing mines to produce raw excellence of human assets. The company materials for the industry, it is also expanding exhibits the best possible work culture, and its activities towards steel making and other its manpower productivity shows continuous value added products. It has been conferred growth. The per capita productivity in NMDC “Navratna” status by Government of India. is now about 28.20 metric tonnes of output Incorporated in 1958, NMDC has been per manshift. NMDC endeavours to give indi- actively contributing to development of the vidual attention for the improvement of skills nation for five decades and grown from and management of aspirations of its strength to strength on its journey to nation employees, on the one hand; and, on the building. other, for the integration of individual moti- Contribution to Indian Economy vation with the goals of the organization, so ł NMDC has been consistently paying divi- that the achievements of the employees and dend since 1990-91. For the financial year the organization are at the highest possible ended 31 March 2013, the dividend paid to level. More than 50% of its employees belong the Government of India is Rs.2,300 crore and to the weaker sections of society, viz., the cumulative dividend paid to Govt. of India upto 2012-13 is Rs.8,616 Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes, crore approximately. speaks of NMDC’s consciousness of its social responisbility. ł In 2012-13 gross contribution to the national exchequer was about The Company maintains modern townships with all necessary Rs.7,490 crore. facilities for its around 5700 employees in Bailadila in Chhattisgarh, ł NMDC has about 5700 employees. Donimalai in Karnataka, Panna in Madhya Pradesh and other units. Single Largest producer of iron ore in India: From a single-product- Global Exploration Centre: NMDC has got a drilling division at single-customer company, NMDC has grown to be a major Indian iron Raipur for taking up exploratory drilling works at potential mineral ore supplier in the national and important supplier of Iron ore in inter- deposits. This has been strengthened to take up strategic exploration national markets. The company has planned to increase iron ore pro- in mineral rich states (mainly iron ore) at no cost to the State Govts. duction to 40 million tonnes by 2014-15 by developing new mines at Besides, this would concentrate on establishing additional resources Bailadila-11/B in Chhattisgarh and Kumarswamy in Donimalai by undertaking exploration in and around existing deposits and areas Complex, Karnataka on the one hand and on the other, by expanding within the lease area. the production capacity of existing mines. R&D Centre: From a nucleus R&D cell set up in 1970, it has grown into Only Mechanized Diamond mine in Asia: NMDC also operates the a highly sophisticated R&D Centre. One of the best-equipped labora- only mechanized diamond mine in Asia with a capacity to produce tories of its kind, the Centre at Hyderabad can take up any assignment one lakh carats per annum from its Diamond Mine, Panna, Madhya in the field of ore beneficiation, mineral processing, agglomeration, Pradesh. bulk solids flowability and mineral waste utilisation. With its excellent Pioneer in Exploration: NMDC is doing exploration and prospecting research facilities, the Centre carries out technology development works for high value minerals like diamond in Andhra Pradesh and missions in fields like mineral processing, flow sheet development, gold in Tanzania. mineralogical studies and product development. It has been recog- Scientific Mining: NMDC has been carrying out scientific mining of nized as a “Centre of Excellence” by UNIDO. A Pilot Plant facility for the mineral deposits. Quality control, mineral beneficiation, proper production of Carbon free Sponge Iron Powder has been created blending, etc, are done systematically and religiously to ensure opti- based on research work done on value addition of Blue Dust at R&D mum exploitation of precious mineral. NMDC’s mines stand testimony Centre. The process route consists of reduction of blue dust by hydro- to scientific mining and conservation of the mineral. gen produced through electrolysis of water. The powder has major The scientific exploration conducted by NMDC resulted in proving application for making powder metallurgy component, soft magnetic additional mineable reserves from its existing mines. At Bailadila components, friction materials and food fortification. R&D Centre has deposit-14, the oldest mine in the Bailadila range, NMDC was able to taken an initiative to utilize high-grade blue dust to produce value prove and establish an additional mineable reserve of 125 million added product i.e. Nano Structure Iron Powder (NSIP), which can fetch tonnes. At Bailadila deposit-5, the additional mineable reserve was high value. proved to be about 156 million tonnes. At Donimalai an additional Corporate Social Responsibility: NMDC started CSR activities much mineable reserve of 47.48 million tonnes is proven. Exploration is in before the concept was formally introduced. It has now strengthened progress to prove additional resources. its CSR activities. The beneficiaries are mostly the tribals/backward Expansion/Diversification: As part of the Greenfield expansion / sections in the proximity of the mines, which are in remote locations. diversification programme, NMDC is setting up an Integrated Steel The areas focussed are education, health, medicare, drinking water, Plant of 3 MTPA capacity at Nagarnar, Chhattisgarh. infrastructure development and self employment. These services are NMDC is also expanding its business through forward integration provided in consultation with the local people and the local adminis- by setting up 2 MTPA Pellet Plant at Nagarnar in Chhattsigarh and 1.2 tration. The CSR initiatives are not limited to the Company’s opera- MTPA Pellet Plant at Donimalai, Karnataka. NMDC has signed MoU tional areas alone, but extended to all corners of the country. with RINL to develop Slurry Pipeline System from Nagarnar to Environment Management: NMDC pays utmost attention to the Visakhapatnam and Pellet Plant at Visakhapatnam. environment management. It has its own Environment Management Sponge Iron Unit, Paloncha for the year 2012-13 has produced Programme. Restoration and conservation of forest are its prime about 36,000 tonnes and is being considered for its expansion. objective, and its self-commitment is that the mined out areas will NMDC has planned to expand its business through horizontal have a better forest than it was when NMDC entered the area. The integration as well in the fields of Coal, Rock Phosphate, Lime Stone, afforested areas in the mines stand testimony to this commitment. Gold and Diamond. Accreditation: NMDC mines have the following accreditations: NMDC Global - International Investment Division of NMDC: NMDC 1. ISO 9001-2008 - QMS Certification for all its iron ore mines and R&D Global has successfully acquired a majority State in Legacy Iron Ore Centre Limited - an ASX listed Company - NMDC has acquired three coal tena- 2. ISO 14001-2004 - EMS Certification for all its production mines. ments through Legacy in Australia. In addition, it is actively pursuing 3. OHSAS 18001 - 2007 - OHMS Certification for all its production 50acquisition of mineral assets in Russia, USA, Indonesia and Zimbabwe. mines. gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 51 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate

GH 2.75 Bestech India COMM (CZ) 2.8375 Bestech India GH 10.1 Bestech India COMM (RZ) 0.075 Bestech India COMM. (RZ) 3.99 Bestech India COMM. (RZ) 2.18 Bestech India COMM. (RZ) 2.46 Bestech India GH 13.62 Bestech India GH 13.01 Bestech India GH 11.79 154.20 Bestech India IT Park 5.83 Acre Bestech India COMM (CZ) 12.34 Bestech India IT Park 6.31 Bestech India COMM (CZ) 8.3 Bestech India GH 27.27 Bestech India COMM (RZ) 7.81 Bestech India GH 10.04 Bestech India GH 3.24 Bestech India COMM (RZ) 2.85 Bestech India COMM (CZ) 2.786 Bestech India COMM (CZ) 4.61 Bhram Parkash GH 39 Candea Projects COMM (CZ) 5.568 Candeo Projects Pvt Ltd COMM (CZ) 6.77 Celestial Estate COMM (RZ) 3.41 Central Govt Emp. Welfare GH 14.47 Housing Org Chintals India GH 19.77 Chintals India GH 12.07 Chintals India GH 13.01 Chintals India GH 39.37 Chintals India Plotted 149.09 Chintals India GH 15.88 Chintals India COMM (RZ) 3.24 Chintals India COMM (RZ) 6.21 Chintels India GH 8.294 Citra Properties COMM (RZ) 5.9 Clarion Properties Pvt Ltd COMM. (RZ) 3.46 Clarion Properties IT Park 5.92 Clarion Properties COMM (RZ) 2.76 Cogent Realtors GH 18.88125 Commander Realtors Plotted 80.447 Commander Realtors Plotted 140.356 Commander Realtors Pvt Ltd COMM (RZ) 3.86 Commander Realtors Pvt Ltd COMM (RZ) 2.2 Consolidate Realtors GH 13.34 Conway Developers GH 13.74 Cosmos Infra GH 14.84

gfiles inside the government 52 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com GH 13.01 Countrywide Promoters GH 13.01 Countrywide Promoters GH 16.33 Countrywide Promoters GH 23.18 Countrywide Promoters GH 13.88 Countrywide Promoters COMM (RZ) 3.68 Countrywide Promoters COMM (RZ) 2.36 354.95 4.40 % Countrywide Promoters COMM (CZ) 4 Countrywide Promoters IT Park 5.02 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 119.93 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 102.2 Countrywide Promoters Plotted 18.61 Countrywide Promoters GH 19.74 CSN Estates GH 10.18 CSN Estates (P) Ltd Addl. GH 8.88 CSN Estates (P) Ltd Addl. GH 1.99 Deepanshu Projects GH 14.64 Deputy Gothwal Construction GH 14 Desert Moon Realtech GH 10.44 Desert Moon Realtors Pvt Ltd GH 10.92 Dhampur Alco Chem COMM (RZ) 3.17 Dharampal & others GH 16.47 Dial Soft Tech GH 10.97 DLF GH 13.4 DLF Homes Panchkula Plotted 57.03 DLF Homes Panchkula GH 10.16 DLF Homes Panchkula GH 27.47 DLF Ltd COMM 1.38 DLF Ltd RGH 10.56 DLF New Gurgaon Home GH 2.794 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Home GH 10.059 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes Plotted 7.006 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes RGH 25.09 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes RGH 12.15 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 10.8 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 14.35 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 10 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes COMM (RZ) 4 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 12.06 Developers PPI contd. on next page

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GH 0.47 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 2.64 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 11.1 822.57 10.19 % Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 0.17 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes COMM (RZ) 3.46 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 13.73 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 18.31 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 10.43 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes IT Park 6.78 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes IT Park 8.36 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes COMM (RZ) 3.23 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes Plotted 100.51 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes COMM (RZ) 3.66 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 11.67 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes IT Park 6.83 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes COMM (RZ) 11.64 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes GH 29.66 Developers DLF New Gurgaon Homes Dev's Addl. Plotted 3.9 Pvt Ltd DLF Retails Developers COMM (CZ) 25.71 DLF Retails Developers COMM (RZ) 4 DLF Retails Developers COMM (RZ) 8.7 MVL Ltd RGH 5.65

54 Recently the Punjab and Haryana Chetan Agarwal said it could have But it is better late than never.” High Court has passed an order some impact on the upcoming Master Colonel (retd) S Oberoi said the directing the Haryana Government Plan of and protect the court direction may not have any not to issue any colony development eco-sensitive zones in the area. direct bearing on the development in licences, change of land use or acquire “Ideally, the sub-regional plan for the region, but is a moral victory for any lands until its sub-regional plan the 11 districts of Haryana falling environmentalists. “We have always for the 11 districts falling in the under the NCR should have been been maintaining that the sub-region- National Capital Region (NCR) is approved by the NCRPB before the al plan should have been approved approved by the NCR Planning Board. master plans for Gurgaon were before the Master Plans for Gurgaon The order assumes significance approved. But it did not happen and a were prepared. But it was overlooked because the two Master Plans for lot of eco-sensitive and water recharge by the board. The sub-regional plan Gurgaon made by the Haryana zones were lost to haphazard develop- for Gurgaon has been submitted to government in quick succession had ment planned in the two master plans. NCRPB just a month ago while the generated widespread concern among The most glaring example being the master plans were approved a long environmental experts, as they meant Ghata Lake which had been natural ago. Now there are attempts to even significant dilutions in the water recharge zone, but the master dilute the provisions in the NCR environmental safeguards provided plan allowed residential and commer- Regional Plan-2021 and mould them for in the NCR Planning Board cial development there. Any such as per the sub-regional plan and mas- recommended plan. Hailing the court direction by court earlier could have ter plans, though it should be other direction, environment analyst prevented the messy development. the way round.” g Prayer ‡ $ GLUHFWLRQ WR WKH 0LQLVWU\ RI 8UEDQ 'HYHORSPHQW ‡ $Q LQYHVWLJDWLRQ EH DOVR RUGHUHG WR EH FDUULHG RXW E\ Government of India, to come up with a complete report Central Bureau of Investigation, Income Tax Department, as to how far the NCRPB Act, and the policies formulated Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement there under for the control of land-uses and develop- Directorate, Economic Offences Wing and others to ment of infrastructure in the National Capital Region so unearth the ill-gotten money earned by builder mafia of as to avoid any haphazard development of that region Haryana, select coterie of businessmen and politicians. and for matters connected therewith or incidental there- to, has been complied with by the respective state gov- ‡ $WKRURXJKLQTXLU\EHRUGHUHGDJDLQVWWKHVHOHFWEDQGRI ernments, in the present case the Government of builders, who have monopolised the construction activ- Haryana, being a member therein; ity at the gross disadvantage to poor home buyers and farmers whose land was acquired at unreasonably low ‡ $GLUHFWLRQWRWKH0LQLVWU\RI(QYLURQPHQWDQG)RUHVW prices. Government of India, to inquire into and to come up with details of the environment clearances as sought and ‡ $ GLUHFWLRQ WR WKH 1DWLRQDO &DSLWDO 5HJLRQ 3ODQQLQJ granted to those selected few even when blatant viola- Board to formulate a clear policy of land use keeping tion of environmental laws and ecological disturbances various factors in mind such as the equity in acquisition, are rampant in area in question and to calculate the impact on environment, interest of buyers and those of damage done to the ecology of the Haryana especially in the farmers whose land is subjected to acquisition. some of its districts such as Gurgaon, Faridabad, etc. ‡ $GLUHFWLRQIRUDSSRLQWPHQWRID)DVW7UDFN&RXUWWRWU\ ‡ $WKRURXJKLQYHVWLJDWLRQLQWRWKHIXQFWLRQLQJRIGHSDUW- the cases relating to the above with a clear timeline for ment of Town & Country Planning and Urban Estate and investigation by the CBI and the conclusion of the trial the Department of Forest and other related departments by the said court so that it will work as a deterrent for to elicit the consistency of the policies followed as also such mass scale loot of natural resources of the State to unearth the favours given to a select few at the cost endangering the ecological balance and huge and of common farmers and state exchequer. perpetual loss to the exchequer.

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 55 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate

In keeping with the ethics of EPLLY BY KABUL CHAWLA’S LAWWYERS journalism, gfiles sent a Vijay Kaundal Advocate & Solicitor, SRGR LAW OFFICES questionnaire to each of T the outset, it is stated that the all the allegations parties – Bhupinder Singh raised are false, frivolous, baseless and factually Hooda, Venod Sharma, Kunal Aincorrect and your letter is completely based on pre- sumption and assumptions. We would like to put it on record Bhadoo, Kabul Chawla, Anil that institutional investors like JP Morgan and Citigroup Bhalla, Arvind Walia and KP Property Investors have invested in the parent company level (BPTP Limited) after conducting thorough due diligence Singh. Nobody bothered to and our Client has also done joint ventures with well known groups like Blackstone, TMW and Kotak. reply except for Kabul Chawla, Though our Client is not obligated to reply to the frivolous BPTP Chairman & Managing and baseless allegations levelled by you, our Client is still responding to your queries to dispel your doubts and Director. His lawyers replied to misgivings. the questions and the same is We object to such questionnaire/ scrutiny in the affairs of our Client by your organisation without any proof or reproduced here. When the evidence and it is apparent that it is being done with questionnaire was brought to ulterior motives. his attention, Chief Minister gfiles: Even though your company was incorporated under the Companies Act on August 11, 2003, you were an unknown Bhupinder Singh Hooda, it is and insignificant player in the market till 2005. Your learnt, he told TC Gupta, company and its business actually started after March 5, 2005, when Bhupinder Singh Hooda became CM and your Secretary, Town and Country luck started changing. Almost overnight in 2005, your Planning (Haryana) that “it should be ignored... they are just trying to malign me.”

gfiles inside the government 56 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com backing and support are completely false, baseless, without any substance and are defamatory in nature, and hence are specifically denied. Please note that our Client is conducting its business in accordance with law.

gfiles: It is alleged that you operate a number of subsidiary and shell companies like Countrywide Promoters Pvt Ltd, Countrywide Home and Farms Pvt Ltd, Glitz Builders & Promoters Pvt Ltd, Foliage Construction Pvt Ltd, Five Star Promoters Pvt Ltd, Vital Construction Pvt Ltd, Native Buildcon Pvt Ltd, Green Valley Towers Pvt Ltd, Anupam Towers Pvt Ltd, Sunglow Overseas Pvt Ltd, Druzba Overseas Pvt Ltd, Business Park Promoters Pvt Ltd, Fragrance Construction Pvt Ltd, KA Promoters & Developers Pvt Ltd, Westland Developers Pvt Ltd, Poonam Promoters & Developers Pvt Ltd and Vasundra Promoters Pvt Ltd. The main role of these companies allegedly is financial manipu- Company started aggressively buying prime land in and lation, land ownership and alleged illegal transfer of land around Faridabad. And in just three years, it had acquired from one company to another without paying registry licenses to develop 283.88 acres land at unheard-of rock charges, thus bypassing the provisions of transfer of the bottom prices of `210 per sq ft in Faridabad. The company Immovable Properties Act? starting selling the first of its plots in 2006 and by 2009 it BPTP: It is reiterated once again that, as per the information had sold approximately 5,657 residential plots, 10,685 available in the public domain, it is evident that BPTP Group apartments, 463 commercial plots and other commercial is composed of various group companies and in compliance space. Is such kind of growth possible by fair dealings and with laws. This is to apprise you that all the entities in the without political backing? said Group have been established for lawful purposes in BPTP: Except for whatever is a matter of record and which accordance with the relevant laws. The group structure are in public domain rest of all your facts and figures are ensures synergy and realisation of ultimate vision and denied. Further, your allegations regarding any political objectives of the management. BPTP Group has adopted and implemented the best practices in its accounting and financial reporting. The allegations are nothing but based on surmises and conjectures, and thus does not merit any consideration.

gfiles: It is common knowledge that Bhupinder Singh Hooda is one of the most pro-builder and anti-farmer Chief Ministers Haryana has seen in the last couple of decades. But, allegedly the inside story is that Hooda is just a proxy rubber stamp and builders like you are directly or indirectly allegedly dictating land development policies in the State. It is alleged that you influenced the three quick changes in the Master Plans? BPTP: It has to be stated that allegations are baseless and are defamatory in nature. The allegations contained specifi- cally in this query and generally in the letter, attribute your intention not only to harm the reputation of our Client but also to harm the reputation of the office of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana. Moreover, since such grave allegations without any iota of proof have been maliciously levelled

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 57 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate against our Client, our Client reserve our right to initiate housing to independent floors. Your comment? appropriate civil and criminal proceedings against you under BPTP: It is the prerogative of the State to frame the laws, the relevant provisions of law. Hence, the allegations are rules and regulations. It is to bring to your notice that such specifically denied. policies framed by the Government of Haryana are for the benefit of the entire State and its people and are not framed gfiles: It is alleged that BPTP is the biggest beneficiary of to suit certain section of builders, as alleged in your query. the Haryana government’s licensing policies, including the Further, the same is substantiated by the fact that such poli- Master Plan changes. After and before each Master Plan cies are also available for individuals and same is the matter change, you went and purchased land in those very sectors of record. Further, it is pertinent to bring to your knowledge that were going to be covered in the Master Plan. How do that such policies are also framed by various other states, you explain this? namely Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, etc. Hence, it is vehemently BPTP: The allegations contained are false, baseless and are denied that Government of Haryana framed policies to suit defamatory in nature, and hence are specifically denied. our Client’s interest. Further, such allegation being defama- tory in nature; our Client reserves its right to initiate appro- gfiles: Here is an example of how government policy is bent priate civil and criminal proceedings against you under the in favour of certain people. It is alleged that you and other relevant provisions of law. prominent builders, like DLF, Unitech, Ansals, Vatika Ltd and Suncity Projects, were present in a meeting chaired by gfiles: Today, with close to 1,606 acres of land in Faridabad BS Hooda in May 2009. Since the Assembly elections were and Gurgaon—Countrywide Promoters or BPTP—is way round the corner, the government wanted you and others to ahead of even Ansal Properties & Infrastructure or DLF. It is announce populist low cost housing schemes. In the bar- said that BPTP virtually runs a parallel government, at least gain, Hooda announced a ‘one-time relaxation’ for all those as far as Faridabad and Gurgaon are concerned. No govern- builders who applied for group housing colony as part of ment official dares to come in its way. Your comment? their plotted colony, and were prepared to reserve 10 per cent area for low cost housing. This meant that those build- ers who agreed got to build four additional large flats per acre. This is an example of how the low cost housing policy has been manipulated by the politician-builder lobby. The builders have got lands allotted in the name of low cost and affordable housing, but till date not a single apartment is near completion? BPTP: It has to be stated that it is a matter of record that the BPTP Group has applied for licenses for low cost group housing schemes formulated by the government. Please note that such schemes have been framed in accordance with the State policies and such policies were formulated by the state government for the benefit of the poor people. Further, such schemes were available to one and all and it was not specifically designed for the benefit of our Client. It is wrong and baseless to suggest that housing policy has been manipulated by a politician builder lobby, and hence the allegations raised in your query are based on sheer surmises and conjectures and are hereby specifically denied. gfiles: Another example of how things have been manipu- lated to suit BPTP’s interest is the way the Hooda Government permitted registration of independent floors on residential plots in January 2009. BPTP allegedly took full advantage and re-aligned its business from plotted

gfiles inside the government 58 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com BPTP: The allegations here are specifically denied as they but false, malafide and fabrications of true facts, and are are nothing but based on sheer surmises and conjectures, specifically denied. and are baseless and defamatory in nature. This is to bring to your notice that DLF/Ansal have a nationwide presence gfiles: It is alleged that Hooda himself is a benami owner of and have developed and marketed various projects nation- your company, which is currently developing 24 group wide and have much wider stake in real estate market in housing, IT and residential projects in Faridabad and India compared to our Client. Gurgaon. Is this the reason why the average cost of the company’s land reserve is as low as `188 per sq ft? It is gfiles: Why is it that despite specific complaints of non- alleged that this unfair advantage is the reason behind your payment of sale price to the owner of a 15-acre land in phenomenal success in a relatively short time span, allow- Sector 106 in Gurgaon, the Haryana TCP renewed the ing you to sell properties at attractive prices? license? Wasn’t it a fact that your company didn’t have pos- BPTP: The accusations here are extremely defamatory in session of land and hadn’t begun any construction activity? nature and are specifically denied. Without prejudice to BPTP: It has to be stated that our Client seeks licenses, only rights and remedies available with our Client to seek appro- after following due validation process and in accordance priate recourse against such bald frivolous allegations, with applicable laws. Further BPTP Group is the absolute please note that our Client conducts its normal course of owner or has valid agreements of all the piece and parcels of business on an arm’s length basis and fair market terms. land developed or proposed to be developed by BPTP Group Further, being more specific, our Client pays the appropriate and all prior owners of such land are paid the agreed consid- consideration to the land owner as mutually agreed and eration for the same and there is no dispute of any manner sometimes it pays even higher amount than the sum agreed whatsoever with regard to the same and in many cases our in the agreement to sell between our Client and land owners. Client has paid more than what was agreed for in the agree- Further, such allegation being highly defamatory in nature; ments. The allegations contained in your query are nothing our Client reserves its right to initiate appropriate civil and criminal proceedings against you under the relevant provi- sions of law.

gfiles: Why it is that low cost housing for the poor and downtrodden is just a money minting machine for the builders who, after getting cheap land, connive with the officials to ensure that these projects remain ornamental or showpieces on paper and are never allowed to go beyond the drawing board stage? BPTP: It is denied that our Client has indulged in connivance to thwart the development of affordable housing for the low income groups. It may please be noted that our Client is a responsible real estate group and is conscious of its commit- ment towards the development of affordable housing for the low income groups. The allegations raised in your Query 10 are without any basis, and hence are denied in its entirely.

gfiles: It is alleged that your company has the image of a rogue builder with no sense of ethics and morality in busi- ness? Allegedly you have one of the largest numbers of customer complaints against you for violating official poli- cies and backtracking on commitments. Your comment? BPTP: The allegations are baseless, false and concocted and specifically denied. Kindly note that our Client operates in a manner consistent with high ethical, moral, and legal standards.

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 59 PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST haryana real estate gfiles: Is it true that the Patiala House court issued a non- it bother you that you are playing with other people’s bailable warrant against you and the Delhi Police registered life savings? an FIR for criminal breach of trust, cheating, fraud and BPTP: It has to be stated that our Client endeavours to com- criminal misappropriation based on a complaint by Suresh ply with all the applicable laws for the development and sale Goel, a Kotla-based businessman? of its project, including the stipulations and conditions incor- BPTP: Please note that the proceedings in the said porated in the licenses for various projects. proceedings has been quashed by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi and presently no such case is pending against our gfiles: It is alleged that your company creates an artificial Client or its directors and hence, does not merit any and false hype in the market to lure unsuspecting customers consideration. to deposit crores of rupees—even when the number of flats booked is far above your capability to deliver. Your company gfiles: A number of complaints and cases of cheating, then arbitrarily changes the booking and sends a demand misappropriation and fraud have been lodged against you notice asking the flat buyers to pay the difference for an with EOW and SFIO. Is such conduct to be expected from a alternate allotment or else assumes that they are not prominent builder like you? interested and proceeds to forfeit their booking amount? BPTP: This is to apprise you that no criminal case where any BPTP: The allegations are nothing but false, malafide and charges have been framed by the court is pending against fabrications of true facts, and are specifically denied. our Client and/or its promoters. The allegations contained in your query are nothing but based on surmises and gfiles: It is alleged that BPTP has deliberately kept the flat- conjectures, and thus does not merit any consideration. buyer agreement and other document very complex—500 odd pages—and, as a result, neither the buyer nor the gfiles: It is alleged that your Company, after having duped broker is aware of most of the unfavourable terms at the money from thousands of people, is still scot free because time of making the investment decision. Is it humanly of its powerful political connections in Haryana and Delhi? possible to read the fine print and grasp the legal BPTP: The allegations are false, malafide and baseless, and are specifically denied. gfiles: It is alleged that BPTP has one of the worst track- record of forfeiting / usurping people’s money by cancelling their plot or flat booking on one pretext or another? BPTP: It has to be stated that allegations are nothing but baseless and frivolous and are specifically denied. Kindly note that cancellations, if only, are made in accordance with mutually agreed contractual terms and conditions, and such contractual obligations are accorded sanctity of law. Further, being more specific, such forfeitures are in accordance with law and various judicial pronouncements including that by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Further, its completely lawful to insert such forfeiture clauses in the relevant contracts. Moreover, just to apprise you of the propriety of forfeiture clauses, kindly note that even Noida Authority has forfeited an amount of `130 crore for not fulfilling certain contractual obligations of the contract executed between our Client and Noida Authority, which goes to show that the forfeiture provisions work both ways. gfiles: It is alleged that BPTP has been selling properties and plots even without license/ site approval from the town planning department or other land owning bodies? Does

gfiles inside the government 60 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com implications in a short time? gfiles: When BPTP often penalises buyers who do not pay BPTP: The allegations are wrong, baseless and frivolous, money on time, what is the corresponding penalty/ and are denied. It is wrong to allege that Flat Buyer’s compensation payable in case BPTP fails to deliver on Agreement and other documents consist of 500 odd pages time? Why should BPTP also not be accountable for as it is nothing but fabrication of true facts. It may please be deficiency of services? noted that all the documents, including the Flat Buyer’s BPTP: This is to apprise you that our Client is a responsible Agreement are readily available to the customers for real estate group and always strive to abide its commitments. inspection, and verification of the project details, broad However, it is wrong to allege that our Client is not terms and conditions, etc.; hence there is ample time for accountable towards its commitments. There are standard them to make a reasoned decision. terms and conditions incorporated in the Flat Buyers’ Agreement/Booking Forms wherein, for reasons not gfiles: Why do you make the customers sign an affidavit attributable to our Client, delay penalty is payable to the indemnifying BPTP of any deficiency in services before customers. signing the buyer seller agreement? What purpose does this affidavit serve when it is an unfair contract, hence gfiles: It is alleged that your company has not been illegal? depositing EDC/IDC amounts collected from buyers to BPTP: It is denied that such affidavit and undertakings are HUDA/DTCP? illegal on premise of unfair contract and these documents BPTP: The allegations are false and frivolous, and are are necessary to ensure that customer’s enjoyment of the specifically denied. This is to apprise you that our Client has property is in accordance with all applicable laws. We would so far deposited more than Rs 1,000 crore with the concerned like to bring on record that even our client also submits authorities towards the EDC/IDC demands. similar undertakings at times to HUDA/DTCP and other government departments to avail licenses and other gfiles: It is alleged that Income Tax officials conducted a approvals. search-and-seize operation at 23 premises of BPTP for alleged tax evasion and under-reporting of apartment sales. Your comment? BPTP: It is false, baseless and wrong to allege that any such IT raid was conducted at our Client’s premises for tax eva- sion and under reporting of apartment sales, and hence is specifically denied. This is to apprise you that IT Department carries such routine activities and no adverse order has been passed against our Client. The allegations raised are without any basis, and hence are denied in its entirety.

gfiles: Why did your company outbid DLF, Ansals and Omaxe for a 95-acre commercial-cum-residential plot in Noida for `5,006 crore—the costliest land deal in Indian history—when it really did not intend to keep it and eventually surrendered almost 74 acres back to the Noida Development Authority and retained just 21 acres for launching a commercial project? BPTP: It may please be noted that the bid for the commercial- cum-residential plot in Noida was a genuine transaction, being based on the prevalent market conditions and commercial viability. The facts relating to this transaction is a matter of record and the same is in public domain. However, it is wrong to attribute ill intentions on the part of our Client and hence, you are urged to desist from conjuring up such false and baseless conclusions. g

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 61 POLITICS bjp rss Second citizens of BJP The BJP and the RSS are two faces of the same coin. Officially, the RSS claims it is nothing to do with the BJP, but it is obvious that it is difficult to survive politically within the BJP if one has not completely surrendered to the RSS. Non-RSS politicians in the BJP are seldom consulted on core issues of polity. There is a zero tolerance atmosphere against the RSS within the BJP. With such a narrow approach, how long will non-RSS politicians continue to accept the BJP as a political identity without any say in decision-making? by NARENDRA KAUSHIK of Urban Villages when many of his “I was shortlisted for the Councillor’s contemporaries have risen to be ticket in 2007 and 2012. Since I ITENDRA Gaur has discontent councilors, legislators and top office knew every party worker in Malviya written all over his face. Despite bearers in the Delhi BJP. He blames Nagar and four villages—Adhchini, Jhaving put in blood and sweat the stagnation in his political career on Begumpur, Jia Sarai and Kalu Sarai—I for 23 years into the Delhi BJP and not being a Rashtriya Swayamsewak was the most eligible candidate among knowing almost every resident of his Sangh (RSS) man. the aspirants. But my non-RSS back- municipality ward Malviya Nagar, he Gaur, a college dropout, has been ground became a hurdle. Party mein has not quite made it. twice unlucky in getting the nomination RSS ka chalan haii (RSS holds sway in Gaur (43) is merely a Convener for Malviya Nagar Ward (number 161). the party). I was told, ‘you are not a RSS

gfiles inside the government 62 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Ruling with an iron hand: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat during the Sang Sangam at Parade Ground, Jammu PHOTOS: UNI worker’ and denied nomination,” he Institute of Technology) Employees Bharati, Vidya Bharati, Vishwa Hindu claims. BJP Councillor in 2007 Inderjit Union and, more importantly, part Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Bharatiya Verma, according to him, was groomed of the Sangh Parivar, passed away in Majdoor Sangh, Pradhyapak Milan, in the RSS. 2002. He wishes the latter was alive Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, etc. Gaur’s wife Yogita feels he has and could push his case better with Gaur’s contemporary and competi- wasted over two decades in the party the party bosses, many of whom, tor, current Malviya Nagar Councillor and he quite agrees with her. The including Harshvardhan and Jagdish Satish Upadhyay, is tipped to head hibernation has frustrated his fam- Mukhi, have emerged out of the Sangh South Delhi Municipal Corporation. ily. Gaur’s father, Om Prakash, who bodies—shakhas, Akhil Bharatiya But Gaur looks resigned to working was an office bearer in IIT (Indian Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Sewa in the lower rungs of the party for the rest of his life. “RSS is a major factor for promotion in the BJP. It plays a huge role. I have no hope left,” he signs off.

Sangh skills add value AUR is not alone who has had a stunted growth due to the RSS Gfactor. Even the new aspirants are aware of the Sangh’s overarching influence on the BJP. BJP ticket hopeful from Gurgaon Assembly Constituency and former Sarpanch of Chakkarpur Village, Anil Yadav, refers to this when he says it is definitely a

Yashwant Sinha (far left) and (left) are two prominent non-RSS men in the BJP. Both of them are seen with suspicion by the RSS, which considers them anti-Swadeshi

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 63 POLITICS bjp rss plus to have the RSS pedigree in the entire BJP Parliamentary Board Vinay Sahastrabuddhe and Yogi BJP. Yadav, whose wife Sunita is a (barring Sushma Swaraj), cut teeth in Adityanath, the known RSS names, Councillor in Gurgaon Municipal the Sangh Parivar. the executive gives space to Seshadri Corporation, terms RSS background Similarly, a majority of the BJP’s Chari and Tarun Vijay, former edi- as an extra qualification. “It’s better if 77-member National Executive tors of Organizerr and Panchjanya, you are from the RSS. EK degree (RSS joined the party via the RSS route. respectively, mouthpieces of the RSS. grooming) faltu ho to better rehta hai The rest belongs either to the glam- Manisha Priyam, a political econo- (it’s better to have an extra degree). our world (Hema Malini, Shatrughan mist, concedes there is pre-eminence You get ideologically trained and are Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Kiron Kher), and control of the RSS over the BJP better equipped to understand the sports (Navjot Singh Sidhu, Chetan and this needs to change. Priyam BJP brand of politics,” Yadav claims. Chauhan) or are symbolic representa- advises the saffron party to involve Yadav cites the example of the tives of minorities (Najma Heptullah, more people from other walks of life. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and Sabha, Arun Jaitely, to buttress his Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi). Besides Atal RSS for pushing ‘PM’ Modi argument. Jaitely, a former ABVP Behari Vajpayee, Lal Krishan Advani, INCE the RSS was in the fore- office bearer, according to him, Murali Manohar Joshi, Venkiah front of pushing for Gujarat may not be a mass leader but is well Naidu, Arun Jaitely, Nitin Gadkari, SChief Minister Narendra Modi’s versed about the Sangh’s views on , Ravi Shankar projection for Prime Ministership, national issues. Interestingly, the Prasad, Kalraj Mishra, Vinay Katiyar, BJP members with RSS lineage are

gfiles inside the government 64 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Shahnawaz Hussain (centre, above) and mobile app winbjp.in/m from where Convener of BJP’s IT Cell in Jammu & Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (left) are the one can download Modi’s speeches, Kashmir, claims to have recruited 30 symbolic representatives of minorities profile and pictures, etc, agrees with per cent Muslims in his team. Rajwal, in the BJP's National Executive Soni. Goel, an RSS volunteer, is reg- who has been associated with the RSS working extra hard for the saffron istering students from schools and since childhood, is sure that the BJP party’s mission 272+. They definitely colleges for mission 272+. According would win half of the six parliamen- feel they have a larger stake in putting to Goel, almost all the dozen MLLAs tary seats from the border State. Modi in the PM’s chair. of the BJP and majority of party’s Bharat Soni, head of Election Data office bearers in Punjab, including Sangh calls the shots Cell in Gujarat, and his 80-plus mem- State BJP President Kamal Sharma, ORE than the numbers what ber team are compiling booth-level are steeped in the RSS culture. Goel is important is that the Sangh election data of the entire country. is greatly enthused by Facebook and Mholds complete sway over Soni, a former RSS hand, aims to Youtube pages, like Namo Bharat and the BJP and its claim that it is only a store the data in software christened Namo Modi, on BJP’s PM nominee. moral guardian of the saffron outfit, ATIT. “We already have data of The RSS workers in the BJP are is patently false. There are umpteen Gujarat since 1968, data of Gujarat also working overtime to build a sec- examples of the Parivaar dictating a State Municipalities from 2002 to ular image for Modi. Jaidev Rajwal, policy or choice to the party and also 2012 and data of four states—Delhi, ensuring that forces resisting it towed Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and There are umpteen its line. The Sangh hand was more than Chhattisgarh—which went to polls evident when Advani was brought recently. We’ve appointed one points- examples of the around to agree to Narendra Modi’s man for every 50 voters. He will work Sangh Parivaar dictating projection for Prime Ministership. on them,” Soni reveals. He admits it a policy or choice to the The RSS Pramukh (head) Mohan is easier for RSS-trained volunteers to party and also ensuring Bhagwat called up Advani in June last adapt in the BJP. year before the latter came around on Rakesh Goel, President of the that forces resisting it Modi’s name. Punjab IT Cell, who has designed a towed its line On October 23, 2013, when the

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 65 POLITICS bjp rss

BJP declared Harshvardhan, a former Smriti Irani (above) and Shatrughan Sinha (right) represent the glamour RSS man, as Chief Ministerial candi- world in the BJP date of the party for Delhi, it carried the unmistakable stamp of Sangh Gadkari and BJP General Secretary headquarters. In fact, it would not be in charge of Organisation, Ram Lal, an exaggeration to say that the party’s reportedly participated in a two-day Delhi incharge Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath RSS conclave in Hyderabad. They Singh and others simply did the bid- were told to learn from AAP’s strategy ding of the RSS’ Delhi State propa- and be more participatory. gandist (Prant Pracharak) Anil Kant, Delhi RSS Chief Kulbhushan Ahuja The war within when they made the announcement. T was dual membership issue Apart from Kant and Ahuja, Mukesh which gave birth to the BJP in Punyani, the unofficial link between I1980, with the party declaring its the RSS and the Delhi BJP, pushed for commitment to ‘Gandhian Socialism’, Harshvardhan. The trio was report- much to the chagrin of the heads of edly cut up with the Delhi BJP Chief the Parivar. The membership issue Vijay Goel, who had stopped consult- led to the withdrawal of support by ing them on political matters. Bharatiya Jan Sangh from Morarji Earlier this month, the RSS warned Desai Government in the same year. the BJP against taking the Aam Since then, a constant tug-of-war has Aadmi Party (AAP) lightly. BJP Chief been on between the parent and the Rajnath Singh, his predecessor Nitin child, with the latter time and again

gfiles inside the government 66 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com resisting and trying to get out of the Singh has been RSS’ whipping boy stranglehold barring occasions when ever since. In August 2009, he termed there has been convergence of views Mohammad Ali Jinnah ‘secular’ and between the two. The convergence was subsequently expelled from the was manifested in Ram Janmabhoomi BJP. Currently, he is a member of the movement in 1990s and now in the BJP National Executive but main- projection of Narendra Modi for the tains a low profile. The same goes for top executive post of the country. Yashwant Sinha, another prominent During the rule of the first BJP- non-RSS man. Sinha quit the BJP led coalition, Vajpayee and Advani in June 2009. Last year, he openly thwarted the Sangh hegemony and demanded resignation of Gadkari, succeeded to an extent. The govern- RSS’ man-Friday, after the latter’s ment and the Sangh had major differ- name figured in a controversy. ences of opinion over economic poli- cies. Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an arm Heads I win, tails you lose of the RSS, constantly agitated against S demonstrated by the pro- the government’s liberalisation poli- jection of Narendra Modi cy. Vajpayee retained and promoted Adespite Advani’s objections, Jaswant Singh, whom the Sangh declaration of Harshvardhan as Chief considered anti-Swadeshi. When the Ministerial candidate in Delhi, con- Parivar honchos did not allow Singh’s tinuance of Nitin Gadkari in the high- inclusion in the Union Cabinet because est decision-making bodies of the BJP the latter had lost an election, Vajpayee and waning role of Jaswant Singh and made him the Deputy Chairman of the Yashwant Sinha, the RSS holds the Planning Commission. party in tight leash. There is complete surrender and not even pretence of protest against the ownership. The Sangh holds all the aces for the time being. In case Modi becomes the Prime Minister, it would hope to add some lustre to its shakhas, where the numbers are either on perpetual decline or have stagnated. It would hope to add to relevance of its ideology in modern India. “There are only three ideologies in India – Communism, Congress and the RSS,” Ashok Khandelkar, a full-time Pracharak and former President of District Panchayat in Jalgaon (Maharashtra), declares. If Modi fails to make the cut, the failure will solely be his and the BJP’s. The Sangh can wash its hands off and repeat what Khandelkar adds as a rider, “The RSS is like Rajguru. It is a factory to make good human beings. It has nothing to do with power politics”. g

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 67 GOVERNANCE politics mg devasahayam

Rahul Gandhi Narendra Modi Nitish Kumar Race for 7 Race Course Road With Manmohan Singh opting out of the race, the field is open for other aspirants, whether anointed by birth, or nominated by the party, or regional supremos

HAKESPEARE’S Macbeth has Hopefully, this time, a truly elected ,QGLDZHQWRQHEHWWHU:LWKLWVLQ¿QLWH a poignant quote: “Nothing in and functional person will occupy the genius for jugaad, India invented a Shis life/Became him like the chair. While so, let us do an appraisal Prime Minister in Manmohan Singh leaving it”. This refers to the execu- of the one who has ‘retired’ from the (MMS) who, like the American entre- tion of Thane of Cawdor for treason, race, before looking at those at the preneur’s pet-rock, just sat there and meaning that he died with more dig- starting block! did nothing right for ten long years. nity than he lived. This quote is used Jag Suraiya, the noted columnist, But, unobtrusively, he has done on occasions to describe the departure has made the task easy with this hu- immense harm to India’s governance, of people with dismal track records. morous narrative. Some years ago an economy, socio-economic fabric, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had American entrepreneur invented the ecology, security and human rights. such a chance during his valedictory perfect pet for people who were too His economic policies were centered press conference, but he lost it due to busy to keep regular pets who need a on the MNC-diktat to “create a market his proverbial cowardice. Even then, lot of exercise and caring: he invented of 30 crore middle and high-income he has run out his race! the pet-rock. Unlike other pets, this Indians” and throw crumbs at the India’s Prime Minister is an elected pet-rock did not need to be taken for other 90 crore! While bringing about DQGIXQFWLRQDORI¿FHEXWIRUWKHODVW walks, or be given food, or taken to temporary GDP growth, these policies WHQ \HDUV µ¿OOHGLQ¶ E\ DQ XQHOHFWHG the vet. The pet-rock just sat there, to- have led to rabid resource loot, ‘appointee’ of the ‘high command’. tally immobile and completely silent. sickening corruption, unemployment,

gfiles inside the government 68 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com and infrastructure projects. He went to the extreme extent of appointing a ‘compliant’ Environment Minis- ter at the fag-end of his tenure, who, within days, abandoned the Western- Ghats ecology protection scheme and cleared 70 projects that include agriculture-killing Gorakhpur Nu- clear Plant (GNPP) in Haryana and forest-denuding POSCO steel/min- ing project in . MMS promptly went and laid the foundation stone of GNPP!

RAANS-BOUNDARYY movement of polluting technologies and Thazardous wastes has been ram- SDQWGXULQJ006¶WLPH+LVYHU\¿UVWSDQWGXULQJ006 WLP Murli Manohar Joshi Jaswant Singh decision in 2004 to mindlessly promote Special Economic inequity, poverty, price rise and pet-rock has built through Zones with 100 per cent avalanche of black-money. his extractive policies! FDI in real estate business Hunger is pervading one-quarter of The ecology too has been has reduced urbanisation to India. According to the latest Global devastated. MMS kept the mere property development. Hunger Index, India ranks 65 out environment ministry structur- It has also terribly skewed of 79 nations and, what’s worse, it ally weak so that when- the market for urban has remained on the same position HYHU WKHUH LV FRQQÀLFW land, making it far for the last ten years. The index has between destruc- beyoond the reach been worked out by the International tive ‘development’ of ordinary people. Food Policy Research Institute as a and ecology, the He now plans to composite of three equally weighed former is given ¿QQLVK RII,QGLD¶V indices: under-nourishment, child precedence at the agriculture by mortality rate and proportion of un- cost of the latter. allowing 100 per derweight children. According to the Being insensi- ceent FDI in farm Report, as against China’s 5.2 per cent tive to the frag- land! and war-torn Rwanda’s 19.7 per cent, ile and collapsinng In his ‘farewell’ almost 23 per cent of Indians are bat- ecosystem, he has press conference, tling hunger and need immediate sup- been bullying the Min- MMS was fervently port. Anything above 10 per cent on istry of Environment to hoping that historians the scale is considered serious. This give clearance for ecologi- would give him a better is the kind of super-pauper State this cally disastrous industrial treatment than what was being meted out to Manmohan Singh has done immense harm to him in the media, and India’s governance, economy, socio-economic by the Opposition. fabric, ecology, security and human rights. His He must be aware of economic policies were centered on the MNC- what Shoma Chaudhury of Tehhelka wrote: diktat to “create a market of 30 crore middle and “History will judge him high-income Indians”! (Dr Singh) harshly for

gfig les inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol.vovoll. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 69 GOVERNANCE politics mg devasahayam betraying faith; for failing the chance it gave him. It is not everybody who gets two shots at being the Prime Minister of the most populous democracy in the world. To get to be so as its unelected head is even rarer. Unfortunately for Manmohan Singh, so stark and unexpected have the betrayals been, history has begun to UNI train its lens on him even before his term is done.” ment weapon contracts between the subverted by unconscionably parti- Afflicted with a sense of guilt, MMS US and India, with no competitive san politics and sloth…People voted kept insisting that he was the same bidding or transparency, heavily bur- for you in 2009 based on your record person that he was ten years ago dens Indian taxpayers, forcing them RIWKHHDUOLHU¿YH\HDUVRQWKHEHOLHI and that he had served with utmost to subsidise American military-indus- that more and better things were to ‘dedication and integrity’. True, but trial complexes. These transactions come….But, instead, like the collapse his ‘dedication’ was not to the Indian are the largest source of kickbacks of the mountains above Kedarnath, people, but to the agenda of his US/ for India’s corrupt carpetbaggers. WKHORIW\HGL¿FHEXLOWXSE\UHSXWDWLRQ World Bank masters. He imported Indeed, MMS has served his masters and public expectations cracked and Montek Ahluwalia from Washington with ‘integrity’! collapsed under the weight of timid- DC and packed PMO with inbreeds ity, poor political instincts but, most to zealously pursue this agenda. They HE pet-rock has severely eroded importantly, betrayal.” have made India a client-state of several institutions of gover- I thought ‘betrayal’ is a harsh word the USA. For this, MMS went to the Tnance—Parliament, JPC, min- IRU0067KHQ,UHPHPEHUHGRXU¿UVW extreme extent of buying MPs to sup- istries, CAG, Election Commission, meeting in 1975 over dinner at Chan- port the Indo-US Nuclear Deal and CVC, NHRC, UPSC, civil services and digarh, where I was the District Com- then purred to President Bush that army—in his bid to propitiate the missioner. It was at the time of Emer- the whole of India loved him. Now, dynasty and powerful vested inter- gency and Jayaprakash Narayan, who he has openly acknowledged this ests! Judiciary and Attorney General was my prisoner for six months, had dubious deal as his best work as PM. were also not spared. The latter has just been released on health grounds. As it turns out, nuclear deal was a EHHQ PDGH WR VXEPLW IXGJHG ¿OHV News of my managing JP’s release decoy for defence rip-off. Although it DI¿GDYLWVLQFRXUWVWRREWDLQIDYRXU- and rushing him to Jaslok Hospital, remains a dud deal on energy, with able orders. PMO, once respected, has Bombay, to save him from kidney little prospect of delivering a single been reduced to a hub for scheming, failure, had leaked out and was the operational nuclear power plant for scandals and skullduggery, morphing subject of hushed discussion. After years to come, it has become a open a functional democracy into dysfunc- dinner MMS travelled with me to his sesame to major US arms sales. tional kleptocracy. This is the legacy apartment. As he neared his place, he When MMS visited White House in of MMS. took both my hands and in an emo- September 2012, among the gifts he )RUPHU ,$6 2I¿FHU 6DQMHHY $KOX- tional tone said: “Devasahayam, by presented to President Obama, was walia, blood-brother of Montek Ah- saving the life of JP, you have given a commitment to purchase $5 bil- luwalia, must have had a ring-side hope for India’s second freedom. Na- lion worth of arms. At the height of view of the shenanigans of the Man- tion and its people are ever beholden L’affaire Khobragade, while a decep- mohan-Montek duo. So he directs his to you.” His prediction materialised in tive drama was being enacted to anguish at MMS thus: “Please shed  DQG KH UHDSHGWKH EHQH¿W ODWHU deceive the public, a mega defence your intellectual robes and become when JP’s protégé Chandrasekhar contract—a $1.01-billion deal for sup- the babu you really have been, betray- became Prime Minister. ply of six additional C-130J military ing yourself time and again, turning Taking him to be a sincere soul and transport aircraft—was awarded to a Nelson’s eye to massive corruption sound economist, I was among the the USA. The government-to-govern- and allowing decision-making to be ¿UVW WR JLYH WKH FDOO µ006 IRU 30¶

gfiles inside the government 70 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Narendra Modi (left) and Arvind Kejriwal (far left) are the new forces on the national political scene

event of the ‘AAPstacle’ containing BJP below 180 seats, the standby PM candidates are Murali Manohar Joshi or Jaswant Singh.

N the ‘non-Congress-non-BJP in the late nineties. We used to meet tation on account of scams and cor- Front’, Nitish Kumar emerges as periodically and I went on to play a ruption charges, humongous price Ithe most prominent PM candidate. facilitating role during the 2004 Lok rise and a deteriorating economic But he knows his limitations and Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu. Then, situation, Congress could face rout ZRXOG OLNH WR EH FRQ¿QHGWR%LKDU having a good equation with MMS in parliamentary elections. Rahul- Other candidates are the three Ms— and Karunanidhi, I had brought them come-lately dramatics and contrived Mayavati, Mamata and Mulayam— together to initiate a Congress-DMK angry-young-man posers against in- all home-grown leaders popular in alliance that won all the 40 seats, pro- ÀDWLRQDQGFRUUXSWLRQKDYHÀRSSHG their own party. But outside, none pelling the former into the PM’s chair. Fact is that there is no ‘leadership’ of them could emerge as a consensus But, once he became PM, he did not in the servile Congress party. Hence, candidate. and Naveen know who I was! Probably, in his ava- the well-orchestrated blitzkrieg of Patnaik are also leaders who have tar as ‘loyal’ Congressman, he wanted AAP and Arvind Kejriwal, aided by the PM aspirations. They may not face to be miles away from my JP-tag! command performance of corporate- as much opposition as the three Ms, Be that as it may, Prime Minister controlled media. This appears EXWZLOOKDYHGLI¿FXOW\LQ¿QGLQJWKH is the leader of the country—a person to be another of the time-tested numbers to back their ambitions. who should have the positive attri- manipulations of the US-centered Pawar also says he will not contest butes of decisiveness, determination, MNCs operating through their elections, and would support someone persistence, reformer, communicator political/business minions in India. else for PM. and friend of those who suffer and For ten years they used the contrived That someone could be the ‘sari- struggle. That era is long over and ‘Mr Clean’ image of an individual clad’ Selvi Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu. what we have today are mere politi- (MMS) and now they are probably +HUFDSWLYHSROLWLFDORXW¿W$,$'0. cians masquerading as leaders. It opting for the media-managed ‘anti- is sparing no efforts to win all 40 is only among them we can look for FRUUXSWLRQ¶IDFDGHRIDÀHGJOLQJSDUW\ Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and replacement of the ‘pet-rock’. (AAP) to retain their grip! Pondichery so that Amma could reach In the Congress-led UPA, MMS has BJP-led NDA has put all its eggs the pinnacle. If this materialises, thrown in the towel. Finance Minister in Narendra Modi’s basket. Despite people of the country may have a taste Chidambaram, Home Minister Su- several negative factors—the baggage of Tamil Nadu’s ‘welfare’ model with shil Kumar Shinde, Defence Minister of Godhra, accusation of encounter half its population tippling on State- AK Antony and Lok Sabha Speaker killings, reputation of being an alcohol and the other half living on 0HLUD .XPDU ÀHHWLQJO\ DSSHDUHG RQ authoritarian and non-compromising government-freebies. Bravo! the Congress screen, but ended up leader, non-secular and anti-minority Any PM in UPA-III would mean as mere ‘mention in dispatches’! So, credentials—he has a fair chance to more of the cloistered ‘Delhi Durbar’. despite his ‘failing halo’, it is Rahul occupy the PM’s chair. The argument NaMo of NDA-II could be some Gandhi backed by big sister Priyanka. is that India-at-large wants a dynamic ‘Westerly Wind’ and any other would Except for his birth for staking claim, ¿JXUHWROHDGWKHFRXQWU\DQGUHVFXH be ‘Whirlwind’! 5DKXOGRHVQRWKDYHDQ\TXDOL¿FD- the Republic from the abysmal depths ‘Tout le meilleure’. Let the best tion—politically or administratively— of misgovernance and political win! g to be the PM candidate. With strong corruption, and NaMo appears to be The writer is a former Army and IAS anti-incumbency factors, lost repu- the man of the moment. But in the officer. Email: [email protected]

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 71 GOVERNANCE welfare devender singh Demographic bulge ahead!

It is a matter of deep worry that there are no holistic programmes to address the variegated needs of older people and the aged, the fastest growing group in our population

NDIA has traditionally enjoyed a -HDQ'UH]HVD\VµWKH¿UVWWKLQJWKDW The situation will exacerbate with robust joint family system taking struck me was the immense number the transition of our youthful demo- Icare of elderly persons. However, of elderly people, and their miserable graphic curve, what Nandan Nilekani the sweeping currents of globalisation plight....They live quiet and unob- calls India’s demographic dividend, and transcending cultures are having trusive, some passing time on a bro- into a gerontological bulge by 2020. their baleful effect on society. With ken charpoy, others collecting twigs, The population of senior citizens as a the disintegration of the joint family limping from one place to another, or percentage of total population, which system, emergence of nuclear families simply lying ill in the darkness of a stood at 7.5 per cent as per the 2001 and single parent syndrome, elders shabby back room. They rarely com- census, is likely to increase to 12.4 are getting increasingly neglected, plain, at least, not in public, but if you per cent in 2026 as per the report of uncared for and, in many cases, enquire about their well being, the the Technical Group constituted by maltreated. tales of sorrow are endless.’ Nothing the National Commission on Popu- A recent empirical study by Prof. could be more graphic. lation. According to UN projections, the overall population in India by the year 2050 will grow by 55 per cent but that of the 60+ people will increase by 326 per cent. More alarmingly, there would be a 700 per cent increase in the 80+age group! It is a matter of deep worry that there are no holistic programmes to address the variegated needs of older people, the fastest growing group. The problem is especially pathetic in the unorganised sector. A manual worker, a rickshaw puller, a marginal farmer all become so decrepit and emaciated before attaining the so- briquet of senior citizen. They wither before they bloom. It appears that

Medical services for senior citizens are in short supply

gfiles inside the government 72 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com our subsidy regime and direct cash According to UN is a national policy but for want of transfer schemes are more likely to standing machinery for procuring create indolence, lethargy and paid projections, the overall coordination, the different ministries unemployment rather than inducing population in India by the work in silos. In order to address the young and able bodied people to year 2050 will grow by 55 upfront, citizens of 80+ years, elderly work hard and earn their legitimate per cent but that of the women, rural poor and the people ZDJHV'ROHVVXEVLGLHVDQG¿QDQFLDO working in unorganised sector and assistance should be given, more ap- 60+ people will increase the specialised healthcare needs of propriately, to needy senior citizens in by 326 per cent. More elders, the national policy needs a a graded scale as they advance in age, alarmingly, there would comprehensive revisit. JHWVHFOXGHGDQGLQ¿UPDQGDUHOHIWWR be a 700 per cent increase fend for themselves by their callous HE National Council for Senior progeny and kith and kin. Paradoxi- in the 80+ age group Citizens, an apex body, is dys- cally, the National Policy for Senior Tfunctional as it has not met even Citizens recognises productive ageing not contribute to unemployment of once, though it is required to meet as the key to the welfare of senior citi- the young. Attention needs to be ac- twice a year. The position of State zens between the age of 60-70 years. corded to the plight of the poor and Level Councils for senior citizens is With increased life expectancy underprivileged who are able to cross no better. There is no Directorate of and relatively better state of health the threshold of 60 years. Senior Citizens for over-arching poli- of a considerable section of the peo- Those in the 80+ age group are cy formulation and to oversee imple- ple, there are suggestions in bureau- highly vulnerable to a whole array of mentation of welfare measures. cratic echelons to have continuity GLVHDVHDQGLQ¿UPLWLHVOLNHGHPHQWLD The programmes of old age homes, of employment up to 62 years and Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s day care centres and Mobile Medicare also greater post retirement oppor- disease, depression, and so on, Units have grievously suffered due to tunities. But any such move should and they need special care. There paltry allocation. There are about 296

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 73 GOVERNANCE welfare devender singh old age homes in the country and that too concentrated in a few States. No norms have been prescribed for the manpower and the expertise needed for running old age homes or for con- struction of old age homes. Panchay- ati Raj institutions and local bodies seem to be disinclined to run old age KRPHVIRUODFNRI¿QDQFLDOVXSSRUW Mobile Medicare Units (MMUs) can play an effective role in providing the much needed health care to the DJHGDQGWKHLQ¿UPLQUHPRWHDQGIDU ÀXQJDUHDVEXWWKHQXPEHURI008V has gone down from 38 units in 2011- 12 to 29 units in 2012. Geriatric daily clinics have been established in 65 district hospitals and geriatric wards established in 53 district hospitals. However, all 640 districts must be Doles, subsidies and age homes/service apartments are equipped with such facilities. Super- financial assistance should able to interact and educate children speciality hospitals also need to be in orphanages or schools with some set up exclusively for geriatric care be given, more unobtrusive vigil. in different regions. There is also appropriately, to needy Apart from programmatic inter- an imperative need for setting up a senior citizens in a graded ventions, the rich cultural heritage National Institute of Ageing. scale as they advance of India needs to be widely dissemi- nated. Elders have been held in high health insurance scheme, in age, get secluded esteem from time immemorial. The on the lines of the Rashtriya and infirm and are left to bard of Mahabharata (in the Shanti ASwasthya Bima Yojana , needs fend for themselves by Parva) could not conceive of an to cover senior citizens without any their callous progeny Assembly without the participation regular source of sustenance. The of the elders. The Scriptures refer income tax exemption for senior citi- and kith and kin to the four-fold benefits that accrue zens should be indexed to the cost of from the service of the aged. The living and healthcare. The aged desti- old age home or a religious sanctuary aged must get proper access to food, tute should be given decent monthly like Vrindavan to gauge the extent to shelter, the much needed healthcare, pension and free medical care. which our social fabric has ruptured dignity and safety in the twilight of The protection of the life and DQGWKHIDVWYDQLVKLQJ¿OLDOWLHV their life since the right to live with property of the elders is yet another The Maintenance and Welfare of dignity is part of the fundamental emerging challenge since crimes Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 right of life. The poet’s promise to against them have become ram- needs to be enforced stringently, a job ‘grow old along with me’ as the ‘best pant, especially in urban areas. The to be done by the States. We also need is yet to be’ would surely get fructified reminiscence of a retired High Court to draw upon the welfare regime of if the UN Convention on Ageing is judge, who sought judicial interven- many of the European countries, es- implemented with full fidelity. g tion to secure possession of the house pecially the Scandinavian countries, The author is a senior parliamentary built by him from his own son, refuses which provide facilities like home, official and a student of constitutional and to fade. There are chilling tales of old healthcare and cooked meals to their parliamentary studies. The views expressed age people abandoned by their well senior citizens. Welfare programmes here are personal. He can be reached at placed children! One needs to visit an can be so integrated that elders in old [email protected]

gfiles inside the government 74 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 75 GLOBAL SCAN japan-india jeff kingston ‘Abeplomacy’ offsetting Japan’s isolation in Asia

A lot is riding on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to export nuclear technology abroad. As Abe visits New Delhi on the occasion of India’s Republic Day, we examine the nuclear component of ‘Abenomics’ infrastructure-exports growth strategy

RIME Minister Shinzo Abe was seeks to offset Japan’s isolation $334 billion in Sino-Japanese trade in New Delhi recently to cele- in East Asia by nurturing closer in 2012. Pbrate the 65th anniversary of the ties with the member states of the “The Indian nuclear tests of 1998 founding of the Indian Republic. His Association of Southeast Asian marked the lowest point in bilateral presence speaks volumes about closer Nations (ASEAN) andIndia. Warming relations, as Japan reacted strongly to diplomatic, security and economic ties ties with New Delhi marks a sharp the nuclearisation of the subcontinent,” and, at least from Tokyo’s perspec- turnaround from 1998 when Japan says Harsh Pant, professor of tive, a common agenda on respond- imposed economic sanctions on India international relations at King’s ing to the rise of China. India remains (and Pakistan) for conducting a series College London. “Tokyo suspended ambivalent, pursuing a shrewd of nuclear tests. These sanctions were economic assistance for three years hedging strategy rather than siding lifted in 2001, at Washington’s behest, as well as put on hold all political with either Beijing or Washington/ to reward their support for the US-led exchanges between the two nations. Tokyo, eager to maximise concessions “war on terror.” Since 2003, India has This strong reaction from Japan from all sides. been the largest recipient of Japanese was in many ways understandable, “The Emperor visited India last economic assistance, and economic given that the Japanese are the only month — a huge symbolic event — ties are growing due to the 2011 people to have experienced attacks by and now Abe has been invited to be Comprehensive Economic Partner- nuclear weapons.” the chief guest at the Republic Day ship Agreement. Bilateral trade in However, Pant explains, “many in celebrations on Jan. 26 — no other 2011-12 reached $18.43 billion, up India saw the Japanese reaction as Japanese prime minister has been 34 per cent from the previous year, hypocritical for apparently brushing invited to this before — an invitation but remains modest given the aside India’s genuine security extended only to close friends and partners,” says Punendra Jain, The ShinMaywa plane deal is seen as a significant boost professor of Asian Studies at Adelaide to growing bilateral defence cooperation. To skirt the University in Australia. “This existing ban on military exports, a stripped down symbolises their closer and evolving political and strategic relationships. “civilian” version of the plane would be sold without the Of course, the elephant in the room Identify Friend or Foe system. The Indian Navy is keen to is China.” acquire this aircraft and plans to equip it with an Israeli Tensions with China and South IFF system. Lifting the arms export ban to help Japan’s Korea have spiralled upward over the past year and thus “Abeplomacy” defence sector industries is an Abe priority in 2014.

gfiles inside the government 76 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister (left) and Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, shake hands during PHOTOS: PIB a news conference at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, on Jan. 25, 2014.

concerns even as Japan enjoyed the vulnerable. The 1962 border war with India’s civilian nuclear reactors. security guarantee of the US nuclear China was an unmitigated disaster for This agreement paved the way for umbrella.” Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Japan, as the sole nation to suffer a friendly diplomacy toward Beijing, under intense US pressure, to grant nuclear attack, has strongly opposed based on the false assumption that India a waiver in 2008 allowing it nuclear proliferation on principle, and the two nations shared a common access to civilian nuclear technology as such been an outspoken critic of agenda and could cooperate to recip- and fuel from the 48 member states. India’s nuclear weapons programme rocal advantage. The comprehensive Since the waiver was granted, India and refusal to join the 1968 Nuclear defeat was also a shock for the Indian has reached an agreement with Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or armed forces, exposing inadequate the US and France, among others, 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty military preparation. Upping the ante because they regard India as one (CTBT). However, India also bases its China then detonated a nuclear device of the most promising markets for non-participation in these regimes on in 1964, sending shock waves through nuclear reactor exports. Ironically, principle: the nuclear weapons pos- India’s security community and India’s 1974 nuclear test triggered sessing nations granted themselves ensuring that it would follow suit. In the establishment of the NSG, but a monopoly on nuclear weapons and 1974, India conducted its first nuclear now Washington has abandoned the have not followed up on pledges to test, dubbed “Smiling Buddha,” and sanctions regime it once imposed and eliminate their nuclear arsenals. its last tests in 1998. India maintains US President Barack Obama backs that its nuclear arsenal is for deter- India’s membership in the group. ROM the Indian government’s rence only and has declared a nuclear perspective, these non-proliff- no-first-use policy. Let’s make a deal Feration agreements created an In 2008, the International Atomic The 2008 US-India Civil Nuclear exclusive club of status quo powers Energy Agency reached an agreement Agreement brokered by the that left their nation marginalised and with India to allow it access to administration of President George

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W Bush has become the template for subsequent agreements, meaning that India’s unilateral pledge to refrain from nuclear tests has been accepted as sufficient guarantee. Until then, the NSG only cooperated with nations that signed the NPT. Under the terms of the agreement, in the event that India does conduct a nuclear test, any decision to terminate the accord and cut access would only be invoked after a year of consultations.

HIS is where Japan comes in. Exports of nuclear components Tand technology, as well as conventional arms, are potentially key elements of “Abenomics” and much is riding on the outcome. In 2013, Abe concluded Japan’s first nuclear reactor export agreement with Turkey for $22 billion and others are pending with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while the Prime Minister has also lobbied governments in Central Europe, Vietnam and Indonesia. This is a remarkable turnaround from 2011 when the prospects for post- the NSG waiver and hammer out an technologies, so it is hard to imagine Fukushima Japan relying on nuclear accord with India. Abe is keen to cut that India will settle for less. energy, let alone exporting it, looked a deal despite reservations within his Furthermore, the Japanese unlikely. party and ruling coalition, and has the government wants India to formally Three major nuclear vendors have numbers in the Diet to ignore public restate its commitment to India’s bagged contracts in India estimated opposition as he did when ramming no-first-use nuclear weapons policy at roughly $60 billion, but the final the notorious secrecy legislation and support for non-proliferation price will probably balloon given through the Diet in December. in the pact. India’s position remains a history of cost overruns. For Negotiations have stalled since clear: Japan should accept the example, Finland’s order for Areva’s 2008 mostly due to Japan’s insistence same deal as the US and other NSG Evolutionary Pressurized Reactor on India relinquishing its right members that don’t include such (EPR) has nearly tripled in cost to to conduct nuclear tests and an provisions. €8.5 billion from the original price tag immediate cessation of cooperation Discussions were suspended after of €3 billion and India has ordered six if India violates its self-imposed the Fukushima nuclear reactor melt- of these reactors. Each of the major moratorium. Japan also opposes downs in March 2011, but resumed in vendors feature significant Japanese India’s desire to reprocess spent fuel. May 2013. At the end of December, stakes — GE/Hitachi, Westinghouse/ However, a recent pact with Turkey negotiators had not yet bridged diff- Toshiba and Areva/Mitsubishi — and has a provision that allows it to enrich ferences on civilian nuclear coopera- all produce key reactor components uranium and extract plutonium if tion or the sale of US-2 amphibious in Japan. As such, they need the agreed in writing, paving the way search-and-rescue military aircraft Japanese government to agree to for exports of relevant Japanese produced by ShinMaywa. The plane

gfiles inside the government 78 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, at the delegation level talks, in New Delhi on January 25

expressed opposition to her husband’s support for nuclear energy exports, told a Dec. 29 television programme that, “It remains anybody’s guess if proper maintenance will be provided overseas. I wonder how Japan would cope in case of an emergency.” According to opinion polls, her doubts are shared by a majority of Japanese, including the mayor of Nagasaki who criticised the deal in August. Citizens in India worry, too. “(The deal) pushes India’s ill-conceived nuclear expansion ahead, creates a bad precedent of rewarding India for its nuclear tests while others face sanctions . . . and the whole dynam- ics of India, Japan and US cozying up to contain China (will) destabilise Asia,” says PK Sundaram from the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, India. deal is seen as a significant boost in its posture as elections are round He acknowledges that Indian par- to growing bilateral defence coop- the corner and they can’t dilute their ties across the political spectrum sup- eration. To skirt the existing ban on traditional stand on the CTBT.” port nuclear energy, but believes that military exports, a stripped down large, sustained public protests against “civilian” version of the plane would HILE postponement is pos- nuclear reactors, especially near a new be sold without the Identify Friend or sible, Jain believes that “the nuclear plant sited at Kundankulam Foe system. The Indian Navy is keen Wdeal is going to go ahead. I in Tamil Nadu, represent fallout from to acquire this aircraft and plans to don’t see much difference between Fukushima and widespread scepti- equip it with an Israeli IFF system. the BJP (Indian People’s Party) and cism about nuclear safety. Lifting the arms export ban to help Congress as far as Japan-India rela- Pankaj Mishra, an acclaimed writer Japan’s defence sector industries is tions are concerned. If anything, BJP from India, chides the Indian gov- an Abe priority in 2014. might seek closer ties with Japan.” ernment for blaming “an unspecified “Whether the two nations are able Jain adds, “As you know, in India, ‘foreign hand’ for the (anti-nuclear) to sign the pact during Abe’s January the agreement will be welcomed in all protests. Never mind that the much- visit would depend on how much risk quarters; strategic analysts, former despised foreign hand helped build the he is willing to take on the nuclear diplomats and military leaders are Kudankulam plant, along with much front and whether it would be a good writing strongly in favour.” of India’s nuclear infrastructure.” idea for him to sign a deal with a lame- MG Devasahayam, a former IAS duck government in Delhi,” Pant says. Dissensus official, asked me whether Abe would “The Indian government would not be But not everyone agrees. Japan’s approve the deal. I said yes, venturing able to deliver any significant change first lady, Akie Abe, who has openly that Abe is pro-India. He replied that

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 79 GLOBAL SCAN japan-india jeff kingston

he shouldn’t. “It is morally inappro- Kundankulam reactors, planting a priate for a country that has suffered Exports of nuclear potential time bomb in southern India. the worst from nuclear holocausts components and Nuclear liability of suppliers is a in war as well as in peace to supply technology, as well as key issue because it’s a potential deal nuclear reactors and equipment to conventional arms, are breaker. According to Arun Jaitley, an over-populated country like India the BJP opposition leader in India’s with limited land and water resourc- potentially key elements of Upper House, the issue of liability es,” Devasahayam says. “India needs “Abenomics” and much is remains murky despite government electricity that is cheap and affordable riding on the outcome. A efforts to finesse the issue. Nuclear whereas nuclear power is expensive. recent pact between Japan vendors are relying on a clause in If all costs — construction, commis- contracts signed with the Nuclear sioning, operation, decommissioning and Turkey has a provision Power Corp. of India that is designed and safe storage of spent-fuel — are that allows it to enrich to insulate them from any right to honestly factored in, nuclear power is uranium and extract recourse, but Jaitley argues that way costlier than any other source of plutonium if agreed in legally this won’t stand. Without an electricity.” ironclad waiver on liability, however, writing, paving the way for most nuclear suppliers won’t proceed. E worries that “Japan’s long- exports of relevant As Ramana says, “the nuclear industry term relationship with India Japanese technologies, so doesn’t like this business of being Hwill be seriously jeopardised it is hard to imagine that liable for anything at all.” once the Indian public comes to real- Rivals suppliers in Russia and ise the ill-effects of nuclear power on India will settle for less. South Korea might capitalise on their life, livelihood, environment and Japan’s misgivings. Seoul signed future generations.” character and the huge costs involved, a civilian nuclear agreement with AV Ramana, a nuclear physicist nuclear power cannot play a signifi- India in 2011 and earlier this month based at Princeton University, agrees cant role in solving the energy needs Park Geun-hye visited New Delhi to that nuclear energy does not make of the vast majority of India’s popula- explore nuclear prospects. And then sense for India due to the high costs tion (and) only brings with it two of there is the geo-strategic angle; China and safety concerns. In his book “The the familiar — and so far insoluble recently announced it would fund Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear — problems associated with nuclear and build a nuclear plant in Karachi, Energy in India,” Ramana argues that energy: susceptibility to catastrophic Pakistan — India’s arch-enemy. The nuclear energy is inappropriate for accidents and having to deal with pressures on Japan from the global India on environmental, economic radioactive waste that stays hazard- nuclear industrial complex are also and technological grounds. ous to human health for millennia,” intense, reinforced by lucrative con- “Japan, which is currently facing he says. tract awards to consortium involving tremendous democratic opposition “Their reasons for such opposi- Japanese firms, including the GE/ to restarting nuclear reactors within tion are not difficult to discern. In the Hitachi nuclear project in Gujarat, the country, is considering export- aftermath of March 11, 2011, people where the presumptive next Indian ing nuclear reactor parts to a coun- near an existing or proposed nucle- prime minister, Narendra Modi, is try where, again, there is significant ar reactor can — and do — imagine now chief minister. opposition to nuclear power, a histo- themselves suffering a fate similar to Abe, the pitchman-in-chief, is ry of failure, poor technology choices those of the inhabitants of the areas determined to seal the deal worth tens and a lack of organisational learning,” around Fukushima,” he says. of billions while millions of fingers are Ramana says. These anxieties appear warrant- crossed that his gamble doesn’t lead He cites the continued emphasis ed after A Gopalakrishnan, former to “Abegeddon.” g on breeder reactors, abandoned by chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Jeff Kingston lives in Tokyo, teaches other nations due to cost and safety Regulatory Board, revealed in April history at Temple University Japan. concerns, as evidence of institutional 2013 that the Russians used sub- “Contemporary Japan” (Wiley-Blackwell, myopia. “Because of its centralised standard components in building the 2012) is his most recent book.

gfiles inside the government 80 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com BOOK REVIEW national security non-fictionnon fiction by K SUBRAMANIAM Strategic confinement

HE history of independent India colleagues in the NDA government will recognise the contributions undertook to soften the negative Tof many distinguished ministers international reaction and lay the of the Union Cabinet. But it is difficult foundation for India’s eventual to recall many from the post-Nehru accommodation with the United generations who have reflected on the States and the global nuclear order. great policy issues they confronted in He does much better in his final office. Jaswant Singh, who served chapter where he lays out the story of as the minister for foreign affairs, Vajpayee’s bus journey to Lahore, the defence, and finance, and headed the response to the Kargil surprise, and Planning Commission, is clearly an Kandahar hijacking and the Agra exception. debacle with Gen. Pervez Musharraf. It is with great anticipation, then, His valuable narrative plugs some of one picks up Singh’s latest book, India the gaps in what is known about these at Risk. He begins by asking a very big controversial events. question. Why does India continue to Title: India at Risk: Mistakes, Given his stature and record, we Misconceptions and Misadventures flounder when it comes to national expect more from Singh. A detached of Security Policy security management? Jaswant Singh Author: Jaswant Singh but critical review of the Vajpayee identifies a number of factors, Publisher: Rupa Publications years, for example, would have been including the debilitating impact of Pages: 292 immensely instructive for the next the Partition that broke up the Price: `595 generation of Indian leaders. One strategic unity of the subcontinent, would urge Singh to take up on this the turbulence generated by nation unfinished task, especially the one building, the lack of sensibility to He is at his clinical best in assessing tantalising proposition that he begins India’s territoriality, and the failure to India’s unsuccessful military inter- and ends India at Risk with. Singh develop a statecraft that can get on vention in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. insists that India will remain “immo- top of the many security challenges The last two chapters are of great bilised in thought” and “physically confronting India. interest, for they deal with security impaired in its responses” if it does Much of the book is devoted to a issues that Singh was involved with as not break out of the strategic confine- critical assessment of the Jammu and a senior minister. After all, this was a ment imposed by four lines: Durand Kashmir war in 1947-48, the wars period when India ended its pro- Line, McMahon Line, Line of Control, with China and Pakistan in 1962 and longed atomic ambivalence, conduct- and Line of Actual Control. 1965 respectively, and the liberation ed five nuclear tests, declared itself a Few have thought more deeply of Bangladesh. This is not the tradi- nuclear weapon power, sought to than Singh on the imperatives of tional attack from the opposition on negotiate on Kashmir with Pakistan, consolidating India’s territoriality. Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress launched military operations to The Congress government, despite a party for their deemed failures. Singh vacate Pakistan’s Kargil aggression, decade-long tenure, has failed to finish is more philosophical than polemical explored a boundary settlement with what Vajpayee started with Pakistan, in his criticisms of Indian mis-steps in China, and coped with the mounting China and the neighbourhood. One the first decades after Independence. challenges of terrorism. hopes that in his next book, Singh will Singh has an incisive chapter on Singh, however, whets the appetite elaborate on how India can overcome what he calls “India’s destructive dec- but stops short of serving the main the consequences of Partition, settle ades”—the 1970s and 1980s—when course. The short chapter on nuclear its border disputes, reimagine its the nation was at war with itself in the issues does not walk us through the frontiers and restore the strategic Punjab, Assam and the North East. complex manoeuvre that he and his unity of the subcontinent. g

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 81 MY CORNER rules amitabh thakur Improper conduct

Why the Delhi Ministers’ personal stand on Delhi police is completely incorrect

HE All India Services (Conduct) convenient transaction of business the same time, it is also clear that the Rules, 1968 through which we, with the ministers, including the Minister does not have authority and Tas IAS and IPS officers, are procedure to be adopted in the case power over a Department or agency governed states in the very beginning of a difference of opinion between beyond what he has been assigned. of Rule 3-“The direction of the the Lieutenant Governor and the What happened in Delhi recently official superior shall ordinarily be Council of Ministers or a Minister. where two ministers went to different in writing. Where the issue of oral In exercise of the powers conferred places in Delhi and gave directions to direction becomes unavoidable, the by section 44 of the above Act, the Delhi police personnel for certain official superior shall confirm it in the President of India made the raids and acts which the policemen writing immediately thereafter” and Transaction of Business of the refused to comply with needs to be “A member of the Service who has Government of National Capital seen in the light of the above legal received oral direction from his official Territory of Delhi Rules, 1993. Rule provisions. While it is true that there superior shall seek confirmation 15 says that proposals or matters is a big section of people who are of the same in writing, as early as may be disposed of by or under the currently seen to be supporting the possible and in such case, it shall be authority of the Minister-in-charge ministers’ personal actions but if the the duty of the official superior to who may, by means of standing above matter is seen from an academic confirm the direction in writing.” The orders, give such directions as he perspective, many facts would emerge same kind of conduct rules apply for thinks fit for the disposal of proposals that seem to state that not only is the all other services. What it means is or matters in his Department. ministers’ stand improper, it is also that orders can come only in a written From the above constitutional and dangerous, having its own long-term manner or need to be immediately put legal provisions, it is clear that the repercussions. As far as the facts that in writing. Minister in charge of the Department have emerged through media reports, The other aspect is that the is solely responsible for the final first, the two ministers in their executive power of the Union extends decision-making and functioning of individual capacity gave certain oral to matters stated in Article 73 of the their respective Department. But at directions and when refused by the Constitution while that of the State policemen, they seemed to be arguing shall extend to matters stated in The basic issue is that and fighting with the Delhi police Article 162. The Delhi Government persons and then were seen building has specific Articles 239AA and 239AB the ministers gave these pressure to get them suspended. As a devoted to it in the Constitution directions in their professional, this goes against the which places it in a special position. individual capacity; they basic concept of autonomy in As per section 44 of the Government were oral orders and professional work. To me, it is a of National Capital Territory of Delhi further manifestation of undue Act, 1991, the President of India shall such oral orders in political interference. make rules (a) for the allocation of individual capacities are There are many who seem to be business to the Ministers in so far as against the basic rules of supporting the ministers’ stand it is business with respect to which the administration. The because they think that they were ask- Lieutenant Governor is required to act ing for action in common public good on the aid and advice of his Council same conduct rules while the policemen were not acting of Ministers; and (b) for the more apply to all services. and were showing inaction because of

gfiles inside the government 82 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com definite personal and extraneous against the basic rules of to enforce it through their external motives, related with corrupt administration, as has been explained influence as being a minister of motives. Then, there also comes in above. In addition, the ministers government, which again goes against play the common public perception headed other departments and as per the basic principles of administration. about policemen, which whether one the Rules of Business and the Delhi It was not the ministers’ right or duty likes it or not, is not very positive. As State Act, they did not have the legal to impose their will on these matters a senior police officer, I might person- authority to direct and issue orders to even if they might have been factually ally dislike it or might even try to the policemen. correct because such a trend will refute it, but this does not alter the lead to utter chaos and complete fact that a reasonable section of our HETHER the police is today dictatorship. population perceives the police as working as a professional If a similarity can be thought of, it being unresponsive, corrupt, ineffec- Worganisation or not, the fact is almost like the act of police tive and siding with the wrong people. remains that it would be in the benefit encounters that are so blatantly But it needs to be understood that of the entire nation and society that it criticised by right-thinking people, as the issue here is not whether all strives to become a professional body. it will lead to heavy misuse of such policemen are good or bad; it is also If such a concept is accepted, at least authority and functioning. The worst not whether the orders of the minister in theory, then the policemen were is that now these ministers in their were correct or not. The basic issue legally absolutely correct in refusing individual capacity and the chief is that the ministers gave these these oral personal orders—cent per minister in his individual capacity directions in their individual capacity; cent correct. Whatever the ministers and as political persons are building they were oral orders and such oral wanted to do was not in their unwarranted and improper pressure orders in individual capacities are administrative control and they tried to get these policemen suspended, just because they disobeyed the oral, unauthorised orders of some ministers. It is definitely legally and adminis- tratively incorrect. It also reflects the open misuse of authority. If such a thing actually happens, it will be a sad day for the Indian administrative sys- tem and functioning. Just because policemen carry a bad reputation in the eyes of many, it does not give any- one a right to issue improper and legally incorrect dictates and adopt such short-cuts. Instead, all efforts need to be taken ARUNA to make all the government agencies, including the police, autonomous professional bodies, where extraneous influences of politicians and political masters, particularly beyond their domain of legal influence gets pruned to the minimum. This is the minimum required for better governance, genuinely. g Amitabh Thakur, IPS officer from UP, is also working for transparency in governance. The views expressed are personal.

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 83 SILLY POINT politics mk kaw The second coming of Arvind Kejriwal

N a piece entitled ‘The Rise and Fall of Team Anna’ Corruption movement drifted apart. The reasons for the in gfiles, soon after the Lok Pal Bill was not passed split have now come out into the open. Kejriwal wanted Iby the RajyaSabha about two years back, I had asked to launch a new political party. Anna felt that politics was a rhetorical question: Will there be a second coming for like mud; they would be sullied by the contact. Kejriwal Team Anna? I noted that the Christians had been wait- argued that if politics was mud, they would need to get ing in vain for the second coming of Jesus Christ for the into the mire and clean it up. This conflict of perception last 2,000 years. The Buddhists similarly believed that is reminiscent of the differences that cropped up between Gautama the Buddha will come again as Lord Maitreya. Gandhi and Nehru on many issues, like the acceptance The Theosophists, led by Annie Besant, even projected of Partition, appeasement of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Jiddu Krishnamurti as Lord Maitreya, but the anointed the disbandment of the Congress Party after the achieve- apostle threw off the yoke, disbanded the Order of the ment of freedom, to give only a few examples. Star and declared that he was not the Messiah. In the Preface, Kejriwal says that we fought for Would there be a second coming for Team Anna, I Independence from the British because we wanted asked. My answer was: “I doubt it. They had their chance swaraj, or self-rule. But this did not happen. The British and they missed it.” went away, but their system remained in place. We do I was wrong. Kejriwal has bounced back. not want leaders and officers sitting in Delhi to formulate Today, Kejriwal is a phenomenon. He has suddenly development schemes for the people. burst on the national scene like an unlikely comet, leav- Self-rule means that the government should function ing old stalwarts open-mouthed in dismay. He pontifi- according to the wishes of the people. Laws, rules and cates on political issues with the confidence of an old regulations should be formulated with the consent and campaigner, and enunciates the elements of a new utopia participation of the people. The people should decide all with messianic fervour. momentous issues in a scientific and systematic manner, Having heard him define the New Polity in driblets, I so that our resources like land, water, coal, iron ore, wanted to see whether there was a document which con- etc., are not taken away by foreign governments and tained the detailed contours of his proposal. I discovered investors, domestic business houses, corrupt politicians a slim 151 page book called Swaraj, published by Harper and bureaucrats for a pittance. Collins in August 2012. It is priced at a modest `150, as In the present system of governance, the people have Kejriwal has forgone his royalty. only one right: the right to vote for their representatives It is curious that Kejriwal should have called his mani- in Parliament, vidhan sabha, and self-governing institu- festo ‘Swaraj’, just like Mahatma Gandhi. I have often felt tions like Panchayati Raj bodies and municipal commit- that Gandhi is the unstated inspiration for Kejriwal, with tees and corporations. This power is exercised only once a broad similarity of perceptions with regard to the pri- in five years. The politicians woo the voters for a little macy of the village, non-violent non-cooperation, peace- while during the electoral process and promptly forget ful agitation, fast unto death, involvement of millions them for the next five years. of common people, taking up issues with high emotive The people have no control over government employ- appeal, hating the sin and not the sinner, simplicity in ees, who are supposed to serve them. Even if the teacher personal life and so on. Like Gandhi, he has a soft exte- does not attend the school, the doctor does not give med- rior, but inside he is as tenacious as steel. The list is virtu- icines or the constable does not record their FIR, they ally endless. have no remedy except to complain to their superiors The book has a Foreword by Anna Hazare, who calls it with little effect. The gram sabha cannot summon these the manifesto of the India of tomorrow. Those were hap- employees for an explanation, stop their salaries or pun- pier days before the two stalwarts of the India against ish them.

gfiles inside the government 84 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com ARUNA

HE people have no control over government funds. serve the needs of tribals living in or near them and were Whenever the people demand something, they are not interfered with even by the mighty British, were taken Ttold that there are no funds. On the other hand, there over by the forest departments after Independence and are plenty of funds for schemes, like old age pensions, massive deforestation took place. In many cities, water is widow pensions, NREGA, ration, etc., formulated on all being distributed by companies. Whole rivers are being -India basis by planners sitting in Delhi and State capitals. gobbled up in the wake of dam construction. The people are not consulted while formulating laws, Kejriwal poses the question as to why India is up for rules and schemes. Nobody asks them when their land sale and why the people are unable to do anything to stave is acquired for the benefit of foreign and indigenous off the challenge. companies. Natural resources are allotted to large His answer: There is no democracy in India. The business houses, charging them a tiny fraction of what people have understood the game. They do not find the they earn from their disposal. Forests, which used to politics of voting once in five years as acceptable. “We, the

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 85 SILLY POINT politics mk kaw people” want a direct participation in power. In Kejriwal’s ers in the gram sabhas will inexorably lead to corruption, utopia, the people shall take decisions, and politicians favouritism, groupism, repression of Dalits, strength- and officials will have to implement them. ening of outdated institutions like khap panchayats, It might be argued that a decentralised democracy perpetuation of traditional social evils and so on. exists in India, but the Panchayati Raj system suffers from He goes on to suggest that there should be mohalla several infirmities. The panchayats have very limited sabhas in towns too, and all the suggestions made for powers and whatever limited powers they have, vest in empowering gram sabhas should be applied to urban the sarpanch and not in the gram sabha. The people have areas too. no power to take action against a corrupt sarpanch. All the powers vest in the district collector and the State Swaraj: A Critical Appraisal government. What is required is a shift of powers from There is no doubt in my mind that Kejriwal has hit the State governments, district collectors and sarpanches upon a fundamental truth about the system of governance to the gram sabhas. in this country. It is that we have over-centralised the entire structure of economic planning. On the one hand, EJRIWAL has cited the examples from other we wish to remove controls and empower the private countries to demonstrate that he is not suggesting sector, but on the other hand, we have not dismantled Ksomething unique or eccentric. In the US, a small the planning apparatus, a reminder of the balmy days municipality in the State of Oregon disallowed a proposal of the socialistic pattern of society and the Mahalnobis of Walmart to open a store in their town. Their decision model and development of the commanding heights of was final. In Brazil, a budget for slum areas was prepared the economy. on the streets in consultation with the beneficiaries and Many of us have balked at the distinction made in even the World Bank had to concede the various budgets between plan and that there was, consequently, tremen- Kejriwal says the gram non-plan expenditure, a distinction dous development. In Switzerland, if sabhas, consisting of all that has harmed the system of gov- 50,000 persons sign a petition and ask the residents of a village, ernance more than any other factor. for a law, it has to be presented as an In our topsy-turvey system, we get act in the parliament. Thus, there is should be vested with all unlimited amounts of money to build direct participation in governance in powers. They should have new assets, schemes and projects, but many countries of the world. the power to punish we are starved to death with respect to So what actually needs to be done? maintenance of assets and infrastruc- Kejriwal says that the gram sabhas, which consist of all ture already in existence. the residents of a village, should be vested with all pow- The media has been playing its usual games. After ers. They should appoint the local officials and have the the AAP’s surprise win in December 2013, they raised power to summon anyone to the meeting of the sabha. Kejriwal to the skies and catapulted him to the pedestal They should have the power to punish and to stop the of a possible winner of the plum position of the Prime salary. Minister. The latest opinion polls have predicted just No schematic funds should be spent in a village. It 7 to 12 seats to AAP in the elections to the Lok Sabha. would be better to allot an untied fund to the sabha, Political parties and their supporters in big business and which they can spend as they wish. They could give a the media are attacking Kejriwal and his chief lieutenants house to a homeless family, or support some indigent like sharks on non-issues like a poem written six years with foodgrain, or grant a loan to a person for starting ago, a dharna against police inaction and a foiled attempt a business, or set up factories, or grain banks. Thus they to persuade the police to raid a suspect premises. could ensure that no one in the village died of hunger, They fail to recognise a paradigm shift in the politi- or was forced to take a loan from a moneylender at an cal dialogue of this country. It is immaterial whether exorbitant rate of interest, or committed suicide due to Kejriwal and the AAP survive. Politics in India will never frustration. be the same again. Kejriwal has had his Second Coming. Towards the end, Kejriwal anticipates the various mis- Whether he is the messiah we have all been waiting for, givings people have about the proposed reforms pack- only time will tell! g age. He pooh-poohs the suggestion that vesting of pow- MK Kaw is a former Secretary, Government of India

gfiles inside the government 86 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com STOCK DOCTOR dr gs sood

Signs of turnaround

HE opinion polls so far have Valuation wise, the Sensex is to this, most of the sectors have shown predicted that the Narendra trading at around 14 times forward muted growth and are likely to see a TModi-led BJP is likely to be the earnings of fiscal 2015 and at around major turnaround. single largest party in the general 16 times fiscal 2014 earnings; this Investors will do well to pay attention elections to be held in April-May, can, at best, be described to be to sectors that are yet to participate in 2014. The BJP with its allies forming reasonable. There may not be an the rally and ignore those that have stable government can be the best immediate sharp upside, but the already run up a lot. On this count, case scenario for the market that will market has a tendency to discount the capital goods, infrastructure and attract foreign institutional investors future fairly in advance whenever cyclicals need to be looked at closely (FIIs) in hordes despite tapering fears. some significant developments such since as soon as capex cycle begins to Otherwise too, the slight moderation as formation of a new government or pick up momentum, these sectors are in the bond buying programme of Fed the like happen. Also, the fact that likely to outperform for at least 2-3 has not had any significant impact and both individual and institutional years. Select individual stocks on their FIIs have, by and large, been sticking domestic investors are massively strength ignoring the Sensex levels to the Indian market. However, the under invested in equities, a bull run that is near its all-time high and buy recent upset made by the Aam Aadmi may just be waiting to happen. Added on dips. g Party (AAP) in Delhi can change the scenario on the national front as well. Stock Shop A fractured and uncertain verdict will BY RAKESH BHARDWAJ be the worst news for the market as likely to be the future engines of growth. heightened uncertainty will take a NIIT (CMP `26) Besides, the company has taken steps heavy toll on the economy. to cut cost by shutting down non-prof- However, things have otherwise NCORPORATED in 1981, NIIT Limited itable locations and courses. NIIT y-o-y started improving for the economy Iis one of India’s premiere IT train- revenue was down by 23.8 per cent to with the current account deficit (CAD) ing companies. Besides IT training `960.8 crore in FY13 as compared to down. The currency crisis appears to services, it also provides learning solu- FY12. EBITDA margins were down by be over and the same is reflected in tions to schools and corporates. It has 700 bps to 4.4 per cent primarily due to the return of FIIs to the debt market. forayed into providing training in the the concerns discussed. The company Though rising yields in the US may vocational space through its skill build- incurred a loss of `24.7 crore in com- revert flows but the impending hikes ing vertical for emerging sectors like IT/ parison to a profit of `62.1 crore in FY12. by the RBI in repo rates may see the ITES, retail, finance and other sectors. The quarter ending December 2013 flow continuing for some time. The NIIT management has swiftly moved to has reported a net loss of `15 crore and good monsoons have started showing remedy the situation arising from slow- may just be the end of the downslide. its impact on food inflation coupled down in IT related training business by The company has an uninterrupted with lower imports; the overall infla- refocusing on growth opportunities, dividend record with the CMP giving tion has started moderating. exiting non- profitable businesses and a dividend yield of around 6.5 per cent Growth is, however, likely to remain revamping existing offerings. Change and at a fair discount to its book value. slow due to tight liquidity and low in the business mix is expected to help It also has a 24.1 per cent stake in NIIT business confidence levels in the pri- the company regain its growth trajec- Technologies, which is a premiere IT vate sector hampering new capex ini- tory. Its new offerings of Cloud Campus Services Solutions Company. An invest- tiatives. Stretched government financ- and curriculum courses for data analyt- ment with a time span of around 2 years es and the need to contain the fiscal ics being in line with demand trends are can give decent returns. deficit will further weigh on growth.

The author has no exposure in the stock recommended in this column. gfiles does not accept responsibility for investment decisions by readers of this column. Investment-related queries may be sent to [email protected] with Bhardwaj’s name in the subject line.

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 87 EXHIBITIONEXHIBITIONO novel and ashok lavasa

Moments and memories

by K SUBRAMANIAM rising sun, trees, monuments and it is tolerance, togetherness and men all form a part of their landscape. tenderness that will take us to the OVELL and Ashok Lavasa The stripes of a zebra, the spots of a other end. Companionship is part carried forward their journey giraffe, and lions on a tree are as of nature, compassion brings beings Nof exploring nature and enchanting as the eyes of birds in bliss closer and together they create brought its many facets together in or flapping their wings in the sands of indelible moments.” an exhibition of their photographs in a desert. The balance in life that com- The photograph of the Berlin Wall New Delhi recently. panionship brings is akin to the glory with graffiti on it dominates the gal- This time, their ‘Stand & Stare’ reflected in the light and shade creat- lery as a symbol of the theme of the collection offers images of ‘Mates & ed by the sun when its rays land on an exhibition with two countries that Moments’. Apparently these seem object that shines, at the same time once stood divided by an artificial unrelated as many things in the world diverting the journey of the rays and barrier now stand united as ‘mates’ would seem to the human eye. The creating a contrast that completes the with one single ‘moment’ determining inward eye, however, is able to harmony of vision. The shimmering the destiny of millions. The Berlin discover the inherent harmony that waters of the sea, the glittering peaks Wall was erected in the dead of night. pervades creation. of the mountains, trees bearing the Just past midnight on the night of Novel and Ashok Lavasa are not burden of spring and trees bereft of August 12-13, 1961. For 28 years, fam- professional photographers. They are leaves represent the harmony of life. ilies, friends, and lovers across the two sensitive souls that are out to Mates in many moods, mountains in border were separated from their assimilate life. They do so by a pas- majestic isolation and moments that loved ones. Its destruction, which was sionate lifestyle that reflects in their live in memory – all these captured nearly as instantaneous as its crea- work, social interaction and incessant in moments of splendid irony and tion, was celebrated around the world. travel when they interact with nature. pleasing tranquillity. They say that “in On the eve of November 9, 1989, as an Mountains, waterfalls, the setting and these times of tension and turmoil, official announcement was made by

gfiles inside the government 88 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com PHOTOS: RAJEEV TYAGI East German government, the he had received a blow to the face. Berlin Wall was inundated with He was one of the first skeletons to people from both sides. Some be salvaged by divers in 1958. The began chipping at the Wall with individual F, “Filip”, was probably hammers and chisels. These people a sailor who died at his post. He were nicknamed “Mauerspechte” was c. 30 years old, 163 cm tall and (wall woodpeckers). There was an had a set of teeth that gave him a impromptu celebration, with peo- special smile. “Ylva” was identified ple hugging, kissing, singing, cheer- in the beginning as a boy, but was ing, and crying. East and West in fact a 16-year-old girl in poor Germany reunified into a single health. Her skeleton shows several German state on October 3, 1990. injuries and she was stooped Little is left of the Wall at its origi- and undernourished. The unknown nal site. The broken walls of a city dead have been given a name and a that unite two countries mark that new life. ‘mating moment’ when barriers The Lavasas are compulsive erected by history and impedi- travellers, love music, river rafting, ments of ideology are dissolved. trekking, racquet games and read- Hearts and homes divided by ing. Novel worked for the State humans are united. Bank of India for 28 years, is now Yet another photograph marks an entrepreneur growing exotic the recreation of those that perished vegetables in a poly house, organ- in an accident in 1628 in Sweden ises adventure camps for women when a ship named ‘Vasa’ sank. It and is also a CSR consultant. Her was a fearsome war machine with husband Ashok is in the Indian 64 guns and 450 men, of them 300 Administrative Service and is cur- soldiers. It sank within minutes of rently posted as Secretary, Civil its launch on August 10, 1628 but Aviation, in Government of India. was salvaged after 333 years on April most probably victims also. In While Novel has written occasional 24, 1961 and is now preserved in the connection with research on these pieces on their travels, Ashok’s first Vasa Museum in Stockholm. It is skeletons, each has been given a name book ‘An Uncivil Servant’ was believed that about 30 men, women in alphabetical order following the published in 2006. They have and children died in the catastrophe. Swedish letter-naming system – participated in various exhibitions At least 15 skeletons were found “Adam”, “Beata”, “Cesar”, etc. What and have also had solo exhibitions in during excavations. Some were found can be said about “Adam” is that he different cities. The last exhibition of outside the ship but have been dated was 35-40 years old, 165 cm tall and their photographs ‘Inward Eye’ was by the radiocarbon method, and were in good health, but that in his youth held in 2010 in New Delhi. g

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 89 birthdays IAS officers’ birthdays Feb 16, 2014 — Mar 15, 2014 IAS officers’ birthdays Feb 16, 2014 — Mar 15, 2014

Raj Kumar Mathur Vandana Krishna RS Doon Pankaj Yadav 16-02-1956 25-02-1962 05-03-1955 10-03-1977 CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH CADRE: MAHARASHTRA CADRE: HARYANA CADRE: HARYANA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Aditya Prasad Padhi Prerna Puri Sheela Balakrishnan Vijay Kumar 17-02-1960 26-02-1981 05-03-1954 10-03-1954 CADRE: ODISHA CADRE: UNION TERRITORY CADRE: TAMIL NADU CADRE: MAHARASHTRA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Dinesh Kumar Akshat Gupta Shahmeena Husain Priyatu Mandal 17-02-1972 27-02-1977 06-03-1972 11-03-1980 CADRE: RAJASTHAN CADRE: GUJARAT CADRE: GUJARAT CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Bhagyesh Vasudev Jha Narayan Singh Radha S Raturi Anurag Agarwal 18-02-1955 28-02-1954 06-03-1964 11-03-1966 CADRE: GUJARAT CADRE: CHHATTISGARH CADRE: UTTARANCHAL CADRE: PUNJAB [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Neelam P Kasni Aarti Ahuja Reena Ray Bhaskar Mushahary 19-02-1956 28-02-1964 06-03-1961 12-03-1956 CADRE: HARYANA CADRE: ODISHA CADRE: UNION TERRITORY CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Barun Kumar Ray B Dhar Sanjay Ajoykumar Mukerjee Durgesh Chandra Mishra 19-02-1967 01-03-1955 07-03-1972 12-03-1954 CADRE: CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA CADRE: MAHARASHTRA CADRE: CHHATTISGARH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Vivek Rae Surender Kumar Sood Kannegi Packianathan Santosh Babu 20-02-1954 01-03-1948 07-03-1955 12-03-1968 CADRE: UNION TERRITORY CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH CADRE: TAMIL NADU CADRE: TAMIL NADU [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Bandana Preyashi T Cholongse Sangtam Arbind Prasad DK Raval 21-02-1974 01-03-1955 08-03-1956 13-03-1955 CADRE: BIHAR CADRE: NAGALAND CADRE: BIHAR CADRE: GUJARAT [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Ashish Chatterjee Nikunja Kishore Sundaray Aboobacker Siddique P Ishita Roy 21-02-1973 02-03-1963 08-03-1974 13-03-1965 CADRE: TAMIL NADU CADRE: ODISHA CADRE: JHARKHAND CADRE: KERALA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

R Sudhan Sanjeev Chopra Ravindra Kumar Pastor A Ashok 22-02-1978 03-03-1961 08-03-1954 14-03-1960 CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA CADRE: WEST BENGAL CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH CADRE: ANDRA PRADESH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Jiji Thomson K Tokughasukhalu M Malik Ferozekhan Madan Lal Meena 23-02-1956 04-03-1954 08-03-1954 14-03-1957 CADRE: KERALA CADRE: NAGALAND CADRE: TAMIL NADU CADRE: WEST BENGAL [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

S Avhad Neelkanth Rahul Tiwari Siddharth Jain Anil Shrivastava 23-02-1972 04-03-1976 09-03-1976 15-03-1959 CADRE: PUNJAB CADRE: PUNJAB CADRE: ANDRA PRADESH CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Swaran Singh Sandhya Bhullar Kalpana Awasthi Katru Rama Mohana Rao 24-02-1955 05-03-1978 09-03-1964 15-03-1963 CADRE: TAMIL NADU CADRE: GUJARAT CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

gfiles inside the government 90 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com IPS officers’ birthdays Feb 16, 2014 — Mar 15, 2014 IPS officers’ birthdays Feb 16, 2014 — Mar 15, 2014

Lingala Vijaya Prasad Kamal Kumar Saini Gopal B Hosur Rajiv Kapoor 16-02-1972 26-02-1954 04-03-1954 10-03-1954 CADRE: AGMUT CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR CADRE: KARNATAKA CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Maneesh Chaudhry Ravi Kumar S Nallasivam Amar Kanti Sarkar 17-02-1981 26-02-1955 04-03-1956 10-03-1956 CADRE: HARYANA CADRE: HARYANA CADRE: TAMIL NADU CADRE: WEST BENGAL [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Pramod Kumar Thakur Omendra Bhardwaj Jai Prakash Narayan Singh B B Misra 18-02-1958 27-02-1955 05-03-1949 10-03-1955 CADRE: BIHAR CADRE: RAJASTHAN CADRE: BIHAR CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Alok Puri M M Praharaj Mohan Singh Tomar Sanjay Mathur 18-02-1958 28-02-1954 05-03-1954 11-03-1968 CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR CADRE: ODISHA CADRE: CHHATTISGARH CADRE: TAMIL NADU [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

M N Krishnamurthy Santosh Mehra Smt Anupam Saxena Ashok Kumar Jain 19-02-1955 28-02-1963 05-03-1971 12-03-1955 CADRE: KERALA CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Bhim Sain Bassi K P Raghuwanshi L Ram Bishnoi Ms Sachi Ghildyal 20-02-1956 01-03-1955 06-03-1963 12-03-1977 CADRE: AGMUT CADRE: MAHARASHTRA CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

L Thechamo Lotha Ramesh Chandra Singh M Jagan Mohan Reddy Arvind Kumar Jain 21-02-1954 01-03-1963 06-03-1950 13-03-1955 CADRE: NAGALAND CADRE: PUNJAB CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Ravinder Paul Singh R K Chauhan Naval Bajaj Kulwant Kumar 22-02-1957 01-03-1949 07-03-1969 13-03-1963 CADRE: PUNJAB CADRE: RAJASTHAN CADRE: MAHARASHTRA CADRE: MAHARASHTRA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Amit Lodha Themthing Nhashangva K V Sharat Chandra Rakesh Kumar Mishra 22-02-1974 01-03-1975 07-03-1967 14-03-1960 CADRE: BIHAR CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA CADRE: KARNATAKA CADRE: BIHAR [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Amit Chandra T Norbu Mukhtar Mohsin S M Sahai 23-02-1968 02-03-1954 07-03-1977 14-03-1963 CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH CADRE: SIKKIM CADRE: UTTARAKHAND CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Ajit Joy T Krishna Prasad K Ramchandran Kailash Chandra Meena 24-02-1969 02-03-1960 08-03-1948 15-03-1961 CADRE: BIHAR CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH CADRE: MAHARASHTRA CADRE: WEST BENGAL [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

L Lenkhottan Doungel Brajesh Kumar Jha Kundan Krishna G Surya Prakash Rao 25-02-1958 03-03-1973 08-03-1969 15-03-1957 CADRE: WEST BENGAL CADRE: GUJARAT CADRE: BIHAR CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Vimla Mehra Virendra Kumar Akhil Kumar Roy Rajesh Kumar 26-02-1956 04-03-1960 09-03-1956 15-03-1971 CADRE: AGMUT CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH CADRE: WEST BENGAL CADRE: ODISHA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 91 birthdays

Lok Sabha Members Feb 16, 2014 — Mar 15, 2014 Lok Sabha Members FebMay 16, 16, 2014 2013 — — Mar Jun 15, 20132014

Rajagopal Lagadapati J K Ritheesh Shivakumar Kameshwar Baitha Nama Nageswara Rao 16-02-1964 05-03-1973 15-03-1956 15-03-1957 INC (Andhra Pradesh DMK (Tamil Nadu) JMM (Jharkhand) TDP (Andhra Pradesh) [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Kalva K Chandrasekhar Rao K H Muniyappa 17-02-1954 07-03-1948 Rajya Sabha Members Feb 16, 2014 — Mar 15, 2014 TRS (Andhra Pradesh) INC (Karnataka) [email protected] A A Jinnah Bhalchandra Mungekar Praful Manoharbhai Patel 16-02-1941 02-03-1946 17-02-1957 Adhi Sankar 07-03-1957 DMK (Tamil Nadu) INC (Nominated) NCP (Maharashtra) [email protected] [email protected] DMK (Tamil Nadu) Vishnu Deo Sai [email protected] Gyan Prakash Pilania Tarun Vijay 21-02-1964 Shashi Tharoor 18-02-1932 02-03-1956 BJP (Chhattisgarh) 09-03-1956 BJP (Rajasthan) BJP (Uttarakhand) [email protected] [email protected] INC (Kerala) Pradeep Majhi [email protected] 22-02-1976 Khekiho Zhimomi Mohan Singh INC (Odisha) 19-02-1946 04-03-1945 [email protected] 09-03-1970 NPF (Nagaland) SP (Uttar Pradesh) [email protected] [email protected] INC (Haryana) Udayanraje P Bhonsle [email protected] 24-02-1966 N Janardhana Reddy Ranbir Singh Parjapati NCP (Maharashtra) Narahari Mahato 20-02-1935 04-03-1964 [email protected] 10-03-1956 INC (Andhra Pradesh) INLD (Haryana) [email protected] AIFB (West Bengal) [email protected] Jugul Kishore 26-02-1959 24-02-1959 Ghulam Nabi Azad BJP (Maharashtra) Sanjay Bhoi BSP (Uttar Pradesh) 07-03-1949 11-03-1974 INC (Jammu & Kashmir) [email protected] Virendra Kumar INC (Odisha) Abhishek Manu Singhvi 27-02-1954 24-02-1959 [email protected] Karan Singh BJP (Madhya Pradesh) INC (Rajasthan) 09-03-1931 [email protected] Kamlesh Balmiki [email protected] 12-03-1967 INC (NCT of Delhi) [email protected] Gajanan Dharmshi Babar SP (Uttar Pradesh) Bimla Kashyap Sood 01-03-1943 26-02-1942 Derek O Brien SS (Maharashtra) M B Rajesh BJP (Himachal Pradesh) [email protected] 13-03-1961 12-03-1971 AITC (West Bengal) CPI (M) (Kerala) Barun Mukherji [email protected] Makhansingh Solanki [email protected] 01-03-1933 01-03-1952 AIFB (West Bengal) BJP (Madhya Pradesh) Rangasayee Ramakrishna Sharifuddin Shariq [email protected] 15-03-1934 13-03-1935 BJP (Karnataka) Ramen Deka J&KNC (Jammu and Kashmir) 01-03-1954 BJP (Assam) Baju Ban Riyan [email protected] 13-03-1941 CPI (M) (Tripura) Biren Singh Engti [email protected] 02-03-1945 SEND YOUR GREETINGS… INC (Assam) Feroze Varun Gandhi Want to wish someone best of luck for an 13-03-1980 important assignment or send a bouquet to an Kapil Muni Karwariya BJP (Uttar Pradesh) 02-03-1967 official or MP on his/her birthday, anniversary or BSP (Uttar Pradesh) Munisamy Thambidurai promotion, gfiles will do the needful. This service [email protected] 15-03-1947 has specially been started only in Delhi. Contact AIADMK (Tamil Nadu) Krishna Tirath us at [email protected] 03-03-1955 *Conditions apply INC (Delhi)

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

gfiles inside the government 92 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com Tracking For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com

SS GARBYAL been appointed Additional Secretary and The 1977-batch IFS officer of the Union Financial Adviser, Department of Space in THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL Territory cadre has been appointed Government of India. JUDGES OF THE HIGH COURT OF Director General (Forests) and Special KERALA HAVE BEEN APPOINTED AS Secretary, Ministry of Environment and RAJEEV KHER JUDGES OF THE SAME HIGH COURT: Forests. The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Justice BABU MATHEW P JOSEPH, Pradesh cadre, Special Secretary, Justice AMBAZHAVELIL VELAYUDHAN HC MEENA Department of Commerce, has been PILLAI, RAMAKRISHNA PILLAI and The 1976-batch IPS officer of the appointed Secretary, Department of Justice PANNIPUZHAYIL DIVAKARAN Rajasthan cadre has been appointed Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and RAJAN. Secretary, Security, Cabinet Secretariat in Industry. Government of India. OM PRAKASH BK VERMA The Director (Technical), WCL/CIL, has HARYANA RESHUFFLES IPS The 1976 batch IAS officer has been been selected for the post of Chairman OFFICERS: appointed State Information Commissioner and Managing Director, South Eastern AJAY SINGHAL has been appointed in Bihar. Coalfields Limited (SECL) at a Public as new Commissioner of Police, Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). Panchkula-Ambala, RAJBIR DESWAL SUDARSANAM SRINIVASAN was shifted to Telecom wing & RAHUL The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Odisha VIVEK KUMAR SHARMA is DCP, Ambala (Urban). cadre, Special Secretary and Financial The 1984 batch IRSME officer has been HAMID AKHTAR has been appointed as Adviser, Department of Space, has been empanelled for the post of Joint Secretary AIG, Provisioning. appointed Member (Finance), Atomic or equivalent in Government of India. Energy/ Space/Earth Commissions. D DASGUPTA SS CHHABRA A VIJAYANAND The IRS IT officer has been appointed The 1993 batch IFS officer of the Manipur- The 1980-batch (IRS C&CE) officer, Joint as Member of the Additional Bench of Tripura cadre has been appointed Officer- Secretary, Department of Space, has Settlement Commission, Chennai. on-Special Duty in the Social Welfare department and as Chief Executive Officer of Manipur State Rural Road Development Moving On: IAS officers retiring in February 2014 Agency (MSRRDA).

ASSAM-MEGHALAYA MAHARASHTRA RAVINDRA KUMAR Rabendra Kumar Das (1993) Ajit Kumar Jain (1982) The Joint GM, TCIL has been selected for the R K Gaikwad (1996) post of Director (Finance), NEPA Limited at a ANDHRA PRADESH S G Malakolikar (1999) Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). Rajen Habib Khwaja (1976) Prasanna Kumar Mohanty (1979) MADHYA PRADESH JUSTICE APARESH KUMAR SINGH The Additional Judge of the Jharkhand High Prasanta Mahapatra (1980) Padamvir Singh (1977) Court has been appointed as Judge of the same High Court. CHHATTISGARH MANIPUR-TRIPURA Narayan Singh (1977) S Sunderlal Singh (1993) JUSTICE KULDIP SINGH Sunil Kumar (1979) The Judge has been appointed Additional PUNJAB Judge of the High Court of Punjab & GUJARAT Dhanbir Singh Bains (1981) Haryana for a period of two years. V Y Vyasa (1992) P H Shah (1997) UTTAR PRADESH LALMALSWMA Arun Kumar Misra (1976) The 1983 batch IAS officer has been HIMACHAL PRADESH Manoj Kumar (1982) appointed as Principal Secretary, SC/ST/ OBC Minorities as well as MD, DSFDC in Ajai Bhandari (1990) Satyajit Thakur (1985) Government of National Capital Territory Ram Swarup Gupta (2000) Shyam Lal Ii of Delhi.

JAMMU & KASHMIR UNION TERRITORY DM SPOLIA Farooq Ahmed Factoo (1997) Vivek Rae (1978) The 1979-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT V Sapchhunga cadre, Chief Secretary has been transferred KERALA and posted as Financial Commissioner L Radhakrishnan (1984) with additional charge of CMD, DFC in Government of NCT of Delhi.

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 93 Tracking For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com

HV GUJJAR SANDEEP GARG The IRS IT officer has been posted as OSD The 1991-batch IAS officer of the Haryana THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS in the office of CCIT (CCA), Delhi. cadre has been assigned additional charges HAVE BEEN SHIFTED IN HIMACHAL of Director General, Social Justice & PRADESH: KUMAR RAHUL Empowerment and Secretary, Social Justice PARTHASARATHI MITRA has been The 2000-batch IAS officer of the Punjab & Empowerment. appointed ACS, Home & Vigilance and cadre has been appointed General Cooperation, ALI RAZA RIZVI will now Manager (GM) of Food Corporation of India K SREENIVASULU be PS, Higher Education, Elementary (FCI) in Chandigarh. The 1994-batch IAS officer of the Sikkim Education and Information cadre is now Joint Secretary, Ministry of Technology and JOGINDER SINGH SANJAY KUMAR SRIVASTAVA Women and Child Development. RANA is now posted as Managing The 1980-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT Director, Agro Industries Limited. cadre has been appointed Chief Secretary VISHVAAJIT SAHAY in Government of National Capital Territory The 1990-batch IDAS officer has taken over of Delhi. as new Joint Secretary, Heavy Industries in AK SINGH the Government of India. The 1984-batch IRSME officer has VK SINHA been empanelled for the post of Joint The Chief General Manager, BCCL has SAGAR PREET HOODA Secretary or equivalent in Government taken over as Director (Technical), The 1977-batch IPS officer of the Union of India. CMPDIL. Territory cadre has been appointed Private Secretary to Minister of State for Home ANMOL KUMAR Affairs, Mullappally Ramachandran. The 1982-batch IFS officer of the IRS-IT OFFICERS SHIFTED: Maharashtra cadre presently working A K AGGRAWAL has been shifted to West RANJAN KHANNA as APCCF Personnel in Maharashtra has Bengal CCA while V VINOD KUMAR was The 1994-batch IRS C&CE officer has been been appointed Director General, Forest posted to US (V&L)-I, CBDT, New Delhi. appointed Private Secretary to the Minister Survey of India, Dehradun. for Communications and IT. AMIT KUMAR ROY The IRS Customs and Central Excise THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT officer has been promoted to the grade DIFFERENT PLACES IN WEST BENGAL: of Chief Commissioner and posted as M JOYOSHI DAS GUPTA has been appointed as OSD to Chief Secretary, DR Chief Commissioner, CX, Coimbatore. VISHWANATH will now be Additional District Magistrate Darjeeling, R VIMALA is CEO, Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority. Similarly, ARVIND KUMAR MEENA P K MOHANTY has been appointed as Additional District Magistrate, Murshidabad; R ARJUN as The IRS Customs and Central Excise Additional District Magistrate, Paschim Midnapore and SHASHANK SETHI was posted officer has been promoted to the grade as Joint Secretary, Chief Minister’s office. of Chief Commissioner and appointed as DG, ICCE, New Delhi. THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT DIFFERENT PLACES IN BIHAR: BRIG AK SHORI KP RAMAIAH has been appointed PS, SC-ST welfare department with additional The 1982-batch IPoS officer has charge of secretary, State Mahadalit commission while NARMADESHWAR LAL will been empanelled for the posts of be Tirhut Commissioner, SM RAJU (1991) is Saran commissioner. UPENDRA KUMAR Joint Secretary or equivalent in the has been appointed Kosi commissioner; ANIL KUMAR as commissioner of Munger Government of India. division; SUBHASH SHARMA as PS, animal husbandry and fisheries resources department; JAIRAM LAL MEENA as agriculture development commissioner;. LT COL DKS CHAUHAN He was adviser, Bihar state planning board, with additional charge of additional The 1982-batch IPoS officer has commissioner, departmental inquiry; LIAN KUNGA as adviser, Bihar state planning been empanelled for the posts of board; B PRADHAN as principal secretary, tourism department; SUNIL KUMAR SINGH Joint Secretary or equivalent in the as mines commissioner cum principal secretary, mines and geology department Government of India. with additional charge of MD, Bihar state mineral development corporation; SANJAY KUMAR as secretary, labour resources department with additional charge RAJAT BANSAL of CEO, skill development mission; SANJAY KUMAR SINGH as executive director The IRS IT officer has been appointed of state health society with additional charge of secretary, health department; Joint Secretary, Revenue in the SANTOSH KUMAR MALL as MD, South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited; Government of India. CHITTRANJAN SINGH as cane commissioner; SARVANA as director, primary education; DHARMENDRA SINGH as director, agriculture, and CEO, finance SATISH KUMAR department and IMAMUDDIN AHMAD, IRS (2001 batch), has been made Director, The CSS officer has been appointed Joint social welfare department as director. Secretary, Power, in the Government of India.

gfiles inside the government 94 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com N DILIP KUMAR THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT The 1987-batch IPS officer of the AGMUT DIFFERENT PLACES IN JHARKHAND: cadre has been appointed Advisor to the SUDHIR PRASAD has been appointed as Development Commissioner with additional Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi. charge of DWSD, SAJAL CHAKRAVARTY will now be Additional Chief Secretary of Transport department and VISHNU KUMAR gets additional charge of Principal Secretary MM KUTTY Tourism. MAST RAM MEENA has been given the additional charge of Secretary IPRD The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Union and Secretary Energy Department; SK SATPATHY gets additional charge of Principal Territory cadre, former Principal Secretary Secretary Road Construction; RAJ BALA VERMA as PS, Rural Development Department to Sheila Dixit has been appointed with additional charge of Building Construction; ARUN gets additional charge of Secretary, Finance in Delhi Government. Secretary Mines & Geology Department; ARADHANA PATANAIK as Secretary Housing with additional charge of Additional Finance Commissioner; KK SOAN as Secretary BALVINDER KUMAR Cooperative; HIMANI PANDEY as Secretary Industry department with additional charge The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Uttar of Commissioner Transport; PRAVEEN SHANKAR as Director SKIPA; EKHTESHAMUL Pradesh cadre has been appointed Vice HAQ as Divisional Commissioner Santhal Pargana; ASHOK KUMAR SHARMA was Chairman of Delhi Development Authority. promoted on the post of Joint Election Commissioner; SUNIL KUMAR SINGH as Additional Member of Finance Commission; RATAN KUMAR as Secretary Civil Security SUNDARI SUBRAMANIAM PUJARI with additional charge of Additional Chief Executive Officer JAP IT and RP SINHA was The 1980-batch IDES officer has been made as Secretary Excise & Prohibition Department with additional charge of Excise appointed Chief Vigilance Officer, Air India, Commissioner and MD Beverage Corporation of Jharkhand. Delhi.

THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT AK PATERIYA DIFFERENT PLACES IN RAJASTHAN: The 1986-batch IPS officer has been posted T RAVIKANT has been appointed Secretary to Chief Minister, VIKAS SITARAMJI BHALE will as OSD MP Govt in the Madhya Pradesh now be Director, Middle Education and ex-officio State Project Director, National Middle Bhawan, Delhi. Education campaign, Bikaner and OMKAR SINGH is Special Secretary, Planning. GIRIRAJ SINGH KUSHWAH has been appointed Collector and District Magistrate; KRISHNA KUNAL ARUNA BAHUGUNA as Collector, Jaipur; NEERAJ KUMAR PAWAN as Additional Mission Director, National The 1979-batch IPS officer of the Andhra Health Mission and Director, IIC and Joint Secretary, Medical and Health; RAVI KUMAR Pradesh cadre has been appointed SURPUR as Collector, Bhilwara and VINA PRADHAN was made Collector, Nagore. Director of the National Police Academy, Hyderabad. THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT DIFFERENT PLACES IN KARNATAKA: HANS RAJ SHARMA NAVEEN RAJ SINGH has been appointed Commissioner, Employment & Training while The IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh SHAMLA IQBAL will now be Additional Mission Director, SAKALA and SALMA K FAHIM cadre has been appointed Director, Health is Director, Karnataka Rural Water Supply & Sanitation Agency & Deputy Secretary, Safety & Regulations in Himachal Pradesh. RD & PR. SS NAKUL has been appointed Director, Information Technology & Bio- Technology; N MANJUSHREE as CEO, Zilla Panchayat, Udupi and R VINOTH PRIYA was SANJIV KUMAR posted as CEO, Zilla Panchayat, Kolar. The 1992-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been assigned an additional THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT charge of MD, DT&TDC, in Delhi DIFFERENT PLACES IN HIMACHAL PRADESH: Government. VINEET CHAWDHRY has been assigned an additional charge of ACS, I & PH and Horticulture while ALI RAZA RIZVI will be Principal Secretary, Home & vigilance and DINESH KUMAR Information Technology, ONKAR CHAND SHARMA gets additional charge of MD, HP The 2004-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland Agro Packaging India Ltd. Besides, JOGINDER SINGH RANA has been appointed MD, HP cadre is joining as Director in the Ministry Minorities Development Corporation Ltd and SS GULERIA is Special Secretary, Training of Shipping. & Foreign Assignment. DIPAK KUMAR GUPTA THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT The 1995-batch C&CE officer has been DIFFERENT PLACES IN TRIPURA: appointed as OSD to Member (Customs) PARSHANT KUMAR GOYAL has been posted as Collector, Dhalai district, Ambassa, in Central Board of Excise and Customs ABHISHEK SINGH will now be Collector West Tripura district Agartala and MILIND (CBEC). DHARMARAO RAMTEKE is Collector, Sepahijala district, Bishramganj. KD CHOUDHARY has been appointed Commissioner of Taxes, Tripura; VIKAS SINGH as CEO, Agartala RV CHANDRAVADAN Municipal Council; RATHOD SANDEEP REWAJI as Collector, North Tripura district, The 1993-batch IAS officer of the Andhra DHARMANAGAR AND MAHATME SANDEP NAMDEVO was made Mission Director, Pradesh cadre has been appointed NRHM, Agartala. Commissioner, Employment & Training in Andhra Pradesh.

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 95 PERSPECTIVE shivratri sadhgurusadhg

N February 27 this year is Mahashivratri, a night of great Ospiritual significance with a deep scientific rationale. At the Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore, this is a grand celebration – a night of music, dance, meditation and rapture. When I say ‘spiritual’, I am not referring to anything other-worldly. This is not about subscribing to a belief system, an ideology or a phi- losophy. Nor is this some cultural antic or about joining a Shiva fan club. What makes this night so signifi- cant? There are 12 Shivratris in a year. Channel the energy The 14th day of every month, the day before the no-moon, is called S hivratri. we could make use of this natural the basis of everything is ‘dark ener- Of all these Shivratris, the one that planetary assistance to move towards gy’, which is in constant collaboration appears in the lunar month of Magha, a higher possibility within ourselves. with dark matter. around February-March, is called If you exist here as mere physicali- Way back in history, this culture Maha-shivratri. On this day, in the ty, you will know only two dimensions spoke of ‘dark energy’ too. This is not northern hemisphere, there is a natu- of life: self-preservation and procrea- new for anyone who has looked within ral upsurge of energies in the human tion. These are essential, but never himself. The way the individual is system. Every human being can make enough. A human being is always made is the way the cosmos is made. use of this if he keeps his spine erect. longing to be more than who he is Both come from the same manufac- In evolutionary development, a sig- right now. turing unit. It is in the lap of that dark- nificant step is the shift from inverte- There is a difference between ness that everything is born. We called brate to vertebrate. Another impor- ‘knowledge’ and ‘ knowing’. Knowledge this dark energy ‘Shi-va’, or ‘that tant step is the movement of the spine is information gathered in bits and which is not’. from the horizontal to the vertical pieces. If you pass a flowering plant So, Mahashivratri is the darkest position. As human beings, we are the and you know the chemistry of its fra- night of the year in the northern hem- only species to have graduated to the grance, that is one dimension of isphere. And only those who con- level of an erect spine. And on this day knowledge. If you know the experi- sciously approach this darkness will when planetary positions are such ence and ecstasy of that fragrance, see light. Every human being has a that there is a natural upsurge of ener- that is another dimension of knowl- choice: to exist here just as a piece of gies, keeping the spine vertical all edge. But if you become the fragrance, creation or to exist here as the source night has immense benefits – not just that is true knowing. of creation. The source is always for spiritual seekers but also for those The human struggle is just this: you approachable, but it is much more seeking material success. are unwilling to shake off the bits and approachable on this particular day. Culturally, the festival means diff- pieces of knowledge you have Grace is not something that is ferent things to different people. acquired, because these give you some turned on and off, but on this night, Ascetics see this as the night when sense of security and identity. For a transmission lines function that much Shiva became absolutely still and tiny bit of knowledge, you are giving better, so it is a tremendous opportu- attained the peak of his perception. up the cosmos! nity to become receptive. And being Householders see this as the night Science tells us existence is energy. receptive to grace is being receptive to when Shiva married Parvati. The It could be physical, mental, emotion- life and the very source of life. g ambitious see it as the night when al, or it could be dark energy. Scientists Sadhguru, a yogi, is a visionary, Shiva vanquished all his enemies. But spoke earlier of ‘dark matter’, but humanitarian and a prominent spiritual this festival was essentially created so recently they have started saying that leader (www.ishafoundation.org)

gfiles inside the government 96 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com ...by the way

Craft and graft

P Singh a 1976 batch IAS officer of the Andhra RPradesh cadre and Chairman, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), is known for his hard work and honesty. A well-known admirer of the Prime Minister in the bureaucracy, he is a multi-faceted personality and writes poems and songs that can be viewed on youtube. NHAI was in mess before he joined as Chairman and Managing Director. Today, officials and contractors are terrified of the way he has evolved a mechanism to remove corruption. The moment he learns that any form of graft has changed hands in a certain project, Singh calls both the contractor and the officer into his office. It is a peculiar situation where the bribe giver and taker are both sitting in the chairman’s room. He bluntly asks both parties, “How much money has changed hands?” Both the parties sitting across can’t state the wrong facts. The officers, who have taken the graft have to return the money to the contractors Scams always leave a trail and if anyone tries to play any tricks with Singh, eepak Mohan Spolia, a 1976 batch IAS of AGMUT he simply says that the case will be sent to the CBI. Dcadre and former Chief Secretary of Delhi, was Naturally, everybody falls in line. But, if you are hopeful that he would be retained by the newly elected thinking the NHAI is corruption free now, you are Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal did not have mistaken. Complaints are pouring into the CMD’s any personal grudge against him. But whenever the seat office from across the country regarding the corrupt of power changes, bureaucrats, who have remained on practices of both officers and contractors. But, action the fence, promptly rush to brief the new incumbent. seems to be slow. Is there something cooking at the The same happened in Delhi Secretariat when Kejriwal top? Watch this space for more… g joined; he was briefed about the political environment of the bureaucracy in Delhi Secretariat. There was an inquiry pending against both Chief Secretaries— Spolia and PK Tripathi—in the multi-crore transport scam of outsourcing fitness tests of commercial vehicles. A request was made by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to the Delhi Government’s vigilance department earlier, seeking approval to prosecute several serving government officials, including the then transport commissioner RK Verma. The Shiela Dikshit government was apparently shielding the officers and not sanctioning permission to investigating agencies. The moment Kejriwal was informed about the scam, he decided on a change and brought in Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, a 1980 batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre. It is to be seen whether Kejriwal will give the go-ahead to the investigative agencies to nab the alleged scamsters or not. g

gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 97 ...by the way

Eyes on World Bank post

verybody knows how coveted posts are filled in Ethe government, but the Department of Personnel and Training has to still complete all the formalities. It is learnt that the Government of India is looking for an Advisor to World Bank Executive Director Mukesh N Prasad. DoPT has issued a circular to State chief secretaries and Union secretaries of the cadre Freedom to air controlling ministries to nominate names of suitable he expert committee on Prasar Bharati, under the officers of deputy secretary or director ranks. DPS Tchairmanship of Sam Pitroda, has advised that Sandhu, an Indian Railway Traffic Service officer of Prasar Bharati should have administrative and financial 1987 batch is the outgoing officer. Sandhu used to autonomy. The committee sought the advice of earlier work in the Prime Minister’s Office. Another approximately 100 people who were designated as Advisor in the World Bank, Anuradha Thakur, an IAS advisors to the committee. So far so good. But, maybe Mr officer of 1994 batch of Himachal cadre, is on her way Pitroda is not aware that Prasar Bharati, which employs back after completing her term in March 2014. Before 32,500 people, already has absolute administrative and joining the World Bank, she served as Deputy financial autonomy. The Prasar Bharati Act 1990 was Secretary and Director in the Department of Economic brought in to unshackle Doordarshan and Radio from the Affairs. Two current senior advisors to the ED in the bureaucratic whims of Ministry of Information & Bank are Manoj Pant, former private secretary to Broadcasting and show to the world that the public ex-Finance broadcaster of India is autonomous, both Minister Pranab administratively and financially. The Chairman of Prasar Mukherjee and Bharati Board Mrs Mrinal Pande, CEO Jawhar Sircar, former PMO Director-General Doordarshan Tripurari Saran and official LK Atheeq. Director News S M Khan are all autonomous, Whereas Pant administratively and financially. They work cohesively assists Prasad on and coherently with complete autonomy where nobody India, Atheeq listens to anybody. Mrinal Pande desires to run helps him on Sri Doordarshan and AIR in her own way but is not able to Lanka matters. do as nobody follows her advice. CEO Sircar is Sandhu assists on completely astonished in the way he is surrounded by issues related to officials and board members. Tripurari Saran’s term is Bhutan. The top ending. Khan is handling News. Manish Tiwari, Minister appointments of the World Bank remain within the of Information & Broadcasting, has all intentions of four walls of the Finance Ministry but to appear fair improving the public broadcasting system for the better and transparent, the DoPT has to issue the circular. but he is running out of time as the Lok Sabha elections Still, if one believes there is a genuine selection loom large. Meanwhile, the babu in the I&B Ministry process in the Ministry, one must apply if he/she is does not know what to do with Doordarshan, as Pitroda under 54 years of age and has completed two years talks autonomy but is not able to outline how this edifice under central staffing system and has experience to can be financially viable and can be run without spoon show in areas of infrastructure development, feeding by the government. In such a scenario, one thing international trade, public finance and externally is sure - till the elections get over, Doordarshan and AIR aided projects. Good luck! g are completely free and autonomous! g ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

gfiles inside the government 98 vol. 7, issue 11 | February 2014 www.gfilesindia.com

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