The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - Oct 2018)

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Gus
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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Gus » Fri Oct 05, 2018 4:25 am

Mayawati can always u turn later. She was the first one to stab abv remember.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by RajaRaja » Fri Oct 05, 2018 4:41 am

Prasan wrote:
Thu Oct 04, 2018 4:52 pm

That video is not from mns goons but some news cameraman whose camera was damaged

https://youtu.be/y7f7YtFgFzk

Also whichever women is taking side of TD no one has seen what happened or is a witness. I saw one where the woman said she might be wrongly touched, again she was speculating.
Here is what I would consider a more credible source, from India Today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuMhmhu3IEo

Apart from the cameraman whose camera was damaged, third party goons are also involved.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Sachin » Fri Oct 05, 2018 4:44 am

Vikas wrote:Finally something that was long awaited by everyone including Arun Jaitley supporters.
Well, two prominent "secular" states have said that they are not going to reduce the price further. Let the evil Sanghies do that in their states.
HDK refuses to reduce tax on fuel - in Karnataka
Kerala won’t reduce tax; Let Centre fully reduce what it had increased: Thomas Issac.
Dubey ji, 8 months is eternity in politics buut IMO if opposition can stitch a credit worthy pre-poll alliance, we might see BJP being stretched to the last mile and victory wont be that easy especially in constituencies which have Muslim population that can tilt the tide in case of 2-way contest.
From what I observe, some how all these plans are getting stymied pretty quickly as well. The only place the BJP v/s every one else worked seems to be in Karnataka, and here too the alliance is always in rough seas. And looks like every Mahathagbandhan loving leader out there is also expecting poor Rahul Ghandi & Congress to make way too many concessions :lol:. At this rate the smaller party leaders would even make the Congress do the laundry work at their homes (some thing which Yechuri had to do for Congress ;) ).

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by hanumadu » Fri Oct 05, 2018 8:02 am

Rahul Gandhi

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आदरणीय श्री मोदीजी, आम जनता पेट्रोल-डीजल के आसमान छूते दामों से बहुत ज्यादा परेशान है.

आप कृपया पेट्रोल-डीजल को GST के दायरे में ले आइए।

Rahul Gandhi asking to bring petrol and diesel under GST. I think he figured Modi would do it anyway before the GE and want to take credit for it. But Arun Jaitley has been calling for fuel in GST for a long time now. If prices can be brought down to Re 60/litre, fuel prices will no longer be an issue. In fact it will turn positive for BJP.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Vikas » Fri Oct 05, 2018 8:23 am

Why does govt not bring fuel prices under GST if that would bring the fuel prices down without anyone losing his shirt?
I am sure there must be some valid economic reason behind it. Is it that state and central govt will lose tax money ?

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by hanumadu » Fri Oct 05, 2018 8:41 am

Vikas wrote:
Fri Oct 05, 2018 8:23 am
Why does govt not bring fuel prices under GST if that would bring the fuel prices down without anyone losing his shirt?
I am sure there must be some valid economic reason behind it. Is it that state and central govt will lose tax money ?
Right now the taxes add up to 100% of the cost of producing and distributing fuel. Even if GST for fuel is at 50% the price will come down to Re 60/liter. Govt will lose revenues. May be it is counting on improved tax compliance to make up some of the numbers, disinvestment, reduced spending etc etc. It would be interesting to find out how they make up for the shortfall if fuel is under GST.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by chetak » Fri Oct 05, 2018 8:50 am

How IL&FS Was Enriching Itself at Public Cost

How IL&FS Was Enriching Itself at Public Cost
Sucheta Dalal
04 October 2018 11

Jolted by the massive systemic risk that the defaults of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) can create, a sleeping government has, finally, sacked a part of the board of directors of IL&FS on 1st October and injected seven new directors. It has also ordered an investigation by the SFIO (serious frauds investigation office). With many insiders starting to allege that top executives of IL&FS were gold-plating projects to create their own pot of gold, an investigation is clearly warranted.

The reconstituted board of IL&FS has to submit a resolution plan to the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) by 31st October. How difficult is the new board’s job? Well, it has to first understand the enormity of the problem and the modus operandi of Ravi Parthasarathy who ran the IL&FS show with his cronies for over two decades creating 175 subsidiaries and 66 joint ventures and associates (higher than those mentioned by the finance ministry’s press release). It holds assets of around Rs1,65,000 crore of which a whopping Rs30,000 crore are at risk, according to data analysed by REDD Intelligence.

Modus Operandi

The IL&FS group switched from arranging and structuring infrastructure finance, to being a partner in projects, around 2005. Typically, it leveraged its big public sector shareholding to find acceptance with state governments. It also offered a 50:50 joint venture, where the state got to appoint a non-executive chairman while IL&FS ran the show with its own managing director (MD) and virtually owned the projects.

Its flamboyant, high-spending ways were used to build deep contacts with bureaucrats in all state governments. It had dozens of IAS officers on its payroll and also doled out favours like houses/apartments for politically connected persons (PCPs), facilitating admission of their children to Ivy League universities abroad and other benefits.

The bureaucracy enjoyed its lavish spending ways; it didn’t matter that the costs were passed on to the project and borne by the public. IL&FS brought project development and fund raising ability to the table, for which it extracted hefty fees, based on the project cost. So, every cost escalation only worked to its benefit.

It also cultivated banks and other lenders assiduously. It lists over 40 domestic and international banks as lenders, apart from selling its financial paper across the spectrum. It has even managed to sell its debt to nationalised banks at a profit!

Key to the gold-plating of projects was its template capital structure that was never questioned by pliant bureaucrats representing state governments, says a former insider who wants to remain anonymous.

Although each project was structured as a 50:50 partnership, the equity capital was tiny (as low as 5%)—keeping risk capital minimal. Another 25%-30% would be brought in as subordinate debt which helped balance the debt-equity ratio. That was also subscribed by IL&FS, to give comfort to the government partner. The rest was raised through senior debt, raised mainly from public sector banks. According to this source, “the bloating debt problem of IL&FS can be understood if the debt profile of SPVs (special purpose vehicles) and the holding companies are analysed.”

Fees, Fees and More Fees

Typically, IL&FS charged multiple fees that allowed it to recover its entire investment even before the project got off the drawing board. IL&FS, as a group, earned project management fees, loan syndication fees, success fees, upfront fees, merchant banking fees, fees/charges for feasibility studies, environmental impact and social impact studies, etc. In fact, any cost or fee that could be pushed past the state government was loaded on to the project.

A good example is the Tirupur water project where an order of the Tamil Nadu High Court notes: “Out of the gross disbursement of Rs140 crore, IL&FS deducted a total amount of Rs41.24 crore whose break-up was (i) project management fee of Rs9.60 crore; (ii) costs of Rs15.15 crore for USAID loan; (iii) upfront fee of Rs66.50 lakh; (iv) merchant banking fees of Rs10.04 crore; and (v) out-of-pocket expenses of Rs5.79 crore.” The deductions were made before transferring the rest of the money to the project.

This win-win structure for IL&FS was supposed to be Ravi Parthasarathy’s genius and, probably, worked in the early days, until the costs had to be passed on to users. Then, like in the Noida Toll Bridge case, public anger erupted and the Supreme Court ordered the bridge to remain toll-free. Almost every major project of IL&FS is mired such controversy and litigation.

Now, let us look at how its dubious activities were already in the public domain, but nobody would act to cut the group to size.

Some Examples of the Plunder

1. Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd: This controversial company had given itself an assured return of over 20% (higher than its borrowing cost) which soared to 40% when its high-cost loans were renegotiated to 10% and the concession period dramatically extended from 30 years to 100 years. It was also given 30 acres of government land as a sweetener which it sold at a profit. No cost reduction was passed on to the toll-paying public. Instead, it was structured to ensure that the initial shortfall in toll collection was added to the project cost. This led to a 12 times cost escalation -- from Rs408 crore in early 2000 to over Rs5,000 crore when it was eventually scrapped by the courts.

2. Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC): This SPV was a 50:50 joint venture between IL&FS and the Tamil Nadu government (TNGov). It implemented the Rs205 crore IT corridor road project and east coast road-widening project.

While both were equal equity partners, the subordinate loan of Rs41 crore from IL&FS earned a 15% return while the state provided an interest-free grant of Rs34 crore. This became the subject of a book—Evolution of IT Corridor by K Malmarugan and Sabina Narayan which exposes how IL&FS structures its deals.

In that project, says the book, TNGov got back Rs2 lakh on its Rs44 crore investment in the first seven years, while IL&FS got back Rs91.3 crore on its investment of Rs69.6 crore. It also sold its senior debt at a profit to Punjab National Bank and earned a 4% management fee.

Further, TNRDC was assigned a 4.9-acre plot at Rs1 crore which now has a market value of Rs50 crore, say sources. In this case, TNGov realised how it was being duped and ousted Ravi Parthasarathy as chairman of TNRDC. It also bought out IL&FS’s stake and converted it into a 100% government company.

3. Tirupur Water Project: The Tirupur water project, to privatise water supply and make it available to the wealthy, hosiery-exporting town, was conceived by IL&FS in the mid-1990s and remains mired in litigation. The allegations, again, are fat fees charged by IL&FS and false promises to investors.

Just one sentence from a hard-hitting, 2014 order by Justice V Ramasubramanian (also quoted above) encapsulates all that is wrong with this project: “The Government has pumped in money, unfortunately, only to service the debt with a pre-condition that the money will not even be used to improve the infrastructure. Investing more money just for the purpose of servicing a debt, is neither a prudent business decision nor in the interest of the public.”

A top source in TNGov says there is an unwritten understanding in the state not to do business with IL&FS anymore. Did this never reach the ears of the former finance minister, who was from Tamil Nadu? You can draw your own conclusions.

GIFT City Gujarat: The Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, again structured as a 50:50 joint venture with the Gujarat government, was extraordinary in that the head of its audit committee filed a litigation against the project in 2016. The petition, by Dr DC Anjaria, alleged that this massive, Rs70,000-crore project had been virtually gifted away to IL&FS, leading to massive losses to the state government and the people.

Here, too, IL&FS has extorted high fees. It got the land valued at Rs2/acre at a nominal price translating to a giveaway of Rs440 crore to IL&FS, says Dr Anjaria. This also has an expensive, ongoing arbitration with the original contractor consortium headed by Fairwood, with large claims and counter-claims on both sides.

Gift City has been a favourite project of prime minister Narendra Modi; but not a word about it was in the public domain until I wrote about in August this year, just before IL&FS began to default on payments.

There are similar issues with IL&FS’s ventures with the Rajasthan government, with the power project at Cuddalore and many others. But the most chilling one I have heard so far is a joint venture with RAHI Aviation to build airports at Gulbarga and Shimoga.

When things turned sour, IL&FS accused the promoter of RAHI Aviation of forgery, and worse, and got him arrested. It ensured that he remained in Arthur Road jail (Mumbai) for six months by piling on more charges. As a direct result of that fight, the project has been taken over by the Karnataka government, which also invoked bank guarantees of Rs20+ crore.

The details of what happened are the subject of a separate article; but IL&FS, which has now caused a systemic issue, lost the project and an investment of over Rs40 crore without anyone being held responsible.

Well, it is time we woke up and started asking questions and ensure that this deliberately created mess is not foisted on public sector institutions and, eventually, on the people of India.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Raju » Fri Oct 05, 2018 9:27 am

when we start buying and paying for eyeranian oil in rupees come november. Trump will do a deal with Iran within 6 months so that Iranians start accepting payment for their oil in dollars again.

Main objective of international oil trade is to shaft individual consumers and vehicle owners, shift wealth from pockets of individuals to bankers/corporates.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by JohnTitor » Fri Oct 05, 2018 9:29 am

Fuel moved to GST would be best but I don't think it'll happen, not least because states - including BJP rolled states - don't want to lose the easy revenue.

What Modi needs to be careful about is that the public feel this is an issue with the centre, because of all the fake news and secular voices. It doesn't matter that this is untrue. As they say, you repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by chetak » Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:04 am

JohnTitor wrote:
Fri Oct 05, 2018 9:29 am
Fuel moved to GST would be best but I don't think it'll happen, not least because states - including BJP rolled states - don't want to lose the easy revenue.

What Modi needs to be careful about is that the public feel this is an issue with the centre, because of all the fake news and secular voices. It doesn't matter that this is untrue. As they say, you repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth
What's the big deal in bringing fuel under GST?? Nothing will change.

They will simply add on a "cess" on top of it to keep the current prices roughly where they are, give or take.

No state wants to reduce fuel prices, so why should the center alone take the hit??

They have far more expenses than the states do.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by chetak » Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:13 am

Raju wrote:
Fri Oct 05, 2018 9:27 am
when we start buying and paying for eyeranian oil in rupees come november. Trump will do a deal with Iran within 6 months so that Iranians start accepting payment for their oil in dollars again.

Main objective of international oil trade is to shaft individual consumers and vehicle owners, shift wealth from pockets of individuals to bankers/corporates.
This is a good point.

trump may well try and use this opportunity to head off the hans/EU at the pass.

The hans/EU were hopeful of their renminbi/Euro would gradually/eventually just replace the mighty U$D in oil trades.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Gus » Fri Oct 05, 2018 3:25 pm

rupee and oil are going to be under pressure ...

the only backstop is at around $80 barrel, US fracking becomes profitable and that supply will dampen the prices.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Supratik » Fri Oct 05, 2018 5:13 pm

Republicworld has started its own survey. A&N BJP. Andhra YSRCP. Is Jagan still doing EJ-giri or mellowed down? What are the downsides of Jagan winning?

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by KJo » Fri Oct 05, 2018 5:56 pm

hanumadu wrote:
Fri Oct 05, 2018 8:02 am
Rahul Gandhi

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@RahulGandhi
4h4 hours ago
More
आदरणीय श्री मोदीजी, आम जनता पेट्रोल-डीजल के आसमान छूते दामों से बहुत ज्यादा परेशान है.

आप कृपया पेट्रोल-डीजल को GST के दायरे में ले आइए।

Rahul Gandhi asking to bring petrol and diesel under GST. I think he figured Modi would do it anyway before the GE and want to take credit for it. But Arun Jaitley has been calling for fuel in GST for a long time now. If prices can be brought down to Re 60/litre, fuel prices will no longer be an issue. In fact it will turn positive for BJP.
Why won't Modi do it? It is election year, so time to get populist to win the next election. Petrol prices is a big issue and BJP just looks bad even though it isn't their fault.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Gus » Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:45 pm

GST council runs GST decisions. Not Modi.

BJP is handling petrol issue as it should be handled.

no reason to waste revenues now and make a hole in the budget.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by crams » Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:36 pm

Watched dorkie's 2019 opinion poll survey. Wasn't overwhelmingly in favor of BJP/NDA, but he gives them 276 at one extreme and 330 on the other. BJP by itself was put at in the ball park of lower side of 250. All in all, I would say lot of work for BJP to do, but nowhere close to the kind of doomsday pessimistic prognostications by Pappu and his slaves on so called downfall of BJP. In fact, at this stage when anti-incumbency is a natural fallout of electoral politics, I would say BJP/NDA is in a good position and can strategize appropriately.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by hanumadu » Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:14 pm

If there is a MGB, BJP gets only 36 in UP. Other googlies are BJP will get 16 in WB.
Kerala is still a grand ZERO.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by RajaRaja » Sat Oct 06, 2018 2:25 am

NRC in Assam: ‘Those excluded won’t be deported, Modi told Hasina’
MONTHS AFTER Home Minister Rajnath Singh conveyed to the Bangladesh leadership that those left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be deported to Bangladesh, a top Bangladeshi official on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has personally assured premier Sheikh Hasina that people excluded from the NRC would not be deported to the country.

“Indian Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi personally assured our premier that those who were excluded from the list under the NRC exercise will not be sent to Bangladesh,” H T Imam, Political Adviser to Hasina, told PTI. Although Imam did not elaborate on the two premiers’ communication, he emphasised, “We have been repeatedly assured by India that no such thing (deportation) will happen to create any sort of political instability in Bangladesh, particularly when we (Bangladesh) are approaching our national elections by the end of the year.”

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Aditya_V » Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:23 pm

Deportation is impractical, just remove voting rights, right to own property or Agricultural land, movable property, Bank accounts, slowly much of this population will go back to BD with their relatives

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Sachin » Sat Oct 06, 2018 4:37 pm

There is absolutely no news on HCU elections. I even googled for the results, no confirmed news. Where as social media is showing that ABVP has won with a huge margin!!

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Rahul M » Sat Oct 06, 2018 5:46 pm

getting same mews on SM !

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Supratik » Sat Oct 06, 2018 6:33 pm

What is HCU election? Ram Madhav, Modi's troubleshooter is on record saying that deportations will happen. The trick is probably what kind of deportation. I think once the noose gradually tightens illegal migrants will self-deport as they would not like to become stateless. It is going to be a slow process provided this govt continues.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Supratik » Sat Oct 06, 2018 6:43 pm


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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Supratik » Sat Oct 06, 2018 7:05 pm

Interestingly Arnab is giving only 36 seats to BJP in UP assuming a MGB and NDA still gets 276.

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Re: The Great Indian Political Drama - 2 (Mar 2018 - )

Post by Supratik » Sat Oct 06, 2018 7:27 pm

The Yadav and Muslim votes in UP are concentrated in certain pockets of UP. The Dalit votes are spread more evenly. If Mayawati goes for alliance with SP, SP will benefit more than BSP.

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