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

[Supratik]

New harsher anti-rape law ordinance.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/u ... 626717.ece

[pankajs]

There are only a few leaders beyond the party. Most leaders are because of the party. Theek hai.

[pankajs]

Think the wedge issue for 2019 GE is more or less clear ...

https://www.financialexpress.com/india- ... i/1140738/
Congress must apologise for defaming Hindu religion: Amit Shah in Rae Bareli

“The Congress should apologise for the term saffron terrorism. The party must apologise for defaming the Hindu culture, insulting Hindus,” he said.

“Charges were slapped on Swami Aseemanand when the Congress was in power. But he is free now. Today I want to tell Rahulji that the nation will never forgive his party leaders who tried to defame Hindus by coining terms like saffron terrorism,” he said.

BTW, this is not asking for vote in the name of a religion but asking for a response on a *fact* reported in the papers.

[Chandragupta]

Is Col. Purohit back in service ? He is the end of Congress. If it were possible, he should be unleashed at the Jehadi Con party. They fixed a Hindu Soldier in the Indian Army just to win Mullah votes. If that doesn't bury Congress, what will? I think Modi-Shah will raise this before 2019, waiting for the right time to go at it hammer & tongs. Nobody will forgive the insult & torture of a patriotic soldier just to suit the anti-Hindu policy of the BIF.

[chetak]

Is Col. Purohit back in service ? He is the end of Congress. If it were possible, he should be unleashed at the Jehadi Con party. They fixed a Hindu Soldier in the Indian Army just to win Mullah votes. If that doesn't bury Congress, what will? I think Modi-Shah will raise this before 2019, waiting for the right time to go at it hammer & tongs. Nobody will forgive the insult & torture of a patriotic soldier just to suit the anti-Hindu policy of the BIF.

Col. Purohit is back in uniform and IIRC, on bail.

an important congi guy was bailed out by the ABV govt after some very serious legal/criminal problems in the US using the good offices of brajesh mishra whose family was offered a posthumous padma shri for him, during the last days of the UPA-2.

The details of that should be available with the govt or can be obtained from the US govt sources.

They should use that to publicly bury the guy.

[Indrad]

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... e&from=mdr

LONDON: The Indian government is pressing for legal action against Sikh and Kashmiri separatists who tore down an Indian flag during a protest in the UK against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, cut it into shreds with a kirpan and burnt it.
The protesters, chanting anti-Indian slogans, provocatively replaced it with a “Khalistan” and an “Azad Kashmir” flag.
The large tricolour had been one of 53 flags put up in Parliament Square to welcome Commonwealth leaders to the Commonwealth Summit.
Loveena Tandon, who has been a foreign correspondent in the UK for 20 years, has made a complaint about intimidation and abusive language by the protesters to the Metropolitan Police.
She watched the flag being torn down on April 18 whilst Modi was meeting Indian scientists at the Francis Crick Institute along with British PM Theresa May. Tandon went to interview the men responsible and they shouted swear words at her and screamed “fake news”.
“Despite a huge presence of policemen no one was able to stop them,” she told TOI. “I was pushed and my phone fell down. Their body language was very aggressive and I felt intimidated and unsafe. I was rescued by a man who screamed at them, then he was kicked and then the police came and escorted us off. They looked like the same group that had been at the protest organised outside the high commission of India on Republic Day. How could the organisers of this protest allow a group to bring down the flag of a country? I would never have believed this could happen in London.”
Two groups at the protest, Sikhs for Justice and Referendum 2020, were calling for a referendum on a separate Sikh state in the year 2020. Kashmiri separatists were also present as were Sikhs calling for the release of UK national Jagtar Singh Johal who has been detained in Punjab and accused of targeted killings.

[chetak]

Sorry, duplicate post.

[SSundar]

New harsher anti-rape law ordinance.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/u ... 626717.ece

Does not meet the principle of gender equality. Must cover children of all genders and NOT just girls. If not, the government is contradicting its own stand in the TTT bill. Must also stipulate that marriage is not a defense against this law.

[Shandilya]

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... e&from=mdr

LONDON: The Indian government is pressing for legal action against Sikh and Kashmiri separatists who tore down an Indian flag during a protest in the UK against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, cut it into shreds with a kirpan and burnt it.
The protesters, chanting anti-Indian slogans, provocatively replaced it with a “Khalistan” and an “Azad Kashmir” flag.................... were calling for a referendum on a separate Sikh state in the year 2020. Kashmiri separatists were also present as were Sikhs calling for the release of UK national Jagtar Singh Johal who has been detained in Punjab and accused of targeted killings.

WTF! Those thieving punks let this one slide on purpose, how hard would it be for the master espionager race to not know about this in advance. I think they aided and abetted this action on purpose. We should reciprocate letting Free Scotland, Ireland, Walse, etc.. groups shredding their puny flag on our soil. No but all we want to do in our babudom fashion is to press legal charges.

But that's too much to expect when our own navy still cherishes and uses our masters insignia all over our ships.

[Supratik]

POSCO is a gender neutral law which will be amended.

[shravanp]

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... e&from=mdr

LONDON: The Indian government is pressing for legal action against Sikh and Kashmiri separatists who tore down an Indian flag during a protest in the UK against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, cut it into shreds with a kirpan and burnt it.
The protesters, chanting anti-Indian slogans, provocatively replaced it with a “Khalistan” and an “Azad Kashmir” flag.................... were calling for a referendum on a separate Sikh state in the year 2020. Kashmiri separatists were also present as were Sikhs calling for the release of UK national Jagtar Singh Johal who has been detained in Punjab and accused of targeted killings.

WTF! Those thieving punks let this one slide on purpose, how hard would it be for the master espionager race to not know about this in advance. I think they aided and abetted this action on purpose. We should reciprocate letting Free Scotland, Ireland, Walse, etc.. groups shredding their puny flag on our soil. No but all we want to do in our babudom fashion is to press legal charges.

But that's too much to expect when our own navy still cherishes and uses our masters insignia all over our ships.

Absolutely. Britshits surely have their blessings on all this otherwise it wouldn't have been possible to take down Indian flag from there.

[SSundar]

POSCO is a gender neutral law which will be amended.

Then, media is misleading by emphasizing "Girls". Even Amit Shah's tweet emphasizes Girls.

[Supratik]

Maybe becoz of Kathua and Unnao.

[la.khan]

Is Col. Purohit back in service ? He is the end of Congress. If it were possible, he should be unleashed at the Jehadi Con party. They fixed a Hindu Soldier in the Indian Army just to win Mullah votes. If that doesn't bury Congress, what will? I think Modi-Shah will raise this before 2019, waiting for the right time to go at it hammer & tongs. Nobody will forgive the insult & torture of a patriotic soldier just to suit the anti-Hindu policy of the BIF.

When the UPA was going after Col. Purohith using the bogey of saffron terror, did the IA top brass step in to protect one of their own? If no, why not? If the big guys in Delhi weren't of the details of his operation, why did not Col. Purohith's immediate superiors step in? Or, the army did defend Col. Purohith but was buried by babooze and t*rds in the UPA.

Something about this entire episode stinks

[shyamsp]

Hopefully Shatru Sinha will be next.

Yashwant Sinha quits BJP

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/y ... epage=true

Yashwant Sinha is way much better person than other disgruntled BJP people. What is actual reason for his quitting?

Modi & Shah seem to control everything at the expense of some sane individuals. Losing people from BJP might bite them back later.

[crams]

^^^
With all due respect, BS. This guys is a sore loser. Good riddance. Him quitting BJP is like a middle aged guy like me saying I am no longer interested in some sexy super model. Thank you very much. I hope that scum bag Arun Shorie also quits or is thrown out like rubbish. These arse holes attacking ModiJi for everything will make some Congoons look respectable.

[chetak]

Hopefully Shatru Sinha will be next.

Yashwant Sinha quits BJP

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/y ... epage=true

Yashwant Sinha is way much better person than other disgruntled BJP people. What is actual reason for his quitting?

Modi & Shah seem to control everything at the expense of some sane individuals. Losing people from BJP might bite them back later.

There is already a great resentment against his son.

The guy is slowly and surely getting marginalized in the BJP due to the antics of the stoooopid father.

The father knows that he will never be rehabilitated by the BJP ever again, so to protect his "family interests", the father did what he should have done years ago.

Its simple survival instinct.

yashwant and shourie proved that their connection with the BJP was purely transactional and not one of ideology or conviction. They were both stinking albatrosses around the neck of the party. Why does the party need such people??

[chetak]

Aditya Raj Kaul Verified account@AdityaRajKaul

Former Maharashtra ATS Inspector Mehboob says RDX was planted on Lt. Col. Purohit by Police and system. Says, top IPS officers of the state and politicians of Congress from state and centre involved in fixing Army officer. Massive newsbreak on @Republic TV. #PurohitWasFixed

7:40 AM - 20 Apr 2018 from Noida, India

[Sachin]

So there goes the impeachment motion down the drain !! . VP & his team have identified glaring mistakes in the way the notice was issued.

Modi & Shah seem to control everything at the expense of some sane individuals. Losing people from BJP might bite them back later.

Yeshwant Sinha & sane? Can you show us one instance in the recent past where he supported the BJP and the elected Prime Minister of the country? He and Shatrughan Sinha was bad mouthing BJP & Na.Mo, and their messages amplified by the "secular" media. They were nothing but cry-a-babies who wanted things all served to them on a platter by some one else.

[chetak]

twitter

Hindu "terror" gambit failed. Now trying Hindu "rapist" gambit. This is COMMUNAL ANGLE.
As elections heat up over next 12 monts, awaiting two more angles - Caste and Corruption.

[chetak]

Why were companies with foreign shareholding and in some cases untraceable ownership specially chosen and made part of the GSTN network??

Were Indian PU banks not seen as being adequate to the task or were there other considerations??

Much of this data has national security implications, especially of the economic kind.

https://www.pgurus.com/did-hasmukh-adhi ... 3-project/

Pranab Mukherjee had suggested a fully owned Government mechanism to administer and collect the tax. Chidambaram changed it into a 51% private organizations controlled company! The Government of India holds 24.5% equity in GSTN and all States of the Indian Union, including NCT of Delhi and Puducherry, and the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC), together hold another 24.5%. Balance 51% is with HDFC (10%), HDFC Bank (10%), ICICI (10%), NSE Strategic investments (10%) and LIC Housing Finance (10%). The majority of the LIC Housing Finance is now with foreign financial firms and private firms and LIC is having only nominal shares.

The authorized capital of the company is Rs.10 crores, of which Rs.5 crores was provided (shared amongst) the majority shareholders. To start with, GSTN was funded through a one-time non-recurring Grant- in aid of Rs.315 crores from the Central Government towards expenditure for the initial set up and functioning of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). Following this, the Union and State Governments of India have pumped in more than Rs 5000 crore to keep GSTN kicking. So precisely, by paying up Rs.5 crores, the majority stakeholders controlled Rs.5000 crore of the public money!

The first question is – Is it true that the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) repeatedly proposed on file to make GSTN a wholly-owned Government of India body? Is it true that Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia scuttled every effort by the CBEC to purge GSTN of the majority private shareholders? Is it because the Civil service Conduct Rules do not apply to the employees of a body like GSTN? Why unlike the UIDAI, the GSTN was not made a fully-owned Government body, especially because it is the repository of national tax data and also that the GSTN is linked to all banks, RBI, Customs servers and the PFMS module of the Union Accounts Department?

Secondly, why did the majority stakeholders make no contribution towards the expenditure of the GSTN? Why did Adhia approve performance-linked incentives for the senior officials of the GSTN, when he was fully aware that this was an expense from the exchequer? Who audited the performance of GSTN before they were doled out public money as incentives? If there was no audit of their performance by the Government before sanctioning such incentives, running into crores, is this not a fraud on the exchequer, in which Adhia has colluded?

If one is made to believe that the functioning of GSTN is transparent and legal, why did Adhia not sign any file as Chairman GSTN? Why did he abdicate his responsibilities and hand over the additional charge to Mr. A. B. Pandey, CEO of UIDAI within a matter of 10 days? Was there a nefarious design to keep the GSTN outside the purview of the CBI to ensure a free hand to the officers to indulge in all activities with utter contempt for the law?

There is a history to some of the private stakeholders. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) under Ravi Narayan, who was part of the GSTN Board, was mired in several controversies and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy was campaigning for his removal from the board, which, it is reliably learnt, happened after the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office.

There are lessons for bureaucrats and ministers after every scam is analysed threadbare in public. Even after the CWG scam, wherein Suresh Kalmadi was accused of flouting tender norms to provide contracts to private entities, why is the same pattern being repeated here in GSTN? Why did Hasmukh Adhia decide to look the other way while this was unfolding or did he deliberately participate in this?

Why did Adhia, who was the epicentre of GST and GSTN, discard the advice of the CBEC to make GSTN a wholly owned Government body? Why are those files of the CBEC which proposed for takeover of the GSTN being suppressed in the Finance Ministry now? It is an open secret that the only officer who has been with Adhia all throughout this GSTN journey is – Uday Singh Kumawat!! Kumawat dutifully continued the legacy of Chidambaram in the Finance Ministry and shaped the GSTN project accordingly, while Adhia played along. Why, Mr Hasmukh Adhia?

Why was the PMO kept in the dark on these proposals pertaining to the take-over of the GSTN to make it a fully owned Government body?

A North Block veteran told PGurus – from the conceptualization to the award of contract to Infosys (which reeks of a scam), actual user charges allocation (which is a fraud on the cabinet) to the flouting of the General Financial Rules (an illegality), Adhia handled the entire project the way Chidambaram would have done it.

https://www.pgurus.com/gstn-floated-upa ... 1-percent/

Creation of GST involves Constitutional Amendments and this GST administration and tax management company should have been ideally created by a consortium of Centre and State Governments. After all they have all the data and it is a matter of pulling them together for computation of GST. The question then is why the then Finance Ministry under P Chidambaram took this decision to outsource such a strategic activity to the private sector?

On first looks, the most significant player in this tax collection effort should be the one who has the Data. In this case, that would be the Central and State Governments. Everything else such as adjusting the percentage of GST for various states is just a matter of programming, which could have been done by the Government itself. After all, it has codified Income Tax! This cannot be more complicated than that!

A closer look at the private partners reveals that entities such as the HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and LIC Housing Finance Limited have shareholding of several foreign investments companies. In LIC Housing Finance Limited, among the 59 percent private shares, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Bank of Muscat, Mawer International Equity Fund, ICICI Prudential are the major private players.

In our opinion, tax administration is a sensitive matter dealing with sensitive information. Being a shareholder, would this automatically mean that HDFC and ICICI will be the bankers of public money collected through taxes? If yes, that would be a large amount of money passing through these banks! Also has the Home Ministry approved GSTN operators to allow them access to tax data?

The GST Bill has a long way to go. Only the constitutional amendments have been passed in the Parliament. States have to come on board and the final bill needs to be drafted and agreed to be made into law. Adequate security has to be established to ensure that this data does not fall in the wrong hands.

Finally, after all the mess, the Government decides to take over GSTN. Will FM & Adhia admit they were wrong?




Finally, after all the mess, the Government decides to take over GSTN. Will FM & Adhia admit they were wrong?

Has wisdom finally dawned on the Indian government on GSTN?

By Sree Iyer - April 11, 2018

It is believed that Winston Churchill said that “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” There has been much speculation[1] about whether Churchill did indeed say that but this was the phrase that came to mind when I read that Indian Govt. is mulling taking full control of the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN).

It appears as though wisdom has finally dawned. The Union Government on Tuesday started thinking of taking full control of Goods and Services Tax’s (GST) control and tax collecting mechanism GSTN.


When PGurus questioned the ownership structure of GSTN, a hue and cry were raised[2]. Finance Minister Jaitley replied in the Lok Sabha that it is best left to a private company to deal with the billions of transactions that take place on a daily basis[3]. This was an indirect jab at Government’s own departments, who had written the Income Tax Software program and other services, that they did not have the skills to come up with the software for GSTN.

Needless to say that this raised the hackles of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) Officers Association. The association has been demanding that they be given the control of this software. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy was urging full government control, pointing out the dangers of allowing majority ownership in the hands of foreign banks[4]. But Finance Minister Arun Jaitley preferred to go ahead with the GSTN whose ownership was tweaked by his buddy, the former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, to include Private Banks[5]. Apart from Jaitley, his Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia also threw his weight behind GSTN[6].

It appears as though wisdom has finally dawned. The Union Government on Tuesday started thinking of taking full control of Goods and Services Tax’s (GST) control and tax collecting mechanism GSTN.

PGurus ran a series of articles[7] in which serious matters pertaining to the role and the performance of the GSTN was questioned. Hasmukh Adhia was asked many pointed questions on data security, tender issues, and expenditure from exchequer[8].

The Finance Ministry has allotted more Rs.5000 crores to GSTN to develop software through Infosys and still, the software is not working properly. The 51 percent shareholders in GSTN are ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, LIC Housing Finance and an NSE subsidiary… These firms have not yet put a single paisa in GSTN[9]. Due to software related issues, lakhs of crores of rupees are not still disbursed between states and huge amounts of money are deposited at shareholder private banks like the ICICI Bank and the HDFC Bank. Shouldn’t these funds be kept in Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Banks such as the State Bank of India?

In what appears to be the first step towards a drastic restructuring and resurrection of the GSTN, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have issued directions to have this matter be looked at from ground up. The Government is considering to convert Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) into a government entity soon, to monitor the performance of the company more closely.

According to media reports on Tuesday, after returning from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has written to Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia to “examine the possibility of converting GSTN into a government company[10]“. The fact is that these two individuals were among the most vociferous supporters of GSTN being kept private. This must be a bitter pill to swallow.

The new proposal, after being finalized will have to go through the rest of GST Council, which will have to give its final nod, before the government can actually convert GSTN to a government entity. Arun Jaitley and Hasmukh Adhia were stonewalling CAG from auditing GSTN8 and they even went to extent of issuing circulars that the affairs of GSTN be exempt from General Financial Rules and also allowed payment of Rs.1400 crores to GSTN without Cabinet approval. Have a lawyer and a Doctorate in Yoga placed the administration and tax collection mechanism of GST in serious jeopardy? We at PGurus have been well-intentioned for the past two years, warning of the possible chaos that would result from the hasty decisions that the previous government had taken. Unfortunately, these pleas fell on deaf ears and now we are at a critical stage.

GSTN affairs were messed up by Jaitley and Adhia for the past four years and they should be made accountable for this. Hope the Prime Minister is listening.

References:

[1] Americans Will Always Do the Right Thing… – Nov 22, 2016, The Churchill Project

[2] Why was GSTN floated by the UPA in 2013, with private ownership of 51 percent? – Aug 7, 2016, PGurus.com

[3] Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addresses Lok Sabha on GST Bill – Aug 8, 2016, DD channel on YouTube

[4] GSTN – It is the data and the Govt owns it – Sep 1, 2016, PGurus.com

[5] Chidambaram changed Pranab model of GSTN and rigged it for Pvt. firms. Change it – Swamy to PM – Oct 1, 2016, PGurus.com

[6] More muck and sleaze tumbles out from the cupboards of the Finance Ministry – Mar 18, 2018, PGurus.com

[7] The GSTN Saga – The pain of doing business in India – Sep 17, 2017, PGurus.com

[8] GSTN tender scam – Will Hasmukh Adhia speak now? Why was Rs.1400 crores allotted bypassing the Union Cabinet? – Mar 28, 2018, PGurus.com

[9] Did Hasmukh Adhia convert GSTN into a UPA-3 project? – Mar 30, 2018, PGurus.com

[10] Govt mulling converting GSTN to govt company – Apr 10, 2018, LiveMint.com

[darshhan]

So there goes the impeachment motion down the drain !! . VP & his team have identified glaring mistakes in the way the notice was issued.

Modi & Shah seem to control everything at the expense of some sane individuals. Losing people from BJP might bite them back later.

Yeshwant Sinha & sane? Can you show us one instance in the recent past where he supported the BJP and the elected Prime Minister of the country? He and Shatrughan Sinha was bad mouthing BJP & Na.Mo, and their messages amplified by the "secular" media. They were nothing but cry-a-babies who wanted things all served to them on a platter by some one else.

Yashwant sinha and shatrughan sinha both of them combined will not be able to collect even 500 of their followers and that too after spending their own money. Such is their following and capacity. These are far beyond expiry date materials. It is only fitting that they are now being retired.

For the sins of his father, Jayant Sinha's ticket from Hazaribagh will likely be cut now.

[Gus]

Yashwant and shatrugan are classic cases of addition by subtraction. Playing them up can get some airtime in Lutyens media but nothing in the ground.

[arshyam]

Could this be the reason for his pique?

Govt pushes squatters out of Lutyens Bungalow Zone, only 4 left

The NDA government has adopted a strict policy to reject requests from politicians to extend their stay in official accommodations, in sharp contrast to its predecessor’s decisions. Sources said senior BJP leader and former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha had to vacate his house after the government showed him the rule book.

[arshyam]

Shotgun did contribute in the early days - he was a huge crowd puller in Bihar at that time. I suppose his strings are coming out of bhaiwood, with his daughter's career finely balanced on those strings. Perhaps something similar is behind Prakash Raj spouting nonsense of late...