Dear Prime Minister...

Is this government of the people
and for the people?

Dear Citizens...
  

The arrogance of ruling class is growing. The way their ministers are talking in public,

the cheap language they are using against Anna Hazare and other members of civil the
society is annoying.

The remarks by politicians like Kapil Sibal, Digvijay Singh, Renuka Chaudhari, 
Shaqil Ahemed and many others are utterly arrogant and uncivilized.

 

And that is why it is serious, unacceptable and condemnable.

If this government as it claims had serious charges against Baba Ram Dev, against

his team, his properties, his companies, businesses, his financial matters, it is entirely Govt.
business, the law of the land will decide how to deal with the guilty.

But the question today is different, and it is about fundamental rights of the people staging
peaceful protest. Let us not divert the issue in question this episode has raised.

Why should innocent citizens be beaten up to settle the score with Baba Ram Dev?

At 1 o'clock in the midnight? The people at the venue were all ordinary citizens and not 
terrorists nor gangsters. They were sleeping, not armed, and not  even a threat to law and order.

Why the spinal cords, skulls, legs, arms of the ordinary people were broken?
When it was not their fault?  And why the force of 5000 jawans from Rapid force was used
against innocent  men, women, old men, children and young girls ?

How is it justified? How Prime minister and Home Minister justifies this brutal action?

The fact is, Government had grand plans for using and misusing Baba Ram Dev

against Anna Hazare and his team to split civil society. And as a part of this plan, Baba was
given red carpet welcome at the airport by four senior ministers which was a well planned
political move to demolish Anna Hazare and his crusade against corruption because 

it was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with tough people on the team of Anna Hazare.

So the smart move was planned by few senior Congress ministers to demolish this whole 

movement and Baba walked in the Congress trap. Anna Hazare had warned Baba though.
But the bigger question is not about Congress playing game, it is about ...

After the brutal attack, 40/50 people got injured, some are serious and still struggling with
life in the hospital. But Delhi Police commissioner came on national TV channels and

denied use of excessive Lathee charge on the people when the live TV visuals cleary had
captured the brutal attack on the innocent people on 4th midnight. Camera's do not lie.

Then... what is this massive cover-up going on by the senior Congress ministers
of Manmohan Singh?
 

There is no regret felt at all ,not even by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. And in the
yesterday's press conference by Home minister, there was a crude attempt made to prove
how the police action was justified with some RSS stories. But the Home minister who
gave some intelligence reports from 2009, never explained the connection between the
reports and the beating of innocent unarmed citizens at 1 in the midnight.

Trying to justify the ACT of excesses on innocent people? Brutality on innocent ?

This government has become insensitive and arrogant.

Even British Empire was not so insensitive and had set up a committee against Gen. Dire
who was responsible for brutal firing on unarmed peaceful gathering at  Jalianwalah Baug.
The British administration did not spare Gen Dire in condemning his brutal, uncalled for act.

But then, Britishers were invaders and foreigners ruling over India. Today, in Independent

India, we are beaten up in our sleep, tear gassed, lathee charged, shot at, crushed by
our own elected government? By our elected representatives? And the act is justified too !!
What a shame??

Isn't it a mockery of our democracy? That few arrogant politicians have started thinking
this country is owned by few politicians, their families, their sons and daughters,
in-laws and ordinary people have no stake in the ownership, no rights whatsoever in the
governance and in ruling, once they get elected.

What a mockery of our democratic rights given by our constitution?

This is a dangerous situation and very similar to 1974 emergency when the same

Congress ruling class had reacted arrogantly and disrespected High court verdict against
then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and emergency was introduced for enjoying political powers.

The same Congress who showed its fascists, ugly face in 1974, disrespected court

verdict then, misused intelligence and police. Arrested hundreds of opposition leaders like 

Jayaprakash Narayan and threw them in the jail. Throttled media by banning news broadcast
all over. Today, this Congress is telling civil society shamelessly that you have fascist agenda?

Dear Citizens... Don't get sucked in.

Today. you make a mistake of misjudging, miss reading this political situation created
once again by same ruling congress,  who wish that, in this democratic independent India,
there should not be a word of opposition to their rule, no protest march, no Uposhan
against their miss governance, their corrupt rule, corrupt politicians, and their collective
loot of this country, YOU will be making a big mistake.

TODAY... Stand behind Anna Hazare firmly once again to protest against the assault
on our democratic and constitutional rights.

Make no mistake, Let the people's power be seen, heard and felt.

Ajay Angre
Author, Writer, Publisher
U-Said-It_Right 

 

Air India, politicians and corruption.

 Air India, politicians and corruption

This letter reveals the inside Air India story : By Capt. RL Mathur

Why Air India is going into heavy losses and how corrupt politicians are looting public money.

Read the inside story…

There has been a lot of discussion in the media regarding foreign pilots (also known as “expat pilots”) in the aftermath of the tragic air accident at Mangalore.

The Minister of Civil aviation, many bureaucrats, airline officials and even a few journalists have gone to great lengths to explain how experienced foreign pilots hired by Air India and private airlines are essential to the Indian aviation industry.

 A retired spokesperson of Air India, who has no business to speak on behalf of Air India anymore, has been repeatedly appearing on television to painstakingly explain how important foreign pilots are to the company.

Clearly the air disaster at Mangalore with a foreign pilot at the controls has made a lot of powerful people worried .Very worried.

The point however is not whether foreigners should be allowed in Indian carriers or not. Some of them are highly experienced and respected professionals who have undoubtedly made a huge contribution to the Indian airline industry. This article is not about them.

It is about a shady scheme on gargantuan proportions, backed by government policy and a well oiled system that feeds on unimaginable corruption, on a scale that would astonish every innocent fare paying air passenger.

Air India is a government run Public Sector Undertaking and thus, it is assumed that rules applicable to other government institutions meant to keep corruption under check would apply to it too. The Ministry of Defense, for example has strict rules debarring the involvement of private middlemen or brokers in facilitating defense contracts.

Other ministries have strict guidelines on the recruitment of qualified personnel or consultants where a transparent tendering process has to be adhered to.

In the case of Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express, such rules do not seem to apply at all.

Some years ago, the ministry of civil aviation that ran erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines, cooked up unrealistic passenger growth projections and placed massive aircraft orders for Air India and Indian Airlines. Private airlines only too eager to float shares to rake in public money and capitalize on the hype jumped in the bandwagon. Overnight, hundreds of vacancies for pilots were created.

Air India began hiring foreign pilots in 2003.Other reputed companies like Singapore Airlines and various Gulf Airlines such as Emirates, recruit foreign nationals too but with great transparency. Foreign pilots hired by them are a part of the regular workforce and are directly hired, without involving middlemen, on local terms. European airlines do not hire non EU nationals.

In Air India’s case, no global tenders were floated for foreign recruitment firms and no advertisements in newspapers announcing vacancies for foreign nationals appeared. Bureaucrats and officials in Air India, hand in glove with their counterparts and politicians in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Labor, Home Ministry, Ministry of External Affairs and other agencies hastily cleared the proposal to hire foreign nationals and the policy of recruiting foreign pilots was established. Politicians of opposition parties were roped in and a cozy arrangement was made.

To bypass opposition from its own employees and to circumvent elaborate transparent recruitment procedures and various laws, a defunct subsidiary, Air India Charters Ltd was revived and used as the vehicle to issue foreigners contracts. Hence the hundreds of foreign pilots in Air India and Air Express are routed through Air India Charters Ltd through recruitment firms and then using a legal loophole, deputed to Air India and Air India Express.

Private firms comprising middlemen and brokers, with the respectable title of “Aviation Consultants” were approached and many of these, such as Rishworth Aviation, Parc Aviation and scores of others appeared out of the wood work. Overnight, new consulting agencies sprang up, some in murky tax havens like the Isle of Man and Channel Islands. All suddenly began to offer “experienced” pilots from all parts of the world. Many of these foreign pilots had and continue to have no clear track record. Some claim to have thousands of hours of flying experience in countries as diverse as Russia and Rwanda. Some of the airlines and countries (such as Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia) that these pilots flew in do not even exist anymore. No background checks are carried out by either Air India or the Indian Government. Strangely the agency of middlemen, or “consultant” supplying the pilots, is entrusted with this task.

Lucrative contracts were tailor-made to lure foreign pilots in droves. 
Decades of rules meant to harass Indian pilots such as stringent medical standards were waived off by the government for foreign pilots. Air India’s pilots who are Indian nationals, have to undergo a DGCA medical test known as a Class I medical examination and then are again subjected to an elaborate company medical test known as a Pre Employment Medical Examination (PEME).None of these apply to foreign nationals in India.

For example, an Indian pilot may not be allowed fly an Indian passenger aircraft wearing a pacemaker but a foreigner most probably would because the medical standards in his country allow it. There have been cases where Indian pilots who are permanently medically grounded by Indian authorities get foreign citizenship and foreign licenses and return to India to fly planes on “expat” terms. At least two such “foreign” pilots have served Air India on such a contract.
In fact foreign pilots flying Indian registered aircraft are not even required to have Indian flying licenses! All they had to do is produce “proof “of experience and a foreign license and the DGCA issues a “temporary authorization”. Such “proof” of experience could be a fake certificate or a fake rubber stamp but nobody carries out a background check.

A foreign pilot is not legally answerable to the Indian DGCA since he does not have an Indian License. The DGCA can neither revoke nor suspend his flying license. Technically, an Indian Co Pilot involved in a serious air accident may lose his flying license and his job; whereas the pilot, if he is a foreigner can take the next flight home and start life on a clean slate!

To prevent the foreign pilots from coming under the ambit of direct taxes in India, the pilots are “officially” based in foreign countries such as Dubai and not given “local” terms of employment. Every month Air India pays the foreign recruitment agencies the salaries of these pilots along with a commission or “consultancy fees” to foreign bank accounts. This is turn trickles back to the various politicians and officials who patronize the system.

Not surprisingly, a foreign pilot who recently approached Air India for a job recently was asked to route his application through a recruitment agency!
As a result ,hundreds of crores of income tax that would have normally gone to the Indian Income Tax Department through TDS had these pilots been based in India, is diverted to foreign bank accounts in foreign countries

“Liaison officers” and “advisors”, meant to “facilitate” business interests, are regularly appointed by these foreign recruitment agencies to “liaise” with the various ministries and departments. Two of Air India’s senior most executives have retired in the past one year and have joined such firms as “liaison” officers. Another, a retired CMD, continues to show great personal interest in negotiating foreign pilots’ contracts on behalf of recruitment agencies.

Foreign pilots are provided more leave, sometimes up to ten days in a month – the justification being that they need to go home to be with their families. Indian pilots flying for Air India Express are made to go on postings for fifteen days at a stretch and given one day off at their home base. Ironically these Indian pilots spend three to four days every month with their families and the foreigners (who could be from neighboring Nepal or Dubai) spend more than a week to ten days every month on holiday.

Foreigners also get paid a higher salary and are entitled to five star hotel accommodations even when not flying. As a result, hundreds of hotel rooms are booked by Air India at exorbitant rates – a percentage of which presumably flows back to some officials.

This murky system in Air India of the past seven years has quietly gone unnoticed. As long as flights took off on time and passengers reached their destinations nobody really cared. Unions cried themselves hoarse- only to be drowned in the din of the money power of powerful lobbies and an ill informed media often hesitant to upset a mega industry that generates lucrative advertisement revenue 

The air crash at Mangalore need not have necessarily been caused by an incompetent foreign pilot. This article is not meant to disrespect the majority of foreign pilots in India. But the larger issue of rampant corruption and greed must be addressed immediately. Little wonder that all the officials in the dishonest food chain are now working overtime to cover up the issue. Sadly the one hundred and fifty eight innocent people that have been killed cannot speak for themselves anymore.

Therefore we, the rest of the nation, must stand up in one voice to demand a CBI enquiry to unravel the mess. We cannot afford to wait for another air disaster to prove the politicians, bureaucrats and officials wrong.

Because the next time a shady foreign pilot from strange country with a dubious qualification or medical history crashes a plane, you and I could actually be on it.

Capt. RL Mathur

Dear Prime Minister,

You will say, these are only allegations. Anyone can make allegations. You need to prove charges. Would you investigate these serious charges to expose the corruption in your government ?

Who is Digvijaya Singh to question Anna on RSS?

Questioning Anna on RSS is unpatriotic

Nehru honored RSS for its support and Lal Bahadur Shastri requested for it.
Congress is questioning Anna on RSS as if that’s a big crime committed against the nation?

It seems we are not living in a vibrant democracy but either in a Stalinist regime or in a Saudi despot’s fiefdom. RSS–BJP support to Anna is being projected as the ultimate sin any Indian can commit against the national interest. And misrepresenting RSS Gen. Secy.’s letter to Swayamsewaks-cadres, to work for anti corruption drive and help get back black money stashed in Swiss banks, Anna is sought to be put in a question box-why did you take RSS support? 

The same secular-Taliban crowd had objected Anna putting up Bharat Mata portraits at Jantar Mantar though they had no shame collaborating with Congress ministers behind the scenes.

Neither does Anna need to have RSS support to survive nor does RSS need to piggyback on him for staying afloat in public life. Both are serving the nation in their own ways. And selflessly in the national interest. Nation First !! Is what they strongly believe in.

But the Congress perhaps has the shortest memory ever diagnosed in a public organization. 

Just a few decades earlier, their patron guardian belonging to the Gandhi-Nehru family, had honored the RSS cadre by inviting them to participate in the Republic Day parade in New Delhi in full RSS uniform. That was the time when India passed through a 1962 aggression by China and the Nehru government had to arrest more than 250 senior communist leaders on charges of sedition. And the same Nehru government invited RSS cadre to participate in their own uniform in the ’63 Republic Parade as a gesture to honor them for their splendid role in helping the nation and boosting the morale of the soldiers.

There is an old picture of that occasion- RSS Swayamsewaks proudly marching past the Tricolor on Rajpath in their Ganavesh- as the uniform is known in Sangh parlance.

During the 1965 war, the then Congress Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had invited and lauded RSS help in helping maintain public order in Delhi, taking up traffic police assignments and thus relieving policemen to go on war time duties.

Isn’t it too ironical that under the utterly pronounced family rule, the same Congress is trying to question Anna’s wisdom by deliberately asking a wrong question- why did you take RSS support?

Even if, hypothetically assuming, Anna had asked for RSS support to end corruption, would that be construed as a sin and something that Anna shouldn’t have done?

Why? Is RSS a Pakistan affiliate?

Does it reject the constitution like the Maoists and their anti-national intellectual supporters?
Is RSS against democracy? Or is it a banned Indian terrorist outfit like SIMI or Lashkar or Hizbul or Naxals? Does it work against India and had it designed country’s division in 1947?

The ones who really did it became partners of the government led by Congress.

In 1962-63, Congress under Nehru had put hundreds of Communist leaders behind bars for sedition. Some one needs to use RTI to find out more details on such a historically revealing issue. The same communists became UPA-1’s coalition partners.

In 1947, Indian Union Muslim League, the only party using the word ‘union’, worked to divide the nation.

It became a party discarded by all post Independence obviously for this reason. It was this UPA government led by the Congress that invited Muslim League for the first time in our history to join the council of ministers.

Congress is happy to go soft on Naxals and appoint a convicted pro-Naxal-Maoist person as a key position holder in the Planning Commission. It can also conveniently forget the unanimous and all party resolution on Kashmir passed in 1994 and appoint a group of interlocutors to give divisive suggestions.

 But still it has the cheek to question Anna on RSS support.
 Why? Simply because patriotism is a hateful word in Congress lexicon.
  
Anyone who works against the Indian unity and integrity becomes a natural buddy of the party. Like Arundhati Roy, Batla House gang, Azamgarh Jihadis and Maoist mafia. Have you ever seen a Congress leader sympathizing with Inspector Mohan Lal Sharma, killed in Batla House operation? 

But they obviously go to the houses of suspected terrorists.

Hence RSS must be an obvious target of the Congress crowd.
A cartel of secular shamanistic, love to stand with murderer Jihadis, anti-democracy and constitution burner Naxals, but through a control over media and money, they try to portray a different ideological stream members as sinners and pariahs.

Tarun Vijay

Tarun Vijay (born in 1961) is an Indian author, social worker, famous freelance journalist, and parliamentarian. He was the editor of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) weekly in Hindi, Panchajanya, from 1986 to February 2008, and is a columnist of the newspaper The Times of India. He also writes for the Daily Pioneer.

These traitors must be hanged first!

Dear Citizens,

What a shame? What a disgusting political situation we are made to witness.

When the law of the land has passed the judgement on the criminal for his disgraceful, shameless act to hang Afzal Guru till death for attacking the temple of Democracy and killing innocent people, who are these people debating and discussing whether he be hanged or pardoned?

He must be hanged till death. No mercy for any terrorist.

Who are these people who have no respect for innocent Indians being killed every time there is a terror attack? Is anyone from their families got killed in the terror attacks? What rights they have got to over rule judiciary?

They have to be traitors, disloyal, dishonest, anti national elements who are living on Indian soil, enjoying the democratic rights, and having loyalty across the borders. They don't deserve to be here on this soil.

If the law of the land is not acceptable to them, let them go wherever they wish to, they are free.

But insulting the judiciary, disrespecting the law of this land, humiliating the sentiments of the families of innocents killed in terror attacks  will never be acceptable to any Indian citizen. And nor should it be acceptable to Indian government in power.

Congress's dirty politics to please their vote banks and appeasing people for political gains has given these traitors strength to talk against our highest judiciary and constitution. How dare they think they can even talk about Afzal Guru,  a criminal who is convicted by the supreme court ? Tomorrow the same people will have the courage to talk for Ajmal Kasab on humanitarian grounds if given a chance.

These are the people whose roles and backgrounds must be investigated by intelligence agencies. These must be the people who are likely to provide local ground support to overseas terrorists. Our Home ministry is either playing a political game or failed to play a role of a good cop. And in either case it shows their poor performance, inability to deal with terror and incompetence of their intelligence.

It is time the Manmohan Singh government goes before terrorists start thinking Indian citizens can be blown to pieces whenever they want. It is high time that we need a leader who can rise above dirty politics, corrupt practices and lead this nation courageously. We need a leader with  a backbone to answer every terror bullet.  We need a person like Winston Churchill to fight terror like a war.

We need visionary, strong administrator like Sardar Patel to lead this nation today. There is no place for Dr Manmohan Singh and his corrupt team of politicians who are only involved in the loot. They can not make decisions unless they talk to their high commands and lead this nation of 1.25 billion people. People with metal, who have the vision and courage to take on the enemy head on must stay in the office or quit.

This government must go if India is to be saved from looters and terrorists. The corrupt and criminal politicians are a major threat to this country since money can easily sell their loyalties and kill our citizens. So throwing out corrupt politicians and their supporters should be our first priority in the coming elections. There should not be a place for criminals and corrupt people to enter into social and political system.

It is not just one apple that is rotten, the whole basket of apples is rotten.  

Who's responsible for the fall of Maharajah?

Air India... the Bleeding Maharajah.

 

Who takes the responsibility for his slow death?

 

Praful Patel? Or Dr Manmohan Singh's government?

I was surprised and shocked to see Praful Patel's interview on Times Now.

The way Praful Patel was answering questions thrown at him by Arnab Gosvami, showed he had no regret or remorse for bringing down Maharajah to such a sorrowful state. No money to pay staff salaries. No money to pay fuel bills. But money to buy new planes worth 45000 crores? The way he was laughing on such a serious issue, it also looked like the interview was scripted and fake. No responsible Minister will react on national TV as if nothing much has happened. If Dr Manmohan Singh has Ministers of this attitude with no seriousness whatsoever when we are talking of crores and crores of losses, our PM is not fit to lead this nation.The national carrier Air India on the verge of closer is not a joke Mr Praful Patel. It's peoples money that is being discussed. 

Air India is a bigger scam today that Dr Manmohan singh needs to explain.

Why taxpayers money was given as a dole to this man Praful Patel, then Aviation Minister, when the writing was there on the wall, Maharajah is in the ICU, on the oxygen, gasping for breathe and no hopes for his survival. A successful businessman like Praful Patel and his team knew it well because the end of Maharajah was well choreographed by these very politicians for ulterior motives.

This man, Praful Patel must be held responsible along with our great economist PM who kept giving funds in crores to SICK organization which was destined to nosedive because of corrupt practices by insiders who were responsible to run AI. PP was deeply involved with other politians to kill Maharajah slowly with a grand plan to finally sell this sick airline with losses to waiting bidders. So the 40/45 thousand crores of planes ordered now will be finally sold for peanut price to their friends in airline business and bleeding Maharajah goes to sharks waiting for their pray. It is a win win situation. Everyone is happy ultimately.

It was a grand plan that has been cunningly conceived for long by these politicians to swallow this public enterprise ultimately, and the loot then is shared by all involved like Praful Patel and his political bosses.

And that is why Dr Manmohan Singh who is called a great economist world over is totally and completely responsible for allowing this loot by corrupt politicians. What we see in every scam is just the tip of the iceberg. The major players are covered or ignored deliberately by investigative agencies and tax payers money is looted by these corrupt politicians. Finally, no one is convicted and goes to jail. The money is pocketed and the loot goes on. We like fools keep reading the news, watch fake,scripted debates in frustration and watch these looters getting away with the loot... going scot-free.

Will someone explain to tax payers, why a successful businessman like Praful Patel and a great economist with his team of experts and experienced financial advisers like Mr Pranav Mukharjee have been financially supporting a sinking ship which you and me who are not experts could see it happening one day?

The only deduction you can arrive at is, Dr Manmohan Singh is playing in the hands of corrupt politicians around him and he has failed in his duty to stop this loot. In either case, he is responsible to allow the looters to loot and therefore owes an explanation to this nation why he should not be held accountable and answerable?

If Praful Patel says, looking back now, may be certain decisions may have been gone wrong for Maharajah to bleed, then the accountability must be fixed for this huge mess up and loses on him first and all others involved. All responsible must be charged for mismanagement and misappropriations. They all must be sent to jail on charges of corruption and cheating. Here the great economist PM has failed in checking frauds and indirectly supported the loot.

Who should be held accountable for this huge loss? Yes, this ministers and their team must be sent to jail for their sheer incompetence and mismanagement. Why should the nation suffer huge loses? The corrupt ministers must be held responsible for squandering public funds. This is the reason why all the political class is against Lokpal bill with strong, effective laws against corruption. 

It was Praful Patel who kept asking PM for extra funds to save bleeding Maharajah when he was a Minister for aviation. The accountability therefore must be fixed with PP and PM. PM too is responsible for providing huge funds to PP when it was clear, it is a sinking ship. This corruption MUST STOP and every Minister must be made accountable for losses incurred during the term.

No one should take Citizens for granted. Let this be a writing on the wall.

Ajay Angre
Author, Writer, Publisher
U-Said-It-Right