My Incredible India; a brief introduction
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread & flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE, was the first major civilization in India.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation & a region of historic trade routes & vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial & cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism & Sikhism—originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity & Islam arrived in the first millennium CE & shaped the region's diverse culture.
A sophisticated & technically advanced urban culture developed in the Mature Harappan period, from 2600 to 1900 BCE. India is the land where Raghu-kul, Yadav-Vansh, Magadha, Mahavira, Gautama Buddha & many other great souls were born.
Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early 18th century & colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence; in which India lost lives of hundreds & thousands of patriots & TRUE TO HEART INDIANS.
By 2011, India became member of the groups & organizations like United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the World Trade Organization, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the East Asia Summit, the G20, the G8+5, & the Commonwealth of Nations; & is one of the four BRIC nations.
The Indian economy is the world's eleventh largest by nominal GDP & fourth largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India has become one of the fastest growing major economies, & is considered a newly industrialized country. A nuclear weapons state & a regional power, it has the third-largest standing army in the world, & ranks tenth in military expenditure among nations.
India is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, & the most populous democracy in the world. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, & multiethnic society. It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. Tropical India is surrounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, & the Bay of Bengal on the southeast.
Our Insatiable political leaders; plundering our motherland
For about 200 years British ruled India & plundered about Rs.1 trillion. But, our politicians pickpocketed about 7,580 trillion form our pocket in just 64 years.
| British in 200 years | Indians in 64 years |
| Rs. 1,00,00,00,00,000/200 years | Rs. 75,80,00,00,00,00,000/64 years |
| Rs. 50,00,00,000/year in 200 years | Rs. 1,18,43,75,00,00,000/year in 64 years |
| Rs. 41,66,66,66/month in 200 years | Rs. 9,86,97,91,66,667/month in 64 years |
| Rs. 96,15,384/week in 200 years | Rs. 2,27,76,44,23,076/week in 64 years |
| Rs. 13,68,925/day in 200 years | Rs. 32,42,64,20,260/day in 64 years |
| Rs. 57,038/hour in 200 years | Rs. 1,35,11,00,844/hour in 64 years |
| Rs. 951/minute in 200 years | Rs. 2,25,18,347/minute in 64 years |
According to Transparency International, on scale of 0-10, where 10=highly clean, 0=highly corrupt; India’s Corruption Perception Index was=>3.3, 40% of Indian MPs have criminal record.
Kings have gone but our corrupt democratic system is evolving into new dynasties system. This system makes it incapable of bringing in new & capable people because of the family backup & vast resources needed to win election. India’s situation is best explained by an ancient proverb, “A fish rots from the head down.” India’s political corruption poses an existential threat to the state.
The cycle of winning elections & looting India’s politics has evolved into a cycle of looting, spending part of the loot to win elections & loot more. This system encourages other parties to steal so as to win elections & stay in the game. In AP even state constituency is believed to require 5 to 6 Crores to win elections. Every possible way to win elections is used, by dividing people, manipulating Electronic Voting machines, use money & muscle power.
Can we call India a democracy? The vast wealth gained by corruption, few individuals can buy up India democracy. In 2008, smaller party MP seats were bought with 10 million dollars per seat. Once in power they compromise every democratic institution to hide their game. The smaller parties are won by carrot & stick. They will be threatened for their wrong doings (all of them have skeletons in the closet) & rewarded with few millions for supporting.
Degradation of India’s politics has no depth. A tight control of media is exercised so as not to expose. Politicians even own &/or have affiliation in large number of print & audio/visual media & production houses, even highest honours of India are awarded based on the affiliations. When public is angry over revelations of a new mega scandal, the strategy of ten employed is to start targeting second-tier corruptions electively (while top-tier is protected).
What India, YOU & ME are suffering from
Poor infrastructure:
Even to save food grains causing food prices to soar. The cut in every project left India with little infrastructure of drinking water, electricity, roads, canals & sewage systems making life miserable. Worse, it is costing 50,000 Crores of agriculture loss each year with thousands of tons of food grains rotting when millions do not have 2 meals a day.
Impoverishment:
One third of global poor live in India & 80% of Indians are poor (less than Rs. 100 per day) & every second child is malnourished.
- Since 1997, 199,132 farmers committed suicide in India. In 2004, in just one week 62 cotton farmers have committed suicide in one place called Vidarbha in Maharashtra state.
- The looted money is used to hoard food supplies to increase prices & make more. This is making life hell for poor in India with 17% inflation. A mother has to choose between sending her child to school or to work.
- 100 million Indians live in slums surrounding cities in depraved conditions with no toilet or hygiene.
Severe Internal & External Security Challenges
Insurgency & Terrorism:
Lack of development is causing insurgency. Almost every Indian state is facing problems with insurgency & terrorist activities, both form within & groups outside India. Transfer of loot to tax havens & to countries harbouring terror groups.
- India’s police do not have proper equipment to fight terrorists & insurgents. The shoddy bullet vests could not protect our police during Mumbai terrorist attack.
- The wheeling dealing with every police & military procurement left India with sub-standard equipment.
- More seriously it destroyed indigenous development of weapons.
My questions
- Why does Indian Law not have ANY “NO TOLERANCE for corruption” policy or rule?
- Why Indian Government refuses to constitute a joint parliamentary committee of all parties to investigate the scam? Should this be considered as a classic example of collusion between politicians, industrialists & media with high powered brokers?
- How was this possible that Commonwealth games (CWG) fraud 60,000 Crores, 13 billion dollars (2010). Original estimate of India’s CWG is 617.5 Crores.90% of infrastructure development costs were ransacked. 900+ Crores billed for about 85 Crores stadium. Following is the CWG cost comparisons.
| • 2002 (UK): Rs 2,100 Crores | • 2006 (Australia): Rs 5,000 Crores |
| • 2010 (India): Rs 60,000 Crores | • 2014(UK, estimated): Rs 2,200 Crores |
- Why no concrete actions were taken even when Swiss was willing to give more information if requested regarding Hassan Ali Khan, who is known to have a Swiss account of $ 8 billion dollars & more. The bigger blunder, that Indian government submitted forged documents as request when they requested.
- Why Finance minister is contemplating changing tax laws to evade sharing information about the assets. CID Investigations confirmed a meeting between Hassan Ali, Vilasrao Deshmukh (Ex. C.M. of Maharashtra) & Ahmed Patel (trusted secretary of Sonia Gandhi).—The Statesman, Hassan Ali and Billions, May7, 2010
- How come Late Mr Rajiv Gandhi’s 2 billion in Swiss bank in 1991 (as appeared in popular Swiss magazine Schweitzer Illustriet in 1991) was never challenged?
There are 70 tax havens & most India’s wealth is in Swiss & various British/US Islands & now in Dubai.--Rediff, Mar 2009
- Under what LAW it made possible for Indian Government (Additional Solicitor general) helped de-freeze Quattrochi account with no regards to Indian courts as it did not inform even the Supreme Court in Dec 2005.
- For what reasons India’s CBI withdrew Quattrochi’s name from list of wanted persons.
- Former Supreme Court Justice KG Balakrishnan’s son-in-laws amassed fortunes during his tenure. During his tenure, he aggressively blocked any attempt to bring judges into purview of declaring their assets.
- WHY? WHY? WHY? Indian Government appointed tainted P.J. Thomas as head of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Everybody knows that he was the Telecom secretary under whom 40 billion dollar 2G scandal occurred & he is going to investigate 2G scam???
Suggested Solutions
Just one 2G Scam, 40 billion dollars loot mean following loss for the country
- It is 3% of country’s GDP in just one scam
- It is 20% of the money needed to create a National Grid (connecting all rivers in India). Such a grid would ensure perennial water-supply to every one of 6 Lakh (Hundred Thousand) villages & to create 9 Crore acres of land assured irrigation.
Director of Swiss bank also said that India's almost Rs. 280 million (Rs. 2,80,00,00,00,00,000) is deposited in his Swiss bank. What does this amount means to India:-
- India's budget for the coming 30 years can be made without tax.
- 60 million jobs i.e. Source of income for 6 Crore families in India.
- 4-lane road from every village in India to Delhi from can be made.
- More than 500 social projects are completed.
- Rs 2,000 every month to every Indian for 60 years.
What could India do with Rs. 73 Lakh Crore (just an estimated total of all the major scams and scandals that took place in India from 1947-2011)?
- India’s poverty can be wiped out.
- Build: 2.4 Crore primary healthcare centres. That’s at least 3 for every village, at a cost of Rs 30 Lakh search.
- Build: 24.1 Lakh Kendriya Vidyalayas at a cost of Rs 3.02 Crore each, with two sections from Class VI to XII.
- Construct: 14.6 Crore low-cost houses assuming a cost of Rs 5 Lakh a unit.
- Set up: 2,703 coal-based power plants of 600 MW each. Each costs Rs 2,700 Crore.
- Supply: 12 Lakh (Hundred Thousand) CFL bulbs. That’s enough light for each of India’s 6 Lakh (Hundred Thousand) villages.
- Construct: 14.6 Lakh (Hundred Thousand) km of two-lane highways. That’s a road around India’s perimeter 97 times over.
- Give: Rs 56,000 to every Indian. Even better, give Rs 1.82 Lakh (Hundred Thousand) to 40 Crore Indians living BPL (Below Poverty Level).
- Clean up: 50 major rivers for the next 121 years, at Rs 1,200 Crore a river every year.
- Launch: 90 NREGA-style schemes, each worth roughly Rs 81,111 Crore.
- Announce: 121 more loan waiver schemes. All of them worth Rs 60,000 Crore.
- Hand out: 60.8 Crore Tata Nanos to 60.8 Crore people. Or four times as many laptops.
- Grow the GDP: The scam money is 27% more than our GDP (Rs 53 Lakh Crore.
Develop Indian identity, Indians should transcend religion, region, caste, political ideology & identify as Indians first. Foreigners & dregs of the society rule us because it is very easy to divide us.
Educate, make people literate, & make them aware that the freebies given during elections are stolen money. Say ‘No’ to bribes & encourage them to vote & choose on grounds of performance & politician’s commitment towards community.
Reduce corruption for government services by use of Technology such as E-Governance & reduction of Government control. Transparency in Government contracting etc. India’s RTI (Freedom of Information) act has given some power to citizens over bureaucracy.
Several activists/NGO are springing up in India to tackle the issue. Jana agraha recording of bribes (I paid a bribe) prompted Karnataka government to take action.
Massive awakening to force laws that have teeth & are not subjected to political interference. Bring the looted funds back. Work with US Department of Treasury, USA Financial Action Task Force to track down the money transfers into tax havens & the rerouting back into stock markets through participatory notes & other Hawala routes.
GET INVOLVED, discuss, chain mail, SMS, BLOG, or join groups/organizations like India Against Corruption, Jana agraha, Save India From Corruption, 5thPillar,etc. Many such organizations, spiritual leaders, activists, experts are fighting valiant battle.
Do not lose heart
- It happened in Peru in 2009 when people & supreme court overthrew President Fujimori
- It happened in Tunisia in 2010 when mass awakening overthrew President Ben Ali
- It is happening NOW in Egypt against President Mubarak & in Libya against Gaddafi
- It happened in Hong Kong, 1974 when mass awakening established ICAC(Independent Commission Against Corruption)
