S.O.S - eVoice For Justice - e-news weekly
Spreading the light of humanity & freedom

Editor: Nagaraj.M.R...vol.6.issue.7....13/02/2010

Editorial : CORPORATE CRIMINALS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ILLS IN INDIA

In India , a small shop owner to big industrialist have mastered the
art of TAX EVASION . their teachers - some corrupt tax officials &
auditors. The black money thus created
is causing inflation, feeding the mafia , underworld. Some
industrialists lobby ( bribe ) with the government & gets favourable
laws enacted. This black money is the main source of funds for
political parties , religious bodies & terrorist outfits.

The recent raids by C.B.I & KARNATAKA LOKAYUKTHA have proved how the
tax officials have become multi-millionaires. The sad part is that
some of the police officials who are on deputation to C.B.I &
LOKAYUKTHA themselves are utterly corrupt.

This scourge can only be cured by corporate accountability intoto.
However , all the industrialists , traders who are demanding for more
flexible labour reforms , economic reforms , infrastructure , etc are
not at all concerned about their own accountability with respect to
tax , environment , other laws. The MNCs coming to India are not
coming here for best Indian talents or infrastructure alone. In their
own countries they are feeling the
heat of strict environment laws , consumer laws , share holder
disclosures , corporate accountability. Some of these MNCs are being
kicked out of their countries , by it's own people .These MNCs are
aware that in India , by greasing the palms environment laws , labour
laws , tax laws , etc everything can be flouted , cases in courts can
be dragged on for years . share holder disclosures , corporate
transparency is minimum.

However when a concerned citizen complains about the crimes of guilty
corporates , organizations or corrupt public servants , immediate
action is not taken. The file is kept pending for months , years
together  , allowing the criminals to manipulate all the evidences ,
records , ground situations. Finally even if action is taken guilty
will be let out due to favorable  evidences , there are chances that
the concerned citizen himself is falsely implicated & put behind
bars . in all such cases all the involved parties must be subjected to
lie detector tests .

Bottomline : development is a must , it must be all around . but not
at the cost of majority to make a few richer.
 Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.

Your’s sincerely,
Nagaraj.M.R.

Writ of Mandamus to Chief Justice of India & Others
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/writ-of-mandamus-to-...
,

POLICE NOT REGISTERING FIR / COMPLAINT
Circle Inspector of Police , Vijayanagar Police Station , Mysore
City , Karnataka
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/police-not-registeri...
,

 Failure of duties & questions not answered by public servants

Circle Inspector of Police , Vijayanagar Police Station , Mysore
City , Karnataka
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/police-not-registeri...
,

CROSS EXAM OF HONOURABLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA , SUPREME COURT OF
INDIA –
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/rti---supreme-court-...
,
http://crosscji.blogspot.com/ , http://crossexamofchiefjustice.blogspot.com/
,
http://crimesofsupremecourt.wordpress.com/ , http://crosscji.wordpress.com/
,
http://crossexamofchiefjustice.wordpress.com/ ,

CROSS EXAM OF UNION HOME SECRETARY , GOI , NEW DELHI –
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/rti---supreme-court-...
,
http://crosscji.blogspot.com/ , http://crossexamofchiefjustice.blogspot.com/
,
http://crimesofsupremecourt.wordpress.com/ , http://crosscji.wordpress.com/
,
http://crossexamofchiefjustice.wordpress.com/ ,

CROSS EXAM OF DG&IG OF POLICE , GOK , BANGALORE –
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/rti---supreme-court-...
,
http://crosscji.blogspot.com/ , http://crossexamofchiefjustice.blogspot.com/
,
http://crimesofsupremecourt.wordpress.com/ , http://crosscji.wordpress.com/
,
http://crossexamofchiefjustice.wordpress.com/ ,

CROSS EXAM OF MUDA COMMISSIONER , MUDA  , MYSORE , COMMISSIONER ,
MCC , MYSORE , DEPUTY COMMISSIONER , MYSORE  –
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/rti---muda-mcc ,
http://crimesofmuda.blogspot.com/ , http://manivannanmuda.blogspot.com/
,
http://crimesatmudamysore.wordpress.com/ ,
CROSS EXAM OF BDA COMMISSIONER , BDA , BANGALORE , COMMISSIONER ,
BBMP , BANGALORE , DEPUTY COMMISSIONER , BANGALORE , CHAIRMAN ,
KIADB , BANGALORE  –
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/rti---bda-bbmp-kiadb
,
http://crimesofbda.blogspot.com/ , http://bdacrimes.wordpress.com/ ,

CROSS EXAM OF GOVERNOR , RESERVE BANK OF INDIA
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/rti---reserve-bank-o...
,
http://theftinrbi.blogspot.com/ , http://theftinrbi.rediffblogs.com/
, http://theftinrbi.wordpress.com/

CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY IN INDIA

CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY Scandals related to the appalling practices
of multinational corporations like Union Carbide (now DOW), Enron,
Coke, Cadbury, and
others may have shocked the nation and the world in the recent past,
but the media rarely highlights corporate crimes that extend to
murders, destroying habitats, threatening indigenous cultures, causing
disease, contaminating the planet's food supply, poisoning
our groundwater and even destroying the very air we breathe.

You think this is an exaggeration? Well consider this. In Bhopal,
India more than 8,000 people died in the first three days after 40
tonnes of lethal gas spilled out from Union Carbide's pesticide
factory in December 1984. People woke in their homes to fits of
coughing, their lungs filling with fluid. 520,000 people were exposed
to poisonous gases. 150,000 victims are chronically ill, and even now
one person dies every two days. Union Carbide merged with Dow Chemical
Corporation two years ago and has ceased to exist as an entity while
the present owners Dow refuse to accept any pending liabilities in
Bhopal including clean-up of the abandoned site.

In Kodaikanal, India, Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of Unilever Plc,
an Anglo-Dutch multinational dumped mercury waste from its thermometer
factory in the surrounding forests and on an innocent local community.
When the scandal was exposed, first the company denied that there was
a problem and later fudged facts and figures until the Indian
authorities forced them to come clean. Since then Unilever has
retrieved and sent back to USA some of the waste for disposal but are
shying away from compensating affected workers and further
environmental remediation measures.

Monsanto, one of the world's largest pesticide companies, continues to
sell its genetically engineered seeds to farmers around the world
despite growing evidence of failure of crops like Bt cotton, that has
reduced once well-to-do farmers in the developing world to penury and
poverty while the threat of contamination of indigenous species by GE
seeds increases everyday.

Bayer AG, a German transnational continues to manufacture and sell
phased out pesticides like Methyl Parathion (brand name Folidol/
Metacid) in Asia despite an assurance to their European investors and
stake holders that they would stop manufacturing these organo-
phosphate poisons.

Ship-owning companies (and indeed, their countries) like Bergesen
(Norway), and Chandris (Greece) meanwhile, regularly violate
international and national laws and dump their hazardous wastes at
ship-breaking yards in India, Pakistan, China, Turkey and Bangladesh.
The voluntary guidelines issued by International Marine Organisation
are not enough and it is imperative that these guidelines are made
mandatory to make the ship-owners liable and responsible.

In the era of globalization, multinational companies increasingly move
around assets, products and wastes on a global chessboard to maximize
their profits and minimize their costs. These companies are using
differences and loopholes in national environmental and health laws
for example to export pesticides and destructive technologies to
poorer countries to the detriment of local communities. What
international body oversees them, or sets rules for their behaviour,
or holds them accountable when they transgress?

It is no longer just the conspiracy theorists who believe our world is
increasingly ruled and ruined by large multinational corporations. The
World Trade Organisation has supplanted environmental treaties and
regulations. Corporations have become accountable only under the rules
of a free market, free trade and a free for all on human rights and
the environment.

The state of our environment has not improved, in fact it has
deteriorated. The gap between the world's rich and poor has widened.
Instead of providing developing countries with the tools for
sustainable development, corporations have pushed their dirty
technologies and polluting industries on to some of the world's
poorest countries.

A recent UN report revealed that Exxon, with $63 billion, is worth
more than Peru or New Zealand. General Electric more than Kuwait.
Shell is worth more than Morocco or Cuba.

In the past ten years, corporations have not only resisted
environmental challenges, they have lobbied to water down
international treaties and even succeeded in getting countries to
pull out of environmental agreements altogether. They have maintained
their unsustainable practices in all sectors. It is apparent that
more than just voluntary measures are needed to control these
corporations.

A recent report by WWF states that if we continue at current levels
of consumption we will use up all of the Earth's resources within 50
years, and we will need two more planets to meet our resource needs.
We either take urgent action to save the planet, or we get off.
The UN Environmental Programme agrees that "the state of the planet
is getting worse." They say "there is a growing gap between the
efforts of business and industry to reduce their impact on the
environment and the worsening state of the planet."

At the root of our environmental problems are the unsustainable
practices of the corporations that shape our economies. But what is
the good of a short-term healthy economy if we can't drink the water,
eat the foods in the fields or breathe the air?

Current systems of governance in Asia (as elsewhere) are proving to
be deficient against the activities of abusive multinational
corporations. To roll back the excessive powers of corporations and
to pressure governments to check corporate abuse and prosecute
corporate crimes, greater public participation is a must. The Rainbow
Warrior's Corporate Accountability Tour of India is part of a global
movement to change the climate of opinion against abusive
corporations and to turn the tide in favour of fundamental human
rights.

Corporations need to be held accountable for their actions that are
destroying the planet, destroying people's lives around the globe.
There is only one answer. We must stand up to the corporations. Our
governments must agree on international, legally binding rules for
corporate responsibility, accountability and liability: a set of
rules that business must follow, and governments must enforce.
The list of rules is long, but so are the crimes.

The world needs corporations to be held accountable to the following
laws – no matter where they operate in the world. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
is calling upon the Indian Government to endorse the Bhopal
Principles on Corporate Responsibility, which call on Multinational
Corporations to:
• Accept liability for environmental damage and compensate victims of
pollution;
• Accept liability for the damage, no matter when it happens, what
the cause or who in the corporation is responsible;
• Accept responsibility for damage and injury beyond national borders
including accidents in the oceans and atmosphere;
• Ensure that they do not infringe upon basic human rights;
• Disclose all information regarding releases into the environment to
the public;
• Protect human and social rights including the highest standards for
rights to health care and a clean environment;
• Avoid influence over governments, combat bribery and practice
transparency;
• Allow states to maintain their sovereignty over their own food
supply;
• Implement a precautionary principle and take preventative action
before environmental damages or health effects are incurred; and
• Promote and practice clean and sustainable development

CORPORATE FRAUDS IN INDIA

Corporate  fraud is nothing new to india    , satyam company is just a
new addition to it. Satyam co was able to commit such a huge fraud &
keep it under wraps for years goes to prove the honesty , integrity of
our public servants , government officials belonging to SEBI , RBI ,
tax dept , pollution control , labour  depts. , etc & the honesty of
auditors & company secretaries. Ofcourse , still there are few honest
people in public service , auditing & company secretaryship , but
majority of them are hand in gloves with corporate criminals.
Definitely , this fraud will also be brushed under the carpet after
certain time as other frauds happened , afterall these frauds are the
money spinners for political party funding , mafia , underworld &
other criminal activities.

IN INDIA , government reports , records , everything can be bought for
a price. During Karnataka lokayukta raids huge wealth amounting crores
of rupees were found with each of the corrupt government officials
like police , engineers , tax officials ,  etc. How those government
officials with few thousands of salary earn so much , by compromising
with their government duties , by  creating fake government reports ,
records , etc . The government & the courts of justice treat those
government reports , as sacrosanct like TEN COMMANDMENTS DIRECTLY FROM
THE MOUTH OF GOD HIMSELF.

The CORPORATE CRIMINALS & RICH CRIMINALS buy favourable government
reports , records from the government officials commit bigger crimes ,
escapes from legal prosecution by proving their innocence , honesty
with the aid of BOUGHT GOVERNMENT REPORTS & RECORDS. The courts of
justice lacks broad vision , it has only narrow vision as  a riding
horse's vision is narrowed . courts of justice is only bothered about
technicalities , evidences , records , it lacks the spirit of QUEST
FOR TRUTH , it lacks  truth finding mechanism out of massive reports ,
records , evidences. The rich criminals are in a position to
manipulate , buy out evidences , government reports , so definitely
they will escape from hook. Today , I  can convincingly state that our
legal system is such that , even the terrorists who attacked our
TEMPLE OF DEMOCRACY -  THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT will be let free , when
they can fully buyout evidences , reports , etc.
In this backdrop , the corporates technically maintain clean public
image although privately they are frauds , criminals. If anybody makes
a statement of truth against them , those corporate criminals will
slap defamatory & other criminal charges against such persons. The
courts of justice upholds the claims of not the speaker of truth but
the corporate criminals , on the basis of  bought evidences ,
government reports. The courts doesn't go into the truthfulness of
those reports , evidences & sends the speaker of  truth to prison. If
any person has made any complaints of fraud against Satyam Co , two
months back he would have definitely faced criminal prosecution &
jail term. As all the records , auditor reports , company secretary
report  , reports of  ministry of company affairs , reports of tax
departments , everything was in it's favour.  The courts are only
bothered about evidences , records which were all in satyam's favour ,
the courts are least bothered about quest for truth & justice. In this
manner in India , there are hordes of private companies where frauds
have taken place & taking place & wiil be.
Just recently after Ramalinga raju's own statement , does it became
public that the reports of auditor , company secretary , related
governmet records are all false. Base linbe everything was bought. Do
remember that whether it is SATYAM FRAUD , ENRON SCAM or XEROX SCAM ,
those were not found , revealed either by our investigating agencies
or the government. Satyam's Fraud came to light due to pressure
created by the recession , market forces on the company's promoter
Mr.RAMALINGA RAJU & his resultant confession , Enron scam was
unearthed by US investigators in USA during the corse of their
investrigation , It is the same with XEROX Co . till those
revealations , those companies were good , legally abiding cos in govt
records. THAT MEANS THEY HAVE BOUGHT OUT INDIAN LEGAL SYSTEM
EFFECTIVELY.

In this manner , in India most of the entrpreneurs small shop owners
to big corporates buy out tax officials , labour department
officials , pollution control board officials  , etc & openly indulge
in unfair , illegal trade practices , labour practices , legal
violations , etc , still go unpunished , as as per book , the
government records they are law abiding , persons , corporates.

Entrepreneurs , promoters of big corporations collect public money
either through shares , debentures  , bank loans or all . so ideally
public are also stake holders in such companies . The criminal
entrpreneures , promoters  siphon-off  companies resources in various
ways like selling company assets to their sister cos  at a lesser
value or purchasing assets from sister cos at a higher value , giving
loans to sister cos at low interest rate or taking loans from sister
cos at higher interest rate , etc. in this way they siphon-off
resources of public companies / enterprises with bank loans  to their
own family owned sister cos. We at e-voice of human rights of watch
are ready to catch such corporate criminals & help the government ,
ofcourse subject to conditions , are you ready ?

In india , tax compliance is worse. In our criminal justice system,
there is rigorous imprisonment for a pick-pocketer stealing Rs.10.
even the authorities spend thousands of rupees in legally prosecuting
him & the thief spends a year or more as punishment behind bars. Where
as there is no commensurate investigation nor  legal prosecution nor
punishment  for corporate thieves , evading tax to the tune of crores
of rupees. In contrast, those tax thieves pay a part of that booty to
the ministers & political parties and get crores of rupees tax
exemptions , incentives from the government. Government is rewarding
corporate criminals.
                    The tax officials of central & state governments
are hand in glove with these corporate criminals & traders. For a
price, they are helping corporates & traders in evading tax. Most of
the tax officials are wealthy & leading luxurious  lifestyles , much
beyond the scope of their legal income. The black money thus generated
every year by tax evasion , is many times more than our total annual
budget allocation. As a result, all our fiscal reforms fail &
inflation is soaring. This black money is the source of illegal
funding of political parties , terrorist outfits & underworld. It is a
greater threat to national unity & integrity.
                    Both the central government & karnataka state
government  have failed to collect the full , actual tax dues from
corporates & traders. As a result , the governments don't have enough
money in their coffers  even to provide basic needs like health care ,
education , safe drinking water , etc to the poor & needy. For every
Rs.100 tax evaded , one poor patient is dying without medical care ,
10 poor persons lack education , 100 persons don't get safe drinking
water , 100 persons barely survive on a single piece meal per day , 20
persons starve. Most of The government officials , ministers &
people's representatives who have deliberately failed in their duties
of tax collection & welfare of poor citizens , SHAMELESSLY indulge in
luxurious lifestyle at the expense of poor tax payer . they live in
paltial bungalows , chauffer driven AC cars , all living food expenses
paid by exchequer , dine at 5-star hotels , only drink bottled mineral
water ,  eat non-vegetarian dishes , drink alcohol  sitting before
mahatma gandhi's photograph & preaching mahatma's ideals. Mahatma
preached & practiced simple living , vegetarianism & he was teto
teller , he paid for his expenses from his earnings . these public
servants are parasites , who are making merry at the expense of tax
payer.
                    Some non government organisations ( NGO) have
formed trusts and under the aegis of those trusts are running
educational institutions , hospitals , community halls , etc , in the
name of providing free / subsidised services like education , health
care , etc to the poor. It is only in record books , they conduct fake
medical camps , self employment training camps . in practice they are
running these educational  institutions , hospitals & community halls
as commercial enterprises & collecting huge fees. they are not even
remitting full fees collected to the trust account & swindling the
money. no outsider is allowed to become a member of these NGOs , only
their cronies & their family members are in these trusts.
                   Numerous NGOs promoted by religious bodies , mutts
are swindling public & government money to the tune of crores of
rupees. Nobody dares to question  the heads , pontiffs of these
mutts , as at his feet VVIPs , ministers fall down. These religious
bodies are hot beds of fundamentalism , terrorism  & mafia.  Hwere is
the accountability of religious bodies & political parties in in
india ?
                    Inspite of bringing specific cases to the notice
of authorities , they are mum ? hereby , E-VOICE OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
offers it's services ( subject to conditions ) to the governments of
india & karnataka , in apprehending the criminals – tax evaders. Are
you ready mr. singh sir & mr.Yediyurappa sir ? If you are ready to do
your duty look into the following cases , take appropriate action &
kindly inform me about the outcome.

WHY MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES ARE INVESTING IN INDIA?
We condemn the brutal massacre by police on farmers – who are going to
loss all their lands , sources.of livelihood for the sake of special
economic zones , industrial parks , etc in various states of India.

In every mega projects undertaken by government , both the state
government & central government have functioned  like  REAL ESTATE /
COMMISSION  AGENTS for the rich & mighty . the government says it is
acquiring lands for development of industries , for public good. In
reality there is only good of rich & mighty.

For forming S.E.Zs , corporates gets speedy single window approvals
from government , lands at concessional rates – lower than market
value  , soft loans from Indian banks , tax exemptions for years from
the government , dedicated power supply , etc , from the government .
these corporates are even given free hand to raise share capital in
the Indian market. the government has enacted flexible labour laws
specifically for S.E.Zs , they can hire & fire without bothering to
pay gratuity , etc and they are exempted from providing P.F / E.S.I
coverage to their employees ie they need not worry about the
occupational health hazards of their employees , they can employ them
till they are fit & throw them on streets afterwards. These corporates
take our own money,  employ our own people , use our own natural
resources & finally  take away the net profits to their home
countries  – what they give back ? – environmental pollution , tax
evasions , low paid occupational hazardous jobs to locals , stock
market scams .

During Previous License Regime foreign, investment was not directly
welcome in India. As people at that time perceived it as "Neo
colonisation" & detested it. There were various restrictions on
foreign investments. The local industrialists under monopolistic
environment thrived, who were no way better than day light robberers,
of course with a few exception. Under the political patronage, the
cunning industrialists looted public money, cheated the government of
tax, cheated lending banks & cheated the investors
too. They easily flouted labour laws & made labourers to work in
inhuman conditions.

During 1990's under the international pressure India signed GATT &
slowly started opening it's economy. Now, from 01/01/05 even product
patent has come into force in India. Are MNCs bringing high technology
intensive industries to India? No, not at all. They are actually
denying sophisticated technologies to India. They are only
bringing the FMCG industries - salt, chips, ketch-up, colas, for which
India is a huge home market. They are into services like Hotels,
medical care, marketing. In other cases, they are just marketing the
products manufactured at their bases in U.S.A. or Europe.

They are not bringing in new production technologies in the areas like
space research, nuclear energy, bio-technology, pharmaceuticals or
pollution control, to India. Also, some MNCs are relocating their
highly polluting industries to India, as they are subjected to
stringent environmental protection standards in their own home
countries. Whereas, In India the Government is highly corrupt & can be
bought for a price. The attractive points for foreign direct
investment (FDI) in India are,

1. There is lack of comprehensive environmental norms.

2. The enforcement of environmental norms is lax.

3. The cost of health coverage, social security net to be provided to
the workers exposed to the occupational hazards is less.

4. The cost of compensation to be paid to the persons-who died or
suffered damages due to occupational hazards/environmental pollution
is meager.

5. The enforcement of labour laws are lax.

6. Public money can be easily raised through lending Banks, primary
market within India & the public can be easily cheated.

7. The tax can be evaded through various loopholes like transferring
money to holding companies situated at Mauritius or countries which
have double taxation avoidance agreement with India.

8. The tax can be evaded, company money can be cheated by lending
money to sister / holding concerns at low interest rates or by selling
shares, materials to their private companies at low rates or by buying
shares, materials from their holding/sister concerns at exhorbitant
rates, etc.

9. The corporate governance laws are almost absent in India & it's
enforcement nil.

10. Above all, the time can be bought by very slow Indian legal
system, if any dispute arise.

11. On top of it, well trained, technically qualified people are
available at low rates through contractors.

Just consider the following cases which highlight the apathy,
irresponsibility of  government of India and emboldened the cunning,
MNCs:-

1. The India which boasts of so much scientific/technological
advancements, is till date has been unable to provide potable water to
it's people. People of west Bengal , Karnataka , Andrapradesh states
are forced to drink Arsenic, Fluoride poisoned water.

2. The people living near the mines of R.E.M.P. in Kerala are
suffering due to exposure to the radio active materials, Same is the
case with the people of Jadaguda, Jharkhand, living near the U.C.I.L.
plant. Both M/S R.E.M.P & M/s U.C.I.L are department of atomic energy
enterprises.

3. Few years back, In Mysore railway station containers of radio-
active materials were left unattended. The dome of reactor building at
construction stage collapsed in nuclear power plant at Kaiga. A fire
tragedy occurred in Kakrapar nuclear power plant. In the recent
Tsunami waves onslaught, certain important facilities of Koodakulam
atomic plant were damaged near Chennai.

4. In 1984, U.S. based MNC union carbide mass murdered nearly 20,000
people, injured lakhs who are still suffering health problems. The
polluted poisonous accident site i.e. Union carbide plant in Bhopal is
not yet cleared off toxic materials even after 20 years.
This is still further damaging the residents of Bhopal.

5. In the above union carbide disaster, the Government of India didn't
present the case properly before supreme courts of India & U.S.A.. As
a result the MNC just paid a pittance as compensation. As per that the
cost of Indian lives are just a fraction of cost of
American lives. Just imagine if a same disaster occurred in U.S.A. at
the plant of a MNC headquartered in India, what would have been the
consequence?

6. In India, hazardous chemicals laced with food additives are passed
through the drinks, beverages like pepsi, cola, coco cola very easily.

7. The medicines like nimesulide, paracetamol, etc. with hazardous
side effects which are banned in U.S.A.& Europe, are easily marketed
by the same U.S.& Europe based MNCs in India.

8. In India spurious drugs, medicines, food stuffs are easily
marketed.

9. In India, the clinical trials of new medicines under research are
done without proper compensation structure to those being tried upon
ie. Virtual guinea pigs.

10. In India, the genetically engineered BT crops are being introduced
without paying attention to formers, ecology or eco-system.

11. In India, during setting up of large projects, scant attention is
paid to environment, eco-system & the displaced persons.

Most of the times, in government projects itself the displaced persons
are cheated by the government in numerous ways.

12. In India, various Government as well as private hospitals dumps
hospital wastes with deadly viruses in the open, with scant regard to
public health.

13. In India, aged ships belonging to foreign countries are breaked
down to scrap in ship breaking yards of Gujarath , Maharashtra & AP.
Various toxins like the Asbestos, lead, etc & the hazardous, dirty
water, Oil inside the ship are drained into Indian seashore. The
labourers here are forced to work without any safety gears.

14. When specific cases of human rights violations were brought before
the government & Judiciary by us , both of them didn't respond at all.

All the above cases highlight the fact that, government of India &
Indian judiciary treats it's citizens lives as cheap, dispensable at
will. This is the major attracting force for MNCs to India.

INDIAN CAPITALISM ALWAYS HAD A CRIMINAL SIDE  - By Praful Bidwai

The Satyam [ Get Quote ] scandal has been wrongly called 'India's
Enron', after the gigantic fraud at the US energy-trading company,
which came to light in 2001 and became a metaphor for corporate
crime.
In fact, the Satyam scam is much bigger in absolute magnitude and
likely impact. The amount stolen from Enron was Rs 2,866 crores (Rs
28.66 billion) at current exchange rates. In the Satyam case,
according to its promoter-chairman B Ramalingam Raju, Rs 7,136 crores
(Rs 71.36 billion) were involved. Also greater are the number of
defaulting agencies and their failures.
The impact of the Satyam scandal won't be confined to the 53,000
people on its payroll -- a number higher than the 40,000 Enron
employees. The entire Information Technology industry will be singed
by the swindle just when the global economic slowdown is already
hurting it. The World Bank's ban on IT-India's No 3 Wipro [ Get
Quote ], and Megasoft, besides Satyam, for unethical practices will
further aggravate the industry's difficulties.
The Satyam swindle has tarnished the image of India's [ Images ] IT
industry and cast a shadow over its remarkable 30 percent annual
growth, which is generally attributed to virtuousness, brainpower and
hard work, not inherited wealth. It has lowered the profile of Andhra
Pradesh as a land of gutsy businessmen -- fondly paraded by successive
chief ministers as 'Andhra-preneurs' -- who combine a robust native
business genius with a modern extrovert outlook.
Above all, the scam has exposed huge cracks in India's corporate
governance structures and system of regulation through the Securities
and Exchange Board of India, SEBI, ministry of corporate affairs and
the Serious Fraud Investigation Office. Unless the entire system is
radically overhauled and made publicly accountable, corrupt corporate
practices will recur, robbing wealth from the exchequer, public banks
and shareholders.
The Andhra Pradesh government has treated Mr Raju with kid gloves. It
failed to arrest him for three days after he made a public confession,
thus giving him time to sanitise/destroy incriminating evidence. His
detention by the state police means that SEBI has been effectively
barred from questioning him. This has bred speculation that Mr Raju
has cut a political deal under which his family would be protected and
certain officials rewarded. The Centre too is preparing to spend Rs
2,000 crores to rescue Satyam and public sector units haven't shifted
their IT operations to other companies.
Mr Raju's January 7 confession and surrender to the police should fool
no one. Contrary to his earlier claim that 'neither me, nor the
managing director (his brother) took even one rupee/dollar from the
company...', he now says he has been cooking Satyam's books for seven
years.
He is estimated to have made Rs 2,065 crores (Rs 20.65 billion) by
artificially jacking up the price of Satyam's shares and selling his
holdings (14 percent of the total). Satyam's Chief Finance Officer
Vadalamani Srinivas has said the fixed deposits shown in the books
were fictitious.
We still don't know the scam's true dimensions. But two things are
abundantly clear. First, it's extremely doubtful that Mr Raju inflated
Satyam's income by Rs 5,000-plus crores (Rs 50 billion) and even put
in Rs 1,230 crores (Rs 12.30 billion) of his own money. It simply
doesn't stand to reason that he would do this and not siphon off large
sums. Equally dubious is his claim that Satyam's operating margin was
as low as 3 percent, compared to the 25 to 30 percent for top-ranking
IT companies.
If Satyam's margin was indeed higher, then thousands of crores were
spirited out of the company. It is imperative that this trail is
rigorously traced. It would be surprising if it doesn't lead to real
estate scams or to benami accounts held by politicians. Former Union
revenue secretary E A S Sarma, a public-spirited civil servant of
exceptional integrity, has tried to find some of these tracks through
the Right to Information Act, RTI.
He looked at a private company which is building Gangavaram Port in
Andhra and found that 18 percent of its equity is held by Lakeside
Investments Ltd, a Mauritius-based company, 'apparently... a
smokescreen for tax evasion.' Mr Raju reportedly owns a company with a
similar name, Lakeview Investments, and with the same address.
Mr Sarma has also raised serious questions about the way the state has
handed out thousands of acres without competitive bidding to Maytas
(Satyam spelt backwards) Properties and Maytas Infrastructure. Maytas
Infra alone has projects worth Rs 30,000 crores (Rs 300 billion) in
Andhra, including the Rs 12,000-crore Hyderabad metro rail and
irrigation projects worth Rs 13,000 crores (Rs 130 billion). All this
warrants an in-depth investigation.
Secondly, surrendering to the police in India was Mr Raju's best
guarantee against extradition to the United States, where numerous
criminal cases have been filed against him and where the punishment
will be more rigorous and prompt than in India. For instance, Enron's
Kenneth Lay was charged on 11 counts and set to be sentenced to 45
years in jail when he died.
If Mr Raju is tried for criminal breach of trust in India, he could
get away with as little as three years. Even if he gets a life
sentence, he may end up spending 10 years or less in prison.
The Satyam swindle became possible because all supervisory mechanisms
failed, including the statutory auditor, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, PwC,
independent directors, and SEBI. PwC didn't verify the authenticity of
the account-books. It had similarly failed with Global Trust Bank,
which collapsed. Irregularities were noted in PwC's handling of Satyam
accounts in 2001, but mysteriously, no probe was conducted.
Similarly, a complaint was filed with SEBI by Member of Parliament
Ramdas Athavale in 2003. But under political pressure, this was not
pursued.
PwC, which has audited Satyam's accounts since 1991, is guilty of
grave misconduct and should have faced punitive action from the
Institute of Chartered Accounts of India, ICAI. Ironically, PwC has
two members in the ICAI disciplinary council!. The council met, but
failed to take action against PwC. ICAI, like the Bar Council or
Medical Association of India, shields, and rarely acts against, even
the most errant of its members.
Satyam's independent directors did no better. They asked no questions
about the accounts When the board met last month to approve the
scandalous proposal to invest $1.6 billion in Maytas, it didn't even
refer to the conflict of interest in buying a company in a completely
unrelated business, floated by the promoter. It only went into
technicalities of conformity with SEBI guidelines, and valuation of
assets. Indeed, one of the independent directors, Krishna Palepu of
the Harvard Business School, waxed eloquent on the merits of real
estate investment.
These directors collect fat annual fees ranging from Rs 13 lakhs to Rs
92 lakhs (Rs 1.3 million to Rs 9.2 billion) just for attending a few
meetings, but clearly lack independence. Many independent directors in
India see board memberships as sinecures or lucrative pastimes
unrelated to corporate governance and public responsibilities.
Even worse was SEBI's failure to investigate Satyam and refuse to
approve its patently foul transactions including the Maytas deal,
which was aborted by investor protests. SEBI also ignored a December
18 letter on Satyam sent by Mr Sarma. Other authorities also turned a
blind eye to various complaints about the illegal allocation of 17,000
acres of land to Satyam group companies in different cities, in
violation of their master plans.
India lacks adequate corporate regulation, and its enforcement is
pathetic. For instance, as many as 1,228 of the Bombay Stock
Exchange's [ Images ] 4,995 listed companies have failed to submit
reports required by Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement, including
information on their boards' composition, audit committees, CEO/CFO
certification of accounts, and related-party transactions and
subsidiary companies.
Corrective action is overdue if corporations are not to cheat
stakeholders and the public. Indian capitalism has always had a
criminal side to it. Our corporate nabobs often milk their companies
by appointing procurement and distribution agents, by under- and over-
invoicing imports/exports, evading taxes, indulging in insider
trading, and dressing up balance-sheets. Satyam fits this pattern,
which is widely prevalent in most brick-and-mortar companies.
Some corrective steps are self-evident. Statutory auditors aren't
enough. We need a Board of Audit, which like the Comptroller and
Auditor General of India, is authorised to conduct surprise audit on
its own or on whistle-blower complaints. Besides, no auditor should be
allowed to continue beyond three years.
The government should create a pool of independent directors from
amongst citizens of high integrity. Impartial authorities, not company
managements, should appoint them and fix their remuneration. Cross-
directorships must be banned. All agent appointments must be
thoroughly scrutinised. Penalties must be stiffened. The conviction
rate in corporate frauds, currently under 5 percent, must be
improved.
Breach of trust and fraud must be heavily penalised. If an auditor
fails in his duty in India, he faces a ridiculous penalty of Rs 10,000
and maximum imprisonment of 2 years. The US Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed
after the Enron and WorldCom scandals, awards imprisonment for 20
years. The US has greatly improved fraud detection by reforming audit
methods and offering incentives to whistle-blowers.
We must learn from all this and acknowledge that deregulation promoted
in the name of 'trusting' CEOs and creating a 'favourable investment
climate' is dangerous.

Satyam fraud: More than accounting skullduggery
Raghuvir Srinivasan
Is the Satyam scandal just about a promoter manipulating the financial
statements of his company to show a superior performance? Or is it
about systematic siphoning of funds from the company over the years?
Emerging events seem to increasingly point to the latter.
Let’s start with the so-called “confession statement” of Mr Ramalinga
Raju, the disgraced chairman of the company. Lawyers have already
expressed doubts over whether the statement can actually be deemed a
confession and enough to implicate Mr Raju. Indeed, they say that it
is a very well drafted document designed to draw attention to the hole
in the finances without implicating himself anywhere for any act of
commission.
Deflecting attention?
A careful reading of the statement shows that there is indeed merit in
this view. Mr Raju has pointed to cash balances not being the same as
reported in the audited financial statements, he has said of how
revenues were inflated, and so on. But nowhere has he said that he was
responsible for this nor has he pointed his finger at anyone else. Of
course, as the chairman, the buck stops with him but that is not the
same as saying “I did it”.
If anything, he has tried to project himself as the saviour by
pointing out how he “arranged” Rs 1,230 crore for the company and how
neither he nor the managing director “took even one rupee/dollar from
the company and have not benefited in financial terms on account of
the inflated results”.
Mr Raju appears to have attempted to deflect attention from what is
possibly the more serious crime of siphoning of funds to the
relatively lesser one of accounting skulduggery. This is being clever
by half. How on earth did he think that the shareholders, lenders,
legal agencies and the world at large would believe him on this?
People who were and are working in responsible positions in Satyam say
that the company has a real business going and some of its divisions
are extremely profitable and there is no question of doubting the
revenues from them. There is no way that operating margin will be as
low as 3 per cent, they say, unless of course, if money had been
sucked out of the company.
The second event that raises doubts is the carefully orchestrated
arrest of Mr Raju. He surrendered himself to the police the night
before he was to appear before the SEBI investigating team. The arrest
and remand ensured that SEBI was unable to interrogate him.
The market regulator will eventually be able to quiz him, but the
question is: Will there be evidence destroyed before that? As it is,
there is the possibility that Mr Raju may have destroyed crucial
evidence implicating him before he went public with his “confession”.
Political angle
And then, there is the political angle to the scandal. Mr Raju and his
companies (Maytas group) have been beneficiaries of large public
contracts for transport systems and irrigation projects in Andhra
Pradesh. Nexus between businessmen and politicians is an accepted
reality in this country. So is someone powerful attempting now to
protect Mr Raju? Or is it that he knows too much about wheeling-
dealings and hence needs to be kept away from investigators?
Allegations and counter-allegations have been flying thick and fast
from both the ruling and Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh over
favours, secured and shown, to Mr Raju by both. The government
appointed board has a task on its hands. It will have to dig, and dig
deep to unravel the scandal in all its dimensions. What is now out in
public is probably just one dimension and it may be the least
scandalous one. Mr Raju has himself said that the irregularities have
been happening for years. Therefore, it is only correct to assume that
more skeletons will come tumbling out once SEBI and the Company Law
Board bury their noses into the books of Satyam.
There is the danger though that political pressure will be brought on
to scuttle the investigations or obfuscate the findings. This is where
the government-appointed board will assume importance. Not only will
the government have to appoint people of integrity and high standing
but these people will have to discharge their responsibility of
getting to the bottom of this scandal without hesitation or fear.
ICAI to take stock
Finally, a word on the auditors, Price Waterhouse. The Central Council
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), regulatory
body of the accounting profession, is set to meet on Monday to take
stock of the developments from the Satyam scandal on the profession.
Interestingly, two members of the Central Council, Mr S.
Gopalakrishnan and Mr Harinderjit Singh, are senior partners of Price
Waterhouse. Mr Gopalakrishnan signed the 2006-07 balance sheet of
Satyam. Will the two gentlemen sit in on the deliberations on Monday
at the ICAI? Or will they opt out on grounds of conflict of interest?
Or better still, will they resign from the Central Council, which is
the policy-making and governing body of the ICAI? Is it too much to
ask for the last?
Source / courtesy: The Hindu

10 reasons why we don’t need GM foods

With the cost of food recently skyrocketing – hitting not just
shoppers but the poor and hungry in the developing world – genetically
modified (GM) foods are once again being promoted as the way to feed
the world. But this is little short of a confidence trick. Far from
needing more GM foods, there are urgent reasons why we need to ban
them altogether.
1. GM foods won’t solve the food crisis
A 2008 World Bank report concluded that increased biofuel production
is the major cause of the increase in food prices.[1] GM giant
Monsanto has been at the heart of the lobbying for biofuels (crops
grown for fuel rather than food) — while profiting enormously from the
resulting food crisis and using it as a PR opportunity to promote GM
foods!
“The climate crisis was used to boost biofuels, helping to create the
food crisis; and now the food crisis is being used to revive the
fortunes of the GM industry.” — Daniel Howden, Africa correspondent of
The Independent[2]
“The cynic in me thinks that they’re just using the current food
crisis and the fuel crisis as a springboard to push GM crops back on
to the public agenda. I understand why they’re doing it, but the
danger is that if they’re making these claims about GM crops solving
the problem of drought or feeding the world, that’s bullshit.” – Prof
Denis Murphy, head of biotechnology at the University of Glamorgan in
Wales[3]
2. GM crops do not increase yield potential
Despite the promises, GM has not increased the yield potential of any
commercialised crops.[4] In fact, studies show that the most widely
grown GM crop, GM soya, has suffered reduced yields.[5]
A report that analyzed nearly two decades worth of peer reviewed
research on the yield of the primary GM food/feed crops, soybeans and
corn (maize), reveals that despite 20 years of research and 13 years
of commercialization, genetic engineering has failed to significantly
increase US crop yields. The author, former US EPA and US FDA biotech
specialist Dr Gurian-Sherman, concludes that when it comes to yield,
“Traditional breeding outperforms genetic engineering hands down.”[6]
“Let’s be clear. As of this year [2008], there are no commercialized
GM crops that inherently increase yield. Similarly, there are no GM
crops on the market that were engineered to resist drought, reduce
fertilizer pollution or save soil. Not one.” – Dr Doug Gurian-
Sherman[7]
3. GM crops increase pesticide use
US government data shows that in the US, GM crops have produced an
overall increase, not decrease, in pesticide use compared to
conventional crops.[8]
“The promise was that you could use less chemicals and produce a
greater yield. But let me tell you none of this is true.” – Bill
Christison, President of the US National Family Farm Coalition[9]
4. There are better ways to feed the world
A major UN/World Bank-sponsored report compiled by 400 scientists and
endorsed by 58 countries concluded that GM crops have little to offer
global agriculture and the challenges of poverty, hunger, and climate
change, because better alternatives are available. In particular, the
report championed “agroecological” farming as the sustainable way
forward for developing countries.[10]
5. Other farm technologies are more successful
Integrated Pest Management and other innovative low-input or organic
methods of controlling pests and boosting yields have proven highly
effective, particularly in the developing world.[11] Other plant
breeding technologies, such as Marker Assisted Selection (non-GM
genetic mapping), are widely expected to boost global agricultural
productivity more effectively and safely than GM.[12] [13]
“The quiet revolution is happening in gene mapping, helping us
understand crops better. That is up and running and could have a far
greater impact on agriculture [than GM].” – Prof John Snape, head of
the department of crop genetics, John Innes Centre[14]
6. GM foods have not been shown to be safe to eat
Genetic modification is a crude and imprecise way of incorporating
foreign genetic material (e.g. from viruses, bacteria) into crops,
with unpredictable consequences. The resulting GM foods have undergone
little rigorous and no long-term safety testing, but animal feeding
tests have shown worrying health effects.[15] Only one study has been
published on the direct effects on humans of eating a GM food.[16] It
found unexpected effects on gut bacteria, but was never followed up.
It is claimed that Americans have eaten GM foods for years with no ill
effects. But these foods are unlabeled in the US and no one has
monitored the consequences. With other novel foods like trans fats, it
has taken decades to realize that they have caused millions of
premature deaths.[17]
“We are confronted with the most powerful technology the world has
ever known, and it is being rapidly deployed with almost no thought
whatsoever to its consequences.” — Dr Suzanne Wuerthele, US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) toxicologist
7. Stealth GMOs in animal feed — without consumers’ consent
Meat, eggs and dairy products from animals raised on the millions of
tons of GM feed imported into Europe do not have to be labelled. Some
studies show that contrary to GM and food industry claims, animals
raised on GM feed ARE different from those raised on non-GM feed.[18]
Other studies show that if GM crops are fed to animals, GM material
can appear in the resulting products[19] and that the animals’ health
can be affected.[20] So eating “stealth GMOs” may affect the health of
consumers.
8. GM crops are a long-term economic disaster for farmers
A 2009 report showed that GM seed prices in America have increased
dramatically, compared to non-GM and organic seeds, cutting average
farm incomes for US farmers growing GM crops. The report concluded,
“At the present time there is a massive disconnect between the
sometimes lofty rhetoric from those championing biotechnology as the
proven path toward global food security and what is actually happening
on farms in the US that have grown dependent on GM seeds and are now
dealing with the consequences.”[21]
9. GM and non-GM cannot co-exist
GM contamination of conventional and organic food is increasing. An
unapproved GM rice that was grown for only one year in field trials
was found to have extensively contaminated the US rice supply and seed
stocks.[22] In Canada, the organic oilseed rape industry has been
destroyed by contamination from GM rape.[23] In Spain, a study found
that GM maize “has caused a drastic reduction in organic cultivations
of this grain and is making their coexistence practically impossible”.
[24]
The time has come to choose between a GM-based, or a non-GM-based,
world food supply.
“If some people are allowed to choose to grow, sell and consume GM
foods, soon nobody will be able to choose food, or a biosphere, free
of GM. It’s a one way choice, like the introduction of rabbits or cane
toads to Australia; once it’s made, it can’t be reversed.” – Roger
Levett, specialist in sustainable development[25]
10. We can’t trust GM companies
The big biotech firms pushing their GM foods have a terrible history
of toxic contamination and public deception.[26] GM is attractive to
them because it gives them patents that allow monopoly control over
the world’s food supply. They have taken to harassing and intimidating
farmers for the “crime” of saving patented seed or “stealing” patented
genes — even if those genes got into the farmer’s fields through
accidental contamination by wind or insects.[27]
“Farmers are being sued for having GMOs on their property that they
did not buy, do not want, will not use and cannot sell.” – Tom Wiley,
North Dakota farmer[28]
India: Descent Into Darkness
By Colin Gonsalves
04 February, 2010
Hardnews
In the 61st year of the republic, surely, India has transited into
Kalyug. Surveys of the Union of India as well as expert reports
published by the Arjun Sengupta committee and the NC Saxena Committee
appointed by the Central government reveal that almost 77 per cent of
the population in India are below the poverty line in terms of the
food intake minimum standard of 2,400 kilocalories (kcal) per person
per day, a standard set by the Planning Commission in 1979.
Over 50 per cent of all women and children are malnourished with 17
per cent of the child population being so severely malnourished that a
whole new generation of Indians will become adults with malformed
brains and stunted growth. Even in the urban areas where conspicuous
consumption is always on display, malnourishment of children is
upwards of 50 per cent.
This is the spectre of starving India.
For the top 20 per cent of the population (and less than 3 per cent of
the sensex/stock market) who have experienced the licence to loot,
corrupt and cheat during the ongoing period of globalisation, this is
Satyug. Since the beginning of the decline of Nehruvian social
democracy in the early 1990s and the establishment of what is called
the liberalisation regime, the rich have never had it so good.
A seismic shift has taken place in the thinking of politicians,
corporations, administrators and judges, fuelled partly by
international capital and the devious planning of the World Bank and
the IMF. Whereas earlier and in accordance with the constitutional
mandate, the country was to be taken along as a whole, the resources
of the State were to be used to subserve the common good and a
reasonable part of the gross domestic product (GDP) was to be kept
aside to subsidise education, health, food, housing and transportation
for the working people. With globalisation all this began to change
drastically, systematically and with abject cold-blooded deliberation.
Education for all was quickly jettisoned with the argument that it is
impossible to educate so many poor children, that it is inadvisable
and unproductive to spread resources thinly and that since in any case
the middle classes are the engines of change, State resources ought to
be concentrated on them if the GDP is to be pushed up. Thus, while
fancy educational institutions multiply and students’ fees rise many
times over, poor students learn under trees or in the open (in
freezing cold or scorching summer) without schools, textbooks and
often without teachers and the officially promised mid-day meals.
The Supreme Court in TMA Pai’s case, made a disgraceful decision
opening the doors for commercialisation and privatisation of education
and casting a shadow on the earlier decision in Unnikrishnan’s case
correctly providing for strict State regulation and prohibition on
commercialisation.
Similarly, while some of the finest health facilities in the world
sprung up in the cities of India, government public health facilities
went into a tailspin. The public health centers lacked medicines,
doctors, testing equipment, beds and food for poor patients. As the
despair with public health care is increasing, the World Bank merrily
came along with its prescription for “user fees” requiring people
below the poverty line to pay for health services. Dalit or poor women
delivering on the pavements outside government hospitals became a
common sight.
Despite the jurisprudential exhortation that the right to public
health care, free drugs and indigenously manufactured medicines is a
fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, the rot set in
and is too deep to reverse. How does it matter and what effect could
it possibly have on the GDP if tens of thousands of poor people suffer
ill health or die of malaria or tuberculosis? From the GDP point of
view, health care for the poor simply does not matter.
The shift in ideology away from social democracy towards what was
quaintly called ‘globalisation’ affected the judiciary as well. Senior
judges who were derisive of the post-independence emphasis on
‘egalitarian socialism’ used the enormous power of the judiciary to
undermine social policies of the government, bypass binding precedents
and generally stripped the working people of constitutional law
protections.
In the Steel Authority of India Limited case, the Supreme Court made
it possible for capitalists to convert their entire labour force into
contractual labour, thus effectively taking away all their protection
under labour laws. In Uma Devi’s case, persons who were employed and
were working for decades in permanent work positions on a pittance,
were denied regularisation, thus giving a legal cover to slave labour.
Marvelous environmental jurisprudence meticulously put in place by
Justice Kuldeep Singh and others in the Supreme Court was
systematically dismantled by subsequently appointed judges in the
superior courts who had a pro-capitalist bend of mind. They saw
environmental law and environmental activism as an irritant which
hindered the ‘development’ of the country. They, therefore, used the
quite dubious doctrine of ’sustainable development’ in an even more
suspect way to allow for all kinds of environmentally destructive
industrial activity, quite unmindful of its catastrophic and long-term
effect on the environment.
As a result, India today is in the process of being completely
devastated. The forests have been decimated in many parts
indiscrimately for big projects, the cities are polluted, lush green
areas have been mined, the rivers of India turned into sewage drains
and water shortage has become so acute that in the years to come
social upheavals will centre around this acute deprivation. The great
Indian nation is being turned into a desert with its sacred rivers
becoming dirty drains.
When the tribals, dalits, workers, slum dwellers and the dispossessed
of this country protested, often feebly, they were met with fierce
repression. Police torture is widespread and has become the principle
forensic tool for the investigation of crimes. Nowhere in the world,
perhaps, has the police force turned into such an awesome body of
ruthless creatures in uniform, as in India.
The average rate of conviction in the country in cases of atrocities
against Dalits has sunk to 1 per cent. As a result, rape of Dalit
women, murder of Dalits, destruction of their houses, burning of
standing crops, robbing of cattle, destruction of Dalit temples,
throwing excreta inside wells, untouchability and practices such as
the two tumbler system, continues unchecked till this day while the
justice system seems immune.
Despite the right to housing being declared a fundamental right by the
Supreme Court in Nawab Khan’s case and although the UPA manifesto
specifically includes a ban on forced evictions of slums, about a
million of the urban poor every year have their homes bulldozed
without notice, compensation or rehabilitation to make way for the
skyscrapers of the rich.
All this does not auger well for the legal system in India, one of the
main pillars of the democratic State. The working people shy away from
the courts and participate reluctantly when they are dragged into the
legal system through coercive proceedings. Labour court proceedings
throughout the country have shrunk by 75 per cent and the once vibrant
institutions that balanced the interests of capital and labour have
become stultified. Tribals shun the courts. Even the most serious of
crimes like rape and murder make the victims approach the courts with
grave reluctance.
This is not difficult to understand as the legal system operates just
like a colonial power, as an engine of oppression. Probably, one
million false or trivial cases are pending in the Indian courts
against innocent tribals who are forced to attend court and loose
their wages day after day. It took a Maoist uprising for PC
Chidambaram, the Union Home Minister, to understand this elementary
truth and announce the withdrawal of one lakh cases filed by the State
against tribals in Jharkhand alone.
Decisions of the Supreme Court under the Land Acquisition Act have
made possible tyrannical state acquisitions of land throughout the
country making the vast majority of Indian farmers suspicious of the
legal system. With regard to as elementary and established a right as
a woman’s right to maintenance, the woes of women in family court
matters seems never ending.
The State just can’t get its act together to enforce the appointment
of judges although it is now well settled that India has one fifth the
number of judges that it needs. Delays are not accidental, they are
intended. The legal system is designed to tie the litigant up in
endless and expensive proceedings where justice is illusory.
Public Interest Litigation, which is the only lifeline between the
judiciary and the people of India, is being denigrated time and again
and not unexpectedly because there are those who believe that the
legal system is best used for sorting out property disputes and
commercial matters. Legal aid has been reduced to a farce of seminars
with the presentation of bouquets. In death sentence cases involving
destitute persons, the legal aid lawyer may even miss a cross
examination or two.
It is sometimes all too easy to blame judges for the ills of the legal
system. If one turns to the quality of the Bar, one would notice all
kinds of elements wearing bands and gowns and committing all kinds of
illegalities. Criminality pervades many parts of the legal system.
Between democracy and darkness stands the judiciary. It stands heads
and shoulders above the judicial systems in Asia. But it is in rapid
decline. Ahead is pitch darkness.
This is the period of Kalyug. The lust for money that globalisation
brought with it has decisively depleted spirituality, morality,
collective sharing, equality and social justice. It has only
institutionalised a spiraling network of stark and relentless
injustice. Only a national uprising will reverse this trend.
[The writer is a senior lawyer, Supreme Court of India, and Founding-
Director, Human Rights Law Network]

An appeal to Government of USA

Dear Madam / sir ,

Subject :  Follow the law- counter terror with justice

I welcomed President Obama's executive orders to close Guantanamo and
end the use of torture. Further, I welcome the appointment of a
Special Prosecutor to investigate a number of cases of detainee abuse
as a positive step toward accountability. However, I am deeply
concerned that human rights violations -- and impunity for human
rights violations -- continue. This in spite of the fact that human
rights violations are immoral, illegal and -- according to military
and intelligence experts -- ineffective and counterproductive.

There is an alternative. I am writing to urge you to respect human
rights, follow the law and counter terror with justice:

- Ensure accountability for torture and abuse, as required by law. Set
up or support an independent commission of inquiry to investigate
torture and other human rights violations committed by the U.S.
government in the name of countering terrorism; ensure that all those
who break the law are prosecuted; and ensure redress and remedy to
victims;

- Reject indefinite detention and unfair military commissions.
Guantanamo detainees must either be charged with a crime and fairly
tried in U.S. federal court, without recourse to the death penalty, or
be released, to countries where their human rights will be respected;

- Bring U.S. detentions at Bagram and other U.S. facilities in
Afghanistan and Iraq into compliance with international law and human
rights standards;

- Close all possible loopholes for torture and other ill-treatment,
and end any use of rendition and secret detention by or on behalf of
the U.S. authorities anywhere.

The U.S. government is required by law to respect human rights and to
ensure accountability for human rights violations. I call on you to
follow the law.

Your’s sincerely ,
Nagaraj.M.R.

An appeal to Government of USA

Dear Madam / Sir,

Subject : Review Gitmo policies of indefinite detention

I want you to establish an independent, bipartisan commission that
will examine, report, and come to its own informed conclusions about
the policies and practices related to the detention, treatment, and
transfer of Guantanamo detainees.

I am outraged that a Justice Department-led task force recently
recommended that the U.S. continue holding nearly 50 Guantanamo
detainees indefinitely.

These conclusions are in direct violation of civil liberties, human
rights, and a Supreme Court ruling in 2008 that confirmed Guantanamo
detainees' rights to habeas corpus. We were promised that by this date
the infamous detention center would be closed, instead the
Administration is considering prolonging the violation of detainees'
rights. We can't keep America safe by perpetuating injustice.

Please help establish and support a non-partisan, independent
commission of distinguished Americans to finally close the chapter on
the war on terror and examine the detention, treatment, and transfer
of Guantanamo detainees.  Such a commission needs to be independent,
backed by the full force of law, and be adequately funded.

We can't continue to detain people on the basis of rumor and innuendo.
If there is information then the American people deserve to be told
the truth.

I would like you to ensure that the Administration produces and
publishes all remaining relevant policy memos that argued for,
documented, and established the basis for coercive interrogation,
detainee treatment and policy in the last administration. It is
important that we expose these ongoing human rights violations and
take action to ensure that these abuses do not happen again. Please
let me know the steps you're taking to restore justice and rule of law
at Guantanamo.

Your’s sincerely,
Nagaraj.M.R.

The Corporate Takeover Of U.S. Democracy
By Noam Chomsky
04 February, 2010
In These Times
Jan. 21, 2010, will go down as a dark day in the history of U.S.
democracy, and its decline.
On that day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government may not
ban corporations from political spending on elections—a decision that
profoundly affects government policy, both domestic and international.
The decision heralds even further corporate takeover of the U.S.
political system.
To the editors of The New York Times, the ruling “strikes at the heart
of democracy” by having “paved the way for corporations to use their
vast treasuries to overwhelm elections and intimidate elected
officials into doing their bidding.”
The court was split, 5-4, with the four reactionary judges
(misleadingly called “conservative”) joined by Justice Anthony M.
Kennedy. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. selected a case that could
easily have been settled on narrow grounds and maneuvered the court
into using it to push through a far-reaching decision that overturns a
century of precedents restricting corporate contributions to federal
campaigns.
Now corporate managers can in effect buy elections directly, bypassing
more complex indirect means. It is well-known that corporate
contributions, sometimes packaged in complex ways, can tip the balance
in elections, hence driving policy. The court has just handed much
more power to the small sector of the population that dominates the
economy.
Political economist Thomas Ferguson’s “investment theory of politics”
is a very successful predictor of government policy over a long
period. The theory interprets elections as occasions on which segments
of private sector power coalesce to invest to control the state.
The Jan. 21 decision only reinforces the means to undermine
functioning democracy.
The background is enlightening. In his dissent, Justice John Paul
Stevens acknowledged that “we have long since held that corporations
are covered by the First Amendment”—the constitutional guarantee of
free speech, which would include support for political candidates.
In the early 20th century, legal theorists and courts implemented the
court’s 1886 decision that corporations—these “collectivist legal
entities”—have the same rights as persons of flesh and blood.
This attack on classical liberalism was sharply condemned by the
vanishing breed of conservatives. Christopher G. Tiedeman described
the principle as “a menace to the liberty of the individual, and to
the stability of the American states as popular governments.”
Morton Horwitz writes in his standard legal history that the concept
of corporate personhood evolved alongside the shift of power from
shareholders to managers, and finally to the doctrine that “the powers
of the board of directors “are identical with the powers of the
corporation.” In later years, corporate rights were expanded far
beyond those of persons, notably by the mislabeled “free trade
agreements.” Under these agreements, for example, if General Motors
establishes a plant in Mexico, it can demand to be treated just like a
Mexican business (“national treatment”)—quite unlike a Mexican of
flesh and blood who might seek “national treatment” in New York, or
even minimal human rights.
A century ago, Woodrow Wilson, then an academic, described an America
in which “comparatively small groups of men,” corporate managers,
“wield a power and control over the wealth and the business operations
of the country,” becoming “rivals of the government itself.”
In reality, these “small groups” increasingly have become government’s
masters. The Roberts court gives them even greater scope.
The Jan. 21 decision came three days after another victory for wealth
and power: the election of Republican candidate Scott Brown to replace
the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the “liberal lion” of Massachusetts.
Brown’s election was depicted as a “populist upsurge” against the
liberal elitists who run the government.
The voting data reveal a rather different story.
High turnouts in the wealthy suburbs, and low ones in largely
Democratic urban areas, helped elect Brown. “Fifty-five percent of
Republican voters said they were `very interested’ in the election,”
The Wall St. Journal/NBC poll reported, “compared with 38 percent of
Democrats.”
So the results were indeed an uprising against President Obama’s
policies: For the wealthy, he was not doing enough to enrich them
further, while for the poorer sectors, he was doing too much to
achieve that end.
The popular anger is quite understandable, given that the banks are
thriving, thanks to bailouts, while unemployment has risen to 10
percent.
In manufacturing, one in six is out of work—unemployment at the level
of the Great Depression. With the increasing financialization of the
economy and the hollowing out of productive industry, prospects are
bleak for recovering the kinds of jobs that were lost.
Brown presented himself as the 41st vote against healthcare—that is,
the vote that could undermine majority rule in the U.S. Senate.
It is true that Obama’s healthcare program was a factor in the
Massachusetts election. The headlines are correct when they report
that the public is turning against the program.
The poll figures explain why: The bill does not go far enough. The
Wall St. Journal/NBC poll found that a majority of voters disapprove
of the handling of healthcare both by the Republicans and by Obama.
These figures align with recent nationwide polls. The public option
was favored by 56 percent of those polled, and the Medicare buy-in at
age 55 by 64 percent; both programs were abandoned.
Eighty-five percent believe that the government should have the right
to negotiate drug prices, as in other countries; Obama guaranteed Big
Pharma that he would not pursue that option.
Large majorities favor cost-cutting, which makes good sense: U.S. per
capita costs for healthcare are about twice those of other industrial
countries, and health outcomes are at the low end.
But cost-cutting cannot be seriously undertaken when largesse is
showered on the drug companies, and healthcare is in the hands of
virtually unregulated private insurers—a costly system peculiar to the
U.S.
The Jan. 21 decision raises significant new barriers to overcoming the
serious crisis of healthcare, or to addressing such critical issues as
the looming environmental and energy crises. The gap between public
opinion and public policy looms larger. And the damage to American
democracy can hardly be overestimated.
Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics
(Emeritus) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the
author of dozens of books on U.S. foreign policy.