Sharp Rise in Assets: Where are Income Tax Authorities!

The candidates for Lok Sabha elections are filing affidavits regarding their assets. Many of these are sitting MPs. How come their assets have multiplies astronomically in last 5 years? The public knows how much income a MP gets! How do we explain this?

What is the Income Tax Department doing? Are they chasing the candidates for this exposure?

Very logical question: How these MPs amassed this fortune? The country needs an explanation.

Rental Rate Hikes

Since last 3-4 fortnights I am searching for a taking a a two room set on rent in and around Old Faridabad and I found a very interesting fact about Property Dealers during the process. In Sector-28, one property dealer told me that rent for the two room set and three room set is equal and the range is around Rs.6000, while in sector-17 market one property dealer told that the range for two room set starts from Rs.5000 and in Sector-18 housing board colony the scenario is very robust, thanks to these property dealers who are increasing rate everyday and making clients fool. In starting day the rent for EWS is Rs.3000 after one week it is Rs.3500 and now it is Rs.4000 and about LIG flats one month ago rent is Rs.4000 but now it is Rs.5500. When I myself starts roaming in Sector-18 the rent is around Rs.3000 in starting which is negotiable and now it is Rs.3500 negotiable for EWS category. For LIG category the actual slab is around Rs.4500 now a days. In Sector-28 itself I found a two room set @ Rs.3700 which clearly presents the thinking of property dealers.

In other sectors the range is Rs.4000(negotiable) for two rooms. Actually if you goes to one dealer on first day he recommends a rate which is generally 15% more than the actual price and in next 2-3 days he will again increase it by 15% more and the cycle continues.

This virtual cycle crates a fictitious bubble which on burst creates a havoc as happened in the Real Estate (flats/bungalow/plots) markets. I also feels that due to fall in buy & sell market of real estate the focus of dealers are on rental market.

In case of the buyer/seller is an outsider (not local to that place) they provide him with totally wrong information. From some peoples I also listened that in case of sale of property dealers eats big chunk money by giving less amount to buyer and charging higher amount from Seller. They tells buyer that market is down and no seller is their and also mention weak points regarding his property and to the seller they says no their is no recession in real estate and mentions him advantages of owing the proposed property and tells him the rate which is much more than told to buyer. They keep his difference money in their pocket and also charges commission from both parties. I think it is purely against the moral ethics of business to eats money between deals, you should charges commission from both parties but should not take the money in between. It is also commonly known fact that property dealers are not having clear image, background, character.

It is worth to be noted that on Internet I was not able to found any property for less than Rs.5000 on most popular sites like 99acres, magicbricks and makaan.

Property Dealers in Real Estate sector are like the share market operators who sometimes create blunder is financial market and leads the real/small investors to surprise.

So do you have any idea which can break this virtual / fictitious rental rate hike cycle.

Most Richest Candidate in General Elections

The name of Mr. Deepak Bhardwaj came in news when he filed his nomination on Bahujan Samaj Party ticket from West Delhi. In his affidavit he declared the assets worth Rs.622 crore (the richest candidate fighting general election in 2009 till date). Mr. Bhardwaj has overtaken Mumbai builder Mr. Patadia, Independent candidate from Surendranagar in Gujarat whose assets are worth Rs.513 crore. BSP says since it can not provide funds to candidates to fight elections that's why the rich candidate has been given ticket.

Some other rich candidates are :

Congress’s L Rajagopal from Vijaywada (Rs 299 crore),
BSP’s Karan Singh Tanwar from South Delhi (Rs 150 crore)
SP’s Abu Azmi from Mumbai NW (Rs 122 crore).

In this election many old candidates/sitting MPs, MLA assets have increased many folds and most of the candidates fighting election in this election are crorepati so we can say Parliament is becoming the meeting place of crorepatis/rich peoples, then why all these candidates are saying they will serve the nation and upon victory will work for the betterment of common man, (all this is purely fictitious statement by this political leaders.)

The important point to be noted is what action is being taken to investigate the sources of funds/assets with these candidates. I think tax department is doing nothing as they have to work under these leaders after election.

If you know any of the good leaders who are fighting this election please mention his/her name here.

Level of Journalism!

CNN = Politics
Program: Situation Room by Wolf Blitz
Discussion is on: Obama getting his new dog in the White House.
A supposedly 'dog expert' giving his views on various aspects!
In the back ground, the Obama family strolling in the gardens of White House with the new dog.
Captions being shown: "Obama's 100 days; The most popular dog in the world.

What an issue! CNN claims that it is equal to politics (CNN = Politics). What a topic to discuss in "Situation Room"! They kept discussing and out of disgust I switched off the TV set and starting focusing on the tea and pakoras that my wife had just prepared. This also happens when you have TV channels running for 24 hours! They have to show something, I believe!
This is today April 18, 2009 at 5:50 PM (Central Time).

Whistleblower Protection Act: Bring it in Private Sector also!

A few days back, as I watching the news on a local Chicago channel, the Illinois Governor Patt Quinn ( Governor is an elected official, hence equivalent to Chief Minister of an Indian State) announced that in order to encourage the phenomenon of whistle-blowing, some percentage of the money -if recovered - would be given to the whistle blower also. This I believe will encourage people to come out with more exposures.

The Illinois state has provided a website so that a person can get help how to expose corruption.

What does the term "Whistle blower" mean? The website tells us that: "A whistleblower is someone who exposes wrongdoing, fraud, corruption and/or waste."
The government provides protection to someone who exposes corruption (whistleblower): Whistleblower Protection Act.

Does India have Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA)?

Yes, it was enacted after a lot of public pressure and outcry.
One of the resource on internet says:

" Four years ago (2005?), India was rocked by the murder of Satyendra Dubey, a government engineer who exposed corruption in the national highway building program.

Two years later, Shanmughan Manjunath, a manager at a state-owned oil company, laid bare a scheme to sell impure gasoline. His body was found riddled with bullets in the back seat of his car. Is this what honest person should get in India.

After all, Satyendra Dubey may not have died in vain. His death was neither the first, nor will be the last that vested interests will perpetrate, but Dubey’s death uniquely galvanised nation-wide protest. That he was an alumnus of IIT mattered. IIT-ians across the world demanded action. Now at last, India has taken the first tentative step towards a full-fledged law to protect whistleblowers.

Finally on April 21, the Ministry of Personnel issued a notification granting immunity to all employees of the government except those in armed and intelligence services.

For the moment, the protector of whistleblowers will be the statutory office of the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). A robust law is however, some years away."

What Further?
● In India, WPA is a welcome step. Indian government machinery is thoroughly infected with the virus of corruption. This will help fight the corruption to a certain extent. Make it more popular, and efficient! Make it simple!

● But it should be extended to private sector also so that more of Satyams can be prevented.

To conclude:
I also found a Indian blog dedicated to issues related to Whistle-blowing: http://whistleblowers.wordpress.com/

"If you must sin, sin against God, not against the bureaucracy. God may forgive you, but the bureaucracy never will!"— U.S. Admiral Hyman Rickover

Co-ordination in Security Agencies

After terrorist attack in Mumbai, a lack of co-ordination between different agencies of state government, central government, various security agencies came into the light. A National Investigation Agency is also raised. Senior Bureaucrats & Govt. Ministers said that the co-ordination will be stepped up between all security agencies but as per news published in Times of India in first phase of general election naxalist / Maoists group attack on security forces at various location and many security personnel's killed and now the BSF says that its soldiers died due to lack of intelligence but as per home ministry official BSF (Border Security Force) did not followed the (SOP) Standard Operating Procedures laid down for naxal affected areas while CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) followed and reduced its vulnerability. In a point it is said that security forces did not got the enough time to co-ordinate with previous teams and understand the areas of their deployment. these all comments by individual agencies are showing their spirt towards the coordinated efforts.

I want to ask that is terrorist/naxalists/Maoists organization are better organized and have greater co-ordination between them in comparison to our security forces? If so then the working & operating methods of forces need immediate review and the current scenario is hinting the things in this direction.

All the bureaucracy / ego / red-tapism / selfishness is costing the nation the lives of its brave soldiers.

Model Code of Conduct

Since the announcement of General Lok Sabha Election the model code of conduct has come into effect and many action has been taken against the leaders who are going against the model code of conduct but since last three days the construction of road is going on road from Ankhir Chowk to Badkhal Flyover in Sector-21, which I think purely against the model conduct of conduct. I don't know whether our electronic & print media is aware about it or not and what the officers on election duty is doing.

Don't you think that this activity is purely against the rules.