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On sale were 50 cricketers, all overseas players. Till a day ago, the perception was largely that the buyers would flinch. But India Inc proved it all wrong. By the time the auction got over, Lalit Modi, IPL chairman, could hardly stop smiling. “It is just amazing, great,’’ he kept saying. At the end of the two-hour process, around $7.67 million — a whopping Rs 37.5 crore — had been spent on buying just 17 players. “Recession? What recession? IPL doesn’t have any recession,’’ a bidder was heard saying.
After the auctions got over, the celebrities lurked around, chatting about cricket for a change. “It looks like fun. Sure, it is fun. But it’s also business. What went on inside was fierce bidding,’’ Wadia said.
That such big business got done was almost impossible to believe, given the party atmosphere. Speaking of parties, a lavish one awaited them all, hosted by liquor baron Mallya.
The above front page news item on TOI dtd 7/2/09 makes us think?
In an economic system Money does not get created nor destroyed, it only changes hands, unless the Govt wants to push in more money by printig more!. Say the world is one system then the total money would be constant in it. Will it not be?
What happens is that money changes hands, from one person to another, from one country to another, from stocks to banks and vice versa. When we hear recesssion and nobody buying anything it only means people who can buy have either lost their money to others or are just holding on to their money and certainly those who have taken the money of the former group, if that is so, are also holding on to their money and not spending. Hence Recession means less expenditure.
If money is constant then question arises where does the rich get their money from? Where did Vijay Mallya get his money from? And why then does he ask Govt of India to bail out his ailing Airlines at the cost of Public Money either through direct monetary packages or indirectly through interest free credit supplies of ATF from Oil PSUs which are already reeling with losses?
Whose money are we spending Mr Mallya and Ambani, even if you say it is your well earned money, where did the money get produced and come from?
When money is getting concentrated only in the hands of 5% of Indians.. or the rich of the world (the % fig is appxmt) then why will there not be discontent?
Showing posts with label Picks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Picks. Show all posts
Monday, February 9, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
SC does a U-turn, says bandhs OK in democracy
Judiciary too seems to change their minds every few years!! I wonder what made CJI KG Balakrishnan change his own verdict? Is it because he is Tamilian? or is it that he saw his earlier verdict was anti People? or is it that a better lawyer argued this time? or maybe the judgement of Kerala HC was misread by the Supreme Court and other HCs? But whatever it may be OSOA and all PSUs can now use this in their legitimate right to strike.
The news Item:-
Quote
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday termed bandhs as legitimate means of expressing people's feelings in a democracy, reversing a trend judiciary has followed since 1997 when it had come down hard upon political parties for causing inconvenience to the public by forcing shutdowns.
The volte face, which will be celebrated by a political class which had chaffed at judiciary's opposition to chakka jams, came when the court refused to ban the Chennai bandh called for Wednesday to protest against the killings of civilians in Sri Lanka's military campaign against LTTE.
The stark change of stand looked even more so because of the fact that the fresh position was outlined by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan. In 1997, the CJI was part of the Kerala High Court Bench which gave the landmark anti-bandh judgment. The judgment was upheld by the Supreme Court, setting the stage for similar rulings from other HCs.
The court scheduled a hearing on the petition against the bandh only for February 16.
On Tuesday, the Bench headed by CJI and comprising Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal observed that in a democratic country, everyone had the right to express their feelings: a remark that would be lapped up by political parties who never acquiesced to judiciary's stand against bandhs.
The Bench was unmoved when Ajit Puduserry, appearing for petitioner J Satish Kumar, invoked the 1997 verdict of the Supreme Court.
Pudussery argued that the bandh call given by an umbrella organisation of political parties -- Sri Lankan Tamils' Protection Movement -- was a violation of the order that the apex court gave upholding the Kerala HC's slamming of bandhs.
The line did not work. "What has this court to do with stopping strikes? India is a democratic state where everyone has a right to express their feelings," retorted the Bench. (my Comments-- WAH WAH! Where was this WISDOM WHEN YOU GUYS BANNED OSOA STRIKE? What made you change now? Delhi HC are you listening? OSOA and PSUs should Immediately file writs in the Delhi Courts for withdrawals of all court cases in view of this judgement!)
The clock, clearly, has come full circle. In the 1997 judgment, the HC had said, "No political party or organisation can claim that it is entitled to paralyse industry and commerce in the entire state or nation and is entitled to prevent the citizens not in sympathy with its viewpoint from exercising their fundamental right or from performing their duties for their own benefits or for the benefit of the state or the nation."
It added, "Such a claim would be unreasonable and could not be accepted as a legitimate exercise of a fundamental right by a political party or those comprising it." The order had met with thunderous applause from millions across the country. CJI part of bench that barred bandhs in 1997.
NEW DELHI: Reversing a trend judiciary has followed since 1997 when it had come down hard on forced shutdowns, the Supreme Court on Tuesday termed bandhs as a legitimate means of expressing people’s feelings in a democracy.
In 1997, the CJI was part of the Kerala HC bench which gave the landmark anti-bandh judgment. The judgment was upheld by the Supreme Court, setting the stage for similar rulings from other HCs. The court scheduled a hearing on the petition against the bandh only for February 16.
On Tuesday, the bench headed by CJI and comprising Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal observed that in a democratic country, everyone had the right to express their feelings: a remark that would be lapped up by political parties who never acquiesced to judiciary’s stand against bandhs. The bench was unmoved when Ajit Puduserry, appearing for petitioner J Satish Kumar, invoked the 1997 verdict of the Supreme Court.
Endquote
I also feel that in India EVERYTHING Stinks!! I think the petition to Bring in Judicial Reforms is very much apt because even the judges do not seem to be thinking / acting properly. My earlier post here tried to highlight that everything is inter-related and if we need to see a brighter future we need to change everything. One does need to start somewhere. So somebody thought of starting with Judiciary Reforms and started an online Petition here. But I say let us change everything paralelly.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Ills of Privatisation in Oil Sector
Privatisation is good! For whom? For me, for one, if I get a job there because I will get more salary. I am not afraid to work. I am working in my PSU also today, I can work more if required, given the right environment which also incudes a high pay.
And Privatisation if good for who else? Well this is a question which we will slowly answer. But in the meantime there is one more question.
What are the ills of Privatisation?
This question came to my mind from this news item (http://www.indianpetro.com/ Indian Petro Daily Bulletin- Feb. 02):-
Feb 1: The issue of non availability of data, related to the petroleum industry, for statistical purposes came to the fore during the first meeting of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure Statistics held recently. Petroleum and natural gas as well as coal found place in the list of energy infrastructure items considered for collection of exhaustive statistical data, which also included electricity and new & renewable energy sources.
In response to the suggestion that with privatisation, data collection had become more difficult, representative of the petroleum ministry present at the meeting mentioned that company wise and component wise financial data for the petroleum sector was not available easily.
And Privatisation if good for who else? Well this is a question which we will slowly answer. But in the meantime there is one more question.
What are the ills of Privatisation?
This question came to my mind from this news item (http://www.indianpetro.com/ Indian Petro Daily Bulletin- Feb. 02):-
Feb 1: The issue of non availability of data, related to the petroleum industry, for statistical purposes came to the fore during the first meeting of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure Statistics held recently. Petroleum and natural gas as well as coal found place in the list of energy infrastructure items considered for collection of exhaustive statistical data, which also included electricity and new & renewable energy sources.
In response to the suggestion that with privatisation, data collection had become more difficult, representative of the petroleum ministry present at the meeting mentioned that company wise and component wise financial data for the petroleum sector was not available easily.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Mystery Unravels Further- Nexus Between Reliance and Govt
There is a serious doubt in the minds of all thinking indviduals that the Oil Strike was forced by Certain People to show the PSU oil companies in a bad light and so pave the way for rampant Privatisation of this Crucial Sector stiffling opposition from other parties by proving a point "that PSUs cannot be trusted!!" Look what Mr R.S. Pandey has said in this news item quoted below.
Our earlier stories were "The nexus between Reliance and Govt" and "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", complemented by our arguments at "The Govt is Celebrating its Success" , what Mr R.S. Pandey said. All posts can be seen by choosing Label="Reliance"
http://www.indiaprwire.com/businessnews/20090111/36816.htm
Quote:
There are other posts on this blog which shows how much concern Reliance has for the nation as they showed by their practices so far.
Our earlier stories were "The nexus between Reliance and Govt" and "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", complemented by our arguments at "The Govt is Celebrating its Success" , what Mr R.S. Pandey said. All posts can be seen by choosing Label="Reliance"
http://www.indiaprwire.com/businessnews/20090111/36816.htm
Quote:
Oil strike should not occur again: Petroleum secretary
New Delhi, Delhi, India, 2009-01-11 18:45:02
The oil industry will do 'introspection' to ensure that there is no recurrence of the strike that paralysed the economy this week, Petroleum Secretary R.S. Pandey said here Sunday.
'We have to ensure that the trauma does not occur again. The oil industry will have to undertake introspection,' Pandey told reporters at the inauguration of the media centre for the country's premier oil and gas conference, Petrotech 2009.
Nearly 45,000 employees of the public sector energy companies went on strike from Wednesday, demanding higher salaries. It lasted three days, with retail petrol vends closing down and fertilizer and power plants shutting shop due to lack of oil supplies.
The government took a tough stand, invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act in several places. The state-run oil upstream major ONGC suspended 64 employees and IndianOil took action against three.
Petroleum Secretary Pandey said their fate after the strike would be decided by the companies.
Asked if the management of the oil companies would be taken to task for reportedly giving covert support to the striking employees, Pandey said: 'I am not aware of any such action'. He added that most of the gas and petrol supplies would be 'completely normal by (Sunday) night'.
All IndianOil refineries are back in action and in full capacity, except for the Gujarat refinery which has been deliberately kept at a lower capacity due to technical reasons.
ONGC chairman R.S. Sharma noted that the western offshore production has nearly gone back to normal. 'In the morning, the production was at 310 million barrels, compared to the regular rate of 342 million barrels,' he said.
Describing the oil sector employees as 'intransigent', the top official in the petroleum and natural gas ministry said the government has already constituted a high-level committee, chaired by Home Minister P. Chidambaram, to look into the demands of the oil sector officials.
'If they have genuine grievances, then these will be redressed,' he said.
On the role of private players in the energy retail sector, Pandey said: 'The government will seriously consider how to associate private players in the system. But what the decision will be, whether positive or negative, I cannot say.'
In the private sector, Essar Oil has already been operating over 1,000 outlets in the country, while Reliance has also indicated it wanted to re-enter the retail market.
Pandey added that public sector oil companies were still calculating the losses due to the strike.
The secretary did not reply when asked if there would be a revision of fuel prices, as indicated by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora in Mumbai Saturday. 'Any clear discussion on the price will take place at the cabinet,' he said.
Endquote
Media forgot to point out that had Mr Murli Deora not been hinting at Price Cuts, the dealers would have stocked up their tanks in view of the impending strike which was well announced in advance. But who wants to lose money? So the dealers did not stock product. So while Someone at the top refused to listen to a single demand wanting OIL PSUs to go on a strike so that it can pave the way for the Pvt players to come in in a massive way, someone else actually created the dry outs!!
There are other posts on this blog which shows how much concern Reliance has for the nation as they showed by their practices so far.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles - An Agatha Christie Mystery
With impeccable timing Hercule Poirot, the renowned Belgian detective, makes his dramatic entrance on to the English crime stage. Recently, there had been some strange goings on at Styles St Mary. Evelyn, constant companion to old Mrs Inglethorp, had stormed out of the house muttering something about 'a lot of sharks'. And with her, something indefinable had gone from the atmosphere. Her presence had spelt security; now the air seemed rife with suspicion and impending evil. A shattered coffee cup, a splash of candle grease, a bed of begonias all Poirot required to display his now legendary powers of detection........
Replace a few words .. "Styles" by Office of the Secy,where who knows what is being planned, "Sharks" by Reliance who may be waiting to pounce, "Security" by Trust which is no longer there, impending evil by .... well impending evil nothing less.
Further to our last post on "The Nexus of Corruption- Reliance and Govt" here is some eye-opener news items our people could dig up from the web from this link:-
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/samajwadi-party-suspects-ril-hand-in-new-oil-secy-selection/352984/
Samajwadi Party suspects RIL hand in new oil secy selection
Replace a few words .. "Styles" by Office of the Secy,where who knows what is being planned, "Sharks" by Reliance who may be waiting to pounce, "Security" by Trust which is no longer there, impending evil by .... well impending evil nothing less.
Further to our last post on "The Nexus of Corruption- Reliance and Govt" here is some eye-opener news items our people could dig up from the web from this link:-
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/samajwadi-party-suspects-ril-hand-in-new-oil-secy-selection/352984/
Samajwadi Party suspects RIL hand in new oil secy selection
New Delhi, August 24: Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has asked the Government to cancel the appointment of R S Pandey as petroleum secretary, saying there was a “suspicious” role of Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani in the crucial appointment. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Samajwadi Party general secretary has said that Pandey’s appointment “should be cancelled forthwith”. The Prime Minister has sent a reply acknowledging the party’s letter.
Incidentally, Pandey’s appointment came just before former petroleum secretary M S Srinivasan retirement on July 31. The SP leader had then alleged that Srinivasan was showing favouritism to RIL and had demanded a CBI probe. Noting that Pandey’s appointment reflects “the unholy influence of one of the biggest industrial houses in the appointments of key government officials,” Singh, in his letter dated July 29, expressed concern on the “unexpected haste and suspicious co-incidental meetings” between the RIL chairman and Pandey before his appointment as petroleum secretary. Singh quoted media reports that said that Ambani met Pandey, just a day before his appointment, in a meeting facilitated by Minister of State for Steel Jatin Prasada.
Besides this, 24-hours after his appointment, petroleum minister Murli Deora himself hosted a tripartite meeting in his house between Pandey and Ambani, Singh said. Singh has also expressed his concern that these meetings send “wrong signals overall reflecting a suspicious nexus leading maybe to even favouritism to select players”.
With ENS inputs
Frontline Magazine Reports on Oil Sector Strike Correctly
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Indian PSUs- A Report: The Sekhar Guptas of this country should read this
Senior media people cannot be really unaware of the Real Strengths of the PSUs and they are surely not blind to the fact that these PSUs did not become strong by itself and that everything had to do with us- the PSU employees. They are not fools are they? No! Look at how they win National Awards by being slaves of their Masters! Are we seeing a single Channel publicly apologising yet for their False Reporting? No!
Here is a Report of what PSUs really are! While the seniors in the Media are only licking the boots of their masters, the Juniors are nothing but Dumb. This report is a glaring proof of what WE are.
A report on Indian PSUs -2009
Here is a Report of what PSUs really are! While the seniors in the Media are only licking the boots of their masters, the Juniors are nothing but Dumb. This report is a glaring proof of what WE are.
A report on Indian PSUs -2009
Letter to Financial Express- from Asim Kumar Tiwary, CEC IOOA UPSO-II
Dear Editor,
I write apropos to your Editorial "Monopoly Profits" in FE dated 27/01/2009. Your edit was a great disappointment (which is actually a gross understatement) and has affetced adversely upon your image in my eyes. I am shocked at your uni-dimensional approach in disparaging the sterling performance of PSUs which has been acknowledged by a well known International Consultant from Private Sector in its study on which you have commented. What is more galling that you have ignored important parameters in the study e.g. the fact that effective tax rate for PSUs has grown to 31.4% in 2008 as compared to 22.9% (which has come down) in case of Private sector companies. Moreover, contribution by the way of dividends to their shareholders by PSUs was 33.5% of their profits as compared to 20.6% of Private Sector.
Sadly, you have also completely ignored the contribution of Public Sector in social upliftment e.g. reservations in jobs for social objective category (SC/ST etc) while writing your referred editorial . Oil PSUs have provided Petrol Pumps and Gas agencies to these categories at their own cost even after so called deregulation. Upstream & Down Stream Oil PSUs still bear/ or contribute towards under-recoveries for subsidising petroleum products (merit of such a move is, of course, debateable) under instructions from Government of the day. These costs incurred by Oil PSUs, which are over Rs 50000 Crores for year 2008, are not even accounted for any where in their contribution to the exchequer, which means these contributions are over and above the figures reported by Dun & Bradsheet in their report. Private Sector companies are mortified of reservations and are also horrified when a Narayan Murthy starts talking of giving up tax exemptions.
And as regard Monopoly Profits? The true benefit of the monopoly and license & permit regime and government's largesse has been taken by most of the top Business Houses in India, whose current profits come more by way of saving taxes by lobbying in Power Corridors and vicinity to those who matter than their competitive abilities. Had the competitive ability been the forte of Private Sector then BSNL & MTNL would not have been restrained from growing and Oil Sector would have been fully deregulated rather than pursuing policies which selectively benefit largest business house in the country.
I would once again like to request you to consider other costs on private sector, before considering it as more efficient than public sector, like yearly Tax exemptions totalling around Rs 1 lac Cores a year, NPAs of about 20000 Cores a year of PSBs (if Dear Editor, if I remember correctly India Express reported a cumulative NPA of 11 Lac Crores a couple of year ago and these did not belong to Public Sector.)
I would like to say that Public Sector is more profitable for government as well as public (as shareholder as well as consumer) whereas private sector is more of a burden for public and government. But, yes, Private Sector is profitable for the promoters and politicians.
Asim Tiwari
(Not to be printed : I hope you display the trademark courage of Indian Express group and publish this comment,howver, you are free to edit for more clarity or to correct the figures quoted by me. But if you don't print my opinion in next two days then it would go on to prove my point)
I write apropos to your Editorial "Monopoly Profits" in FE dated 27/01/2009. Your edit was a great disappointment (which is actually a gross understatement) and has affetced adversely upon your image in my eyes. I am shocked at your uni-dimensional approach in disparaging the sterling performance of PSUs which has been acknowledged by a well known International Consultant from Private Sector in its study on which you have commented. What is more galling that you have ignored important parameters in the study e.g. the fact that effective tax rate for PSUs has grown to 31.4% in 2008 as compared to 22.9% (which has come down) in case of Private sector companies. Moreover, contribution by the way of dividends to their shareholders by PSUs was 33.5% of their profits as compared to 20.6% of Private Sector.
Sadly, you have also completely ignored the contribution of Public Sector in social upliftment e.g. reservations in jobs for social objective category (SC/ST etc) while writing your referred editorial . Oil PSUs have provided Petrol Pumps and Gas agencies to these categories at their own cost even after so called deregulation. Upstream & Down Stream Oil PSUs still bear/ or contribute towards under-recoveries for subsidising petroleum products (merit of such a move is, of course, debateable) under instructions from Government of the day. These costs incurred by Oil PSUs, which are over Rs 50000 Crores for year 2008, are not even accounted for any where in their contribution to the exchequer, which means these contributions are over and above the figures reported by Dun & Bradsheet in their report. Private Sector companies are mortified of reservations and are also horrified when a Narayan Murthy starts talking of giving up tax exemptions.
And as regard Monopoly Profits? The true benefit of the monopoly and license & permit regime and government's largesse has been taken by most of the top Business Houses in India, whose current profits come more by way of saving taxes by lobbying in Power Corridors and vicinity to those who matter than their competitive abilities. Had the competitive ability been the forte of Private Sector then BSNL & MTNL would not have been restrained from growing and Oil Sector would have been fully deregulated rather than pursuing policies which selectively benefit largest business house in the country.
I would once again like to request you to consider other costs on private sector, before considering it as more efficient than public sector, like yearly Tax exemptions totalling around Rs 1 lac Cores a year, NPAs of about 20000 Cores a year of PSBs (if Dear Editor, if I remember correctly India Express reported a cumulative NPA of 11 Lac Crores a couple of year ago and these did not belong to Public Sector.)
I would like to say that Public Sector is more profitable for government as well as public (as shareholder as well as consumer) whereas private sector is more of a burden for public and government. But, yes, Private Sector is profitable for the promoters and politicians.
Asim Tiwari
(Not to be printed : I hope you display the trademark courage of Indian Express group and publish this comment,howver, you are free to edit for more clarity or to correct the figures quoted by me. But if you don't print my opinion in next two days then it would go on to prove my point)
WHY THERE WAS NO STRIKE IN HPCL
President of hpcl Officers Association Shri.Ashok Singh, was Convener of Oil Sector Officer’s Association (OSOA) also since 1997. Oil Sector had successful salary revision during the BJP regime after an 8 hours strike on 11th Jan. 2000, Later he could stop Privatisation of HPCL/BPCL by a judgement from Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sept. 2003.
Political leadership of MOP& NG and beaurocrat’s were scared of this formidable leader in the oil sector and specially at this crucial juncture while salary revision is due and Parliament Elections are around the corner 3 unsuccessful attempts of strike on 30th May 2006, 5th Sept. 2006 and 21st August 2007, emboldened the beaurcrats that neutralizing the leaders by punitive Administrative measures will break the OSOA, and Govt. can get away by offering peanuts to PSU oil officers.
The sinister design came into play from May 2008, while HPCL officer’s opposing the arbitrary appointment of an Ex HPCL officers as a CEO of HPC’s JV with Colas SA. France (HINCOL), went on a flash strike.HPCL Management under instruction from Shastri Bhavan (MOP & NG) promptly issued charge sheets to Shri.Ashok Singh and r.P.Srivastava for instigating the officer to proceed on flash strike.
Ashok Singh armed with all necessary information received by his Advocate through RTI on a ‘Marker’ system which was introduced by MOP & NG with lot of fan-fare and national publicity, filed a CBI Complaint against them Secretary Petroleum and Natural Gas . Mr.M.S. Srinivasan the UK based Supplier M/s. Authentix and their Indian Agents M/s. SGS Ltd. to Joint Director CBI (Western Region) Mumbai, irked bureaucrats promptly ensured that Shri.Ashok Singh is suspended within 4 days after filing complaint in a misappropriation case for an irregularity in one of the Retail outlets ( He had 140 such outlets) under his jurisdiction along with 2 more officers.
Repeated Appeals to CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) under Govt. of Indias’ resolution for whistle Blower Protection against victimization yielded no result.
Simultaneously HPCL Management rushed to Registrar’s Officer to obtain a letter stating that the Registration of HPCL officer’s Association had been cancelled some times in May 1999 i.e. 9 years before, this fact was well advertised to all officers and Management under threat and coercion made atleast 50% officers to resign from the association. The above registration could not be restored till date, since HPCL is opposing it tooth and Nail in the Industrial Dispute’s court.
Management made no of changes in their existing CDA (Conduct, Discipline and Appeal ) rules to empower themselves for punitive Administrative actions against officers so much so, the authority of suspending any officers below gM’s rank has been given to General Manager , situation in HPCL is such that the word ‘strike’ or ‘Association’ is good enough to suspend an officer.
So, much so HPCL Board in their meetings in June and July 2008, recorded that Management is bent upon fixing the Association leaders.
Basis CBI complaint one spirited citizen of NAPM (National Alliance of People’s Movement) filed a PIL in Mumbai High court on 16th June 2008. Against then Secretary Petroleum, OMC’s Chairman, PPAC, CBI, MOeF, Legal Metrology, Authentix and SGS, Hon’ble Mumbai High Court in their judgement on 23rd Oct. directed MOP & NG, Vigilance and CBI to conduct enquiries. It is reliably learnt that Investigating Agencies have commenced the enquiries. s
R & D of OMC’s have declared in their report dt. 25th Sept. that the alleged ‘Marker’, which was launched as ‘ foolproof’ and most effective weapon against the Adulteration can be laundered by ordinary ‘clay’ Interestingly this ‘marker was procured for Rs. 200 Crores by OMC’s @ Rs.10000/- litre may not be north even Rs. 10/- / litre MOP & NG for reason best known to them discontinued Marker w.e.f. 31.12.2008.
MOP & NG kept on avoiding the strike in oil section on one assurance or the other sometimes by showing a letter written to DPE, or 2 ministers (Petroleum and Heavy Industries) assuring the agitated OSOA Leaders during Sept. October and November 2008,while OSOA gave the final date of 7th Jan. 2009, for an indefinite strike once again government promptly appointed one more committee headed by Hon’ble Home Minister.
Shri.Ashok singh Stepped down from the convenorship of OSOA in Aug 2008, and handed over the reigns to ASTO President Shri.Amit Kumar, MOP & NG which had already tasted blood in HPCL adopted the same tactice and from the day one of strike, adopted arrests, invoking ESMA and unleashing a propaganda of (Deshdrohi) that OSOA is not coming forward to discuss the issue at the same time forced OSOA leaders to remain in hiding for the fear of being arrested. Government ‘ successfully ‘ ended the oil sector strike and saved public at large from “inconvenience’.
HPCL Management (The only Company which did not participate in strike C & MD and his team was “well” appreciated by MOP & NG) suspended officers Association Activist Mr.R.P. Srivastava for instigating the officers to go on strike once again.
Political leadership of MOP& NG and beaurocrat’s were scared of this formidable leader in the oil sector and specially at this crucial juncture while salary revision is due and Parliament Elections are around the corner 3 unsuccessful attempts of strike on 30th May 2006, 5th Sept. 2006 and 21st August 2007, emboldened the beaurcrats that neutralizing the leaders by punitive Administrative measures will break the OSOA, and Govt. can get away by offering peanuts to PSU oil officers.
The sinister design came into play from May 2008, while HPCL officer’s opposing the arbitrary appointment of an Ex HPCL officers as a CEO of HPC’s JV with Colas SA. France (HINCOL), went on a flash strike.HPCL Management under instruction from Shastri Bhavan (MOP & NG) promptly issued charge sheets to Shri.Ashok Singh and r.P.Srivastava for instigating the officer to proceed on flash strike.
Ashok Singh armed with all necessary information received by his Advocate through RTI on a ‘Marker’ system which was introduced by MOP & NG with lot of fan-fare and national publicity, filed a CBI Complaint against them Secretary Petroleum and Natural Gas . Mr.M.S. Srinivasan the UK based Supplier M/s. Authentix and their Indian Agents M/s. SGS Ltd. to Joint Director CBI (Western Region) Mumbai, irked bureaucrats promptly ensured that Shri.Ashok Singh is suspended within 4 days after filing complaint in a misappropriation case for an irregularity in one of the Retail outlets ( He had 140 such outlets) under his jurisdiction along with 2 more officers.
Repeated Appeals to CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) under Govt. of Indias’ resolution for whistle Blower Protection against victimization yielded no result.
Simultaneously HPCL Management rushed to Registrar’s Officer to obtain a letter stating that the Registration of HPCL officer’s Association had been cancelled some times in May 1999 i.e. 9 years before, this fact was well advertised to all officers and Management under threat and coercion made atleast 50% officers to resign from the association. The above registration could not be restored till date, since HPCL is opposing it tooth and Nail in the Industrial Dispute’s court.
Management made no of changes in their existing CDA (Conduct, Discipline and Appeal ) rules to empower themselves for punitive Administrative actions against officers so much so, the authority of suspending any officers below gM’s rank has been given to General Manager , situation in HPCL is such that the word ‘strike’ or ‘Association’ is good enough to suspend an officer.
So, much so HPCL Board in their meetings in June and July 2008, recorded that Management is bent upon fixing the Association leaders.
Basis CBI complaint one spirited citizen of NAPM (National Alliance of People’s Movement) filed a PIL in Mumbai High court on 16th June 2008. Against then Secretary Petroleum, OMC’s Chairman, PPAC, CBI, MOeF, Legal Metrology, Authentix and SGS, Hon’ble Mumbai High Court in their judgement on 23rd Oct. directed MOP & NG, Vigilance and CBI to conduct enquiries. It is reliably learnt that Investigating Agencies have commenced the enquiries. s
R & D of OMC’s have declared in their report dt. 25th Sept. that the alleged ‘Marker’, which was launched as ‘ foolproof’ and most effective weapon against the Adulteration can be laundered by ordinary ‘clay’ Interestingly this ‘marker was procured for Rs. 200 Crores by OMC’s @ Rs.10000/- litre may not be north even Rs. 10/- / litre MOP & NG for reason best known to them discontinued Marker w.e.f. 31.12.2008.
MOP & NG kept on avoiding the strike in oil section on one assurance or the other sometimes by showing a letter written to DPE, or 2 ministers (Petroleum and Heavy Industries) assuring the agitated OSOA Leaders during Sept. October and November 2008,while OSOA gave the final date of 7th Jan. 2009, for an indefinite strike once again government promptly appointed one more committee headed by Hon’ble Home Minister.
Shri.Ashok singh Stepped down from the convenorship of OSOA in Aug 2008, and handed over the reigns to ASTO President Shri.Amit Kumar, MOP & NG which had already tasted blood in HPCL adopted the same tactice and from the day one of strike, adopted arrests, invoking ESMA and unleashing a propaganda of (Deshdrohi) that OSOA is not coming forward to discuss the issue at the same time forced OSOA leaders to remain in hiding for the fear of being arrested. Government ‘ successfully ‘ ended the oil sector strike and saved public at large from “inconvenience’.
HPCL Management (The only Company which did not participate in strike C & MD and his team was “well” appreciated by MOP & NG) suspended officers Association Activist Mr.R.P. Srivastava for instigating the officers to go on strike once again.
Oil PSUs deny govt claim on execs' pay
Oil PSUs deny govt claim on execs' pay
Kalpana Pathak / Mumbai January 28, 2009, 0:19 IST
Contrary to the government’s claim that entry-level officers of the state-owned oil companies earn as much as Rs 1 lakh a month on the basis of the revised pay package, details provided by the oil-marketing companies to Business Standard show that the entry-level salaries are much lower.
At present, the annual cost-to-company (CTC) of an entry-level officer in an oil-marketing company stands at Rs 6.3 lakh per annum, including the annual performance bonus and various allowances, perks and retirement benefit that these officers are entitled to.
read more...........
Business Standard_Oil PSUs Deny Govt Claim on Execs
Kalpana Pathak / Mumbai January 28, 2009, 0:19 IST
Contrary to the government’s claim that entry-level officers of the state-owned oil companies earn as much as Rs 1 lakh a month on the basis of the revised pay package, details provided by the oil-marketing companies to Business Standard show that the entry-level salaries are much lower.
At present, the annual cost-to-company (CTC) of an entry-level officer in an oil-marketing company stands at Rs 6.3 lakh per annum, including the annual performance bonus and various allowances, perks and retirement benefit that these officers are entitled to.
read more...........
Business Standard_Oil PSUs Deny Govt Claim on Execs
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
All PSUs Unite against Injustice
Dear Mr Iocian,
I am not from oil sector, but from another Navaratna PSU. I have been regularly following your blog. You are doing a fantastic job.
Mr Shekhar Gupta is being rewarded with Padma Bhusan for the damage he has done to you officers. They know how to remain on the right side of the Govt and to hell with ethics.
But I feel that we all should work towards evolving a strong political opinion on our genuin demands. We should talk to all important leaders of major political parties and put our views across.
Considering the forthcoming Loksabha elections, they can not afford to ignore us. Let us talk to socialist minded ministers like Arjun Singh and Pranab Mukherjee. Mr PC, being Harvard educated, won't care a damn for PSUs. Given a free hand, he won't mind selling whole India to MNCs.
Best wishes for your struggle ahead
Mochhu
I am not from oil sector, but from another Navaratna PSU. I have been regularly following your blog. You are doing a fantastic job.
Mr Shekhar Gupta is being rewarded with Padma Bhusan for the damage he has done to you officers. They know how to remain on the right side of the Govt and to hell with ethics.
But I feel that we all should work towards evolving a strong political opinion on our genuin demands. We should talk to all important leaders of major political parties and put our views across.
Considering the forthcoming Loksabha elections, they can not afford to ignore us. Let us talk to socialist minded ministers like Arjun Singh and Pranab Mukherjee. Mr PC, being Harvard educated, won't care a damn for PSUs. Given a free hand, he won't mind selling whole India to MNCs.
Best wishes for your struggle ahead
Mochhu
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Media's Chosen Victims - Coomi Kapoor: 19-01-09 Indianexpress
Media choses its Victims. This is what even media people say about their own people. Read on- this material from Express India Blog site.
TV personality Karan Thapar, known for his hard-hitting interviews, did a role-reversal at the end of the year. He asked one of the guests on his show, Arun Jaitley, to interview him. Jaitley was polite, but his questions were pointed. One of the queries, I thought, really hit home. Why was Thapar so harsh with Indian politicians and so deferential towards Pakistani personalities?
It is a charge which can be leveled not just against Thapar but all of us in the media. And I include myself among the guilty. We journalists select carefully whom to make a punching bag and whom to handle with kid gloves.
Take for instance the way journalists generally appear overwhelmed when granted an audience with a member of the Gandhi family. They adopt a reverential—almost fawning—tone. I recall when Rahul Gandhi made his debut in Indian politics, hardened veterans on the political beat returned from the Amethi constituency star-struck by the cute, clever, committed, computer-savvy Gandhi scion. Naturally no embarrassing questions about the family firm were raised.
Some journalists who want to establish their secular credentials believe that the best way to do so is to cross question politicians from the BJP or VHP in a manner which is not just rude, but almost offensive. Strangely, the same lot of scribes can be as protective as a mother hen towards politicians claiming to represent deprived sections of society or minorities. At press conferences, they can even pounce on newspersons who pose provocative questions. Sometimes they interrupt and answer on behalf of their favourite politicians.
Double standards in the media are visible on many fronts. If Deve Gowda as Prime Minister snoozed at a meeting, then all the cameras focused on him. When other, more sophisticated, Prime Ministers dozed off, it was made out that they were in deep contemplation. Shivraj Patil is the butt of many media jokes, but most would hesitate to be less than complimentary about P Chidambaram. Mamata Banerjee and Uma Bharati are fair game, but few want to ruffle Prakash Karat.
Last year on her birthday, Mayawati flew down to Delhi and held a press conference at the ballroom of a five-star hotel. The Capital's scribes waited for more than half an hour before the UP chief minister walked in imperiously followed by a long train of her relatives, the kith and kin of her close aide S C Mishra and a string of officials from Lucknow. The Delhi media watched patiently for another 15 minutes as Mayawati, dripping diamonds, was garlanded by various persons from her retinue, whose names were duly announced. No one objected to this circus. Later at the press conference no one put any hard hitting questions to UP's czarina, who simply delivered a lecture on her schemes for the state.
In contrast, I can recall many a press conference where journalists haughtily threatened to walk out if they were kept waiting for more than ten minutes. The late arriving politician had to literally beg and plead for forgiveness. Many a time politicians passing around press handouts about development work have been told bluntly by the media that the handouts will be thrown in the dustbin, they want only hard news.
The tendency to treat people differently is due partly to our personal predilections. But there is also a human weakness to pick on the weak and avoid taking on a bully. A personality who has the clout to retaliate or can cut you off from news sources and blacklist you from future interviews is not someone whose feathers you like to ruffle. It is a truth universally acknowledged in the media that it is hara-kiri to bite the hand that feeds you stories. Correspondents covering the Ministry of External Affairs avoid antagonizing the mandarins of South Block, defence correspondents are wary of upsetting the chiefs of the Armed Forces and crime reporters don't question the fishy detective work of those supplying them with scoops on their so-called investigations.
http://blogs.expressindia.com/showblogdetails.php?contentid=412637
TV personality Karan Thapar, known for his hard-hitting interviews, did a role-reversal at the end of the year. He asked one of the guests on his show, Arun Jaitley, to interview him. Jaitley was polite, but his questions were pointed. One of the queries, I thought, really hit home. Why was Thapar so harsh with Indian politicians and so deferential towards Pakistani personalities?
It is a charge which can be leveled not just against Thapar but all of us in the media. And I include myself among the guilty. We journalists select carefully whom to make a punching bag and whom to handle with kid gloves.
Take for instance the way journalists generally appear overwhelmed when granted an audience with a member of the Gandhi family. They adopt a reverential—almost fawning—tone. I recall when Rahul Gandhi made his debut in Indian politics, hardened veterans on the political beat returned from the Amethi constituency star-struck by the cute, clever, committed, computer-savvy Gandhi scion. Naturally no embarrassing questions about the family firm were raised.
Some journalists who want to establish their secular credentials believe that the best way to do so is to cross question politicians from the BJP or VHP in a manner which is not just rude, but almost offensive. Strangely, the same lot of scribes can be as protective as a mother hen towards politicians claiming to represent deprived sections of society or minorities. At press conferences, they can even pounce on newspersons who pose provocative questions. Sometimes they interrupt and answer on behalf of their favourite politicians.
Double standards in the media are visible on many fronts. If Deve Gowda as Prime Minister snoozed at a meeting, then all the cameras focused on him. When other, more sophisticated, Prime Ministers dozed off, it was made out that they were in deep contemplation. Shivraj Patil is the butt of many media jokes, but most would hesitate to be less than complimentary about P Chidambaram. Mamata Banerjee and Uma Bharati are fair game, but few want to ruffle Prakash Karat.
Last year on her birthday, Mayawati flew down to Delhi and held a press conference at the ballroom of a five-star hotel. The Capital's scribes waited for more than half an hour before the UP chief minister walked in imperiously followed by a long train of her relatives, the kith and kin of her close aide S C Mishra and a string of officials from Lucknow. The Delhi media watched patiently for another 15 minutes as Mayawati, dripping diamonds, was garlanded by various persons from her retinue, whose names were duly announced. No one objected to this circus. Later at the press conference no one put any hard hitting questions to UP's czarina, who simply delivered a lecture on her schemes for the state.
In contrast, I can recall many a press conference where journalists haughtily threatened to walk out if they were kept waiting for more than ten minutes. The late arriving politician had to literally beg and plead for forgiveness. Many a time politicians passing around press handouts about development work have been told bluntly by the media that the handouts will be thrown in the dustbin, they want only hard news.
The tendency to treat people differently is due partly to our personal predilections. But there is also a human weakness to pick on the weak and avoid taking on a bully. A personality who has the clout to retaliate or can cut you off from news sources and blacklist you from future interviews is not someone whose feathers you like to ruffle. It is a truth universally acknowledged in the media that it is hara-kiri to bite the hand that feeds you stories. Correspondents covering the Ministry of External Affairs avoid antagonizing the mandarins of South Block, defence correspondents are wary of upsetting the chiefs of the Armed Forces and crime reporters don't question the fishy detective work of those supplying them with scoops on their so-called investigations.
http://blogs.expressindia.com/showblogdetails.php?contentid=412637
Letter to Editors of Newspapers by Aggrieved Officers
Dear Editors
First, we thank on behalf of all the PSU oilfield officers for bringing out the real facts behind the oil strike recently by some newspapers. It was a moment of grief and deep disappointment when we were called ‘Deshdrohis’, ‘Traitors’, ‘Blackmailers’, etc.
Sir, officers of Oil PSU's are not goondas, gang leaders, anti-social elements or terrorists to take the country for ransom. They are all educated, responsible and dedicated officers of the most profit making and fortune 500 companies. It is very easy to enact ESMA and threaten an upright middle class man who went through the right procedures before going on strike in our democratic country. Officers and their families are deeply disturbed, demoralised and demotivated by the actions of the government and the media.
We definitely feel there is a bigger conspiracy and some vested interest to tarnish the image of these profit making Navratna PSU's. These are world class companies providing huge revenue to the goverment and subsidies to the common public.
IS THIS THE RIGHT PATH TO PRIVATIZATION?
Here are some of the recent government actions to ponder
1. Reliance had closed its petrol pumps due to crude oil price, no ESMA or nor they are deshdrohis.
2. Private air-liners like JET and KingFisher had stopped flights few months back, government had financially bailed out for 3 to 6 months time for repayment of ATF charges. (& that too at the cost of PSU oil companies who were asked to extend credit when we all know that the Oil Cos are losing money due to high crude prices)
3. JET airways had sacked its employees, government and political parties intervened to stop them from such actions.
4. Satyam carried out 7000 crores fraud and government plans to bail out with financial aids.
However if an oil psu worker goes on strike as a last resort after repeated failure of talks and inaction from government officials for more than 2 years, then he is a Deshdrohi, Traitor, Blackmailer…etc.
India is a great democracy with a liberalized economy and visionary leaders like our Prime Minister, dismantling APM in Oil sector and providing opportunities for private sector to explore our country for oil & gas through NELP. In this competitive environment, PSU’s are no more charity organizations nor are the employees working for charity. These Oil PSU's have to compete with private companies like Reliance, BG, Shell, Cairn Energy..etc. To compete you need good performance, and for good performance you need motivated working employees and officers. Many experienced and talented officers have left these PSU's and joined Reliance and other Pvt companies because they provide better pay and facilitites. It is this attrition which led to the demands to save the Oil PSU's from becoming sick units.
Its was quite surprising how media had misinformed the general public by reporting that junior officers had a starting pay of Rs One Lakh. An experienced Oil PSU employee gets below Rs.50000/- even after rendering 10 – 15 years of service. Moreover, it is quite illogical to compare the salaries of high court judges with PSU officers. Can we compare the powers, authority and status of judges, collectors or defence officers to a PSU officer, who is an ordinary citizen by status. Oil PSU officers did not ask salaries comparable to the IT industry which is very highly paid. Demand was only to compete with private oil players like Reliance, reduce attrition and prevent national oil companies becoming sick units. I quote the former MoP&NG Mr. Mani Shanker Aiyer " If you pay peanuts, only monkeys will be left in ONGC."
It was quite heart-breaking to listen to the media calling our officers ‘Deshdrohis’, ‘Traitors’, ‘Blackmailers’, etc. Media was totally biased and hijacked by the government with the help of private oil players and vested interests. Media outright rejected to report the officers view and demanded huge amounts in several lakhs of rupees to air and present the real facts. A corrupt media will lead a nation to disaster.
OSOA did not go on strike overnight, they put their demands long back, had informed the government ministry about resentment in the pay revision package. Oil companies had several meetings with management and govt. officials past two years, had carried out dharnas, hunger strike, work to rule, etc before issuing strike notice when all talks and promises failed. Even the strike dates were defered for various reasons, what was the govt. and the petroleum ministry doing all this time? Officers had resorted to strike after losing their patience due to the INACTION of Government officials. Why questions are not raised against these bureaucrats?
IS THIS THE RIGHT PATH TO PRIVATIZATION?
PLEASE SAVE OUR COMPANIES FROM BECOMING SICK UNITS.
Jai Hind
Sincere Officers (Names withheld to avoid draconian measures by Govt.)
OIL PSU
First, we thank on behalf of all the PSU oilfield officers for bringing out the real facts behind the oil strike recently by some newspapers. It was a moment of grief and deep disappointment when we were called ‘Deshdrohis’, ‘Traitors’, ‘Blackmailers’, etc.
Sir, officers of Oil PSU's are not goondas, gang leaders, anti-social elements or terrorists to take the country for ransom. They are all educated, responsible and dedicated officers of the most profit making and fortune 500 companies. It is very easy to enact ESMA and threaten an upright middle class man who went through the right procedures before going on strike in our democratic country. Officers and their families are deeply disturbed, demoralised and demotivated by the actions of the government and the media.
We definitely feel there is a bigger conspiracy and some vested interest to tarnish the image of these profit making Navratna PSU's. These are world class companies providing huge revenue to the goverment and subsidies to the common public.
IS THIS THE RIGHT PATH TO PRIVATIZATION?
Here are some of the recent government actions to ponder
1. Reliance had closed its petrol pumps due to crude oil price, no ESMA or nor they are deshdrohis.
2. Private air-liners like JET and KingFisher had stopped flights few months back, government had financially bailed out for 3 to 6 months time for repayment of ATF charges. (& that too at the cost of PSU oil companies who were asked to extend credit when we all know that the Oil Cos are losing money due to high crude prices)
3. JET airways had sacked its employees, government and political parties intervened to stop them from such actions.
4. Satyam carried out 7000 crores fraud and government plans to bail out with financial aids.
However if an oil psu worker goes on strike as a last resort after repeated failure of talks and inaction from government officials for more than 2 years, then he is a Deshdrohi, Traitor, Blackmailer…etc.
India is a great democracy with a liberalized economy and visionary leaders like our Prime Minister, dismantling APM in Oil sector and providing opportunities for private sector to explore our country for oil & gas through NELP. In this competitive environment, PSU’s are no more charity organizations nor are the employees working for charity. These Oil PSU's have to compete with private companies like Reliance, BG, Shell, Cairn Energy..etc. To compete you need good performance, and for good performance you need motivated working employees and officers. Many experienced and talented officers have left these PSU's and joined Reliance and other Pvt companies because they provide better pay and facilitites. It is this attrition which led to the demands to save the Oil PSU's from becoming sick units.
Its was quite surprising how media had misinformed the general public by reporting that junior officers had a starting pay of Rs One Lakh. An experienced Oil PSU employee gets below Rs.50000/- even after rendering 10 – 15 years of service. Moreover, it is quite illogical to compare the salaries of high court judges with PSU officers. Can we compare the powers, authority and status of judges, collectors or defence officers to a PSU officer, who is an ordinary citizen by status. Oil PSU officers did not ask salaries comparable to the IT industry which is very highly paid. Demand was only to compete with private oil players like Reliance, reduce attrition and prevent national oil companies becoming sick units. I quote the former MoP&NG Mr. Mani Shanker Aiyer " If you pay peanuts, only monkeys will be left in ONGC."
It was quite heart-breaking to listen to the media calling our officers ‘Deshdrohis’, ‘Traitors’, ‘Blackmailers’, etc. Media was totally biased and hijacked by the government with the help of private oil players and vested interests. Media outright rejected to report the officers view and demanded huge amounts in several lakhs of rupees to air and present the real facts. A corrupt media will lead a nation to disaster.
OSOA did not go on strike overnight, they put their demands long back, had informed the government ministry about resentment in the pay revision package. Oil companies had several meetings with management and govt. officials past two years, had carried out dharnas, hunger strike, work to rule, etc before issuing strike notice when all talks and promises failed. Even the strike dates were defered for various reasons, what was the govt. and the petroleum ministry doing all this time? Officers had resorted to strike after losing their patience due to the INACTION of Government officials. Why questions are not raised against these bureaucrats?
IS THIS THE RIGHT PATH TO PRIVATIZATION?
PLEASE SAVE OUR COMPANIES FROM BECOMING SICK UNITS.
Jai Hind
Sincere Officers (Names withheld to avoid draconian measures by Govt.)
OIL PSU
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Business of reporting the truth had been slowly subverted by the mass production of ignorance: Big B's Blog
Check out Big B's blog on Big Adda
Here is what he writes about a journalist :
Quote:
It is a book authored by an award -winning journalist who decided to break Fleet Street’s (the Wall Street of the print media) unwritten rule by investigating his own colleagues and found that the business of reporting the truth had been slowly subverted by the mass production of ignorance.
‘Finally’, says the author, ‘I was forced to admit that I work in a corrupted profession.’
His Prologue in the book was even more revealing.
‘Dog doesn’t eat dog’, he says. ’That’s always been the rule in Fleet Street. We dig into the world of politics and finance and sport and policing and entertainment. We dig wherever we like - but not in our own back garden. In the last fifteen years we have started running media pages, but the truth is they are primarily to attract advertisements; they don’t really put the spade in too deep.’
He then goes on to describe, how when working with a prominent paper, a fellow colleague was caught out badly when he filed a speculative description of a prominent and sensational execution, six hours before it actually happened. All would have been well with this imaginary story and its details would probably have gone unnoticed, had it not been for the unfortunate leaking of a video of the hanging. The journalist, with some courage, however, confessed all this on his blog. His openness, much to his dismay, did not go down well with his bosses. His entry in the blog was rapidly deleted and a message was sent out to all staff warning them to ‘think carefully before blogging about journalistic tricks of the trade’ !
So.. there !! ‘Imaginary material is nothing worse than a “trick of the trade”; and we’ll have no real reporting about reporting’ says the author.
He goes on to say that -
‘Over the years which I then spent running around with a note-book in my pocket, of course I came to see that frequently we fail to tell the truth. The unavoidable reality of journalism is that all of our work is tethered by a deadline and we can never be free to roam as far we want in search of the evidence we need. On the best of days, everything we write is compromised by error. And, of course, I knew, too, that from time to time there was some seriously dodgy behavior going on behind the headlines.’
And more -
‘…I had no idea of just how weakened we had become, just how prone we now are to fail to tell the truth. I’m not talking about journalists making mistakes. Mistakes can be honest. (And it is a very safe bet that there are mistakes in this book). I’m talking about the individual dishonest, hack scumbags who bring our whole profession into disrepute. There are still good, brave, honest people working in this industry. I’m talking about the fact that almost all journalists across the whole developed world now work within a kind of professional cage which distorts their work and crushes their spirit. I’m talking about the fact that finally I was forced to admit that I work in a corrupted profession.’
In conclusion he says -
‘I should add that a great many working journalists helped me on this project. They did so willingly, because like me they can see no good reason why journalism should be exempt from the kind of scrutiny which we bring to bear on the rest of the world. For reasons of professional survival, most of them did so on the understanding that I would not name them. But they are there and, to the extent that this book may attract the hostility of some in Fleet Street, I am proud of the fact that numerous colleagues are better than that.’
‘So. Let dog eat dog.’
Endquote
Wonderful! Anybody read this book? Who is this Journalist who authored the book? We must all thank him for the truth about the profession and maybe can tell him what the Indian Media did.
Here is what he writes about a journalist :
Quote:
It is a book authored by an award -winning journalist who decided to break Fleet Street’s (the Wall Street of the print media) unwritten rule by investigating his own colleagues and found that the business of reporting the truth had been slowly subverted by the mass production of ignorance.
‘Finally’, says the author, ‘I was forced to admit that I work in a corrupted profession.’
His Prologue in the book was even more revealing.
‘Dog doesn’t eat dog’, he says. ’That’s always been the rule in Fleet Street. We dig into the world of politics and finance and sport and policing and entertainment. We dig wherever we like - but not in our own back garden. In the last fifteen years we have started running media pages, but the truth is they are primarily to attract advertisements; they don’t really put the spade in too deep.’
He then goes on to describe, how when working with a prominent paper, a fellow colleague was caught out badly when he filed a speculative description of a prominent and sensational execution, six hours before it actually happened. All would have been well with this imaginary story and its details would probably have gone unnoticed, had it not been for the unfortunate leaking of a video of the hanging. The journalist, with some courage, however, confessed all this on his blog. His openness, much to his dismay, did not go down well with his bosses. His entry in the blog was rapidly deleted and a message was sent out to all staff warning them to ‘think carefully before blogging about journalistic tricks of the trade’ !
So.. there !! ‘Imaginary material is nothing worse than a “trick of the trade”; and we’ll have no real reporting about reporting’ says the author.
He goes on to say that -
‘Over the years which I then spent running around with a note-book in my pocket, of course I came to see that frequently we fail to tell the truth. The unavoidable reality of journalism is that all of our work is tethered by a deadline and we can never be free to roam as far we want in search of the evidence we need. On the best of days, everything we write is compromised by error. And, of course, I knew, too, that from time to time there was some seriously dodgy behavior going on behind the headlines.’
And more -
‘…I had no idea of just how weakened we had become, just how prone we now are to fail to tell the truth. I’m not talking about journalists making mistakes. Mistakes can be honest. (And it is a very safe bet that there are mistakes in this book). I’m talking about the individual dishonest, hack scumbags who bring our whole profession into disrepute. There are still good, brave, honest people working in this industry. I’m talking about the fact that almost all journalists across the whole developed world now work within a kind of professional cage which distorts their work and crushes their spirit. I’m talking about the fact that finally I was forced to admit that I work in a corrupted profession.’
In conclusion he says -
‘I should add that a great many working journalists helped me on this project. They did so willingly, because like me they can see no good reason why journalism should be exempt from the kind of scrutiny which we bring to bear on the rest of the world. For reasons of professional survival, most of them did so on the understanding that I would not name them. But they are there and, to the extent that this book may attract the hostility of some in Fleet Street, I am proud of the fact that numerous colleagues are better than that.’
‘So. Let dog eat dog.’
Endquote
Wonderful! Anybody read this book? Who is this Journalist who authored the book? We must all thank him for the truth about the profession and maybe can tell him what the Indian Media did.
Assam Tribune EDITORIAL: The Oil PSU strike: other side of the story
The Oil PSU strike: other side of the story— A. Krishnatreya (All of you please write a thanks letter to him at edit.tribune@gmail.com. Remember to thank those who tell the facts of both sides and blast those who hide one side of the story.)
During the recent strike by the Oil PSU employees, which badly hit the country’s economy and brought life to a grinding halt in many cities, it was natural for the people to censure the striking employees in the toughest words. This is because of the general perception that oil sector PSUs like ONGC, IOC, GAIL etc are already very highly paid and any further demand for better pay is unjustified. The media left no stone unturned in proving that the striking employees are getting much more than their due and the only way to address their grievances is to suspend them or take strict measures. Yes, it is true that a strike which can cripple the Indian economy is not justified, but why did such a strike have to take place at all? Has anyone presented the other side of the story?
The concept of the Public Sector Unit was visualised by some of our great leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, to make the country self sufficient in certain key sectors like oil, coal and steel. The initial days were tough, when these new units, still in their infancy had to take on the global giants like Shell and Chevron. But as time passed and people gained experience, the experiment proved to be a success and many of the PSUs started making their presence felt not only in the country but also in global business. One among them is ONGC, which started off as a branch under the geological survey of India and in 50 years established itself as India’s most valuable company with assets in 16 countries. Did this happen out of the blue? Certainly not. It happened because of the consistent efforts by a group of highly qualified and dedicated engineers, geologists and executives. But after the collapse of the permit raj and the opening up of the Indian economy, private players came into the picture and the easiest way for them to hire quality manpower was to poach from the State run PSU s which already had a pool of well qualified and dedicated workforce. And this was quite an easy task, because the salary they offered was at least 5-6 times what a PSU employee was paid.
It is a common misconception that OIL PSU employees are overpaid for the job they do almost everyone seems to support this idea. But what they forget is that the OIL PSU officers are drawn from the cream of the engineering and science graduates. The entry criteria are very strict and the national level written tests needed to qualify can be compared to the civil services examinations. Moreover, officers employed through campus placements are also drawn from only the very best institutes. And where do these officers work? Well, the oil sector is a cruel world where there are hardly any white collared jobs, except perhaps at the top management level. So most of them work in fields located at remote areas or hundreds of Miles in the sea. Life is tough and every drop of oil is produced through the sweat of the engineers, quite literally. And at the end of the day how much are they paid? If we compare the gross annual emoluments of the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of ONGC and that of L&T the results are startling! The ONGC CMD gets around Rs. 13 lakh an annum whereas the top boss of L&T gets a staggering Rs. 5.85 crores. If this is the discrepancy at the top level, we can well guess what the situation is like at the lower or middle management level. On an average a private sector oil employee gets at least 5-6 times more than his PSU counterpart. And that too when many a time he is lesser qualified and poorly trained. No wonder that the attrition levels of the Oil PSU s are at a record high.
Another myth among the people is that PSU employees are casual about their work and unlike their private counterparts have little or no responsibility. It is very wrong to equate an Oil PSU employee with a government employee. A PSU employee may have a secure job, but he is certainly accountable for it and many of his variable remunerations are performance based. Targets are set and achieved in record time. Is this possible without hard work? The professional competence of PSU officers have been amply demonstrated in many instances. A glaring example is MRPL, the refinery set up by the AV Birla group as a joint venture in the mid nineties. The refinery was so badly managed that it seldom came into full production of 7MMTPA besides going into huge losses. Finally, unable to manage it, The AV Birla group sold off its stake to ONGC and in six months the debt of the refinery was reduced from Rs. 5500 crores to Rs. 188 crores and in less than 2 years the company started giving profits. At present, MRPL is not only producing at full capacity and earning huge profits but there are plans to increase its producing capacity. Does this not speak of the competence of Public sector Oil companies?
It is often said that privatising is the only sane option left for the Oil PSUs. But what people fail to see is that many of these PSUs are doing much better than their private counterparts. ONGC, for example, is India’s biggest Integrated Oil and Gas Company. Till recently it had the largest market capitalisation (recently overtaken by Reliance) and is India’s most valuable corporate. For the financial year 2007-08, it had a net profit of Rs. 19872 crores and paid a dividend of Rs. 6844 crores to the Indian government (the highest by any corporate). Not just that, it also shared a subsidy burden of Rs. 38500 crores of the downstream oil companies like IOC and BPCL so that the common man can keep buying petrol and diesel at highly subsidised rates. Private players like Reliance stopped selling petrol from their outlets simply because they were not prepared to bear the subsidy burden and so kept their prices high. The contentious issue of the pay commission report tabled by the Justice M.J.Rao committee has to be carefully looked into. It has to be borne in mind that unlike government employees who get central DA, the Oil PSU employees get a variable industrial DA which is substantially. Lower. Moreover, a government employee gets a pension which amounts to 50% of the last salary drawn, whereas a - PSU employee doesn’t have any such scheme. Besides, most of the engineers working in the fields have to work on shifts of 12 hours and in environments which are termed as hazardous whereas all government employees have a maximum 8 hour work per day in safe and secure work environments. So where does the parity between government and Oil PSUs come from? Finally, it needs to be remembered that the burden of paying the revised salary to the employees is to be borne by the PSUs, without any contribution from the government’s side. So why does it not have the independence to fix the pay of its own employees and have to be governed by the government pay commissions? It has been necessary to put all this on record because of the consistent manner in which oil PSUs have been maligned both by the government and the media over a strike which was necessitated by factors created solely by the government itself.
During the recent strike by the Oil PSU employees, which badly hit the country’s economy and brought life to a grinding halt in many cities, it was natural for the people to censure the striking employees in the toughest words. This is because of the general perception that oil sector PSUs like ONGC, IOC, GAIL etc are already very highly paid and any further demand for better pay is unjustified. The media left no stone unturned in proving that the striking employees are getting much more than their due and the only way to address their grievances is to suspend them or take strict measures. Yes, it is true that a strike which can cripple the Indian economy is not justified, but why did such a strike have to take place at all? Has anyone presented the other side of the story?
The concept of the Public Sector Unit was visualised by some of our great leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, to make the country self sufficient in certain key sectors like oil, coal and steel. The initial days were tough, when these new units, still in their infancy had to take on the global giants like Shell and Chevron. But as time passed and people gained experience, the experiment proved to be a success and many of the PSUs started making their presence felt not only in the country but also in global business. One among them is ONGC, which started off as a branch under the geological survey of India and in 50 years established itself as India’s most valuable company with assets in 16 countries. Did this happen out of the blue? Certainly not. It happened because of the consistent efforts by a group of highly qualified and dedicated engineers, geologists and executives. But after the collapse of the permit raj and the opening up of the Indian economy, private players came into the picture and the easiest way for them to hire quality manpower was to poach from the State run PSU s which already had a pool of well qualified and dedicated workforce. And this was quite an easy task, because the salary they offered was at least 5-6 times what a PSU employee was paid.
It is a common misconception that OIL PSU employees are overpaid for the job they do almost everyone seems to support this idea. But what they forget is that the OIL PSU officers are drawn from the cream of the engineering and science graduates. The entry criteria are very strict and the national level written tests needed to qualify can be compared to the civil services examinations. Moreover, officers employed through campus placements are also drawn from only the very best institutes. And where do these officers work? Well, the oil sector is a cruel world where there are hardly any white collared jobs, except perhaps at the top management level. So most of them work in fields located at remote areas or hundreds of Miles in the sea. Life is tough and every drop of oil is produced through the sweat of the engineers, quite literally. And at the end of the day how much are they paid? If we compare the gross annual emoluments of the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of ONGC and that of L&T the results are startling! The ONGC CMD gets around Rs. 13 lakh an annum whereas the top boss of L&T gets a staggering Rs. 5.85 crores. If this is the discrepancy at the top level, we can well guess what the situation is like at the lower or middle management level. On an average a private sector oil employee gets at least 5-6 times more than his PSU counterpart. And that too when many a time he is lesser qualified and poorly trained. No wonder that the attrition levels of the Oil PSU s are at a record high.
Another myth among the people is that PSU employees are casual about their work and unlike their private counterparts have little or no responsibility. It is very wrong to equate an Oil PSU employee with a government employee. A PSU employee may have a secure job, but he is certainly accountable for it and many of his variable remunerations are performance based. Targets are set and achieved in record time. Is this possible without hard work? The professional competence of PSU officers have been amply demonstrated in many instances. A glaring example is MRPL, the refinery set up by the AV Birla group as a joint venture in the mid nineties. The refinery was so badly managed that it seldom came into full production of 7MMTPA besides going into huge losses. Finally, unable to manage it, The AV Birla group sold off its stake to ONGC and in six months the debt of the refinery was reduced from Rs. 5500 crores to Rs. 188 crores and in less than 2 years the company started giving profits. At present, MRPL is not only producing at full capacity and earning huge profits but there are plans to increase its producing capacity. Does this not speak of the competence of Public sector Oil companies?
It is often said that privatising is the only sane option left for the Oil PSUs. But what people fail to see is that many of these PSUs are doing much better than their private counterparts. ONGC, for example, is India’s biggest Integrated Oil and Gas Company. Till recently it had the largest market capitalisation (recently overtaken by Reliance) and is India’s most valuable corporate. For the financial year 2007-08, it had a net profit of Rs. 19872 crores and paid a dividend of Rs. 6844 crores to the Indian government (the highest by any corporate). Not just that, it also shared a subsidy burden of Rs. 38500 crores of the downstream oil companies like IOC and BPCL so that the common man can keep buying petrol and diesel at highly subsidised rates. Private players like Reliance stopped selling petrol from their outlets simply because they were not prepared to bear the subsidy burden and so kept their prices high. The contentious issue of the pay commission report tabled by the Justice M.J.Rao committee has to be carefully looked into. It has to be borne in mind that unlike government employees who get central DA, the Oil PSU employees get a variable industrial DA which is substantially. Lower. Moreover, a government employee gets a pension which amounts to 50% of the last salary drawn, whereas a - PSU employee doesn’t have any such scheme. Besides, most of the engineers working in the fields have to work on shifts of 12 hours and in environments which are termed as hazardous whereas all government employees have a maximum 8 hour work per day in safe and secure work environments. So where does the parity between government and Oil PSUs come from? Finally, it needs to be remembered that the burden of paying the revised salary to the employees is to be borne by the PSUs, without any contribution from the government’s side. So why does it not have the independence to fix the pay of its own employees and have to be governed by the government pay commissions? It has been necessary to put all this on record because of the consistent manner in which oil PSUs have been maligned both by the government and the media over a strike which was necessitated by factors created solely by the government itself.
Aftermath of strike- A Poem
I went on a peaceful protest,
Of course, it was a strike,
A fight to get my rights,
In this world’s largest democracy
My voice was viciously suppressed,
By our own autocratic bureaucracy
Oilmen became bad men,
Salary was unveiled in public domain
Everyone thinks I am obsessed with greed
For pay hike, there is no need
I don’t have battery of lawyers
To sternly deal with those liars,
Who have ruined my peaceful life,
In my family, I am facing strife
What’s my salary is a big conundrum,
In my hand I have a memorandum
I accept it with grace,
With a smiling face,
Hoping I will win the race.
Of course, it was a strike,
A fight to get my rights,
In this world’s largest democracy
My voice was viciously suppressed,
By our own autocratic bureaucracy
Oilmen became bad men,
Salary was unveiled in public domain
Everyone thinks I am obsessed with greed
For pay hike, there is no need
I don’t have battery of lawyers
To sternly deal with those liars,
Who have ruined my peaceful life,
In my family, I am facing strife
What’s my salary is a big conundrum,
In my hand I have a memorandum
I accept it with grace,
With a smiling face,
Hoping I will win the race.
---A peaceful striker
Holy Modern Indian Cow !(Media)
Holy Modern Indian Cow ! is on air!
Vapours comes out from her holy shit !
''Breaking News!''
Isn't it farting GAS?
Those 'calves' look too cute !
With the mike and Cam on street interviews
Holy mother cow gives them the milk.
SHIT and milk are holier then holy!
They can mortgage their self esteem!!
OIL MAN ! Your oil is not honey
See the mockery of democracy!!
Indian car runs on farting gas
And not your Oil & Gas unholy!!
This baby cows get matured soon
And are sold to the political bulls !
Reason why,Baby cow screamed in pain
''desdrohi'' !!''desdhrohi'' !! at ZEE news
We knew they were not screaming at us
pleasing ones who were raping them!
Sure we were not there ,as the STAR CHANNEL said!
We would not have allowed them to rape.
Cow comes and cow goes
BULLSHIT remains for ever!
Lets Move on ! India stops breathing without us
We know that we cant be ''desdrohi''
Oil flowed and nation growed
We make tomorrow brighter for those!
For them who cheat the nation
With cheap fuel for looting votesToday is made darker for those who spoke for us.
We have not sold this nation to Ambanis!
we are not the fund collectors of ruling party
We are not posted in secretariat in 'Hera feri''
We are selected on our merit
The nation is mislead by these holy cows
bulls and the basterds!!
Father of the nation ! dont do Gandhigiri
Please don't ask them the name of their father
They will malign you saying you were their real father!
This Indian political bullock cart
Cows and baby cows
Invisible Hand ,are
Breaking Jawaharlal's dream
Are out to sell the ' HOLY temples''
The temples of india, We built
TEACH THIS HAND A LESSON
WE OIL MAN HAVE WITH US
A BRASS HAMMER !
Make sure they don't win the NEXT election!
== ''spark''
AN OILMAN WHO IS PUT ON FIRE/
Vapours comes out from her holy shit !
''Breaking News!''
Isn't it farting GAS?
Those 'calves' look too cute !
With the mike and Cam on street interviews
Holy mother cow gives them the milk.
SHIT and milk are holier then holy!
They can mortgage their self esteem!!
OIL MAN ! Your oil is not honey
See the mockery of democracy!!
Indian car runs on farting gas
And not your Oil & Gas unholy!!
This baby cows get matured soon
And are sold to the political bulls !
Reason why,Baby cow screamed in pain
''desdrohi'' !!''desdhrohi'' !! at ZEE news
We knew they were not screaming at us
pleasing ones who were raping them!
Sure we were not there ,as the STAR CHANNEL said!
We would not have allowed them to rape.
Cow comes and cow goes
BULLSHIT remains for ever!
Lets Move on ! India stops breathing without us
We know that we cant be ''desdrohi''
Oil flowed and nation growed
We make tomorrow brighter for those!
For them who cheat the nation
With cheap fuel for looting votesToday is made darker for those who spoke for us.
We have not sold this nation to Ambanis!
we are not the fund collectors of ruling party
We are not posted in secretariat in 'Hera feri''
We are selected on our merit
The nation is mislead by these holy cows
bulls and the basterds!!
Father of the nation ! dont do Gandhigiri
Please don't ask them the name of their father
They will malign you saying you were their real father!
This Indian political bullock cart
Cows and baby cows
Invisible Hand ,are
Breaking Jawaharlal's dream
Are out to sell the ' HOLY temples''
The temples of india, We built
TEACH THIS HAND A LESSON
WE OIL MAN HAVE WITH US
A BRASS HAMMER !
Make sure they don't win the NEXT election!
== ''spark''
AN OILMAN WHO IS PUT ON FIRE/
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
TRAITOR, TRAITOR, EVERYWHERE, NOR ANY PATRIOT TO SEE
MAHENDRA GAUR
B.E., P.G.D.M, LL.B.
B-90, Saraswati Marg,
Bajaj Nagar, Jaipur-302015
Fax 0141-2705901
Phone: 09829059018
January 18, 2009
Shri Raghav Sharan Pandey
Secretary to the Government of India
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas,
Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi –110001
Tel: 011-23383501, 23383562
Fax:011-23383100,23070723
sec.png@nic.in
SUB: STRIKE BY THE OFFICERS OF OIL PSU-YOUR CALLING THEM TRAITORS
Dear Sir,
1. You seemed to epitomise the patriotic fervour when you echoed the sentiments of the Nation by calling the striking oilmen as traitors. It was possibly for the first time someone showed the courage to call ‘a spade a spade’. What I did not like is your taking shelter under fudged salary figures to justify your remarks. However, if you add the cost of perks and hidden benefits enjoyed by OIL PSU officers then salary figures might inch towards the figures quoted by you and ZEE TV. At times it appeared that you and ZEE TV were acting in tandem.
2. I am coming across hundreds of mails from agitated officers of oil companies who feel hurt because of your calling them traitors. But in a way they deserved it.
3. I wish you show similar courage in calling ‘a spade a spade’ when it comes to people like Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mr. Mulayam Singh, Ms. Mayawati, Mr. Sharad Pawar, Mr. Murli Deora etc. You know the salaries of a few of them run into hundreds of Crores, if you add those hidden incomes on the same formulae. I wonder whether we should call them traitors when they boycott (strike work) Parliament. I think we should. But I have no guts. You have. So call them traitors when they strike work next. Tell ZEE TV also to do the same. You two can work beautifully in tandem.
4. I have read in some news magazines that IAS officers get up to 10 Crores in dowry. Though we have Anti-Dowry laws but these are not applicable to the IAS fraternity. Some people (may be mad caps) have re-christened IAS as Indian Avtar Service. Likewise IAS learn less of Administration in .…. Mussoorie but learn more about the tricks of moneymaking. I am not speaking of your times, but the modern era.
5. I am from Rajasthan. Once upon a time Barmer and Jaisalmer districts were dreaded postings as District Collector. Not these days. I understand a District Collector makes tens of crores from the smugglers in these two districts. Now these are considered prized postings. You know making hay while the sun shines. But I tell you these oil company officers may call such District Magistrates as Traitors. But you need not worry the Media is not going to give credence to their views.
6. This reminds me of one of your own departments ‘Anti-Adulteration Cell’. All the top bosses viz. from Director General to Regional Directors came from IAS. One of them Mr. Sandeep Garg was caught with Rs.3.0 Crores. CBI filed a DA case against him. I tell you this CBI also acts like a traitor. The whole department had to be scraped. While Mr. Garg was actually serving the nation, these traitors (oilmen) lost one of them by the name Mr. Manjunath fighting against Adulteration Mafia. What a fool Manjunath proved to be. If he had accepted bribes like Mr. Sandeep Garg, he could have kept the money as well as the job. What do you think; we should call these oilmen, traitors or fools. May be both.
7. In 1994, in Kota Kerosene Tragedy, about 30-35 people died. One Mr. Devi Dayal, I think from Indian Avtar Service came to liase with the State Government. Being a busy man Mr. Devi Dayal was on dawn-to-dusk visit to Jaipur. His wife duly accompanied him on such a serious and short trip. Two rooms were booked in Hotel Ram Bagh Palace. You know circuit house are below standard. And we have these traitors always eager to pay for National Heroes form IAS. I was posted at Jaipur then. One Mr. V. V. Jain from Delhi escorted Mr. Dayal. Mr. Jain was a senior traitor then but came separately in a pilot car. A few small traitors were running helter-skelter on NH 8 for the whole day to look after small needs of the AVTAR like ….you know to make his journey smooth and SULABH. The hotel, travel, and snacks bill ran in excess of tens of thousand for a few hours stay. Mr. Dayal could not wait for Mr. Bhairo Singh Shekhawat, the then CM who was to return from Kota in the evening and Mr. Dayal left for Delhi avoiding Bhairo Baba, but meeting a few patriots like him. May be in the estimation of Mr. Dayal Bhairo Baba could also be a traitor. But the oil company fellows certainly proved themselves to be fools by paying thousands of rupees on Mr. Dayal who did not deserve a penny.
8. Likewise one of your lady officers went to Shirdi on a pilgrimage. These fools-cum-traitors put her in a five star hotel gave taxi an escort traitor to take her to Shirdi and back. These fools thought that she was on pilgrimage, but actually she was on pricing mission. Your officers enjoy the luxuries provided by these fools-cum-traitors. If I write about all, it would be an endless saga.
9. You know this ZEE TV forgot about Masur Dal Scam and Bofors, and Coffin gate and one Late ….Mr. S….K…Bha....again from Indian Avtar Service. Such a great national hero’s name was unnecessarily dragged with the then PM etc. This reminds me of the story … but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone. (Pdf file enclosed) Kindly search your own heart, are you or your brother officers, also traitors? Are you not helping your political masters, who are/could be traitors? The fact remains that there are traitors on both sides. TRAITOR, TRAITOR, EVERYWHERE, NOR ANY PATRIOT TO SEE. Question is who is bigger traitor. You proved to be a smart traitor and oilmen turned out to be fools-cum-traitors.
10. If the oilmen are really hurt, I call upon them to stop all kinds of appeasements to Indian Avtar Service, and the Parliamentary Committees. Let all adulteration and black marketing stop. After all it is the money from oil industry that fuels the Patriots to call oilmen as traitors. Mr. Pandey you too were equally responsible for the strike as every single officer from oil industry. When upset, it is easier to pick up a stone, then to lay one down. The One who had the right to cast a stone in judgment refused and offered Himself up on a cross instead. Mr. Pandey, you should have opted for the cross rather than throwing stones. It now calls for reinstatement of dismissed officers gracefully, settlement of their grievances, removing wage anomalies and public apology for unnecessarily calling them traitors. My sincere apologies for being harsh on the entire IAS fraternity, many of whom are honest to the core and personal friends too.
With regards,
Mahendra Gaur
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Change - It Cannot happen isolatedly
Change my dear friends cannot happen in an isolated manner. We cannot expect the Media to listen to us or the Babus to be sympathetic to us or the 'Aam Admi' to worry about whether we have got our hikes. We live in a society with its ample problems. Every aspect of our Indian Society has problems of its own. If we continue to think that we can close our eyes to what is happenning around us and live, let alone get our rightful demands met, then my dear friends we are living in a fool's paradise. All that you are saying is wrong with the Oil Sector- be it from a nexus between Pvt Players and Govt, be it disinterested Elected Members of India, be it draconian laws that prevent you from your right to strike when your reasonable demands are not being listened to, it all boils down to the one single fact- we do not have the right people at the right places! . Would you not like to change this all?? I ask this specially of the youngsters who are here, the Youth out there who are the majority today- massive 70% below 35 yrs age, you should know your power. So please think!
So when there are other groups out there fighting in each of their areas to make these things right, let us all Join Hands and build a common group of Indisns who care-- OilMen; too, who care, about everything. After all that happens to us is a manifestation of all the wrongs against us. I give one small example to you. Supposing the Country was rich and the so called "Aam janta" was not so Aam do you think they would have grudged you your salary hikes today? It is JUST because they are burdened with so much day to day problems that one more heaped upon them by our strike caused such a hue and cry.
I therefore post a mail from one gentleman who is fighting for a campaign to reform the JUDICIARY. Let us start our journey of connecting with the world first by outting our names to the online petition of his group. Once you join hands with others then only you can expect others to join you. Rather then asking them to listen first listen to theirs.
Quote:-
From: Ravindran Major
To: Shantanu Das
Sent: Wednesday, 14 January, 2009 6:21:48 AM
Subject:
Dear Mr Das
I have nothing against you or your friends. Whatever comments you had made had been responded to and there ends the matter. This is a country where even MPs have asked in Parliament what the armed forces do in peace time. Ignorance can't always be bliss.
Even before going through your website I can see that it pertains to the oil sector only. I am NO expert in this field. But I am sure that it doesn't need any expertise to smell injustice whenever and wherever there is one. I have no doubts that in the oil sector too there will be plenty of cases of exploitation of the many by a handful.
In fact if you look at the national scenario nobody with common sense can miss the fact that only ONE family had got freedom on 15 Aug 1947. It continues to be so even today. Some people who have the money and can manipulate the system also have a certain degree of freedom compared to the masses. For the masses themselves nothing has changed.
There is no point wasting our efforts in localised issues. We need big changes. We need the people whom, technicaly at least, we have put in offices of authority to manage the comon resources for the common good and reducing disparities, to be accountable to us. In this matter the courts are the worst. Even a bill- the judges inquiry bill, a shadow of the actual requirement- is not getting cleared because we have filled our law making bodies with criminals who are at the mercy of the judges and would dare not support any legislation to bring transparency in the affairs of the courts. The police and the judiciary are two set ups we have created for citizens to approach for getting justice. But as per Transparency International surveys the police is the most corrupt and the judiciary the second most corrupt institution in our country! So where do we go?
To my mind atleast there seems to be no legally effective course of action open to us. Anyhow, I am persisiting on a campaign for reforming the judiciary first by having national judicial commission to try and punish judges as per laws applicable to ordinary citizens. An online petition, addressed to the President and PM of India, is available at
http://www.petitiononline.com/jrandac1/petition.html
I request you to support it and also motivate your friends to support it.
Regards and best wishes
ravi
Endquote
Please all go to the link and sign the petition like responsible, thinking Citizens of India remembering that we are Indisns first and Oilmen later.
Also somebody had requested me to start an online petition for reinstatement of sacked employees. Let me see if we too can do something like this.
So when there are other groups out there fighting in each of their areas to make these things right, let us all Join Hands and build a common group of Indisns who care-- OilMen; too, who care, about everything. After all that happens to us is a manifestation of all the wrongs against us. I give one small example to you. Supposing the Country was rich and the so called "Aam janta" was not so Aam do you think they would have grudged you your salary hikes today? It is JUST because they are burdened with so much day to day problems that one more heaped upon them by our strike caused such a hue and cry.
I therefore post a mail from one gentleman who is fighting for a campaign to reform the JUDICIARY. Let us start our journey of connecting with the world first by outting our names to the online petition of his group. Once you join hands with others then only you can expect others to join you. Rather then asking them to listen first listen to theirs.
Quote:-
From: Ravindran Major
To: Shantanu Das
Sent: Wednesday, 14 January, 2009 6:21:48 AM
Subject:
Dear Mr Das
I have nothing against you or your friends. Whatever comments you had made had been responded to and there ends the matter. This is a country where even MPs have asked in Parliament what the armed forces do in peace time. Ignorance can't always be bliss.
Even before going through your website I can see that it pertains to the oil sector only. I am NO expert in this field. But I am sure that it doesn't need any expertise to smell injustice whenever and wherever there is one. I have no doubts that in the oil sector too there will be plenty of cases of exploitation of the many by a handful.
In fact if you look at the national scenario nobody with common sense can miss the fact that only ONE family had got freedom on 15 Aug 1947. It continues to be so even today. Some people who have the money and can manipulate the system also have a certain degree of freedom compared to the masses. For the masses themselves nothing has changed.
There is no point wasting our efforts in localised issues. We need big changes. We need the people whom, technicaly at least, we have put in offices of authority to manage the comon resources for the common good and reducing disparities, to be accountable to us. In this matter the courts are the worst. Even a bill- the judges inquiry bill, a shadow of the actual requirement- is not getting cleared because we have filled our law making bodies with criminals who are at the mercy of the judges and would dare not support any legislation to bring transparency in the affairs of the courts. The police and the judiciary are two set ups we have created for citizens to approach for getting justice. But as per Transparency International surveys the police is the most corrupt and the judiciary the second most corrupt institution in our country! So where do we go?
To my mind atleast there seems to be no legally effective course of action open to us. Anyhow, I am persisiting on a campaign for reforming the judiciary first by having national judicial commission to try and punish judges as per laws applicable to ordinary citizens. An online petition, addressed to the President and PM of India, is available at
http://www.petitiononline.com/jrandac1/petition.html
I request you to support it and also motivate your friends to support it.
Regards and best wishes
ravi
Endquote
Please all go to the link and sign the petition like responsible, thinking Citizens of India remembering that we are Indisns first and Oilmen later.
Also somebody had requested me to start an online petition for reinstatement of sacked employees. Let me see if we too can do something like this.
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