Switzerland has been accused of giving shelter to black money and there has been a lot of inflow of such wealth from India and other countries of the world.” This is not L K Advani, on election mode, speaking last Sunday, but the Swiss ambassador to India briefing the media in Delhi last year.

The occasion was the 60th anniversary of Indo-Swiss Friendship Treaty. Admitting that Indian black money gets hoarded in his country, he added that the new law in Switzerland would, not stop it, but control it “up to a certain limit”.

The Swiss diplomat authentically answers the first of the FAQs, that is, whether a lot of Indian money is really stashed away in Swiss banks. Swiss banks are not the only secret destination. There are 37 such shelters in the world, says US Inland Revenue. The secret owners of the secreted monies operate in secrecy — venal businessmen, corrupt politicians, public servants, drug lords, and criminal gangs like the D-company. The slush monies are the financial RDX for terror, besides weapons of mass destruction of national and global finance. That there is secret money is no more a secret. Only the amounts and persons are secret. But how much of India’s stolen wealth could be stashed in Switzerland? Specific estimates of this later. Before that, here is a sideshow, but a relevant one.

In the late 1980s, at the behest of The Indian Express, while investigating the Reliance scam, I had attempted to trail the Indian monies secreted abroad. In the course of the probe, I had contacted Fairfax, a US investigative firm, to uncover the Indian wealth stashed abroad. Impressed by their skills, I persuaded the Government of India to engage the firm for the task. Fairfax agreed to work for a slice of the black wealth uncovered by them as fee.

According to Swiss sources then, the Indian money secreted in Swiss banks was some $300 billion. That was enough to excite Fairfax to go for the kill. But, soon my efforts landed me in jail on March 13, 1987, when the CBI arrested me on charges that later turned out to be bogus, but were enough to stop the probe. The whole nation knew then that the real reason why rulers struck was their fear that the probe had targeted the Bofors payoff and secret money of the ruling family abroad. Rajiv Gandhi, who was the prime minister then, moved honest and bold civil servants like Vinod Pandey and Bhure Lal out of the probe and eventually sacked V P Singh who, as finance minister then, had authorised the efforts.

The chain of events that followed led to corruption emerging as the major issue in the 1989 polls in which Rajiv Gandhi, who had wiped out the opposition in 1984 elections, was defeated, and V P Singh became the prime minister. But there is a great lesson in these developments that often goes unnoticed. And that is, the way the bold national interest initiative to unearth the Indian black wealth abroad was aborted clearly confirmed that the ruling family was mortally afraid of any probe into secret money abroad. This fear haunts the family-led Congress party even today. That is why the 1987 episode is relevant now.

Now back to the main story.

Illicit money is the dirty outcome of modern capitalism. But, after 9/11, the US realised that not just the buccaneers in business, but Osama bin Laden could also hide his funds in secret havens and use them to bomb the world. Campaigns against dirty money as high security risk commenced with the path-breaking research done by Raymond W Baker, a Harvard MBA and a Brookings scholar. He published his research as a book Capitalism’s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free- Market System. The book was published in 2005. This set off intense debate in the US as the exposure linked dirty business and dirty money with terror and national security.

Raymond Baker had estimated, using authentic data, tools and reasons, the dirty wealth secreted in banks at $11.5 trillion to which, he found, one more trillion was being added annually. He added that in the process the West was getting an annual bounty of $500 billion from the developing countries, India included.

Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a global watchdog headed by Baker to curtail illicit money flows, has recently brought out detailed estimates of the black wealth hoarded in secret havens from different countries. GFI research shows that during the period 2002 to 2006, annually $27.3 billion was stashed away from India, making a total of $137.5 billion for the five-year period. That is, in just five years, Indian wealth amounting to Rs 6.88 lakh crore has been smuggled out of India. This gives a clue as to how much Indian money would have slipped out of India in the last 62 years, particularly during the Nehruvian socialist regime when the income tax (97.5 per cent) and wealth tax (almost equal to the income earned on investments) together constituted double the income earned.

It is undisputed that the Nehruvian socialist model forced huge sums out of India. So the amount of Indian black wealth secreted away in the last 60 years — estimated at from $500 billion (Rs 25 lakh crore) to $1400 billion (Rs 70 lakh crore) — does not seem to be wide off the mark. Economists call it flight of capital. This is the people’s money stolen from them.

See the consequence even if part of it is brought back. A portion of it would make India free from all external debts which is now over $220 billion; India will transform into an economic superpower; some 10 or 15 Indian rupees could buy a US dollar which today 50 Indian rupees cannot; a litre of petrol on our roadside would cost Rs 15 or even less, against today’s 50 plus; the cost of imports in rupee terms would be down to a third or half; India’s entire infrastructure needs can be funded; India will become so energy efficient and costcompetitive that exporters may need no sops at all; India will lend to — not, as it does now, borrow from — the world; Indian housing can be funded at affordable cost; rural poverty can be wiped out… The list is endless. But, then, is it possible to bring back the secreted monies? What are the roadblocks to such efforts?

Last week, in New Delhi, a weepy Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa lamented how his political rivals, the “Bellary Reddys”,

Karnataka CM B S Yeddyurappa’s residence in Bangalore.

were preventing him from tending to the hapless flood victims, but a new revelation shows that the chief minister’s priority is not just selfless service of his state.

An RTI reply has revealed that Yeddyurappa has been equally committed to improving his own living quarters. He spent a staggering Rs 1.7 crore to renovate his bungalow, Rs 35 lakh of which went into redoing his bedroom. Going by the current austerity norms for politicians, Yeddyurappa’s generous spend is unlikely to make him a role model.

This is how the bill for doing up Yeddurappa’s residence on Devaraj Urs Road (Race Course) adds up: Renovation and fittings of the master bedroom cost Rs 34.55 lakh. This includes toilet works and interiors at Rs 10 lakh, marble flooring at Rs 10 lakh, a false ceiling and wall designs at Rs 4.40 lakh and Rs 10.15 lakh for gypsum board and wall panelling.

In an earlier report, TOI had revealed that the Karnataka government had incurred an expense of nearly Rs 1 crore for holding a cabinet meeting in Gulbarga last year, of which Rs 28 lakh was spent on floral decorations alone.
The RTI also revealed that another Rs 14.65 lakh was spent to improve “bedroom number 2″ in the CM’s official residence. This has marble flooring for Rs 10 lakh and Rs 4.65 lakh on imported wall papers. In all, Rs 1.69 crore was spent on renovation.

While Yeddyurappa has preferred to stay in this house after becoming CM, uncertainty over whether he would continue in the Race Course Road bungalow or shift to “Anugraha” (designated residence for CMs) near Sankey Road, saw the government spend Rs 9 lakh for toilet works at the latter, besides spending Rs 10 lakh to paint that house. “Anugraha” has now been occupied by Yeddyurappa loyalist and home minister V S Acharya.

After the BJP government came to power in May 2008, the total sanctioned “estimate amount” for the renovation, repairs and improvements of official residences of all ministers, including Yeddyurappa, has been over Rs 10 crore. Not all ministers are residing in official bungalows, though. While revenue minister G Karunakara Reddy has a flair for wardrobes and has fitted his bedrooms at a cost of Rs 8.08 lakh and put in sanitary fittings worth Rs 7.20 lakh, social welfare minister D Sudhakar went for a modular kitchen, priced at Rs 4.41 lakh.

Even Speaker Jagadish Shettar has not lagged behind. A sum of Rs 4.70 lakh has been spent on the wardrobe and storage cabinet at his residence, “Cauvery” on Kumarakrupa Road.

While Yeddyurappa leads the field, he is followed by Karunakara Reddy at Rs 88.26 lakh. Health minister B Sriramulu and energy minister K S Eshwarappa have turned out be most cost conscious ministers, having spent Rs 3 lakh and Rs 6 lakh, respectively, on their residences.

Fancy tastes

Cost of renovation of Karnataka ministers’ homes
* Anugraha (residence of home minister V S Acharya) – Rs 61.30 lakh
* Speaker Jagadish Shettar – Rs 24.83 lakh
* Shobha Karandlaje, former RDPR minister – Rs 38.05 lakh
* Karunakara Reddy, revenue minister – Rs 88.26 lakh

When I heard that Indian government is planning for a focused strategy to bring M F Hussain back. My immediate thought was,
Does the Home ministry has nothing else to do?

Leaving all the current and critical issues including the latest West bengal crisis , home ministry is very keen to bring Hussain, just because the 94-year-old Hussain, who has been living in exile for the last few years, wants to come back to India and had recently made an emotional appeal  in this regard.

The home ministry is contemplating approaching the Supreme Court for expeditious disposal of all cases arising out of Husain’s controversial paintings. Several cases were filed against Husain for his paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses. Husain has been in Dubai since 2006 after his paintings were repeatedly vandalised.

When a person who has no regard or respect for emotions of more than half the people of this country why should we be concerned of this man who created troubles for himself ?

 

What should  I call this – favoritism to a VIP and sense of secularism ?

Goddess Durga in sexual union with Tiger	Prophet’s Daughter Fatima fully clothed
Goddess Lakshmi naked on Shree Ganesh’s head	M.F. Husain’s Mother fully clothed
Naked Saraswati	Mother Teresa fully clothed
Naked Shri Parvati	Husain’s Daughter well clothed
Naked Draupadi.	Well clothed Muslim Lady.
Naked Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita sitting on thigh of Ravana	Muslim poets Faiz, Galib are shown well-clothed
Full Clad Muslim King and naked Hindu Brahmin. The above painting clearly indicates Husain’s tendency to paint any Hindu as naked and thus his hatred.	Naked Bharatmata – Husain has shown naked woman with names of states written on different parts of her body. He has used Ashok Chakra, Tri-colour in the painting. By doing this he has violated law & hurt National Pride of Indians. Both these things should be of grave concern to every Indian irrespective of his religion

Paintings by Raja Ravi Varma	Paintings by MF Husain
Goddess Lakshmi	Goddess Lakshmi naked on Shree Ganesh’s head
Famous Saraswati Painting	Naked Saraswati
Ravan, Sita and Jatayu (As per Ramayana)	Naked Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita sitting on thigh of Ravana

Even 5th Standard kid knows how to portray a lion , elephant and a lady , people who understand the so called drawings call it as “Modern Art”, Are we so mean that we have nothing else to portray other than the god and goddess. Shame for the people who think so and also who thinks he is a great artist. If “such” Art is artists way of expression (Freedom of expression ) , people who are hurt with this, have another way of expressing anger , that also comes in Freedom of expression . So best thing will be to let him allow to come to India and prosecute.
Note : I am not against any religion but i don’t want anyone to exploit any other religious sentiments. Not everyone can be good artist , it really require skill and i am damn sure he is not the Tara Zameen Par like Ishan Awasthi.

Some parents of children studying in Khaitan Public School and DLF Public School in Ghaziabad have alleged that the schools have discriminated against their children and are harassing them following a recent fee hike issue.

The District Inspector of Schools (DIOS) has sent letters to the two schools telling them not to discriminate and also threatened to cancel their No Objection Certificate (NOC) to run the schools.

The parents appraised DIOS Ravinder Singh and Additional District Magistrate (City) S.K.
Srivastava on the issue and demanded action against the schools.

As per the Uttar Pradesh government orders passed on June 29 this year, a district committee headed by the District Magistrate was to decide about the quantum of fee hike in schools run by CBSE, ICSE and the UP Board (excluding minority institutions).

Several schools in UP and the NCR filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court demanding quashing of the June 29 orders.

In an interim order by the High Court, the order passed by the district committee was stayed. The orders issued by the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS), Joint Secretary (Education), were also stayed.

On the basis of this stay by the HC, the schools say they can charge a hiked fee. Parents on the other hand argue that the HC has not given any specific orders that the hiked fee is to be charged.

“The half-yearly result for Class 10 has been held back.
Some students were openly told that their parents had failed to deposit their fee,” said Shekhar Bharti from Khaitan Parents’ Association.

“And some parents have been issued letters stating not to send children to the school in the near future.”

Khaitan Public School principal Nalini Bahl said letters have indeed been sent but only in those cases where parents have defaulted in paying the fee.
The principal, however, dismissed allegations of harassment and discrimination.

“The half yearly report card issue is to be decided by the school’s managing committee.
Only some parents are creating these problems,” she said.

Parents of kids at DLF Public School claimed that they were ready to pay fees as per the old structure but school is not accepting the money.

Vineet Bajaj of DLF Parents’ Association claimed, “To pressurise us to deposit the increased fee, the teachers have started harassing our children.
Teachers openly speak ill about the parents and children are categorically pointed out.”

The school has denied the allegations.

“We have not resorted to any such discrimination. Most parents have paid the school fee.
It’s only 50-100 parents who are creating problems,” said Rakesh Khullar, Director DLF Public school.

DIOS Ravinder Singh said, “We received a lot of complaints from the parents about the alleged harassment of their children. The schools have been directed to stop any such activity leading to harassment of the children.”

“We would recommend their No Objection Certificate for cancellation if the two schools are found guilty of harassment.”

One of the biggest challenges India faces today is that of delivering more effectively to the poor. For the last many years, the below poverty line (BPL) card has been the primary basis of all redistributive programmes in India. The trouble is that the cards often seem to end up in the wrong hands.

A study conducted by the Planning Commission concludes there are 23 million more ration cards than households, and their guess is that most of these are BPL cards. The study also emphasises mis-targeting. It estimates that in all the major states save four, more than 40 per cent of households have the wrong kind of card [BPL households with above poverty line (APL) cards and the other way round].

Moreover it is clear that a substantial part of these “errors” are deliberate: A detailed study of 173 villages in Raichur district in Karnataka by Atanassova, Bertrand and Mullainathan, finds that about one-third of the eligible households, based on the official criteria, don’t have a BPL card, while about half of the ineligible households do. More worryingly, when they use income as a proxy for wealth, the poorest among all ineligible households are not the ones who have the card, which is what one would expect if this was an innocent mistake. Being socially connected to village officials turned out to be an excellent predictor of where these mistakes were concentrated.

Wrecking programmes
In addition to faking and mis-targeting of cards, the Planning Commission report suggests that there is a lot of capture — BPL cards issued to a BPL family that end up in the hands of someone who is not BPL; grains that are supposed to have been sold to a BPL family that are actually sold on the open market, etc. The result of all these problems, the report concludes, is that in the case of the targeted Public Distribution System only 42 per cent of the grains intended for the poor actually reach them. Similarly, a recent study of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) by Niehaus and Sukhantkar from Harvard University, based on data they collected from about 1,500 households in Orissa, suggests massive capture — when the official NREGS wage goes up to Rs 70 a day, workers continued to be paid Rs 55 (moreover, only 40 per cent of the reported workdays seemed to be real).

This sort of malfeasance in government programmes, of course, goes beyond anti-poverty programmes. There are news reports of thousands of fake employees in government departments. A recent survey revealed that nurses in the government health system in Udaipur district show up for work less than 40 per cent of the time.

Benefits of UID
The net result of all this is that the effectiveness of public expenditures is very low, and the poor who depend most on public assistance are the ones who pay for it directly. It also undermines political support for public expenditures, which can rebound on the ability of the government to sustain its anti-poverty efforts.

A unique ID (UID), interpreted as a data-base that matches each person’s biometric identifiers with a name and a number, and a system by which it is possible to check that a person who claims to be identified with a particular number is indeed that person, will help in a number of ways. On the issue of fake identities, the advantage is obvious: ghosts do not leave finger-prints. If you can pay only people who have a UID, you can pay only real people, and since the identity is unique the same person cannot be paid twice.

A second, perhaps less obvious, benefit is with respect to mis-targeting. Since all systems will use the same UID, it would be easy to link up various databases. One would not need special surveys to tell us that someone who has a BPL card also got a loan of Rs 10 lakh from a government bank — the right command given to computer will instantly list such people who could then be automatically removed from the BPL list.

Making delivery effective
A third potential benefit is with respect to capture. The owner of the fair-price shop, who sells the grains on the open market, will at least need to have the co-operation of the person against whose UID the grains are being issued, as long as it is required that the identity is established before the grains are handed over.

Finally, the ability to identify the presence of a specific individual makes it much easier to centrally monitor delinquency among government servants. In principle, this could be used to make sure that people actually come to work.
Of course, all of this will require political will and other, more institutional, changes. Technology can only enable — it cannot make anything happen. But it is clear that this has the potential to shift the conversation about delivering more effectively to the poor.

(Banerjee is Professor of Economics, MIT; Raghavan is chief executive officer, Comat Technologies Private Ltd)

Suicide is now seen much more as a sociological problem than one relating to an individual.

This phenomenon is growing in India with the latest figures showing a 28 per cent jump over the past 10 years.

In 1997, 95,829 people committed suicide and by 2007 the number of persons taking their own lives went up to 122,637, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The NCRB says Maharashtra, followed by West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, registered consistently higher numbers of suicidal deaths over the past few years and accounted for 10 per cent or more of the total suicides reported in the country during 2005-07.

Puducherry reported the highest rate of suicide in 2007 (48.6 per 100,000 people) followed by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (38.5) while the all-India rate was 10.8 in 2007 compared to 10.5 during 2006.

Family problems and illnesses were two major factors in this, accounting for more than 22 per cent of the suicides during the years 2005-07. In 35 per cent of the cases, people took poison, while 32 per cent hanged themselves.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), suicide is now seen in South East Asia as a major public health problem. “Cumulative research, media reports and anecdotal evidence over the past three decades reveal that suicides are an emerging epidemic the world over.”

WHO says those who commit suicide give early indications of doing so. In India, 10-20 per cent of those who died this way had seen a physician a few days before taking the step.

Psychological counsellor Neera Jain said: “The disintegration of the joint family has removed the support system for the individual at times of emotional and psychological crisis.”

The president of the International Association of Suicide Prevention (IASP), Brian Mishara, said: “More than a million people worldwide die by suicide each year.”

Mishara says that 60 per cent of suicides now occur in Asia, with China, India and Japan accounting for 40 per cent. “Timely corrections of mental health issues and healthy lifestyles can be part of a multi-pronged approach,” said Dr Sameer Malhotra, head, division of psychiatry and psychotherapy, Fortis Hospital.

S.K. Chaturvedi, head of the department of psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, said, “We encourage them to share their problems and feelings with us, and try to assess their situations.

Sometimes if we find that the patient is at great risk of committing suicide, we admit them in the hospital.”

NIMHANS sees nearly 500 people with emotional, sexual and social problems daily, he said.

One thing is certain: this form of death is the most difficult one to prevent.

It was a day of shameful firsts.

A member of the legislature was assaulted inside the Assembly for the first time in Maharashtra’s legislative history, by four debutant MLAs whose party — the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) — is being represented for the first time in the House.

On Monday, four MLAs from Raj Thackeray’s party assaulted Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi after he refused to take the oath of office in Marathi.
The Speaker has suspended all four — Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam, Vasant Gite and Ramesh Wanjhale — for four years. The MNS has 13 legislators in all.

Though a standoff was expected as Azmi, a migrant from Uttar Pradesh, had insisted on taking the oath in Hindi and Thackeray had demanded all MLAs take the oath in Marathi, nobody had anticipated violence inside the legislature.

The suspended MLAs were also charged with manhandling a woman MLA, Meenakshi Patil from the Peasants and Workers Party, who tried to help Azmi.

The drama began when Azmi started reading the oath in Hindi.
Before he completed the first sentence, Wanjhale rushed to the dais and uprooted the podium. Within seconds, his colleagues stormed the well, displaying pro-Marathi banners and shouting slogans.

As they tried to pull Azmi down from the dais, members of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Republican Democratic Left Front ran up to help him. Surrounded by others, Azmi completed his oath in Hindi but as he walked to his seat he was manhandled by Shinde and slapped more than once by Kadam.

The MNS remained unrepentant of its MLAs’ actions.
“We are proud of our act and will repeat it if anyone dares to insult Maharashtra,” MNS spokesman Shirish Parkar said.

CM Ashok Chavan and his deputy, Chhagan Bhujbal, condemned the incident and asked protem Speaker Ganpatrao Deshmukh to deal with the attackers strictly.

The MNS has decided to appeal before the high court. INFAMOUS FOUR SHISHIR SHINDE: Constituency: Bhandup, Northeast Mumbai A ex-Shiv Sena activist who shot to fame for digging the pitch at Wankhede stadium in 1991 to protest against Pakistan’s cricket tour of India.
RAM KADAM: Constituency: Ghatkopar (East), NE Mumbai He shot to fame during the Dahi Handi festival last year offering prize money of Rs 25 lakh.
Defeated the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam in the last elections.
RAMESH WANJHALE: Constituency: Khadakwasala, Pune A contractor, Wanjhale is referred to as `golden boy’ for wearing 2 kg gold on his person.
VASANT GITE: Nashik. Former Mayor of Nashik, he was blamed for threatening North Indian labourers in the city during the MNS’s agitation against North Indians a year ago. OPTIONS FOR MNS It can apologise to the assembly and try to get the suspension reduced or revoked. How the Congress-NCP will respond is anybody’s guess.

It may challenge the decision in the High Court. But constitutional experts say the court is unlikely to overrule the assembly’s decision.

It may ask its suspended MLAs to resign from the Assembly, and face by-elections, making a political issue of the suspension.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THEM The MNS will surely try to derive political advantage from the incident. It has already forced the Shiv Sena to reluctantly support its demand that all MLAs take their oath in Marathi.

Losing four MLAs out of 13 will also impact the party’s relevance as a political force. If it wants the suspension revoked, it will have to soften its stand.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLA Ram Kadam who allegedly slapped Mumbai Samajwadi Party president Abu Asim Azmi in the assembly for taking oath in Hindi on Monday said he had no regrets for his action and was ready for any sacrifice to uphold the glory of Marathi language.

When asked if his actions were not an insult to the assembly, Kadam said Azmi had insulted the 11-crore Marathispeaking population of Maharashtra in the 50th year of the state’s formation.

“It is Mumbai and Maharashtra that has made him big and can’t he take the oath in the local language? He had lots of spare time and couldn’t he mug four lines of the speech in Marathi?” Kadam asked.

When pointed out that it was not appropriate to act violently in the assembly, he said, we had to teach Azmi a lesson in the language he understood.

Once a close associate of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, Kadam shot to limelight when he sponsored a Rs 25-lakh prize for Dahi-Handi festival last year.
He defeated Mahajan’s daughter Poonam from the Ghatkopar East seat. A builder by profession, he was arrested a day after the election for allegedly manhandling a constable.

Ironically, Kadam was addressing the media in English and Hindi, besides Marathi. “The Shiv Sena-BJP did not utter a word despite tall talks of Marathi pride and it is for the Marathi manoos to see,” Kadam added.

Echoing Kadam, MNS spokesperson Shirish Parkar said: “We are proud of our act and will repeat it if anyone dares to insult Maharashtra.

“For years, this man has been intimidating Maharashtrians and today he crossed the limits,” Parkar said. “If he does not understand civil language, we have to make him understand in a language he understands.”

NEW DELHI – Twenty five years after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, those who lost their family members have not given up hope of getting justice, and are pinning their hopes on the court hearing the case against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler.

“We are left with only one hope of getting justice and that is from the court. We are praying to god that court should help us in punishing the guilty. The last 25 years was a terrible experience for all of us, said Amrit Singh Lovely, a resident of Tilak Vihar in west Delhi.

He said some of the victims’ families will protest outside the court Saturday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had, at the last hearing, said the witnesses, who deposed about the alleged role of Tytler in the anti-Sikh riots, were “not reliable”.

Additional CBI public prosecutor submitted before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Pandit that the two witnesses, Surinder Singh – who died recently – and Jasbir Singh, were unreliable as they have contradicted their statements on various occasions.

Citing the case of Surinder, who had deposed against Tytler, the CBI counsel said Surinder, in his first affidavit before the Nanavati Commission in January 2002, had stated that Tytler along with others had attacked Gurdwara Pul Bangash in north Delhi and killed Thakur Singh and Badal Singh. But in another affidavit in August 2002, Surinder had denied Tytler’s role, he added.

The probe agency will Saturday continue its argument on the version given by Jasbir Singh.

Jasbir too claimed to be witness to the Nov 1, 1984, incident when a mob had set on fire the gurdwara, killing three people.

The CBI had last month during the hearing also placed before the court audio visual evidence showing that Tytler was near the body of assassinated prime minister Indira Gandhi at the time of the incident.

CBI, which had April 2 sought to close the case against Tytler claiming there wasn’t sufficient evidence against him, had questioned the jurisdiction of a magisterial court and sought the matter to be transferred to a sessions court.

The court, however, was not convinced with the CBI’s arguments and decided to hear the closure report.

Over 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the riots in various cities following the assassination of Indira Gandhi on Oct 31, 1984.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has topped the corruption chart with about 4,300 cases.

It is followed by Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi Police.

There are about 457 corruption related cases against the Delhi government employees including 137 from Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

The DDA and Delhi Police where 305 and 133 officials respectively were facing corruption cases. Interestingly, 18 senior DDA officials have retired without their probe been completed.

According to MCD’s Vigilance department, as many as 4,299 cases were pending against 3,350 officials. Out of the registered cases, 1,435 cases were by anti- corruption branch of the Delhi Government, Police and CBI whereas 2,877 such cases were registered by its own vigilance wing.

The Delhi Police said that various criminal cases against 133 personnel were pending against serving officials since Jan 2008.

The cases were pending against eight inspectors, 12 sub inspectors, 18 assistant sub inspectors, 28 head constables and 67 constables.

One of AIIMS’ biggest problems, insiders say, is senior doctors — mostly surgeons — leaving the institute because of professional dissatisfaction.
Of the 610 sanctioned posts, as many as 190 vacancies at different levels — professor, associate, assistant and additional professor — need to be filled. In September, three senior professors from the department of neuro-sciences — Dr B. S. Sharma, head of neurosurgery; Dr Aditya Gupta, associate professor of neurosurgery; and Sumit Singh, associate professor of neurology — resigned citing “professional dissatisfaction”.
Take the Ear-Nose-Throat department. Its sanctioned strength is seven but there are three vacancies at any given time. Over the past decade, more than 12 faculty members have left, resigned or retired. The latest being Dr K. K. Handa, an associate professor, who resigned after winning a legal battle over departmental seniority at the Central Administrative Tribunal.
The situation is no different in other departments.
“In the past four years, no recruitment have taken place. Last year, the governing body had advertised for 90 posts, but the recruitment drive ran into controversy as the posts were advertised for reserved categories only,” said an official at AIIMS. “After the Directorate of Personnel and Training intervened, new faculty admissions were put on hold.”
AIIMS deputy director, administration, Shailesh Kumar Yadav said, “We have 190 vacancies that have to be filled up through direct recruitment. We are waiting for instructions from the health ministry to fill up the 90 posts advertised last December.”

Best Brains, Worst Jobs

The medicos complain about
 Overcrowding of patients
 No time for research
 Poor security
 High work pressure
 Little remuneration
 Poor housing

The Way forward

 More waiting areas, patient screening at the OPDs so that only patients needing specialized treatment come to AIIMS
 Setting up a centralized information desk at the OPD, map of AIIMS at various places, better signages, dedicated staff to help patients.
 Easing up processes for research funds, hiring more faculty
 Strictly following one attendant per patient ratio, screening at entry points, hiring more security staff
 Hastening faculty recruitment process
 Offering competitive salaries vis-à-vis the private sector of hospital staff, including doctors.
 Funds should be allotted to refurbish the old houses and build new houses to accommodate faculty.