PM says RTI should not hamper government work

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said a critical look must be taken at the RTI Act and concerns on it discussed and addressed. But he asserted that there would be no dilution of RTI Act. 

“The Right to Information should not adversely affect the deliberative processes in the government,” he said addressing a two-day annual convention of the Central Information Commission here.

“We must take a critical look at it. There are concerns that need to be discussed and addressed,” he stressed.

There have been demands for amending the transparency law by certain sections of government who feel it is “transgressing” into their functioning.

The prime minister highlighted the need to strike a balance between disclosure of information and the limited time and resources available with public authorities.
Amendments to the RTI Act and exemptions given to security agencies from making disclosures under it are expected to be debated at the conference being attended by information commissioners.

Another concern that has been raised is that the Right to Information could end up discouraging honest, well meaning public servants from giving full expression to their views.

Singh made it clear that there “will be no dilution of the RTI Act. We wish to make the Right to Information an even more effective instrument for ensuring transparency and accountability in administration”.

The prime minister said legislation for protection of whistleblowers would be enacted in the next few months to help prevention of violence against those who seek to expose wrongdoings in the public administration.

Accusing the government of being “scared” of the RTI Act, the BJP slammed the prime minister’s statement favouring a “critical look” at the transparency law and warned that any attempt to dilute the act would be opposed across the country.

“Is the government scared now of the RTI Act? The government wants to turn its back towards the Act. The government, which has already lost its credibility, fears that it will be nowhere if this Act survives for a long time,” said BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

He claimed the prime minister was siding with the rhetoric of such organisations which are seeking exemption from the transparency law.

PM writes to Anna, says political consensus needed for right to reject

New Delhi: Declaring government's commitment to a strong Lokpal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said Anna Hazare's demand for 'Right to Reject' provision in electoral law needs political consensus.

Even as Hazare came out against the Congress in the Hisar Lok Sabha bypoll, the Gandhian and the Prime Minister exchanged letters on Lokpal and measures to fight corruption and other issues like electoral and judicial reforms in the last 20 days.

"As you are aware, we are committed to enacting a strong Lokpal law and we hope that we will succeed in this in the near future. However, our government is working on a broad agenda to fight corruption and bring in administrative reforms," Singh said in a letter to Hazare written yesterday.

He was replying to Hazare's letter of September 21 in which he had flagged several issues including Lokpal, electoral reforms and strengthening of grass roots institutions.

"In this several legal, administrative and technical aspects will be included. Establishment of the Lokpal is part of this broad agenda," Singh said.

Referring to Hazare's demand for including the provision of right to reject candidates through the option of 'none of the above' in the voting system, saying in a democratic society a political consensus was necessary on such issues.

"Our government is actively considering various proposals related to electoral reforms. Among the proposals being considered is the 'right to reject' which you have mentioned.

"In a democratic society, a political consensus is necessary on some issues. We want to discuss several proposals on electoral reforms with all political parties and act on proposals on which there is broad agreement," Singh said.

Hazare had demanded in another letter dated September 23, that the Prime Minister should write to Chief Ministers of all Congress-ruled states to pass a Bill for establishment of a Lokayukta.

Hazare maintains that the government had promised him during his fast at Ramlila grounds that Lokayuktas would be set-up in states.

"You had assured that order will be issued to Congress-ruled states for setting up Lokayuktas. According to the assurance, written orders should be sent to Chief Ministers of all Congress-ruled states," Hazare had said.

In his reply dated October 7, Singh drew Hazare's attention to the in-principal agreement in Parliament on August 27 on establishment of Lokayukta in states.

"This consensus in Parliament has also been sent to the Standing Committee so that it can consider them during their deliberations. I hope you will agree with me that before going ahead we should first let Parliament complete the process of enacting a Lokpal law," Singh said.

Telangana crisis: PM steps in, tries to soothe Congress leaders

Hyderabad: Stepping in to defuse the Telangana crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said he understands the separate statehood demand and gave an assurance that the Centre will make all efforts to find a solution to the contentious issue soon.

Meeting a delegation of Congress leaders from agitation-hit Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh, Singh also told them that he would talk to Congress President Sonia Gandhi in this regard and put all their demands before the party's Core Committee.

As the general strike in Telangana entered its 22nd day, the leaders, including senior Minister J Geetha Reddy and K Jana Reddy, briefed Singh about the situation in the region and the urgent need for Centre's intervention as people were not in a mood even to celebrate upcoming festivals.

The delegation that included Ministers, MPs and an MLC told the Prime Minister that the Centre should announce a time-frame for taking a decision on the separate issue as time is running out.

"We briefed the Prime Minister of what is happening in Andhra Pradesh, in Telangana region. He knows the Telangana issue and the problems. We briefed him in detail about the strike that is being supported by every section of the society," Geetha Reddy told reporters after the 30-minute meeting at the PM's 7, Race Course Road Residence.

"He expressed his understanding and sympathies to us. He said we need to solve the problem. He also told us that we will try to solve it as soon as possible," Geetha Reddy said.

The leaders told Singh that they would assure that the safety and security of people of non-Telangana regions in Hyderabad would be protected if a separate Telangana state is formed.

They also asked Singh to advice Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy not to show "apathy" towards the Telangana region.

2G war: PMO's role may come under scrutiny, Pranab warns Manmohan

New York: After a 45 meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an angry Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee declined comment on the 2G controversy as it was sub judice and he first needed to talk to "our valued colleague" Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

Pranab Mukherjee handed all the documents related to the 2G spectrum allocation to the PM as they met in New York.

Sources said that Mukherjee told the Prime Minister that the 2G note was released by the PMO and not his office.

He also told the Prime Minister that PMO's role in the 2G row may come under scrutiny, sources said.

Mukherjee will on Monday meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi to brief her about his meeting with the Prime Minister. 

Like Manmohan Singh, he too suggested that Sunday's meeting was essentially to brief the prime minister about his interactions in the US and not about a finance ministry note to the PMO on the then finance minister's role in the auction of the 2G spectrum.

"Unless I talk to the law minister, unless I talk to Mr. Chidambram, who is our valued colleague, unless I talk to the other party leaders and I go through all the papers, relevant papers, what comment will I make?," Mukherjee asked Indian journalists at a hastily summoned press conference in his hotel suite.

"And why should I make a comment on a domestic issue outside India? I am not fugitive. I am not leaving the country for all times to come," a visibly agitated finance minister said.

"Therefore, I will what I can say, what is permissible for me to say. I am not a lawyer. I have to take the expert opinion on it. Therefore, it would not be proper for me to make any comment on that."

"But as all of you wanted to meet me yesterday (Saturday) and I was a bit rude. That's why I thought I'll meet you," Mukherjee told journalists who had patiently waited for his arrival at the hotel, where he and the Indian delegation accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are staying.

"I am not going to give you any earth shaking news. I gave you trouble to come to apologise that sorry I can't give you anything beyond that."

In the note, the finance ministry says Chidambaram, one of the government's most high-profile ministers, could have prevented spectrum from being given away at throwaway prices by insisting on its auction -- implying that presumptive losses worth thousands of crores could have thus been avoided.

The note, which was apparently shown to Mukherjee and accessed by an application under the Right to Information Act, was prepared by a deputy secretary in the finance ministry and sent to the Prime Minister's Office March 25.

At the outset, Mukherjee made it a point to say that there was "no cutting, no cancelling" in coming to New York a few hours earlier to brief the prime minister about his interactions in the US and three major pending legislations back home.

He had come to New York "for a very simple reason as the prime minister is here" and besides the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meeting, he had to brief Manmohan Singh about the India-US Business Council, CEOs Forum and Investment forum meets.

"I thought I'll report to the prime minister as any action can't be initiated unless I talk to him," Mukherjee said.

But "If all of you are not interested, I am sorry I can't make any comment for the very simple reason that except newspaper clippings, I don't have any information.

"It's a matter which has produced a piece of paper, a note from the finance ministry to the PMO, obtained through RTI and has been placed in court."

Asked what he gave the prime minister, Mukherjee said: "I wished him and gave him a bouquet of flowers."

2G war: PM rallies behind Chidambaram, BJP demands resignation

On Board Air India One: Ruling out any infighting among ministers of his government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday  fully backed Home Minister P Chidambaram on the 2G spectrum issue. 

"I don't know what note you are talking about. The whole 2G matter is before the court. I don't want to comment on a matter that is subjudice", he told journalists accompanying him from Frankfurt to New York.

"As far as Mr P Chidambaram is concerned, as Finance Minister, he had enjoyed my full confidence and as Home Minister he continues to enjoy and inspire my full confidence," Singh said.

Earlier, Manmohan Singh called Chidambaram and is understood to have expressed full faith in his integrity, amid a raging controversy over his stand on the 2G spectrum allocation.

During a 20-minute call from Frankfurt where he made a overnight halt on his way to New York, Singh discussed with Chidambaram the issue of a 10-page note sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) by the Finance Ministry in March last.

In a new twist to the 2G spectrum case, a note to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) from the finance ministry said the airwaves could have been auctioned in 2008 if Chidambaram, then the finance minister, had "stuck to his stand".

In the note, the finance ministry says Chidambaram could have prevented spectrum from being given away at throwaway prices by insisting on its auction -- alluding that presumptive losses worth thousands of crores could have thus been avoided.

The note, which was apparently shown to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and accessed by way by an application under the Right to Information Act, was prepared by a deputy secretary in the finance ministry and sent to the Prime Minister's Office March 25.

The note became public after the Prime Minister had left Delhi on his foreign tour. The Minister has since been under attack.

The Prime Minister is believed to have counselled Chidambaram "to be patient" till he returns home from New York on September 27, highly placed sources said.

The sources also said that the Prime Minister was ready to say about the Home Minister's integrity.

CBI to study Swamy's dossiers

Meanwhile, the central government in New Delhi on Thursday  told the Supreme Court that the CBI will study the documents from Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy linking P Chidambaram to the 2G scam.

The government told Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly: "The new documents filed for the first time before this court will naturally be studied and considered by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) as usual and may be covered in the next status report."

Swamy on Wednesday submitted to the court documents demonstrating what he alleged was involvement of Chidambaram, now the home minister, in deciding the 2G spectrum pricing when he was the finance minister.

The documents filed by Swamy included a communication of Jan 30, 2008, by the department of economic affairs of the finance ministry recording the gist of the meeting between the then finance minister Chidambaram and Raja.

BJP demands Chidambaram's ouster 
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded the ouster of Home Minister P. Chidambaram and said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should investigate his role in the 2G spectrum scam.

"This clearly proves that the role of P. Chidambaram in as finance minister in the 2G scam is responsible," BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters here.

"Either he should resign himself or he should be dismissed, I demand it strongly," he said, adding that there should also be a CBI probe.

Congress defends Chidambaram

Coming in the defence of Home Minister P. Chidambaram after the opposition demanded his resignation over the 2G scam, the Congress described it as a "mischievous attempt" to create a rift in the party.

"The party does not doubt his integrity. This precise issue has been raised by Dr (Subramanian) Swamy in the apex court and is sub judice," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters here.

Singhvi said the "mischievous attempt" by the opposition to create a rift between different constitutional functionaries was highly regrettable.

"Without waiting for the proceedings to be completed, it is highly objectionable and inappropriate for Dr Swamy or anyone else to pass premature judgment on the very same issue on which he is seeking relief," Singhvi said.

The revelations gave further ammunition to the opposition to target Chidambaram.

2G war: Chidambaram offers to quit, PM says 'be patient', claims report

New Delhi: Amid a raging controversy over his stand on the 2G spectrum allocation issue, Home Minister P Chidambaram offered to resign when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called him before leaving for New York, says a TV report.

However, Manmohan Singh is understood to have expressed full faith in Chidambaram's integrity. The PM has reportedly said that he has full faith in the home minister during both his stints as finance minister and home minister.

With Chidambaram in a tight spot after the emergence of Pranab Mukherjee’s letter to the Prime Minister's Office on 2G Spectrum auctioning, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has got fresh ammunition to demand his resignation.

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh away in New York, the phone airwaves case rocked the government again, this time over a six-month-old note of the finance ministry that fell just short of indicting Chidambaram, sparking a war of words between the Congress and the opposition that demanded his ouster.

"I don't know what note the media is talking about, in any case the matter is before the court. As far as Mr Chidambaram is concerned, as finance minister he continued to enjoy my full confidence, as home minister he continues to enjoy my full confidence," said Manmohan Singh.

According to another report, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee have spoken to Home Minister P Chidambaram over phone amid a controversy over his stand on the allocation of 2G spectrum.

Read: A Raja has been vindicated, says DMK

"I have assured the Prime Minister that I shall not make any public statement on the subject until he returns to India," Chidambaram said in a statement on Thursday in response to queries from media about his silence on the Finance Ministry note to Prime Minister's office on 2G spectrum submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

"The Prime Minister called me last night from Frankfurt and spoke to me. The Finance Minister called me from Washington and spoke to me," said Chidambaram, who held the Finance portfolio when the Telecom Department took a decision to allot 2G licenses.

Read: CBI opposes probing Chidambaram's alleged role in 2G case

Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the meanwhile was also briefed on the matter and was expected to take it up when the prime minister returns to the capital Monday, after attending the UN General Assembly, Congress sources said.

BJP leads ‘sack P Chidambaram’ chorus

In the monsoon session of the parliament as well the party had disrupted the proceedings demanding his resignation blaming him for the 2G scam and police action against protesters.

Pointing fingers at Chidambaram, the entire Opposition demanded his ouster from the union cabinet saying he had no moral right to continue.

“It is shameful that the finance minister of a country was directly responsible for 2G spectrum allocation scam. Either Chidambaram should resign or the PM should sack him,” said senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who is also the chairman of public accounts committee (PAC) that probed the scam. His aborted draft report had also referred to these details.

Read: CPI(M) demands CBI probe against Chidambaram in 2G scam

Incidentally, in Chennai Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha too joined the “remove Chidambaram” campaign saying the CBI should proceed against him as they did against A Raja.

But even though senior BJP leaders went all out against PC, they were rather muted in their criticism of the PM’s role in the scam. Joshi blamed Chidambaram for misleading the PM and said Manmohan was kept in the dark.

Read: Subramanian Swamy moves court against Chidambaram in 2G case

“The question that arises is that since prime minister is a well-known economist, how was he misled. Was he actually misled or he chose to be misled?” said Joshi.

“There are several questions which Chidambaram has to answer in relation to the fixation of the value of the spectrum in 2008. It is not an internal matter of the government. It involves public revenue,” said Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

Chidambaram, Raja jointly determined 2G spectrum price: Pranab to PM

New Delhi: The surfacing of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 2G spectrum allocation Wednesday led to a political slugfest with BJP demanding Home Minister P Chidambaram's resignation and Congress snubbing it for "jumping to conclusions".

CPI also demanded that Chidambaram's role as the then Finance Minister needs to be examined and questioned.

What the controversial letter said

The Telecom Ministry could have gone in for auction of 2G spectrum licenses had the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram insisted on this, according to a Finance Ministry document submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

In the letter, the finance ministry says Chidambaram could have prevented spectrum from being given away at throwaway prices by insisting on its auction -- alluding that presumptive losses worth thousands of crores could have thus been avoided.

The letter, which was apparently shown to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and accessed by way by an application under the Right to Information Act, was prepared by a deputy secretary in the finance ministry and sent to the Prime Minister's Office March 25.

Activist Vivek Garg had filed the RTI application in the Prime Minister's Office.

According to the letter, in a meeting with Raja Jan 30,2008, Chidambaram had said "he was for now not seeking to revisit the current regimes for entry fee or revenue share" of spectrum.

The note says even the then finance secretary had in February 2008, after allocation of spectrum was agreed upon, said that the Department of Telecom (DoT) could still go for an auction, invoking a clause to cancel the allocation under the guidelines.

"The DoT could have invoked this clause for cancelling licences in case the Ministry of Finance had stuck to the stand of auctioning the the 4.4 Mhz spectrum," said the note adding, actual allocation of the radio waves were only done from April 2008.

Politically, the note has come to light at a time when Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy submitted some documents in the Supreme Court Wednesday demonstrating what he alleges is direct involvement of Chidambaram, as the then finance minister, in spectrum pricing.

Swamy presented the documents before an apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly that is hearing his plea for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Chidambaram's role in the scam.

The government on Tuesday had opposed Swamy's plea to probe Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum case, saying the Supreme Court did not have jurisdiction in the case after charges had already been filed in a trial court.

Congress, BJP trade barbs

BJP charged Mukherjee's letter to the Prime Minister in the case shows the "complicity" of Chidambaram and demanded his resignation. The party also alleged that not only UPA allies but also the Congress were involved in it.

"Ultimately, the cat is out of the bag. It was very clear from day one that Chidambaram agreed to A Raja's formula for 2-G spectrum allocation. If he had stuck to the Finance Ministry officials position that spectrum should not be allocated in 2008 at 2001 prices the scam would not have taken place," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

He insisted that revelations- through an RTI reply- have exposed Chidambaram's complicity in the 2G spectrum scam as Finance Minister in UPA-I government.

Javdekar demanded that in the wake of this expose, Chidambaram should step down from his post.

Lashing out at BJP, Congress accused it of "jumping to conclusions" on the 2G issue with its demand for Chidambaram's resignation.

"BJP should stop being excited about everything. BJP is jumping to conclusions. Let us wait for a while if there is any such report. I have not seen the report," party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary said.

CPI national secretary D Raja said," Chidambaram's position, morally speaking, is increasingly becoming untenable."

"His role as the then Finance Minister needs to be examined and questioned," he said.

Government rushes relief teams to quake-hit Sikkim

New Delhi: As powerful earthquakes rocked Sikkim, the Central Government swung into action, rushing specialised teams for rescue, relief and medical operations, besides mobilising the Army and Air Force.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling immediately after the quake and offered all possible help.

He directed Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth to urgently convene a meeting of the Crisis Management Group, which took stock of the situation and decided on a series of steps.

After the meeting, Seth said that two IAF planes --C-130J with four teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) -- have been sent for rescue and relief operations in Sikkim. He said five more teams of NDRF are being rushed from Kolkata.

Army units have also been mobilised and field hospitals have been activated in Sikkim, he said.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has also been mobilised for restoring normal traffic on NH-31A which connects Sikkim with rest of the country.

"The Prime Minister himself is monitoring the developments connected to the quake," Seth said after the meeting, which was attended by Secretaries of Defence, Home, Health and Information and Broadcasting, among others.

The Cabinet Secretary said the meeting discussed ways in which help could be provided to the quake-hit Sikkim in the wake of the earthquake.

"The Central Government will do everything that is necessary."

More updates on Sikkim earthquake:

# Road from Pegong to Chungthang tehsil washed away due to landslide.

# NDRF personnel are waiting for the highway to be cleared.

# Sikkim govt confirms 18 deaths. Rescue team of state has reached Mangan area of north Sikkim but they are yet to get input from Chungthang.

# Big landslides all over NH 31A - the lifeline of Sikkim. NDRF forces are still stranded in Siliguri.

# A herculean rescue operation begins as NDRF and Army battalions reach Sikkim.

# Missing vehicle including Army personnel found, all safe: Report

# 10 army Combat Engineers Columns deployed for opening major roadblocks on Siliguri-Gangtok.

Praful Patel richest Union minister with R 122 cr, Kamal Nath at 3rd place

New Delhi: Ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government have grown richer by an average Rs 10 crore since the 2009 general elections, says a report by an election watchdog.

Among the ministers who have gained the most in the past two years, Dr S Jagathrakshakan of DMK tops the list with an increase of Rs 64.5 crore - from Rs 5.9 crore in 2009 to Rs 70 crore 2011, according to the analysis by by Association for Democratic Research (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW).

Jagathrakshakan, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, is followed by Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel, who has increased his assets by Rs 42 crore - from Rs 79.8 crore in 2009 to Rs 122 crore in 2011.

Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath of Congress is the third richest minister who saw his assets grow by Rs 26 crore - from Rs 14 crore in 2009 to Rs 41 crores in 2011, the report said.

The watchdog said it has derived the figures after comparing the assets declared during the 2009 general elections, which is available in the Election Commission website, and the 2011 declaration put out in the PMO website.

Percentage wise, the highest increase has been for Jagathrakshakan whose assets have grown by 1,092 per cent in the past two years. He is followed by Panabaka Lakshmi of Congress with a growth of 828 per cent in her assets and Tusharbhai Chaudhary, also Congress, with a growth of 705 per cent in his assets.

As per the analysis, a minister in the present UPA government has assets worth over Rs 10 crore, marking an increase by Rs 3.3 crore since 2009.

"This is in spite of the fact that 19 ministers in their 2011 declarations to PMO have not given the value of several of their movable and immovable assets," said the report.

With assets worth 122 crores, Praful Patel tops the list of richest ministers, while Jagathrakshakan ranked second (with assets worth Rs 70 crore) and Kamal Nath (assets worth Rs 41 crore) is at the third place.

The report, however, said that 15 ministers have shown a decrease in their assets compared to that in 2009.

They include Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Foreign Minister S M Krishna.