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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said his government would do everything to clean the “public life” of corruption and ensure that no “wrongdoers” went unpunished.
He was replying to the motion of thanks on the President's address to both Houses of Parliament.
Referring to the 2G spectrum scam, he said, “If there is a scam, it must be dealt with. The law of the land will punish the wrongdoers. At the same time, we must not overlook the fact that there is tremendous growth in the telecom sector which has taken place.”
Dr. Singh defended the National Telecom Policy, 1999, saying it had paid “rich dividends” and that the fault lay with the implementation. His government would fully cooperate with the agencies looking into the 2G scam and the Commonwealth Games (CWG) controversy “so that the truth comes out.”
In the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister took on Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury for their observations on corruption in the Antrix-Devas deal and the reasons for the increase in instances of graft.
While pleading “guilty” for ushering in a new liberal policy framework, Dr. Singh denied that this was the cause of the scam. “Liberalisation has brought in a lot of benefits. India is today the world's largest growing economy and forex reserves had crossed $ 300 billion. Only the Leader of the Opposition and some friends think otherwise.”
Everything would be done to bring back black money stashed away abroad, he noted and asserted that they were “one with Opposition” on the issue.
Dr. Singh pointed out that the problem of black money did not occur just four to five years ago and it was older than that. The government was ready to sit with all parties to discuss how to deal with it and “all constructive suggestions” would be considered.
Unfortunate developments did take place in the areas of telecom and CWG but these concerns were being addressed and whenever “credible and actionable evidence” were found, action was taken. In this regard, a Chief Minister and Union Ministers had resigned after allegations were levelled against them and the CBI was on the trail of the scams.
On the CWG, he said the Games were very successful despite doubts expressed by some. “If found guilty, no one will be spared.”
“In all these matters, I think, it is our bounden duty and my promise to this House that we will not flinch from ensuring that no wrongdoer escapes the penalties that our legal system provides,” Dr. Singh said.
Antrix-Devas deal
Dr. Singh informed Parliament that the Antrix Corporation deal with the Devas Multimedia for lease of S-band transponder on satellites did not come up before the government for approval.
“As for the question that who approved the deal in the PMO, the answer is simple. The Antrix Corporation is a commercial arm of ISRO [Indian Space Research Organisation] or the Department of Space and these things don't come to the government for approval,” Dr. Singh told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
Dr. Singh also made a pointed reference to the controversial deal separately, while replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in both the Houses. He said the deal was never implemented since necessary clearances were not given.
“The Antrix needed government approvals for operationalising the contract. These were not given. In particular, the operating licences and the regulatory approvals from various Ministries were also not given and hence the contract did not become operational,” he said in the reply. The Prime Minister said a high- power committee was constituted to review the technical, commercial, procedural and financial aspects of the agreement.
Responding to supplementary questions, he said only the decision to approve the satellite part did come to the Cabinet with the Space Commission putting up a note. In the Cabinet note too, it was not mentioned that there was a specific commitment under this agreement between the Antrix and the Devas.
“So, there was no question of the Prime Minister's Office being asked to approve this deal. It never came to that level,” Dr. Singh told after members persisted with supplementary questions to which Minister of State in the PMO V. Narayanasamy was responding.
In his written reply, the Minister said the agreement was signed in January 2005 for leasing part of the space segment capacity in S-band on two geostationary satellites. Under the agreement, part of transponder capacity of these satellites will be made available to the Devas for 12 years.
This he said was as per the Satellite Communications Policy Framework for India approved by the Cabinet in June 1997 that authorised the INSAT capacity to be leased to non-governmental parties. He said as of now the process of competitive bidding was not in vogue for leasing of satellite transponder capacity.
Responding to the supplementaries, he said while the agreement was signed based on approved policy in December 2009, there were many complaints and a Committee was set up to go into it. In July 2010, the Space Commission decided to annul the agreement since the transponder was required for the government and paramilitary purposes and ultimately the Cabinet Committee on Security decided accordingly.
He was replying to the motion of thanks on the President's address to both Houses of Parliament.
Referring to the 2G spectrum scam, he said, “If there is a scam, it must be dealt with. The law of the land will punish the wrongdoers. At the same time, we must not overlook the fact that there is tremendous growth in the telecom sector which has taken place.”
Dr. Singh defended the National Telecom Policy, 1999, saying it had paid “rich dividends” and that the fault lay with the implementation. His government would fully cooperate with the agencies looking into the 2G scam and the Commonwealth Games (CWG) controversy “so that the truth comes out.”
In the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister took on Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury for their observations on corruption in the Antrix-Devas deal and the reasons for the increase in instances of graft.
While pleading “guilty” for ushering in a new liberal policy framework, Dr. Singh denied that this was the cause of the scam. “Liberalisation has brought in a lot of benefits. India is today the world's largest growing economy and forex reserves had crossed $ 300 billion. Only the Leader of the Opposition and some friends think otherwise.”
Everything would be done to bring back black money stashed away abroad, he noted and asserted that they were “one with Opposition” on the issue.
Dr. Singh pointed out that the problem of black money did not occur just four to five years ago and it was older than that. The government was ready to sit with all parties to discuss how to deal with it and “all constructive suggestions” would be considered.
Unfortunate developments did take place in the areas of telecom and CWG but these concerns were being addressed and whenever “credible and actionable evidence” were found, action was taken. In this regard, a Chief Minister and Union Ministers had resigned after allegations were levelled against them and the CBI was on the trail of the scams.
On the CWG, he said the Games were very successful despite doubts expressed by some. “If found guilty, no one will be spared.”
“In all these matters, I think, it is our bounden duty and my promise to this House that we will not flinch from ensuring that no wrongdoer escapes the penalties that our legal system provides,” Dr. Singh said.
Antrix-Devas deal
Dr. Singh informed Parliament that the Antrix Corporation deal with the Devas Multimedia for lease of S-band transponder on satellites did not come up before the government for approval.
“As for the question that who approved the deal in the PMO, the answer is simple. The Antrix Corporation is a commercial arm of ISRO [Indian Space Research Organisation] or the Department of Space and these things don't come to the government for approval,” Dr. Singh told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
Dr. Singh also made a pointed reference to the controversial deal separately, while replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in both the Houses. He said the deal was never implemented since necessary clearances were not given.
“The Antrix needed government approvals for operationalising the contract. These were not given. In particular, the operating licences and the regulatory approvals from various Ministries were also not given and hence the contract did not become operational,” he said in the reply. The Prime Minister said a high- power committee was constituted to review the technical, commercial, procedural and financial aspects of the agreement.
Responding to supplementary questions, he said only the decision to approve the satellite part did come to the Cabinet with the Space Commission putting up a note. In the Cabinet note too, it was not mentioned that there was a specific commitment under this agreement between the Antrix and the Devas.
“So, there was no question of the Prime Minister's Office being asked to approve this deal. It never came to that level,” Dr. Singh told after members persisted with supplementary questions to which Minister of State in the PMO V. Narayanasamy was responding.
In his written reply, the Minister said the agreement was signed in January 2005 for leasing part of the space segment capacity in S-band on two geostationary satellites. Under the agreement, part of transponder capacity of these satellites will be made available to the Devas for 12 years.
This he said was as per the Satellite Communications Policy Framework for India approved by the Cabinet in June 1997 that authorised the INSAT capacity to be leased to non-governmental parties. He said as of now the process of competitive bidding was not in vogue for leasing of satellite transponder capacity.
Responding to the supplementaries, he said while the agreement was signed based on approved policy in December 2009, there were many complaints and a Committee was set up to go into it. In July 2010, the Space Commission decided to annul the agreement since the transponder was required for the government and paramilitary purposes and ultimately the Cabinet Committee on Security decided accordingly.