What Coalgate Is All About

What Coalgate Is All About

When the 2G spectrum scam broke in 2010 after the CAG confirmed media reports of the
massive swindle, it was described as the "Mother of all scams". CAG estimated the loss
to the exchequer caused by the underselling of scarce spectrum was Rs 1.76 lakh crore.
Now that the same CAG has tabulated the loss from the gifting of coal mines to private companies
to be at least Rs 1.86 lakh crore, surely it deserves to be called the "Grandmother of all
scams". As long as the Congress-led UPA remains in power, we don't know how many greatgrandmothers
and great-grandfathers of scams will see the light of day!
Since the Congress got re-elected in 2009, and the UPA-2 coalition took charge of the
Central Government, it has been a deluge of scams, some committed during UPA 1 and the
rest by the incumbent Government. In an environment where rising inflation has touched
double digits, the economic growth rate is the lowest in a decade, Indian investors are putting
their money abroad rather than invest in India due to policy uncertainties and paralysis
in government decision-making, the flood of corruption scandals originating with the
Central Government has severely impacted the standing of the country in the eyes of the
global community.
Rating agencies are downgrading India - underlining vicariously what the BJP has been saying
about this Government. The issue of corruption tops this scenario driving holes into this
Government's credibility. Not just Opposition parties but economists, jurists, industrialists, eminent
public figures have also been issuing statements decrying the policy paralysis and rampant
corruption in the corridors of power.
In fact weakened by corruption charges one after the other, each one of which sticks with
greater depth, the Government is unable to take any decisions. This weakening breeds corruption
further as every stakeholder sees the Prime Minister as a weak and vacillating person
devoid of real authority - authority which resides elsewhere in an aloof party president who controls
the system through remote control.
A SAGA OF SCAMS
The gigantic Coalgate scam is the latest in an infamous line of swindles such as the 2G spectrum
allocation scandal in 2009, the Commonwealth Games corruption expose in 2010, several
arms purchase deals in 2011, the revelation of the huge amounts of black money stashed away
by Indians in Switzerland and other countries that are tax havens, top Congress leaders' involvement
in the Adarsh land and housing grab and, credible reports about huge payouts in the purchase
of Tetra trucks for the Army early this year.
The loss to the Government itself in each of these cases runs to over Rs 1 lakh crore.
What is interesting is that these losses estimated by independent authorities like the
Comptroller and Auditor General, whistleblowers in banks abroad and noted economists,
together could more than compensate for the huge deficits the Central Government is run-

ning year after year. If recovered, this money could finance large-scale welfare schemes for
the common man in the country.
The BJP has been in the forefront of exposing corruption scandals and has been vocally
demanding that steps be taken to bring back black money from abroad, while cancelling licenses
granted improperly. This persistent demand has received countrywide backing by civil society
activists of impeccable public standing like Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev. The Congress
response has been to deny the charge and use force against civil society activists and also let
loose the dogs of its several investigative agencies to institute false cases against them.