The PM's major reshuffle of the Union Cabinet and Council of Ministers has raised more dust and generated a bigger storm than what he had bargained for. The two most significant developments in this reshuffle were the promotion of Salman Khurshid to the office of the Minister for External Affairs from that of Law and Justice, and the shunting out of S. Jaipal Reddy to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Earth Sciences from that of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Leaders of India Against Corruption (IAC) and other social activists have aptly lashed out at the PM for promoting corruption and protecting the interests of industrial houses through such changes.
Salman Khurshid's case is well known and the allegations of corruption against him for mishandling the Zakir Husain Memorial Trust run by his family do not bear repetition.
More serious are the charges against the government and the PM for kowtowing to the corporate giant Mukesh Ambani who owns the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and getting Jaipal Reddy removed from the post of Petroleum Minister as he had dared to cross swords with the crorepati proprietor of the premier industrial house on such vital issues as gas prices and production as well as audit.
Petroleum Ministry officials, according to The Hindu, were of the view that in 2011-12 the RIL's output should have averaged around 70 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) but it stood at 42 mmscmd (causing a Rs 20,000 crore loss to the exchequer) whereas in 2012-13 the production is at 25 mmscmd instead of the estimated 80 mmscmd (leading to a Rs 45,000 crore loss). An official quoted in the daily pointed out: “…who knows if gas production was being suppressed for want of revision of price.”
As for the upward revision of the natural gas price, the deadline for such revision had been set at April 2014 by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM). But Ambani began to exert pressure for the revision much before the deadline and his view was echoed by several Ministers as also the PMO. As the official underlined, “…Mr Reddy resisted (this move) on the grounds that it would cause a loss of $ 6.3 billion to the exchequer and put a huge burden on the common man, the farmers and the fertiliser industry in the shape of a sharp hike in the price of power and fertilisers.”
Now IAC has come out with more details in this regard.
Tragically these exposures have hit the country around the time the nation is observing the twenty-eighth death anniversary of Indira Gandhi (October 31), and the 123rd birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru (November 14). Both these towering figures had painstakingly tried to build the edifice of a self-reliant India that their successors today are out to destroy in order to placate the market forces both at home and abroad. Jaipal Reddy's removal from the Petroleum Ministry has brought this out in sharp relief.
Should this be allowed to go unchallenged?
November 1 S.C.