Showing posts with label Corruption In Kerala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption In Kerala. Show all posts

Thursday, March 7, 2024

234. Corporate Social Responsibility 20-20 is the biggest political farce sponsored by the Kerala Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan- his political projectile!

234

Corporate Social Responsibility 20-20 is the biggest political farce sponsored by the Kerala Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan- his political projectile!

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum


Article Title Image By Bri Tucker. Graphics: Adobe SP.

For most Malayalis, what is seen outside is something big to be rewarded with believing and swallowing. It was in the past that they took time to look inside and see and understand what inner truths were there! Most of the information, insights and opinions they form in daily life, and have, are gleaned from the TV media which they watch with wide-eyed fascination.

Suppose some particular news is coming. The media will consult with the so-called and self-appointed Marxist theologian and the state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan or his cronies and decide whether to give it as such that way or this way. In the end it gives the news this way. When they twist like this, it is not the news they are twisting but these miserable Malayalis. Some wait before forming an opinion for some online media that would give them the same news in the original, and they come to know as it is. It is those convoluted-news believers who believe from those news that the old Anna Aluminum Company in Kerala changed its name to Kizhakkambalam Textiles, then to Kitex Group, and then finally formed a political party with the aforementioned name, tired of the tussles and brawls with the Marxist Party in Kerala left their home state, went to Uttar Pradesh or someplace, and started a new company there on a much larger scale with much more profit. If one has to do that much, and if one has to keep oneself alive doing it, it must be a good business, they must have a good business acumen and have strong ties with the BJP. If a company from Kerala is going to make more profit in a less industrially hostile environment in North India and leave Marxist sovereignty for BJP dominion, naturally it should overcome the anger of Malayalis who lose jobs on account of it, because it was not North India who fed that company until then. That was apparently what was happening behind their anti-Marxist calisthenics in Kerala. At that time, Malayalis did not know that it was this self-proclaimed enemy of the Marxist Party who contributed the most money in India from the industrial sector to them.

This covert money contribution of his to this party was not revealed voluntarily by him but it came out from the documents the Marxist Party was forced to submit to the Election Commission apropos the money contributions they received from industrialists, businessmen and individuals. By the time on account of this revelation it became clear that the people, especially those in the Twenty-Twenty, would recognize the political dishonesty in this, he immediately called a meeting of his party members and dignified himself by revealing this reprehensible contribution. In the history of India, has there ever been any leader, even if he is the founding leader, who has preached for more than three hours continuously about himself using the pronoun ‘I’ at a meeting of any party, describing his own exploits? Perhaps not even late R. Balakrishna Pillai’s own Kerala Congress! How many other businessmen in the state have fled accusing the Marxist Party of undue interference and coercion through government and party organs? They all put their faith in the legal processes and the judicial courts and fought and won a lot. Are not the people of Kerala familiar with the example of the owner of the Robin Bus who was continuously hunted by the various government departments of Kerala upon the urge of the Chief Minister Vijayan and his unprincipled Transport Minister? What is wide of the mark and off beam here is an industrialist who wants to take his business or industry elsewhere, to another state, without incurring the anger of the Malayalis who would lose their projected jobs on account of this shifting of venue, after bribing the ruling party to facilitate it without trouble. In fact, there was no protest from any parties and trade union organizations including those of the ruling Marxist Party over this transplant. The only thing to know yet is whether the monetary incentives given by that new state to this businessman-industrialist were also handed over straight to that minister Vijayan!

When the political corruption and bribes of Vijayan and his daughter came out through central investigations by such central agencies as the Income Tax Settlement Board, the Registrar of Companies and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office and also due to the initiatives of a couple of Kerala politicians, this 20-20’s chief came out to belittle it and shift the limelight elsewhere by articulating that he knew something bigger than those, if he was arrested in connection with any case he would send the Chief Minister Vijayan’s daughter to jail within a week, what knowledge he has about the Chief Minister’s family is an atom bomb which he could detonate anytime, and that all other accusers against the chief minister like Ms. Swapna Suresh, the Congressman-Lawyer Mr. Mathew Kuzhalnadan and P. C. George’s son Adv. Shon George, who raised serious allegations against the Chief Minister with irrefutable proof in courts as well as before the media were unsuccessful and ineffective. And he came out on time too- when Vijayan and his family were deep-fried with such allegations and investigations. The 20-20 chief’s was a feat no sane businessman in the world would have undertaken, except someone very much interested in saving the chief minister and his family in their time of peril by diverting people’s attention and talk from all other allegations and shrinking it and centering it on this supposed atom bomb of his! Isn't there a hideous political pattern visible in all these?

When Pinarayi Vijayan's troubles go to peak, a side door opens in his camp and this Sabu Jacob comes out! In a public gathering he organized on behalf of his amorphous and yet un-precipitated political party 20-20, he said that he had accompanied Vijayan, his family and other ministers and officials on all their officially-clothed foreign trips since 2016 as an unofficial escort but interested party, and had stayed with Vijayan for nearly a month when he was staying at a luxury hotel near the Mayo Clinic in the United States for a medical check-up for his purported illness. He said he was like a son to the chief minister and knew every clandestine deal the team set abroad. Think for yourself whether you will end up being an enemy or a staunch spy of his after being closely associated for long with a ruling party politician like this one, especially if you are a successful businessman with multi-national interests! Today all of a sudden he says he turned an enemy of that ‘victoriously corrupt and undefeatable person’ to put in his own words!! It’s a layer removed from reality. What will happen to ordinary Malayalis who are confused, and whom he intends to confuse, as to what the real picture is, if a burly businessman like him removes layer after layer from reality and presents things before people that way? Do one thing: don't believe anything he says unless you are able to place things in the right perspective and know the maths, geometry, and optical illusion to undo those layer-removals and make the image look real!

When from one side the Congressman-lawyer Mathew Kuzhalnadan whom the rogue Vigilance Department headed by Pinaraayi Vijayan tried in everyway to entrap and strangle in any case in any way, and from the other side another lawyer Mr. Shon George who is the son of Mr. P. C. George, the former MLA and former Minister who was actually arrested from his home at Poonjar and rushed to Trivandrum and imprisoned there for a few hours by the Police Department headed by the same Pinaraayi Vijayan before released in bail by court, released incriminating documents in press conferences and in law courts, proved before courts for the time being and before people for ever that Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter accepted a meager amount of more than a 100 crore rupees of bribes from a private but partly state-owned rare earths company and released to them (him!) more than 50,000 crores rupees worth of state-owned rare earth deposits on public sea shores fit for refining and conversion to atomic material, Pinarayi Vijayan decided that two Christians are not enough and a third one would be needed, thus launching this political projectile Sabu Jacob, so that later one day he could claim that he is an angel and that all these allegations were created by some sects in the Christian Church of Kerala for his alienating them through administrative and political desicions. That was how, and for what, the 20-20’s owner Sabu Jacob appeared on the scene.

The argument of those propagandizing that 20-20 is not a projectile of Pinarayi Vijayan is that because of 20-20 the Marxist Party lost the administration of four Panchayats. Is there really any ardent, trustworthy and true relationship between Marxist Party and Pinarayi Vijayan politically? Does he, who has destroyed the Marxist Party through his family, friends, and followers such that it can’t rise up again ever, have any real anxiety about the future of this party? To him, what is the point in losing the rule of just four panchayats in a political arrangement that has long-term benefits for him, and would yield much to be reaped in the 2024 parliamentary elections for his party, when he was assured his political coalition would get more than 1600 panchayats in that local body election? Wasn't the aforementioned Marxist MLA from Kunnathunadu- the supposed unscrupulous enemy of the 20-20 and its Chief Coordinator- able to defeat the Congress candidate and win the seat only because 20-20 split the votes for the Marxist Party in this constituency?

At the end of February 2024, in a grand conference of his party which incidentally were attended by more than 50,000 people attracted by an equally grand feast, he said that the Kerala Police were chasing him with a lot of fabricated criminal cases and that if he was arrested in connection with any of these cases he would get Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s adored daughter also arrested for crimes he had plenty of evidence for which he had collected during their joint travels abroad. In this meeting he also said one more thing that was totally unnecessary and out of place- that what he had was not anything like those allegations raised by one Ms. Swapna Suresh against the Chief Minister and his family and what he had in his hands was an atom bomb he could detonate anytime at will. That's the thing- the Chief Minister wanted to give Ms. Swapna Suresh an answer which he had been holding back for a long time repressing bile, and deputed Sabu to deliver that answer to her and the people of Kerala for him. Was it really any answer that Sabu gave for the chief minister against the very severe allegations against him and his family? The evidence and statements Ms. Swapna delivered in courts were irrefutable, and convincing as far as people are concerned, so the chief minister asked Sabu to put in the picture that what she had was nothing compared to what he had. Even though there may be many things unspeakable about the chief minister family in his hands, the people know Sabu does not have the courage to reveal them either in court or before the media as that woman did. There was no point in denying the evidence she revealed, so the chief minister as part of his deception wanted to make it public through someone that there were other allegations and graver evidence elsewhere, in other people’s possession.

Exactly one year before, on 12 February 2022, there was a Lamp Dousing Protest held at Kizhakkambalam. The activists of 20-20 had organized a demonstration in all the four Panchayats under their rule by turning off all lights in homes for 15 minutes in the evening, against the non-lighting of streetlights in their panchayats. While this was going on, four Marxist goons- the 20-20 accuses they were Kunnathunadu MLA one P. V. Srinijan’s goons- entered the home of one of their activists, a Dalit youth named Deepu, beat him and he died within two days. The leaders of 20-20 accused this MLA as being behind the murder. In the same year, the chief coordinator of that organization, this Mr. Sabu Jacob, donated the largest amount in India ever contributed by a single person to the Marxist Party- Thirty lakh rupees. Will any organization or political party in India do this? If he did this out of fear because he was an industrialist in Kerala, what qualification does he have to lead a political organization in the state and compete in elections? Shouldn’t he study with the Revolutionary Marxist Party- RMP- of Vadakara how to fight bravely against the Fascist and killer leadership of Marxist Party? If it was because of his ardent love and support for Marxist Party that he gave this big donation, then wasn’t he creating this martyr in his party for helping the Marxist Party to overcome some crisis of theirs?

Why did in June 2022 also Sabu Jacob try to defeat Smt. Uma Thomas in the Thrikkakkara constituency (incidentally, she won that bye election with a record majority of 25,016), wife of the late MLA P. T. Thomas, who when alive had brought out before the public the worst corruptions of Pinarayi Vijayan? Why did he vigorously rain money on the Marxist Party for them to win the Thrikkakkara by-election? Because, P. T. Thomas when alive had also brought out the severe river pollution by Sabu’s cloth companies! Where in this is the anti-Marxism of 20-20 and the anti 20-20ism of Marxist Party? Where in this is even politics? Isn't this what he is going to do again in the 2024 parliamentary elections? Isn’t his an open sponsorship by the Marxist Party? Isn't this 20-20 a launch of Pinarayi Vijayan and his Marxist Party- their political projectile? No wonder his atom bomb exploded not anywhere else but in his party!

What the people of Kerala understands from these exercises is that the central BJP gives instructions to and is running the Kerala’s Marxist Party, and the Kerala’s Marxist Party gives instructions to the 20-20. This has been going on for a long time since the appearance of Pinaraayi Vijayan as chief minister and the inception of 20-20. The BJP is in the landlord’s position at the top, the Marxist Party is the steward in the middle, and 20-20 is the slave worker on the lowest rung.

Written on: 29 February 2024 and first published on: 07 March 2024 

Original article in Malayalam written on 26 February 2024 and first published on: 28 February 2024

1544. കേരളത്തിലു് പിണറായിവിജയ൯ സു്പോണു്സ്സ൪ചെയ്യുന്ന ഏറ്റവുംവലിയരാഷ്ട്രീയപ്പ്രഹസ്സനമാണു് ട്വെ൯റ്റി-ട്വെ൯റ്റി!
http://sahyadrimalayalam.blogspot.com/2024/02/1544.html


 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, March 4, 2017

072. Kerala’s Timber E-Auction Leads To Billions Worth Of Timber Rotting Away In Depots. Investigative Article By P S Remesh Chandran

072

Kerala’s Timber E-Auction Leads To Billions Worth Of Timber Rotting Away In Depots. Investigative Article. 

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Boom Books, Trivandrum
 Article title image by Free-Photos. Graphics: Adobe SP.
  
Timber is one of the costliest commodities needed for from rail, ship, bus and bridge building to houses and furnishing them, available unfortunately only in timber producing countries. India, especially the densely forested state of Kerala, has an abundance of timber which rots away in depots since when the manual auction of old days was replaced by electronic auction, due to the carelessness and indifference of state forest officials. The loss of revenue on this account comes to billions.

Every Forest Division in Kerala has logs rotting away without being of use to anyone.



The Divisional Forest Officers responsible for auctioning away this timber are considered to be intelligent and clever as they come from the prestigious Indian Forest Service (IFS). But if they fail to find a solution to these billions worth of logs remaining technically Un-Bid after putting under auction and rotting away in depots throughout the state, what meaning and relevance is there to their intelligence and cleverness? Every Forest Division in Kerala has such rotting logs which are decaying without being of use to anyone, in spite of people being there ready to purchase them. The one nearest to Trivandrum is the Achenkovil Division near the Trivandrum-Schencottah Inter-State Road, 120 Kilometers from Trivandrum.

A government timber sale is a complex process which an ordinary non tech-savvy person cannot master easily.

01. Timber Logs By Frank Vincentz.


Government timber sale is a very complex process, involving sealed bids and contracts which an ordinary and non tech-savvy person cannot easily master or even understand. Timber can be sold through Sealed Bids, Fixed Price Negotiations or Percentage Basis Negotiations. In Kerala, government timber is sold through auctions which were manual in the past and electronic now. Government determines the value and volume of their timber and advertises for their selling through auctions. In some cases, the type and volume of timber may limit the number of potential buyers in which cases the government may adopt the method of Fixed Price Negotiations or Percentage Basis Negotiations. In Fixed Price Negotiations, government negotiates with a buyer for a lump sum fixed price for all the timber in an acre or area or for a Pay-As-Cut Price per unit of timber which is to be paid as and when each unit is cut. In both these cases, the timber would be standing timber, sold in as-is-where-is condition. Sealed Bids are applied mostly to not standing timber but felled timber.

Some buyers knowing about the best markets for timber creates incentive and competition in auction.

02. Release Note of article by Sahyadri Archives. Image by Gorkaaz.

Some of these buyers would know about the best markets for timber and would also have the means for transporting timber to such market places economically. It will not break them to purchase timber at prices higher than what those without these conveniences would offer. This creates an incentive and a competition among buyers resulting in bringing in the highest price for a lot. 

Forward Auction, Reverse Auction, Online Auction, Offline Auction and Negotiation.

03. From forest to depot by U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

Where government wishes to buy and sellers bid for supplying, it is a Reverse Auction. When government wishes to sell and several consumers submit bids for buying, it is a Forward Auction. Government’s timber sale is a Forward Auction. Here the goal is for the seller which is the government to get the highest prices possible for their timber under sale. The buyers bid the prices upward, and the highest bidder gets the item. In Reverse Auctions where government buys, the sellers bid against one another by bringing down the price, and the lowest bidder gets government’s Supply Order. In both categories of auctions- online or offline and electronic or manual- there is expected to be a negotiation phase in the process when bidders are called in for a meeting and asked to offer more flexible prices- higher or lower than their highest or lowest bids as the case may be. In timber e-auctions in Kerala, this negotiation phase is seldom written into the process, which is standard in all auctions in the other departments of the government. 

Specific Bid Amount, Reserve Price, Target Price, Step Size, Time Allowed and Waiting Period.


04. Timber transport truck by Silvio Pašmik.

Timber e-auction is an e-business between timber-producing government departments and timber-purchasing businessmen and individual buyers. It is an electronic auction between the auctioneer and the bidders, happening in an electronic marketplace, conducted over internet. Specific bid amount, reserve price, target price, step size of bidding and time allowed before bidding is concluded are the defining factors in any e-auction. There is also a waiting period factor which stipulates the time allowed for competing bids to come in- a dreaded period during which a bidder can win or loose an auction and a period which all bidders want to be shorter. When this waiting period is over, the highest bidder gets confirmation for his bid and he can execute a contract binding the seller to deliver the timber and the purchaser to accept it for the bid price. 

Timber e-auction was introduced to provide equal opportunities for genuine domestic buyers.

05. Timber in yard by Frank Vincentz.


E-auction of timber was introduced in November 2014 in the six sales divisions of Trivandrum, Punalur, Pathanamthitta, Palakkad and Kozhikode, following the examples of other timber-selling countries and other states in India, as a measure to bring in transparency in government timber sales and provide equal opportunities for all who are in genuine need of timber, thereby freeing this field from the grip of auction lobbies. Introduction of e-auction was expected to break the grip of merchant cartels on timber sales and increase the number of bidders in auctions. Revenue from timber auction in 2013 was around Rupees 200 crores and by introducing e-auction government hoped to raise it to 250 crores. Government’s argument was that the cartels threaten private individuals from participating in auction and they artificially bring down prices and that, by introducing e-auction under which only the bid amount would be known and not the name of the bidder, government can make more private individuals to participate in auction and fetch higher prices for timber. Government also argued that existing timber sale prices do not correspond with existing demand for wood. Transparency was also supposed to be a byword. It was also argued that the one or two months’ period of delay in delivering timber to the successful bidder could be reduced to just two days. One thing was true: this period of delay did indeed come down to days from months. But experienced persons in the field of timber auction and sales soon found out that since when e-auction replaced manual auction, the quantity of timber lying unsold in depots and rotting away has only increased many fold. 

Why pay a huge amount as commission to an outside agency for conducting e-auction?

 
06. Timber log bridge by Morrow Long.

Selling less quantity of timber for bringing in more revenue than the previous year is success. Increase in the price of timber must also reduce this quantity of timber further, to fetch the same amount the previous year brought. In manual auction, the auction was conducted by department personnel and no amount had to be paid to outside agencies as commissions for conducting auction. E-auction changed everything. More timber had to be sold for bringing in the target amount regardless of the hike in timber price, and a huge amount had also to be paid to an outside agency for conducting e-auction. Besides, more lots began to remain unsold in depots due to shortcomings and glitches in the system. 

Even the department does not know how much timber was sold, in spite of full computerization.

 
07. Timber foot bridge by Gorkaazk.

Even the Statistics Wing at the Forest Headquarters in Trivandrum does not know how much timber was sold during 2013-14 and 2014-15! Even after fully computerizing their offices, if they need this information, they still have to write to each timber division in Kerala and wait for their replies which would take months. Computerization in this department in particular, and in Kerala in general, is a folly. (Also see the article ‘What Computerization Without Electricity In Kerala?’ at http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/08/043-what-computerization-without.html ). 


Statistics show e-auction did not increase revenue from timber sales.

08. Timber foot bridge by Jakec.

The Annual Administrative Reports of the Kerala Forests & Wildlife Department for the years from 2012 to 2015 in the Financial Break Up section state that ‘202.25 crores were collected towards revenue from the sale of timber during 2012-13, 268.29 crores during 2013-14 and 269.44 crores during 2014-15, which accounted for 85.22 %, 81.31 % and 89.69 % of the total forest revenue for those years respectively. The report does not record the projected increase of 25% in timber sales by introducing e-auction. There was only a slight increase of 115 lakhs in 2014-15. E-auction was introduced before the hectic financial and sales months of November, December, January, February and March but the sales for the year do not reflect the anticipated hike. But still it did not bring in the expected rise in revenue. The Administration Report is silent about how much money was paid as commission to MSTC (Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited) for conducting timber e-auction for the Kerala Forest Department, how many metric tones of timber were sold in 2014-15 to bring in this revenue of 269.44 crores, whether this quantity was higher or lower than that of the previous year, and what was the hike in market prices for timber during this period. When these facts also are factored into the equation, it can be seen that e-sales of timber was a great loss. If government departments’ standard working methods for preparing administration reports for submitting to government are considered, this 269.44 crores was the amount before deducting commissions to the MSTC, fetched by selling more metric tones of timber than the previous year, even while undergoing a good hike in the market prices for timber. Amount paid to MSTC must have been too high to be justified. Market price for timber must be too horrible to be factored into the sales strategy to break even and justify the e-auction. The Administrative Report shows that the unsold timber in depots still lies there as unsold timber rotting away; only they advanced one more year in age. Administrative Report for the year 2015-16 has not yet been submitted to government. 

Starting Price, Subject To Approval Price, Reserve Price, Auto Bid and Offered Price: Dynamics of Kerala’s Timber E-Auction.


09. Timber walkway by Hermann Hammer.

In the timber e-auction interface of Kerala maintained by the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation for the Forest Department, there are the three entries for Starting Price (SP), Subject To Approval Price (STA) and Reserve Price (RP) of which the first entry is visible to the bidder and the latter two are not. There is also the option for Auto Bid for bidders to enter their Offered Price above Starting Price, the Offered Price meaning the amount they are willing to pay above the Starting Price for a particular lot of timber under hammer. Rs. 25/- for Hardwood and Rs. 100/- for Softwood are the minimum stages fixed by government that can be raised above the Starting Price in the Auto Bid by a bidder. In cases where there is no other bidding in competition, when a bidder opens Auto Bid and clicks the stages of Rs. 25/- or Rs. 100/- as the case may be, e-auction network rejects this higher bid, or stalls at this particular stage, and refuses to provide the bidder yet another opportunity for entering still higher prices. The problem is the raised bid is rejected by the system as it won’t be anywhere near the Reserve Price or the Subject To Approval Price for the item as recorded in the system which are not visible to the bidder anyway. The result: The lot remains unsold and rots in the depot. This situation was created by officers of the Kerala Forests Department alone and no one else is to be blamed, and it causes billions of rupees of revenue loss to government. The Finance Department and the Vigilance Department of the Government of Kerala are yet to begin investigating this willful loss of revenue to government. 


Even if a businessman spends his whole life online, he cannot still purchase enough timber for his business.

10. Timber boardwalk by Rheins.

Considering the time allowed remaining bidding for a particular lot under auction, even if a businessman spends his whole life online, grappling with this hostile interface, he cannot still purchase enough timber for carrying on his day-to-day business. This dissuades good businessmen from participating in e-auction. The timber sales of Kerala Government cannot survive by excluding businessmen and by depending on individual domestic buyers alone. Individual householders purchase only a small portion of the timber sold by the Forest Department each year. This is because they cannot go through the tedious process of participating in the un-people-friendly e-auction, obtaining necessary papers from authorities within a reasonable time (without paying bribe if possible), loading and transporting the logs from where they are lying, and unloading them on their premises. The businessmen are experts in this field and it is easier for domestic buyers to buy timber from these businessmen who certainly will transport and unload them to the buyers’ premises at no cost. So, if it is thought that businessmen who deal in timber can be excluded from auction and individual buyers can be depended on for buying and removing the whole lot of timber in depots, it is just a daydream. The result is, due to official indifference, inaction and lack of imagination, the whole lots are rotting away in depots. 

The vicious cycle of inter-netted labyrinth created by more vicious officials and an unimaginative system!

11. Riverside timber walkway by Carlo Columba.

This vicious cycle of inter-netted labyrinth created by more vicious officials and an unimaginative system certainly has a simple solution, suggested by experienced persons in the field of timber sales in Kerala who are doing this business for a long time. They point out that in the present pre-sets for e-auction, if the Raised Bid offered by an online bidder above Starting Price does not arrive anywhere near the Subject To Approval (STA) Price or the Reserve Price (RP), the system rejects all offers and the sale becomes unsuccessful. Then the Divisional Forest Officer in-charge who has the password for logging in as administrator fixes the Highest Bid in this unsuccessful auction as the Starting Price for the lot in the next auction which would probably be during the next month. The next month also this bidding and rejecting repeats, which cycle can be repeated any number of times, and the Starting Price for that lot is raised thus in each turn by the DFOs. The result: the lot remains unsold and rotting in the depot. The simple solution the experts in the field offers is, if Auto Bid exists for a lot rejected by the system, open that Auto Bid and see if it is higher than the Subject To Approval Price (STA) and Reserve Price (RP), and if it is, consider that Auto Bid as an Offer and confirm the sale. It is that simple! But simple solutions are not savory to Kerala Forest Department officials. They want complex solutions, involving millions of rupees of expenditure. 

Sale of timber remains a major source of fraudulent revenue for government officials.


12. Timber for railways by Kiwi Birdman.

The good practices essential to the success of e-auction such as unquestionable ethics and infallibility of strategies are totally alien to Indian officials in general. In a country where Parliament Members, Cabinet Members, Chief Ministers and Top Defense Services personnel are jailed for corruption, much cannot be expected from the lower ranks of hierarchy. Even defense procurement is under question in the country; so, sale of timber remains undoubtedly a major source of fraudulent revenue for government officials. From rigging the software to accepting amounts for issuing the final delivery notes, timber e-auction is riddled with unbelievable corruption in Kerala as it is in every other state. 

Where are those mandatory undisturbed 50 feet buffer zones for both sides of Forest Rivers and streams?

13. Everything timber by Wolfgang Sauber.

There are not much pre-qualifying checks for online bidders, so unscrupulous people with track records for heavily bribing officers can freely take part in auctions, and they are in fact the darlings of that department. It is they who cut and remove unmarked trees and trees which are marked for higher prices. It is they who take away the mandatory Undisturbed 50 Feet Buffer Zone for both sides of Forest Rivers and streams. How heavily they bribe the officials and connected politicians are evidenced by the fact that these buffer zones are now nowhere to be seen in Kerala. 


The department has never conducted orientation training courses for non tech-savvy bidders.

14. Timber rotting away by Henk Monster.

Bidders in timber e-auctions in Kerala have never had any training in using e-auction tools and the department has never cared to conduct orientation training courses for them. Nor is the department positive in training people and adapting the available software imaginatively. One move to impart training to bidders was aborted. They unwillingly hold e-auctions because the central government has directed them to do so. ‘System’ is their byword and they attribute the reason for their shortcomings also to the ‘system’. 

Incompetence of software, lack of encryption, poor security, less monitoring time, long cycle time, and limited participation.

15. Timber rotting in depots by Jacek Karczmarz.
 
E-Auctions are invariably followed by its many limitations such as incompetence of software used, lack of encryption and poor security, less monitoring time and long cycle time, and above everything else, limited participation by people, especially in countries like India where people are pathetically non tech-savvy. Besides, e-auctions at least in India are almost always accompanied by fraud by government officials. 

A fleet of loyal officers and guards, with ingenious courage, determination and help from local forest protection groups, protected the 60,000 sandalwood trees at Marayur.

16. Marayoor Sandal Reserve by Jaseem Hamza.
 
This article does not intend to discredit the Kerala Forest Department or its officers in anyway but just to point out that an important shortcoming in their e-selling policy is detrimental to public interests and is resulting in huge quantities of valuable wood remaining unsold in depots and rotting, without being of use to anyone except beetles and white ants. No one questions their general integrity in protecting the forest resources of Kerala. One of the largest natural sandalwood forests in the rain-shadow regions of the world, of about 60,000 trees, is situated at Marayoor in the Idukki District of Kerala. The legendary forest looter, Veerappan of South India who devastated all sandalwood forests in Karnataka and Tamilnadu states, went to his grave grieving that he could not touch a single sandalwood tree in Kerala’s Marayoor Reserve Forest. A loyal fleet of officers and guards of the Kerala Forest Department, with ingenious courage, determination and help from local Forest Protection Groups, protected these trees and they are still standing there. Where Karnataka and Tamilnadu felled their trees and stored them in depots fearing this bandit killer, the trees in Kerala are still standing there erect and proud. They do not cut sandalwood trees at Marayoor but just collect the dead and fallen ones and auction them- the largest sandalwood auction in the world, with 57 tonnes sold last.

First published on: 3rd Mar 2017

Article title image by Art Tower. Graphics: Adobe SP. 

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Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
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Picture Credits:

01. Timber Logs By Frank Vincentz
02. Release Note Of Article By Sahyadri Archives
03. From Forest To Depot By US Dept. of Agriculture
04. Timber Transport Truck By Silvio Pašmik
05. Timber In Yard By Frank Vincentz
06. Timber Log Bridge By Morrow Long
07. Timber Foot Bridge By Gorkaazk
08. Timber Foot Bridge By Jakec
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17. Author Profile P S Remesh Chandran

About the author.


17 Author Profile P S Remesh Chandran from Sahyadri Archives.
 
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of 'Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book'. Edits and owns Bloom Books Channel. Born and brought up in Nanniyode, a little village in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Kerala. Father British Council-trained English Teacher and mother university-educated. Matriculation with High First Class, Pre Degree studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship, discontinued Diploma Studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

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Thursday, September 17, 2015

069. Victers Channel Failures Suppressed By Media. Investigative Article By P S Remesh Chandran

069


Victers Channel Failures Suppressed By Media. Investigative Article. 

P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books Trivandrum

Article Title Image By Deniz Göçmen. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Kerala has an educational channel to make virtual class room technology available to remote villages. Equipments made available free of cost by the prestigious ISRO, supplies and maintenance undertaken by famous Hughes Limited and funds liberally released by the Government of India, it is but headed by greedy government people who force this poor students’ channel always out of air. 

News media have long been issuing two derelict officers’ press notes as news reports.



We have heard about paid news and paid suppression of news. But Kerala media have long been publishing two derelict government officers’ ridiculous press notes as news reports. We shall see why. Kerala’s central government-aided educational channel Victers went off air on 09 September 2015 around 08 AM. The Hindu National Daily on 15 September 2015 published two news articles on this incident in which they quoted IT @ School Director and Executive Director of Victers channel, Mr. K P Noufal, and Channel Chief On Deputation from Public Relations Department, Mr. Salin Mankuzhi, as answering ‘media queries’. These two news articles raise so many questions in the minds of the reading public, especially among those who know something about channel transmissions in general, and about this educational channel owned by state and run badly by two government officers like private enterprise in particular. On the date, the media reported the channel out of air 5 days back, but actually it was 8 days back. Erring like this on facts concerning another television channel operating from the same city is out of ordinary. These news reports appear like one-sided press notes prepared and issued by these two derelict officers of government, releasing to public what they had to say to escape from punishment. In fact, news papers in Kerala have long been releasing these two person’s press notes manipulated and clothed as news reports. The reason is, Kerala Press Academy at Kakkanad, Kochi has business affairs with this channel and is a partner in one of their programmes. Cheating readers and violating press ethics are condemnable but not uncommon in the media world. People have the right to know what actually happens in this Victers Government Educational Channel of Kerala for which, it is now clear, they cannot depend on news papers and other channels who are excessively soft and considerate when reporting on Victers Channel. The news paper report mildly says that ‘the Transmission Hub developed a fault’ which is another form of saying ‘please do not blame these two officers’.

Reputed Indoor Broadband Unit suppliers won’t give commissions to lowly channel chiefs.


ISRO supplied the transmission equipments ten years back. The hub and related accessories are now outdated due to non maintenance and lack of replacements, and that was why the channel went out of air. Hubs in Broad band Transmission Studios are common connection points with multiple ports for all devises in that channel’s network, which handles data-carrying frames arriving as packets in each port, copy these packets to every port in the hub whether they are destined to these ports or not, and amplifies and transmits data frames to ports in the destination personal computers, such that all segments of a Local Area Network can see all packets of data without missing one. Ordinarily, a hub cannot distinguish the intended destination of a frame, so it broadcasts the frame to every port, to ensure that the intended port also would pick it up. It is a safety system which ensures that every segment is there to be viewed and listened to, at the expense of increased net traffic and longer response time. Today there are Active, Passive, Intelligent and Switching type of hubs to rectify these drawbacks, but the Channel’s Executive Director Mr. Noufal in this news report has not revealed which one his channel uses. As it is the function of the hub to transmit recorded signals to the air, its maintenance is of paramount importance to a channel. Other channels regularly maintenance their hubs and they function smoothly too, but authorities of Victers channel did not care for maintenance, in spite of repeated warnings from technicians and service engineers. Naturally, the channel went off air. Hub is a network of equipments which is housed in a room under the supervision of a Hub Engineer attached to the channel head quarters, deputed from the supplying company. In this case, the supplier is known to be the reputed US firm Hughes India Limited, suppliers of Indoor Broadband Units the ISRO authorized as Nodal Agency for maintenance of the hub and who is noted for not giving commissions to petty officers like channel chiefs and directors.

Article Title Image By Donald Giannatti. Graphics: Adobe SP.

How will sophisticated companies work with ignorant channel people?


As early as in March 2015, Deshabhimani Daily of Kerala had reported that the Encoder of this Channel went faulty and Victers Channel had vanished from air. The channel had enough funds made available by government to purchase a new Encoder but these two officers found the easy way of renting an Encoder, and this Encoder had been helping the channel to remain in air since March 2015 till September. The rented Encoder will cost the channel around Rs. 40,000/- per month as rent and the renting agency would only be glad to take it back from this useless channel headed by wrong people. Who would find it easy and pleasant to deal with two senseless morons? This Encoder must have been still working as it was private-supplied, but components in the decade-old Dish Antenna supplied by ISRO must have broken down, sending the channel out of air. We can ask, whether new component parts for the dish antenna could not have been purchased. But it is a process made complicated by the conditions and appointments made in this channel. Broken down components would be outdated versions with which alone would an outdated hub work. If components are to be replaced, the hub also will have to be replaced and the dish antenna too. The end result- everything will have to be replaced.

Throughout India, officers have a tendency to purchase things from non rate-contracted suppliers who give commissions, or not purchase at all.




The Director General of Supplies and Disposals [DGSD] has a rate contract system with suppliers for procuring articles needed by government. It is to be strictly followed by all government departments in states as well as at the centre, to keep away from the Comptroller and Audit General of India’s and the Accountant General of India’s objections. Broadband equipments and accessories are no exemption. We shall wonder if satellites too have been included in that list! Purchases can be effected only from DGSD suppliers, and only at contracted rates, that too only after negotiation of prices- i.e. at prices negotiated through discussion and bargaining to lower than contracted rates, and again only through tendering. In this process it is very difficult and almost impossible for departmental officers to obtain commissions from suppliers. Therefore, throughout India, officers have a tendency to purchase articles from non-contracted suppliers- many of them government firms- who will readily give commissions, or not purchase at all. Inability to do this in present circumstances, especially with vigil eyes watching, was what actually resulted in not purchasing necessary equipment in time from the authorized nodal agency, while 2 crores rupees allotted by government were idling. The Hindu news report quotes Mr. K P Noufal as saying he could not arrange to update equipments because the ISRO will not give Clearance. How can ISRO give clearance if he wants to purchase equipments from agencies other than the officially-authorized one which won’t give commissions? For two years while the Director officiated in the post, he had plenty of time to complete paper work formalities, and now he weeps before press that paper work was what delayed things- two long years of successfully delaying and blocking paper work for commission, while sitting in the Executive Director’s chair! So this is how and why equipments failed and Victers channel went out of air. It is known this channel has a long purchasing history with Keltron, noted for giving commissions, and presently entrusted with the charge of installing Time Punching Systems in all government offices. You can naturally guess what is going on behind. 

Victers selected an ugly non-Keralite name against good advices.




The Executive Director of the channel, Mr. K P Noufal, a political appointee of the ruling Congress Party and Muslim League, seems to know nothing about the history of this channel; he told media that ‘the name Victers was coined by ISRO which is a common name for all states’. It is not so. ICT-enabled educational channels in other states have other names. In Andhra-Telengana it is Mana TV, in Karnataka Jnana Taranga, in Tamil Nadu Arasu Network, and in Maharashtra it is Vyas, and so on. In Kerala also, it was then heard that a famous littérateur poetess advised them to take upon a sweet Malayalam name but the authorities did not listen to, particularly an adamant IAS officer. It was also heard that the present name Victers was devised by him against good advice. This channel originally started as Edusat Video Conferencing in 2005, opened by late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the then Hon’ble President of India. In those times it was just a live video-conferencing facility between the main studio housed then at Gorky Bhavan, Soviet Cultural Centre, Bakery Junction, Trivandrum and 14 District Edusat Training Centres, in live interactive online mode. Since 2006 it has had a real channel concept and adopted Recorded Offline Transmission. Victers as a channel was officially inaugurated in 2006 by Mr. V S Achuthanandan when he was Chief Minister of Kerala.

Channel’s Executive Director lying his way into media.


Some confessions made by the Executive Director Mr. Noufal in this news article by The Hindu are ridiculous. [1] ‘Updating of equipments has to be done on an All India Basis since all states share the same spectrum’: This does not answer the question what he has done during his tenure to maintenance the equipments under his control in the state. [2] ‘ISRO is not giving clearance for updating of equipments’: How will ISRO give clearance if the equipments are wished to be purchased not from their authorized and rate-contracted agent Hughes India, for commissions? [3] ‘Last month, a senior officer from ISRO visited our studio and realized that we are different from the channels in the other States, as we are developing several hours of our own content’: It is true this channel is indeed different from other government educational channels in other states: Unlike others, this channel does not make any curriculum-based educational content but makes only cheap and vulgar entertainment content which would stretch for hours and hours at government expense, in which old and agèd experts could be excluded from and lovely young girls could be engaged as presenters and the Channel Chief could regularly pose like a cinema star. [4] ‘Only one ISRO agent makes the needed equipments and there is a lot of paper work’: After two years in office, he has only succeeded in slackening paperwork on the hope that in the end everyone including ISRO will become tired and allow purchase from agencies who would give commissions.

Will Channel Chiefs lie this much frequently and boldly to news papers?


Channel Chief Mr. Salin Mankuzhi lied to media when he said ‘30 new programmes started in the current year, out of which 10 live, brought in more viewers for the channel’. Where did he get this statistics on viewership? He had told reporters in the same ‘interview’ that ‘the channel has not yet conducted a viewer-ship survey. In this digital age, will anyone gauge viewer-ship based on ‘the number of calls they get in phone-in programmes’? The channel which boasts of ‘Phone-In Programmes for rural schools and Medical and Engineering Entrance Examination coaching classes’, supposedly using the world’s latest technologies, ‘has but only one telephone in the office’ to cater to the whole world, he says! Which government will not permit obtaining multi telephone connections, or even a switch board with staff, if asked in writing by the Channel Chief? We know obtaining an additional telephone connection for a government office will not bring commission. Do not think about obtaining commissions everywhere. 

Who will run a badly-kept car, in a bad road, without a spare tire?


The media was eager to claim in their report that the programmes aired by this channel are curriculum-based educational programmes. In fact, there are no curriculum-based educational programmes aired by this channel but only vulgar entertainment programmes, as verified by their programme schedules. Anyway, to save face, the media seems to have noted that this channel does not have a back up system as other channels do. Who will run a badly maintained car in a bad road without a steppini tire? It startles us to learn that this channel has no back up- stand by arrangements- to meet emergencies like going out of air due to components failure. The channel is now available only in its online stream which no one views. Without Virtual Integrated Classroom Technology-enabled Edusat for Rural Schools, what V I C T E R S? Replacing and updating components, including the non-operational Transmission Hub by purchasing new ones is the only sensible option left before authorities to bring the channel back on air and make it useful to children. But from the fact that the education minister’s office always protects these derelicts, it is sure these two officers, goaded by their urge to squeeze commissions, will only move for temporarily replacing them with borrowed or rented ones, until the ground is clear for purchasing new ones from suppliers who are ‘co-operative’ and willing to give commissions. Or, is this education minister’s office a third partner?

People will not stand watching when rich rogues close doors of light in poor students’ face.


Had there been no such channel in existence, there would have been no uproar. But now that it has been there for a few years thanks to central government and ISRO, has gained the attention of students and they are using it as a learning aid regularly, a habit now, the destruction of this state’s educational channel by two wicked and irresponsible officers can only be viewed seriously by the public. The student, teacher and parent community know that the education secretary, education minister and the chief minister view the destruction of this channel by their deputies lightly, like buffoons in a comic circus, as they have no scope for ever appearing in this channel and these deputies are their own political appointees. But if they do not look into the activities and practices going on in this channel which are detrimental to the interests of poor students, and do not take immediate remedial action including disciplinary action against their deputies, sometime soon more media people will liberate themselves free from this unholy association of thugs and media, and more good and informative investigative articles will appear and more impartial people will begin to take their firm stand against criminalizing and corrupting their children’s educational channels. People will not stand aside watching when rich rogues destruct poor students’ educational means at will and close the doors of light in their face.

NOTE: Also read: An Indian Educational Channel Falling From Sky at http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2015/03/an-indian-educational-channel-falling.html

First published on:17 September 2015
   
Article Title Image By Little Onix. Graphics: Adobe SP.

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Images Courtesy: Sahyadri Archives, Trivandrum
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Links to original news articles in The Hindu:

1. Snag takes VICTERS channel off air. September 15, 2015 05:47 IST
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/snag-takes-victers-channel-off-air/article7653971.ece

2 Focus on self-produced programmes. September 15, 2015 05:47 IST
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/focus-on-selfproduced programmes/article7653973.ece

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