IN 2011, KARNATAKA lokayukta Santosh Hegde submitted a 466-page report detailing the mining scam in Ballari district that cost the state government more than 016,000 crore. The report described how the spurt in demand for iron ore, created by China’s infrastructure boom, had led to the granting of as many as 134 mining leases in Karnataka from 2001 to 2008. The leases were granted because of “pressures and political compulsions”, said the report, and they resulted in an illegal mining scam that caused huge losses to the government.
The report had politicians cutting across party lines in the dock. BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa, who was chief minister at the time, was forced to step down. He was also arrested and indicted in a mining-related case and sent to jail.
More than a decade later, another case related to the granting of mining leases is creating controversy. The case pertains to a lease granted in 2007, when Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy was chief minister. Kumaraswamy is alleged to have flouted rules to grant a lease to mine 550 acres of forest land in Sandur, in Ballari district. The lease was obtained by Sri Sai Venkateshwara Minerals (SSVM), a company that allegedly had no experience in mining or selling iron ore.
On August 19 this year, a special investigating team (SIT) of the lokayukta sought Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot’s sanction to file a chargesheet against Kumaraswamy, who is currently Union minister of heavy industries. According to Kumaraswamy, the move smacked of political vendetta. Two days earlier, the governor had granted sanction to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a case related to an alleged land allotment scam. With Kumaraswamy and the opposition demanding his resignation, Siddaramaiah had threatened to “expose” the wrongdoings of opposition leaders who were part of previous governments.
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Chase For The Mace
The next three years throw up a gamut of challenges for Indian cricket; winning the World Test Championship is the most important
Two-horse race
Can the NC-Congress alliance reshape the future of Jammu and Kashmir?
Man-eaters don't spare women
Critics say Narendra Modi’s decade-long rule has been one of jobless growth. Factories produced more, companies earned more, owners profited more, the government earned more; but fewer hands were hired, or those who were hired got work for fewer days. Putting the last two together, economists said the Indian economy generated fewer ‘man-days’.
Decolonising the mindset
The vision of a Viksit Bharat hinges on India T breaking from the shackles of a colonial mindset and embodying the freedom of being unapologetically Indian. The laws of any nation are the cornerstone of its growth. The legal system offers the stability and adaptability essential for a country to thrive. The laws must be simple to understand and specific in their consequence.
The making of India's Mr Difficult Words
When my publishers at Aleph invited me to put together a book on words and language, I hesitated for a brief moment.
Couture's creepy corridors
If one is spending a summer in New York, any summer in New York, an absolute must-do is to spend an afternoon at the city’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the edge of Central Park, just gawking in gobsmacked awe at the annual fashion exhibition the museum’s Costume Institute puts together.
Stree 2 has given us hope
The unprecedented success of Stree 2 is the best news we have had in the recent times and with an unabashedly feminist agenda, has comprehensively out-performed Sandeep Reddy Vanga's toxic masculine star-studded Animal at the box office is (to me, at least) kind of the cinematic equivalent of Awadhesh Prasad winning Ayodhya-it redeems my faith in the inherent decency of Indians.
BRANDS BEYOND RAMPS
Whether through carpets, fragrances or home interiors, Indian couturiers are defying their own limits
RESERVOIR OF WORRIES
India has a robust dam management systém on paper, but inadequate maintenance and climate change pose serious threats
INTER-STATE ISSUES HAVE NO EFFECT ON DAM SAFETY
INTERVIEW: KUSHVINDER VOHRA INTERVIEW Chairman, Central Water Commission
