USA Bans Human Rights Violators from Entering USA – President Barack Obama issued Proclamation

USA Bans Human Rights Violators from Entering USA – President Barack Obama issued Proclamation

On Friday, President BARACK OBAMA issued an LGBT-inclusive proclamation that bans immigrants and non-immigrants from entering the United States if they have engaged in serious human rights abuses abroad.


Presidential Proclamation--Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Non immigrants of Persons Who Participate in Serious Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Violations and Other Abuses

SUSPENSION OF ENTRY AS IMMIGRANTS AND NONIMMIGRANTS OF PERSONS WHO PARTICIPATE IN SERIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW VIOLATIONS AND OTHER ABUSES

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

The United States enduring commitment to respect for human rights and humanitarian law requires that its Government be able to ensure that the United States does not become a safe haven for serious violators of human rights and humanitarian law and those who engage in other related abuses. Universal respect for human rights and humanitarian law and the prevention of atrocities internationally promotes U.S. values and fundamental U.S. interests in helping secure peace, deter aggression, promote the rule of law, combat crime and corruption, strengthen democracies, and prevent humanitarian crises around the globe. I therefore have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to take action to restrict the international travel and to suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or non immigrants, of certain persons who have engaged in the acts outlined in section 1 of this proclamation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that the unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. I therefore hereby proclaim that:

Section 1. The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of the following persons is hereby suspended:

(a) Any alien who planned, ordered, assisted, aided and abetted, committed or otherwise participated in, including through command responsibility, widespread or systematic violence against any civilian population based in whole or in part on race; color; descent; sex; disability; membership in an indigenous group; language; religion; political opinion; national origin; ethnicity; membership in a particular social group; birth; or sexual orientation or gender identity, or who attempted or conspired to do so.

(b) Any alien who planned, ordered, assisted, aided and abetted, committed or otherwise participated in, including through command responsibility, war crimes, crimes against humanity or other serious violations of human rights, or who attempted or conspired to do so.

Sec. 2. Section 1 of this proclamation shall not apply with respect to any person otherwise covered by section 1 where the entry of such person would not harm the foreign relations interests of the United States.

Sec. 3. The Secretary of State, or the Secretary's designee, in his or her sole discretion, shall identify persons covered by section 1 of this proclamation, pursuant to such standards and procedures as the Secretary may establish.

Sec. 4. The Secretary of State shall have responsibility for implementing this proclamation pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, may establish.

Sec. 5. For any person whose entry is otherwise suspended under this proclamation entry will be denied, unless the Secretary of State determines that the particular entry of such person would be in the interests of the United States. In exercising such authority, the Secretary of State shall consult the Secretary of Homeland Security on matters related to admissibility or inadmissibility within the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Sec. 6. Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to derogate from United States Government obligations under applicable international agreements, or to suspend entry based solely on an alien's ideology, opinions, or beliefs, or based solely on expression that would be considered protected under U.S. interpretations of international agreements to which the United States is a party. Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to limit the authority of the United States to admit or to suspend entry of particular individuals into the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) or under any other provision of U.S. law.

Sec. 7. This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Sec. 8. This proclamation is effective immediately and shall remain in effect until such time as the Secretary of State determines that it is no longer necessary and should be terminated, either in whole or in part. Any such termination shall become effective upon publication in the Federal Register.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

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Tags – Barack Obama Human rights Violation Immigration Ban

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Impact - Reasons why S&P reduced American Credit Rating from AAA to AA first time in history

Impact - Reasons why S&P reduced American Credit Rating
from AAA to AA first time in history

On April 18, 2011 S&P put the U.S. government on notice that USA risked losing the AAA rating it had since 1941 unless lawmakers agreed on a plan by 2013 to reduce budget deficits and the national debt. It indicated last month that anything less than $4 trillion in cuts would jeopardize the rating.

New Zealand is the only country other than the U.S. that has a AA+ rating from S&P and an AAA grade from Moody’s.
Belgium has an equivalent AA+ grade from S&P, Moody’s and Fitch.

Since 1917 USA enjoyed the AAA credit Rating this is the first time that the credit rating of USA fallen below AAA credit rating from S&P that is Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency

The credit rating agency said that it is cutting the country's top AAA rating by one notch to AA-plus.
S&P credit rating agency said that We have lowered our long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to 'AA+' from 'AAA' and affirmed the 'A-1+' short-term rating.

The rating may be cut to AA within two years if spending reductions are lower than agreed to.

We have also removed both the short- and long-term ratings from Credit Watch negative.

On August 2 American congress , politicians agreed to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling and put in place a plan to enforce $2.4 trillion in spending reductions over the next 10 years, less than the $4 trillion S&P had said it preferred.

S&P said in a statement that “The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics,”
S&P said the U.S.’s debt may rise to 74 percent of gross domestic product by year-end, to 79 percent in 2015 and 85 percent by 2021.

Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings affirmed their AAA credit ratings on August 2, 2011.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimated that a downgrade would raise the nation’s borrowing costs by $100 billion a year.

In 1998, S&P lowered ratings for Belgium, Italy and Spain. A week later, their 10-year rates had barely moved.

What will be the impact or effect on USA after the downgrade by S&P

1. The interest rates the USA government pays to finance the growing national debt will rise

2. The interest rates will go up on Basic credit facilities -- like mortgages, student loans and credit cards

3. Rise in consumer interest

4. Will become more difficult to get the loans

5. Job loss – as companies will try to save money

6. gold prices will go up

7. Silver prices will go up

8. Less profits from stock market

What will happen now as American lost AAA credit rating?

There is no option nothing is going to change as World has no option but to continue and treat America as the Leader and No.1 but in next 25 Years china will become No.1 if same policies are followed by American politicians, the policies which damage American Economy.
China has accumulated more than $1.16 trillion in the securities

Currently dollar is enjoying the status of world currency but now dollar is losing that status very slowly.

Now this will give rise to gold and silver prices as rich countries and rich people will start to invest in gold and silver.

The U.S. currency’s portion of global currency reserves dropped to 60.7 percent in the period ended March 31, from a peak of 72.7 percent in 2001, data from the International Monetary Fund

Reality views by sm –
Saturday, August 06, 2011

Tags – S&P USA Credit Rating AAA AA+ Reduced Impact Reasons

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Puzzle No. 1 Fill in the blank Proverbs Mind Memory Exercise

Puzzle No. 1 Fill in the blank Proverbs Mind Memory Exercise

Fill in the blanks in following Proverbs

1. ----------------- is another man’s gain

2. ----------------- louder than words


3. ----------------- losers weepers

4. --------------- is golden

5. --------------- is human

6. -------------- those who help themselves

7. ------------ saves nine

8. ----------- is believing

9. ---------- the mother of all wisdom

10. ------------ like son

11. ------------ to godliness

12. ------------ the heart is


Answers –

I will update the post with answers after 24 hours.

Below are the answers to the Puzzle.

1. One man’s loss is another man’s gain.

2. Actions speak louder than words.

3. Finders keepers, losers weepers

4. Silence is golden.

5. To err is human.

6. God helps those who help themselves.

7. A stitch in time saves nine.

8. Seeing is believing.

9. Experience is the mother of all wisdom

10. Like father, like son.

11. Cleanliness is next to godliness.

12. Home is where the heart is


Reality views by sm –
Saturday, August 06, 2011

Tags- Improving Memory Increase Memory

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Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Final Part

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Final Part

Fraudulent payment to Great Big Events (GBE)
As per the January 2010 contract, GBE was to assign 9 personnel for contract
related activities. While three of them were to stay in India for the entire duration of 10 months, the other six had to stay for specified number of days. Fees were accordingly prescribed on monthly and daily basis for these two categories.
We ascertained that the three GBE executives required to stay in India did
not do so for the entire stipulated period as one executive did not even visit India
and was paid @ 7500 USD per month for 7 months. OC officials actively colluded
by duly certifying their payment invoices and work, despite their absence from
India. Shri ASV Prasad, JDG (Sports) even certified the presence of one executive
Ms. Kate Campbell , who never visited India.
The entire claim for the periods that the executives were not available in India
could be termed as fraudulent. However, even on a proportionate basis, such
fraudulent payments amounted to Rs 40.13 lakh (USD 89186).


OC also failed to utilise the services of GBE as per the contract.
we found a draft agreement signed by Greg Bowmen (for GBE) where in place of Kate Campbell, the name of Ms. Kavita Sontakay (who was an employee of OC till 2 weeks after this contract was signed with GBE) is mentioned.

The appointment of Shri Manish Kumar as Director, Press Operations was irregular
In September 2008, Shri Manish Kumar was appointed as Director, Press operations.
After 15 days of his appointment, Shri Kumar informed Shri Lalit Bhanot that
he was unwilling to accept the post at the remuneration offered. OC kept the post vacant for another 6 months and then interviewed Shri Manish Kumar again, offering him a
considerably higher salary. The post was neither advertised openly nor any other
interviews conducted.Due to complaints regarding his behaviour, Shri Manish Kumar was transferred out of Press Operations just 8 days before the commencement of the games to the Sustainability and Environment Functional Area office without any specific charge. Earlier in August 2010, a foreign hire of the OC, Shri Gnanapragasam, responsible for press operations across all venues, had left the organisation, complaining about Shri Manish Kumar's misbehaviour, but OC did not conduct an inquiry into these
complaints though Shri Manish Kumar's performance in Press Operations was far
from satisfactory, he was promoted from Director to DDG. Further on his transfer, Shri
Manish Kumar did not hand over records to his successor. Thus, during the Games, the
Press Operations FA had no access to its own records, including the GNS contract
documents (and the obligations of the GNS provider). Although the matter was brought
to the notice of higher management, no action was taken on this issue

in June 2010 OC awarded the GNS contract to Infostrada Sports:
OC made payments in foreign currency (USD), without approval, resulting in
additional financial burden of at least Rs. 58.09 lakh due to currency fluctuations. Even the conversion rate applied at the time of negotiation was incorrect.
OC accepted the liability for service tax payment of Rs 0.94 crore without the
EB's approval, although the LOI stipulated otherwise.

OC failed to utilise audio and video segments produced at a cost of Rs. 1.27
crore as it revised its media plan to cover only the print media for the launch of logo
and promotion on the “1000 days to go” campaign

OC deducted income tax of US $ 2.11 lakh @ 10 per cent, instead of 42.23 per cent as applicable to a Permanent Establishment (PE). This resulted in short deduction of income
tax of Rs. 3.07 crore.

Staff promoted despite low ratings on educational qualifications and experience
7 persons were granted two promotions in short span of 1-3 years, of which 5
were staff associated with CYG-2008, Pune, Chairman Secretariat and DG Secretariat.
Mr. Ram Mohan
Dr. G.S. Anand
Dr. G.S Bawa
Mr. Abrar Hussain
Mrs. Indu Anand

Cases of Gross Irregularities in Workforce Management
In September 2007, Shri Vijay Kumar Gautam, IAS (Maharahstra
cadre) was appointed to the post of COO, which had overall responsibility for the delivery of the Games in addition to certain functional areas. Despite complaints by his reporting officer (Shri VK Verma, DG) about his performance, Chairman OC did not allow him to be replaced. Shri Gautam was allowed to proceed on leave from December 2009 for the next 10 months (including the actual Games period) and was relieved from the OC w.e.f. 31 October 2010, while still on leave. Shri Gautam's leave applications were addressed directly to Chairman, OC and not to the DG. Despite his leave spells never being formally sanctioned, he was paid full salary for the period

Shri Mahindroo was interviewed for the post of Director (Information Services and Network) in May 2009, but appointed as DDG (Information Services-Technology). Approval was obtained for a salary of Rs.60,000, but Shri Mahindroo's
appointment letter indicated his salary as Rs. 1,00,000 and his post as DDG
(Technology/Marketing).

Wing Commander Mohla was interviewed in April 2010 for the post of DDG (Chairman Sectt.), when he was also holding the post of Secretary in DDA (Sports Complex). He was appointed on 28 April 2010 as DDG (Chairman Sectt.), but continued to hold both the posts till October 2010.

Ms. Welinkar joined the OC during CYG-2008, Pune as a coordinator.
She was then appointed as DDG for 'Image and Look' in January 2009 by upgrading the post (without EB approval), and was promoted five months later as ADG 'Image and Look' with the approval of Chairman. We did not find Ms. Welinkar's qualifications and experience matching with her job profile.
OC hired 38 apartments in different parts of NCR Delhi for its consultants and employees
at a cost of Rs. 4.39 crore as rental charges. This hiring was done in an arbitrary manner
without any advertisements and prescribing entitlements in terms of maximum rent,
area etc. Inexplicably, the selection of apartments was done by Shri Lalit Bhanot's
office, despite the existence of a specific Functional Area for accommodation related
issues. Further, we found instances of hiring of multiple accommodation for the same
period and idle accommodations, with avoidable expenditure of Rs. 0.12 crore.
Further, as of March 2011, security deposit worth Rs.0.60 crore for these flats was still
lying with the property owners, though most contracts had ended in October 2010.

Despite knowing that these flats were lying vacant for a significant part of the lease period, OC continued to retain them and pay rent, resulting in expenditure of
Rs 0.21 crore towards rent on unoccupied flats.

The Ashok Hotel was nominated as the Flagship Hotel for the CWG 2010 and was
booked exclusively for accommodating guests/officials from 29 September 2010 to
16 October 2010 at a cost of Rs 12.01 crore. Of the 480 rooms provided by Hotel Ashok
as many as 155 to 399 rooms remained vacant during the period of reservation.

During the same period, OC booked accommodation for International
Technical officers (ITOs) and National Technical Officers (NTOs) with 11 others
hotels at a total cost of Rs 3.53 crore. As the guest arrival list was firmed up by then, OC
could have utilised at least 100 rooms in flagship hotels to accommodate the ITOs/NTOs, thereby saving Rs.1.15 crore. However, for some inexplicable reason, OC was apparently unwilling to accommodate ITOs/NTOs and other guests in the same hotel.

The initial budget for Cleaning and waste management work of Rs.11.22
crore was increased in June 2010 to Rs 31.22 crore.
We found that the consultant for cleaning and waste management was appointed only
in November 2008 and planning for this aspect was unduly delayed till July 2009.

A lanyard is a cord or rope worn around the neck to carry the identity
card. Without ascertaining the need for lanyards for the accreditation card,
a supply order for 1.5 lakh lanyards was placed on Tristar Enterprises in
July 2010 at a total cost of Rs. 0.68 crore; out of these, 48,040 lanyards
costing Rs. 0.22 crore were never used.

Inexplicably, the lanyard specifications for fire retardantness stipulated withstanding temperature of up to 800 degree Celsius, whereas for the plastic pouch (which would
contain the accreditation card) the requirement was 110 degree Celsius. We find no utility for such abnormal specification for the lanyard , except to restrict competitive tendering.

Incidentally, Tristar Enterprises, was also the consortium partner of Gold Medal Systems who supplied GMS
Incidentally, the selected lanyard contained PBDE (Polybrominated diphenyl ether), a chemical banned due to its harmful effects on the environment and humans.
Workforce and Other Supporting Activities of the Organising Committee –
The tendering was restrictive as the EOI stipulated an annual turnover,
specifically related to cleaning services, of at least Rs 5 crore, in each of the last
three financial years, for one tender package with a seating capacity of up to
5000, and Rs.10 crore for bigger venues. Consequently out of the 23 firms who
responded to the EOI, 9 firms were disqualified for not satisfying prequalification criteria.We found that the two successful bidders, A2Z and Sarvatra, also did not
fulfil the requirements indicated in the prequalification and technical bid stages, as details of experience were not provided by both of them.
OC consistently maintained during the tendering process that multiple tenders would not be allotted to the same vendor, A2Z was finally awarded eight out of nine tender packages.

The performance of A2Z was found deficient

A contract for Rs.0.98 crore was awarded to an ineligible vendor
Agility Logistics was appointed as the logistic service provider in July 2010, after a six
month long tendering processing, at a cost of Rs. 12.5 crore less VIK sponsorship of
Rs.11 crore. As of March 2011, OC could not provide details of the VIK services availed
from Agility Logistics. However, we found that 20 out of 34 Functional Areas of OC
did not avail of the centralised logistic services and made separate arrangements
even for warehousing and distribution of goods e.g. OC engaged Buhariwala Logistics
for the opening and closing ceremonies at a cost of Rs 0.69 crore.

Souvenir items worth Rs.3.51 crore were lying unutilized as of December 2010,
out of which commemorative medals constituted Rs.2.64 crore.

Out of 200 laptops purchased in April 2010, 52 laptops worth Rs.0.27 crore
were lying unutilised.

For CYG-2008 Pune, OC executed three insurance policies at a cost of Rs. 1.30 crore
with Reliance General Insurance and ICICI Lombard. No records pertaining to these
policies were made available for scrutiny. Strangely the insurance cover for 80 OC
officials was taken up to March 2009 (while the Games took place in October 2008).

In September 2009, EB approved execution of a Comprehensive General Liability policy
for US$ 20 million (Rs. 100 crore). However, on the intervention of Shri Mike Hooper in
October 2009, OC executed the said policy for US$ 100 million at a total premium of Rs.
2.90 crore. Shri Hooper insisted that OC should take the insurance for US$ 100
million based on the recommendations of CGF's insurance consultant Marsh . It was
noted in the EB meeting that there was a conflict of interest as Marsh was both a
consultant to CGF and an insurance broker to OC and had a vested interest in
Shri Hooper even threatened that if OC did not execute the policy for US$100 million, CGF would do so and charge it to OC

Despite EB's approval for a limit of US$ 100 million (i.e. Rs. 460 crore), OC executed the policy for an enhanced limit of Rs. 500 crore resulting in excess payment of premium of Rs. 0.23 crore

OC took insurance cover for 25000 volunteers (as against the actual 17667
volunteers and for a longer period than the volunteers' engagement, resulting in
excess expenditure of Rs.0.11 crore.

OC executed insurance policies for QBR personnel and equipment during the
international and national legs of QBR at a premium of 0.84 lakh, although this
was the responsibility of Maxxam, the QBR consultant.

Incidentally, Shri Jeyachandran submitted a claim for Rs. 5 crore (under the directors and officers liability cover) directly to the insurance company after his suspension

Suggested Reading –
Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part One
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part Two
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_05.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part 3

http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_06.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part 4
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_8614.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part Five
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_6272.html

Reality views by sm –
Saturday, August 06, 2011

Tags – CAG Report On Common Wealth Games 2010 Corruption Report CAG

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Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part Five

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part Five

Prefabricated Structures at JLN StadiumOC paid rental - @Rs.4,250 per sqft
(Vendor-Pico Deepali Consortium)
CPWD paid rental -@1,645 per sqft
(Vendor – Deepali Designs & Exhibits )
Such excessive rental rate of pre-fabricated items was found in other clusters also. The excess expenditure on this account was to the tune of Rs.13.39 crore


OC hired 3120 water dispensers under overlays contracts, with rates ranging between Rs. 1,776 and Rs. 32,986 per unit. Excess expenditure (based on the lowest cost) worked out to Rs.3.82 crore.
This item was infructuous, since Coca Cola was required to provide adequate mineral water to all the venues during the entire period of the Games, under the sponsorship agreement. Further, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) also made arrangements for provision of drinking water at venues by setting up its own water kiosks for dispensing water, for
which an amount of Rs 0.26 crore was payable to the kiosk contractor.

In response to adverse media publicity, OC published a full page advertisement in
several national newspapers at a cost of Rs. 0.34 crore on 10-11 November 2010.
Among other aspects, the advertisement attempted to justify the prices of tissue rolls
as “per box of 100 rolls” and not per roll.
CAG found that the information in the advertisement was misleading.

Increased Scope of Work due to visit of President - In October 2009, DG-OC and
Chairman OC approved an additional payment of £ 10350 (Rs. 7.76 lakh) to JMW proposed by Shri Sanjay Mahindroo, DDG, purportedly due to increased scope of work on account of the visit of the President of India. In fact, this visit was known to the OC in May 2009 itself, well before the award of the contract to JMW.

Further, during execution of the work, OC hired certain extra items from JMW,
for which £ 2370 (Rs. 1.78 lakh) was purportedly paid in cash by Shri Mahindroo to JMW.

Trafalgar Square Function - OC scheduled a function at Trafalgar Square, London, which was later cancelled and JMW intimated about this cancellation. Subsequently, JMW raised a bill of £ 31000 (Rs. 23.25 lakh) for this event, claiming that they had already incurred these expenses. Curiously, this issue was dealt with directly by the Chairman
and SG. The instruction to work on this function was given from the Chairman's Secretariat, and the SG agreed to pay half this amount; ultimately £ 17811 (Rs. 13.36 lakh) was paid to JMW.

Extra expenditure of Rs. 14 lakh on account of travel booking of extra members (including Smt. Meera 56Kalmadi and Smt. Ranjan Mukherjee ) and relatives of baton bearers, who were not in the approved list
OC confirmed that the ticket in the name of Smt. Meera Kalmadi was booked by OC

Excess payments totalling £ 2084 (Rs. 1.56 lakh) on account of double
charging for two rooms, and a superior room beyond entitlement

One of the bidders (3 Dots Vision Ltd.) was not registered with the UK Registrar
of Companies; we also verified that the agency did not exist at its stated address

The credentials of AM Films UK Ltd. appear suspect, since the company
registration and VAT registration numbers indicated in its advance invoice
were false

The committee, consisting of Shri Jeychandran, JDG (F&A), Shri Mahindroo, DDG (TM) and Shri Sudhir Verma, DDG (Communications) which evaluated the quotes and selected AM Films UK Ltd at a total cost of £ 146,869 (Rs. 1.10 crore) and ecommended 100 per cent payment in advance, was different from the originally formed committee. The minutes of the committee meeting purportedly held at London on 23-24 October 2009 were signed by Shri Jeychandran, who was actually in Delhi on these dates and
processed the payment to AM Films Ltd.

AM Films Ltd. submitted an advance invoice for £ 146869 (Rs. 1.10 crore) on
23 October 2009. Approval was obtained by Shri Mahindroo from the Chairman and communicated to Shri Jeychandran by e-mail / fax and processed, the OC CA's certification of payment of foreign currency obtained, and funds transferred to AM Films Ltd – all on 24 October 2009 with undue haste by the OC

Even before the agency submitted three invoices for £ 100,625 (Rs. 75.47 lakh)
on 21st October 2009, the payments were processed and DG and Chairman's approval was obtained on 20 October 2009 itself; the payment was transferredto the account of AM Films UK Ltd. (and not AM Cars and Van Hire Ltd.) on 22 October 2009 . This payment included £ 49,803 (Rs. 37.35 lakh) for power generation purportedly required by SIS Live , but no correspondence with SIS-Live was documented.

A subsequent payment of £ 36,612 (Rs. 27.46 lakh) was made on 26 October 2009, on a proposal by Shri Mahindroo which was processed for payment by Shri Jeychandran after a “talk with the Chairman”.

Payment of £ 1275(Rs. 0.96 lakh) was also purportedly made in cash by Shri Mahindroo to AM Films for unrelated postage/ stationery services, which appears unusual.

A cash payment of £ 100,856 (Rs.75.64 lakh) was made by Shri Mahindroo,
purportedly for various services and works. There seems to be no reason for such large cash payments, except to avoid a transaction trail.

Shri Jeychandran and Shri Mahindroo drew advances of £ 65,000
(Rs. 48.75 lakh) each from the OC. Although they had submitted their adjustment bills in
December 2009 and February 2010 respectively, these had not yet been settled
Shri Bharat Bala Ganapathy was engaged in February 2009 as the Creative
Director on the recommendation of a panel of experts (including Shri Bharat
Bala himself) constituted by the GoM. From November 2009, he was appointed as “Creative Consultant”

Shri Bharat Bala also unilaterally determined his own remuneration:
He was paid a total of Rs. 3.09 crore till October 2010 (including an advance
payment of Rs. 0.25 crore).

OC favoured Spectak Productions by agreeing to take on the service tax
liability of Rs. 1.06 crore (when the RFP clearly indicated that the consultant was
to indicate costs inclusive of all taxes).

12 out of 17 contracts did not specify the liability for service tax; OC finally
bore the liability for service tax of Rs. 0.52 crore. In the case of Mr. Mark
Fisher, OC failed to deduct service tax of Rs. 1.23 lakh.

We are not clear about Shri Bharat Bala's role in Phase-II as Creative Consultant –
“advice and work for overall development of concept and theme”, when the creative
concepts had already been presented and an event management firm (Wizcraft)
appointed to deliver the ceremonies.

In our view, the event agency charges of Rs. 16.09 crore to Wizcraft were not
justified. OC's response that Wizcraft was providing BOQs, drawing up scope
of work, and sourcing vendors/ artists etc. is not tenable, since these
activities were undertaken by Shri Bharat Bala, Spectak Productions and
the other 17 consultants engaged by the OC.

OC appointed 17 other consultants for various ceremony-related activities for the
period February to December 2010; Rs. 6.12 crore had been paid till February 2011 to
these consultants. 16 out of these consultants were appointed on nomination
basis (largely on the advice of Mr. Ric Birch and Event Management Firm), with one
consultant appointed through limited tender.

We also found overpayments of Rs. 0.43 crore to Mr. Shepperd and Mr. Marenghi, as
well as an unexplained reduction in the scope of work of Mr. Andrew Garrod on 4
October 2010.

Theme Song –
Shri AR Rehman was engaged for composing and performing the theme song for the
Opening Ceremony. The theme song was launched on 28 August 2010 and the video
shoot completed only on 11 September 2010, as against the contractual date of 15
August 2010 for release at a press conference. This delay resulted in lack of adequate exposure and publicity for the theme song. No action could be taken for the delay, due to absence of penal provisions in the contract.

OC engaged Shri Ranjit Barot as music composer and director for a turnkey
solution for the opening and closing ceremonies at a total cost of Rs. 1.75 crore
plus taxes. Contrary to the Fast Track Committee's direction, OC did not obtain
the cost break-up for each sequence, nor did it constitute a negotiation committee.
Further, we noticed overpayment of Rs. 0.18 crore to Shri Barot; OC also incurred
expenditure of Rs. 0.73 crore for royalty and license fees for music (which should have
been borne by Shri Barot).

With the approval of GOM, OC engaged Mark Fisher Studio, London in October
2009 at a fee of USD 514,000 excluding taxes (Rs. 2.31 crore) for providing
architectural designs and drawings for a centre stage pavilion (band stand) in
the JLN Stadium for the opening ceremony.
Subsequently, Mr. Mark Fisher managed to get n his scope of work revised to cover
only “preliminary” designs and drawings”, rather than complete designs and drawings, and n revised terms for 100 per cent payment in advance.
When the GoM decided in December 2009 to dispense with the bandstand,
full payment had already been made;

We also found other instances of undue favour by the OC to PRG:
Irregular payment of € 225,000 (Rs. 1.37 crore) to PRG on account of damage to
equipment, although risk insurance for such eventualities was contractually
PRG's liability

Provision of 136 air flights free of cost, instead of 60 (as contractually stipulated).

Appointment of Shri Omung Kumar (Blue Lotus Productions)
as supplier of props for ceremonies
All these works were awarded without an approved list of props required.
The props included vehicles of different categories, ownership for which was not
transferred in OC's name. Further, props worth Rs. 3.09 crore for the closing ceremony
and Rs. 0.36 crore for the opening ceremony remained unutilized. In addition, props
worth Rs. 2.38 crore were not received at all.
We also noticed that the props procured from Blue Lotus Productions were exorbitantly
priced, as is illustrated below:
Podium (Rs.50000/- per piece)
Polo Circles (not used) - just a ply piececovered with cloth (Rs.13425/- per piece)
Ashok Chakra painted on cloth (4 metres diameter) (Rs. 150000/-)
Placard for each CGA (Rs.3521/- per piece)
Sugarcane Truck (Rs.10 lakh)
Chinese fan (Rs. 11,000 per piece)
Mobile flag holder - Used to hold the flags for all CGAs (Rs.2254/- per piece)
Garland with stand used as a show piece (Rs. 46833/- per piece)
Bangles for Namaste (Rs.22,950- per piece)
Chagada – Gujarati style (Rs. 2.5lakh)
Tiffin trays for dabbawalas (Rs.8,141/- per piece)
Milk Churn with Bicycle (Rs. 8,000 per set)
Small truck (Tata 407-1996 model) Rs.4.47 lakh
Car (Ambassador-2001 Model) Rs.3.45 lakh

Ground Protection and restoration FOP –
Rs. 2.02 crore as well as 16 rolls of ground cloth worth Rs. 0.20 crore, unutilised).
Rs. 7.26 crore for rolling out grass turf replacement for the Field of Play in the
stadium (where grass had initially been laid by CPWD at a cost of Rs. 0.40 crore).

The ground cloth contracts for the opening and closing ceremonies were
awarded on the basis of single responses to GeoFabrics, UK and Lalit Art Studio at costs of US$ 387,695
Lalit Art Studio supplied ground cloth of the wrong colour (white against
black and sand colour), but OC accepted the cloth.

The process of award of catering contracts for the Games Village took an unduly long 14 months from June 2009 to July 2010 (just 3 months before the Games) with delays at every stage

We found huge quantities of sports equipment lying unused at various locations
even after the Games had concluded
Out of 17 venues, equipment usage records of only 7 venues were received.
In these venues, sports equipment worth Rs 0.93 crore was lying fully unused
Sports equipment worth Rs 1.35 crore was lying unpacked in the ITPO store as of
November 2010

2 trampoline sets procured for gymnastics at a cost of Rs 0.11 crore were procured wastefully, as there was no trampoline event scheduled in the Games. These were lying packed in the IG Stadium store throughout the Games.

16 storage trolleys, which were neither in the list approved by MYAS nor
requested by the Sporting Federation, were procured at a cost of Rs. 0.25 crore
as part of aquatic equipment, but were never made available at the Dr. SPM
Aquatics Complex, the aquatics venue. Eight of these trolleys were kept at the
Games Village and the rest remained in the store.

Suggested Reading –
Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part One
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part Two
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_05.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part 3

http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_06.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part 4
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_8614.html

Reality views by sm –
Saturday, August 06, 2011

Tags – CAG Report On Common Wealth Games 2010 Corruption Report CAG

Read Full Article...

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part 4

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part 4

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Commonwealth Games has been tabled in Parliament.

Streetscaping and Beautification of Roads around CWG Venues

in our view, the street-scaping and beautification project was ill-conceived
and ill-planned


Streetscaping and beautification works at exorbitant average awarded costs
of Rs. 4.8 crore/ km (compared to NHAI's estimated cost of Rs. 9.5 crore / km for
constructing a four-lane national highway or Indian Railways' estimated cost of
about Rs. 4.1 crore/km for constructing railway track) were awarded and executed
in an ad hoc and arbitrary manner, with wasteful expenditure of Rs. 101.02 crore.

The consultants were given a free hand to draw up designs and estimates for the packages allotted to them. This resulted in adoption of richer specifications in an arbitrary and inconsistent manner in different packages. We also found adoption of higher rates/ short recovery, and other deficiencies in contract management. Third Party Quality Control failed to provide adequate assurance on the specifications and materials
used in the works.

Records show the decision on use of imported luminaries being taken with the active involvement of the CM at various stages. No technical note regarding reasons for use of imported luminaries along with cost benefit analysis was found on record.

The imported luminaries were procured at a far higher cost than the
domestic luminaries, leading to avoidable extra expenditure of Rs. 31.07 crore
across the three agencies.

We also found that the procurement price of imported luminaries was far higher than the
fair price computed on the basis of actual invoice price.

The awarding of work in NDMC after calling of design based tenders
resulted in an extra expenditure of Rs. 6.77 crore, as work was awarded to the
bidder with higher unit rates for various items.

NDMC also awarded additional work of 18.445 km, incorrectly terming it as deviations to the original contract. We believe that this may lead to an estimated additional loss of Rs. 6.13 crore.

Restrictive tendering conditions were stipulated and the work was split into
three parts in PWD, with requirement of not more than one work to one bidder,
reducing the competition between the bidding firms. After once being declared
disqualified, one of the firms, Spaceage was irregularly declared qualified on
subsequent re-assessment, following his appeal to the CM.

We found avoidable expenditure of Rs. 2.54 crore in contracts awarded by
MCD (due to non-compliance with design specifications), as well as suspected
post tender alteration of bids in two cases, which had resulted in enhancement of
the quoted amounts by Rs. 6.97 crore.

We found that the department did not facilitate healthy competition, but
merely ensured sharing of signage work between the two major sheet
manufacturers, 3M and Avery-Dennison. Instead of calling a single tender for the
complete work, the project work was divided among three PWD Zones for
separate tendering and execution, with restrictive conditions, leading to only two
valid bidding parties, with work automatically getting distributed between them.
The anti-competitive bidding conditions led to work of one zone being awarded at
least Rs. 1.40 crore above the corresponding cost in the other two zones as well as
higher overall costs of procurement in PWD

Subsequent to the award of work, the designs for the signages were
substantially revised, leading to large number of extra and substituted items of
dubious utility with additional avoidable expenditure of Rs 14.88 crore.

Two works costing Rs. 62.63 crore were got executed by PWD through
deviations of ongoing works, instead of calling for fresh tenders, on grounds of
urgency. These works however, were, not completed in time for the games.

PWD also awarded work for construction of two arch foot over bridges (FOB) for Rs.
10.35 crore at JLN Stadium using for the first time, a suspension bridge design
using imported Macalloy suspension system. One of the FOBs collapsed and the
work was subsequently stopped on both the FOBs. Both are still lying incomplete.

the project for renovation and restoration of Connaught Place (CP) was envisaged in April 2004, it was plagued by undue delays. The original estimated cost of Rs. 76 crore (as of May 2005) went up nearly nine-fold to Rs. 671 crore by July 2007, with a huge increase in scope of work.

the pilot project for facade restoration of 'C' block the project remained incomplete at the time of the Games. We also found significant deficiencies in contract management, with consequent avoidable expenditure.

In September 2008, GNCTD decided to introduce a TETRA network (a
professional mobile communication service essentially meant for emergency
services and government agencies) in time for CWG-2010. GNCTD awarded the
contract for TETRA at Rs.99.81 crore for an 87 month period, covering not only the
Games period but also a seven year legacy period.
Post CWG-2010, most of these expensive TETRA sets are, in
effect, no more than mobile phones
During CWG-2010, low floor buses of DTC were used for ferrying the
athletes, technical officials and media persons.

For keeping the buses 'new' for CWG-2010, DTC kept about 16 per cent of its low floor fleet idle between March and August 2010; further, 78 per cent of the Blueline fleet was also taken off the roads in the NDMC area for the duration of the Games. This, compounded by large scale diversion of DTC drivers for Games-related duties, led to significant disruption of public transport services.

Modernisation projects like LED destination boards on standard buses, and
construction of Time Keeping Booths could not be completed before CWG-2010
as envisaged.

For getting 1500 Bus Queue Shelters (BQSs) constructed before the
Games, So far, only 472 BQSs could be completed.

The bus parking constructed at the Ash Pond opposite the Millennium Park
is not really a temporary structure. It has certain permanent constructions. Its use
has continued well beyond the short requirements of the Games. This was clearly
in violation of the Master Plan for Delhi 2021 and the proposed Zonal plan of Delhi,
which earmarks the area as a green zone with recreational uses but without
permanent construction.

GNCTD planned to commission a new power plant at Bawana on the
grounds of increased dependence on own power generation sources. The
construction of the 1500 MW Bawana gas-based power plant was, however,
delayed, and could not be completed in time for the Games.

Delhi Transco Ltd. (DTL) also took up five 220 KVA substations and seven corresponding cabling projects to strengthen the power supply situation in Delhi in time for the Games.

CYG-2008, Pune was expected to be a learning experience for the staging of
CWG- 2010 at Delhi. The deficiencies noticed at Pune, and the resulting
recommendations were intended to ensure that these were not repeated in CWG-2010.
OC repeated its mistakes in key functional areas during CWG-2010, notably technology, ticketing, sponsorship and merchandising, press operations, catering and accommodation

We also found several deficiencies in the procurement of electronic, sports
and other equipment for CYG-2008. Most of the security equipment indented for
CYG-2008, Pune was either ordered after the Games, or received after the Games.
Many of the city infrastructure projects (taken up largely under JNNURM) could
not be completed in time for the Games.

The award of the broadcasting services contract by PB to SIS Live was
Flawed
Prasar Bharati (PB) agreed at the pre-bid meeting to
finalise the contract terms “mutually” with the selected entity, and
subsequently amended numerous clauses of the draft contract to make it
one-sided in favour of SIS Live

Contrary to the intent of the contract with PB, SIS Live outsourced almost the
entire contract on the same day to Zoom Communications, which would
have been ineligible for bidding. We found that SIS Live and Zoom were in
alliance much before the signing of the contract with PB, and even at the
contract drafting stage, the intention of SIS Live to outsource the contract
was clearly evident.

While PB's contract with SIS Live was for Rs. 246 crore, the sub-contract
between SIS Live and Zoom was for only Rs. 177.30 crore (which would also
factor in Zoom's profit margin). Clearly, there was a substantial loss to PB
and Government,

As per the contracted schedule of payment, SIS Live was to receive only 30
per cent payment before 14 October 2010, with the balance only on
verification of performance. This was irregularly amended to allow 60 per
cent payment in advance of the Games

The estimates for telecommunications services provided by MTNL at
different points of time were unreliable and lacked adequate support, with the final
infrastructure cost of Rs. 270.70 crore (excluding taxes) approved by the GoI
being more than eight times the estimates of approximately Rs. 33 crore for
Melbourne CWG-2006.

The contract awarded by MTNL to the HCL/ Cisco team
was for an even higher amount of Rs. 387.19 crore. Clearly, there was a substantial
loss to the GoI on account of this decision.

5 items of medical equipment (estimated at Rs. 5.89 crore) included in the HAP were not ordered at all, while an additional 5 items (which were not included in the HAP) were purchased for Rs. 1.10 crore

the Sports Injury Centre (SIC) at Safdarjung Hospital was
inaugurated in September 2010, it was not fully commissioned even in November
2010. Many items of equipment were yet to be procured and/or installed, and
training on use of equipment was yet to be fully imparted.

The attempt to strengthen ambulance services in time for CWG-2010
through deployment of 150 ambulances in PPP mode was a failure, since the
contract with the selected concessionaire (Fortis Healthcare) was terminated for
failure to deliver the ambulances in time. In our opinion, this eventuality arose
because of the DoHFW's failure to specify the exact nature of the ambulance
vehicle well in advance. Government then acquired just 31 ambulances in June/
August 2010 on direct procurement for the Games at a much higher price.

Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), a PSU, was appointed by the
GoI in May 2009 on “nomination basis” to provide an Integrated Security System
(ISS) for CWG-2010. We found that ECIL prepared a highly inflated cost estimate
(approved at Rs. 346 crore) which allowed it to make an exorbitant profit of at least
Rs. 126 crore. We recommend that final payments may be released to ECIL only
after detailed examination of actual costs and an appropriate certification by
ECIL's statutory auditors after allowing a profit margin of upto 20 per cent.

We found that 176 Portable Explosive Detectors (PEDs) worth Rs. 39 crore
were wrongly procured by ECIL, and remained unutilised; similarly, 15,090 out of
18,700 RFID tags for accredited vehicles also remained unutilised.

ECIL identified legacy and non-legacy equipment worth Rs. 272.65 crore, which had still not been redeployed or utilised.

On the infrastructure front, SAI failed –
out of funds of Rs. 78.63 crore released for infrastructure up-gradation, expenditure of Rs. 74.35 crore was not fruitful in time for the Games.
Further, out of the envisaged Rs. 9.20 crore of sports science equipment, only a
negligible amount of equipment was in position before the Games

On the infrastructure front, SAI failed to construct hostels in five regional
centres, while hostels constructed in three regional centres could not be utilised
due to non-availability of furniture, kitchen and other supporting facilities. Seven
out of eight sports science centres, all eight standard modern fitness centres, and
renovated/ upgraded halls at various centres could not be utilised before the
Games.

There were deficiencies in financial management, including non refund of
the unutilised amount of Rs. 45.50 crore by SAI and diversion of Rs. 19.00 crore for
construction of the administrative block of SAI Hqrs building.

Suggested Reading –
Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part One
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part Two
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_05.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part 3

http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_06.html


Reality views by sm –
Saturday August 06, 2011

Tags – CAG Report On Common Wealth Games 2010 Corruption Report CAG

Read Full Article...

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part 3

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part 3

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Commonwealth Games has been tabled in Parliament.

Sports –

There were several deficiencies in the procurement of sports equipment,
such as not following global tendering procedures, purchases on single tender
basis, and deficient assessment of requirements.


The procedures followed for hiring Mr. Greg Bowman and his company,
Great Big Events (GBE), for a multiplicity of contracts relating to sports
presentation ceremonies were questionable.

One contract was, in effect, de-activated in September 2010, and re-awarded at exorbitant rates to GBE.
CAG also noticed fraudulent payments to GBE for false claims of personnel assignments
(when they did not even visit India).

Games Branding –

CAG found the exorbitant cost of Rs. 10 crore for the GNS contract was
due to a decision to go in for outsourcing (as against the internally developed
option used at Melbourne-CWG 2006) and also on account of flawed tendering
procedures (with re-tendering) resulting in award on a single financial bid to
Infostrada Sports.

GNS failed to perform satisfactorily during the Games, as the
Games news content was inaccessible from 5 to 8 October 2010 and was rectified
subsequently using makeshift arrangements.

The selection of the “Games Look Provider” for preparing banners was
marked by a cluster-based approach (as in the case of overlays).

Further, on the pretext of urgency, a snap bidding process was used. As in the case of the venue overlays contracts, OC allowed several ineligible vendors to bid, while
disqualifications were made on a selective basis.

We also found the same vendor quoting different prices for the same items across clusters

CAG found serious deficiencies in the award of the workforce consultancy
contract to a consortium of E&Y and EKS.

The tendering process was clearly tailored to favour EKS. There were several deficiencies in the contractual clauses, which tended to favour the interests of the consultant, as well as in the execution of the contract.

major deficiencies in certain functional areas included the following:

492 persons who had not received security clearance were incorrectly listed
in the data for the Integrated Security System, which indicated that the
accreditation system was not followed strictly.

1.5 lakh lanyards at a cost of Rs. 0.68 crore were procured with an
inexplicable fire retardant requirement of 800 degrees Celsius.

Contracts for venue cleaning services were awarded irregularly, using a
cluster-based approach, to just two contractors.

Restrictive eligibility criteria were applied in a biased manner. 8 out of 9 packages went to A2Z Maintenance and Engineering Services, which was also engaged by OC for
office automation services.

We found that the appointment of Consulting Engineering Services (CES) as
the main design consultant for the five main stadia was seriously flawed.
The performance of CES in almost all the venue consultancy contracts was abysmal.

We found serious deficiencies in the award of the contract for laying of synthetic athletic track surfaces by CPWD to Shiv Naresh Sports Pvt. Ltd. The restrictive tendering conditions resulted in a situation where the awarded rates were much higher than comparative rates quoted for similar works.

We found deficiencies in the selection and performance of Architect Bureau-GSA Group Consortium as design consultant for the archery competition venue, training venues and refurbishment work.

The main contractor hired for Shivaji Stadium was a foreign
company, China Railway Shisiju Group Corporation (CRSGC), when it is apparent
from the conditions of the NIT, that such was not the intention. Shivaji Stadium
could not be completed in time for the Games and the completed hockey pitch in
the stadium has an East-West orientation, as against the required North-South
orientation.

Simplex Project Ltd. was engaged as the main contractor for the works at
Talkatora Indoor Stadium on a single bid basis; we are unable to derive assurance
that the best price was determined for the work in a competitive market.
The quality of construction was also found deficient by CTE,CVC.

In the case of Thyagaraj Stadium, we found several instances of adoption of
higher cost items for estimation/execution from among multiple options, and also
numerous instances of specifying a single brand or “equivalent”, thus favouring
these brands, with consequential reduced competition and increased costs.

We also found multiple forms of power back up – a solar power generator unit, and a
duel fuel gas turbine with add-on Vapour Absorption Machine (VAM). The
expenditure of Rs. 22.41 crore on the turbine and the VAM is largely infructuous, as
it would be highly expensive to generate power from this unit post the Games.

JMI was selected as a training venue for Rugby 7s and table tennis.
We found that the Rugby 7s field, developed at a cost of Rs. 2.11 crore, was being
converted back into a cricket field, which defeats the objective of creation of state of the art sporting infrastructure. Further, Rs. 2.58 crore was diverted for creation of sporting facilities for other disciplines (basket ball, lawn tennis, volley ball, hockey/football etc).

Delhi University and its affiliated colleges were designated as the competition venues for Rugby 7s and training venues for netball, boxing, rugby 7s, athletics and women's wrestling. We found that the legacy plan for training venues at individual colleges, covering the optimum utilisation of developed infrastructure as also arrangements for their regular maintenance and upkeep, is still pending.

We found serious irregularities in the award of the contract for construction of
the residential complex in PPP mode to Emaar MGF Constructions Pvt. Ltd.

There were a series of misrepresentations and accommodations at the RFQ and RFP
stage that resulted in Emaar MGF Constructions Pvt. Ltd, which was not qualified
in terms of the PQ criteria, emerging as an eligible (and successful) bidder through
the consortium route.

In response to the RFP, two bids were received from Emaar MGF
Constructions Pvt. Ltd and DLF Ltd. While DLF's conditional bid was summarily
rejected without any interaction or negotiation, DDA chose to engage in a prolonged correspondence with its financial consultants, legal advisors and Emaar MGF Constructions Pvt. Ltd to find solutions to address the deficiencies in its proposal. Finally, only Emaar MGF Constructions Pvt. Ltd was declared technically qualified, and was awarded the contract on the basis of a single financial bid, thus denying DDA the benefit of financial competition.

The execution of the residential complex project was also plagued by
several irregularities and deficiencies.
The FAR constructed by the project developer substantially exceeded not only the sanctioned plan, but also the maximum permissible FAR under the Master Plan for Delhi – 2021. Emaar MGF also illegally constructed 17 additional dwelling units in the basement meant for parking. DDA allowed several financial concessions to Emaar MGF, including revision of milestones and delayed / non-levy of liquidated damages. Against the stipulated deadline of 1 April 2010, the residential flats were handed over to DDA between June and August 2010 and that too in incomplete condition.

The Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee (CBRI) was appointed by
DDA as the third party independent quality inspection agency for the residential
complex only after most of the foundation work was executed. CBRI pointed out
serious lapses in construction work through thirteen reports between June 2008
and October 2010.

CBRI concluded that on seeing the permeability of the concrete and
the corrosion of reinforcing steel, it gave an impression that the service life of these
towers could not be more than 20 years, unless substantial expenditure was
incurred on repair and retrofitting. DDA did not take adequate action on these
reports, as the deficiencies continued to recur in CBRI's successive reports.

The selection of Sportina Payce Infrastructure Ltd. as the main contractor for the
practice areas was manipulated to ensure that Sportina Payce Construction
(India) Pvt Ltd. (a different entity) pre-qualified and the successful bidder for the
project was different from the pre-qualified consortium.
Subsequently, due to poor performance, the contract was terminated, and re-awarded.

The selection of GL Litmus Events Pvt. Ltd. as the contractor for delivering
temporary structures (overlays) for the international zone and other areas was
equally flawed.

The successful bidder was entirely different from the pre-qualified
entity, and the foreign entity with relevant expertise was not part of the successful
bidding entity.

Further, for a contract of Rs. 41.38 crore, the bulk of the material for
which was to be imported, the value assessed at the Indian customs was only Rs.
5.32 crore

Delhi Jal Board (DJB) constructed a 1 MGD Water Treatment Plant (WTP) for
the Games Village, Akshardham Temple and surrounding areas at a cost of Rs.
35.20 crore. We found that the need for a separate 1 MGD was not clearly
established and the plant was over-designed with expensive membrane filtration
technology. Further, the tendering process was flawed and irregular, with undue
and inexplicable delays. The bid evaluation was tailored to favour award of the
work to a single bidder.

The WTP is currently shut down and its requirement on a legacy basis is questionable.

DDA also purchased four 1250 KVA each generating sets with excessive
and undue redundancy, which are now lying idle. Plans to shift two of these sets to
DDA Headquarters (VIkas Sadan) appear unreasonable, as Vikas Sadan's current
load is just 1230 KVA.

Suggested Reading –
Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part One
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common.html

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part Two
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common_05.html

Reality views by sm –
Friday, August 05, 2011

Tags – CAG Report On Common Wealth Games 2010 Corruption Report CAG

Read Full Article...

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part Two

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part Two

Audit Report on the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010
This Audit Report for the year ending March 2011 has been prepared for
submission to the President under Article 151 of the Constitution.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Commonwealth Games has been tabled in Parliament.


Event Knowledge Services (EKS) was awarded five consultancy contracts
relating to venue appraisal/ briefs, project monitoring, games planning and
workforce (awarded to an EKS consortium) during 2005-08.

Three of these contracts were awarded on nomination basis, facilitated by strong patronage from the CGF (with which EKS had a close link).

Tendering conditions for the other two contracts were tailored to suit EKS. We are also unable to verify the need for this multiplicity of contracts, and the possible overlap between the deliverables from different contracts.

Planning and scoping for venue overlays was critically delayed by the OC
and completed only in June 2009, after which the responsibility for procurement of
overlays items was transferred from the venue owners to the OC.

The procurement process followed for award of venue overlays contracts was highly irregular. OC inexplicably shifted from an item-wise basis (followed internationally) to a venue-cluster approach, based on geographical locations. This cluster-based approach,
along with tailored eligibility criteria, was used to discourage competition by
restricting the number of vendors.

These criteria were then selectively and inconsistently applied to remove competitors, leaving a field of just four “technically qualified” consortiums – ESAJV-D-Art-Indo, Pico-Deepali, Nussli and GL-Meroform.
The commercial bids of all four vendors were the lowest exactly for those clusters, which were their first and second preferences.
Such coincidence points to collusion and the possibility of cartels among the vendors.

The overlays contracts were signed at exorbitant rates, causing huge
financial loss to the OC (and the GoI).

The main ceremonial events of CWG-2010 were the Queen's Baton Relay (QBR), and the opening and closing ceremonies

CAG found numerous irregularities in the appointment of contractors/ vendors for various ceremonies.

Regarding the QBR Launch Ceremony on 29 October 2009, we found an inexplicable reduction in the scope of work for JMW (the event management agency for the QBR Launch) in October 2009 (with an increase in cost).

On the other hand, the OC made highly suspect payments of £ 386,237 to two little known entities – AM Films UK Ltd and AM Car and Van Hire Ltd – for diverse and unconnected services for the QBR Launch ceremony. The assignment of work
and payments therefor were highly questionable; associated approvals and clearances were obtained and payments made with uncommon haste.

Large amounts were also paid in cash, perhaps to avoid leaving a transaction trail. The
role of Shri TS Darbari and Shri Sanjay Mahindroo, who were unrelated to OC's
Ceremony Functional Area, in the QBR Launch Ceremony is also questionable.

CAG found that planning for the opening and closing ceremonies was
inordinately delayed. Further, a multiplicity of agencies was engaged – Shri Bharat
Bala as Creative Director/ Creative Consultant, Spectak Productions (Shri Ric
Birch) as International Consultant, Wizcraft as the Event Management Firm and 17
other consultants.

We also found that Spectak Productions and Wizcraft had tied up with other experts well in advance of the award of the contracts. The engagement of the additional consultants (for at least Rs. 6.12 crore) at OC's cost amounted to a clear financial benefit to Wizcraft

There were also major irregularities in procurement of accessories/ special
items. The consultant for the band stand, Mr. Mark Fisher, got his full fee of US$
514,000, even though the idea of the band stand was abandoned. Mr. Fisher then
presented a design for an aerostat, which was accepted.
The fact that Spectak Productions and the aerostat vendor were part of the same group was concealed.

There were also serious irregularities in the technical evaluation and award of the
lighting/ searchlight contract, as well as in the award of the contract for video
content.

Contracts for Rs. 16.49 crore for art direction and props for the opening and
closing ceremonies were irregularly awarded to Blue Lotus Productions, without
even having an approved list of props which were actually required.
Huge quantities of props remained unutilized. Some props were not even received.
Many of these props were exorbitantly priced.

OC was responsible for providing catering services at the Games Village
and venues for athletes and team officials, CGF/ CGA officials, VIPs, technical
officials and media persons, volunteers, workforce, contractors and spectators.
We found inexplicable delays in planning for catering services, as well as in the
execution of various catering-related activities

There were numerous irregularities in the award of the Games Village
catering contract. The process of award took 14 months, with two rounds of
tendering, both on single financial bids.

The cancellation of the first tender by the Chairman, OC was not only against the recommendations of OC officials, but was also done after opening the single financial bid on the Chairman's verbal orders.

This decision to re-tender weakened the OC's negotiating position vis-a-vis the
vendors and resulted in frantic activity upto June 2010 for conclusion of four
separate contracts/ agreements.

The process for award of venue catering contracts was also flawed, with
unusual delays.

This witnessed one round of cancellation of tenders and floating
of three new RFPs as late as July 2010, with compromises on transparency, quality
and economy (due to insufficient competition).

Consequently, there were numerous complaints about the venue catering services, resulting in emergency arrangements during the Games Time.

Successful organisation of the Games required several integrated technical
solutions, including a Timing, Scoring and Results (TSR) system, a Games
Management System (GMS), and a Games Time Website.

We found that planning for TSR was badly delayed and initiated only in
January 2009.

There were clear and repeated interventions at different stages to
steer the TSR contract towards Swiss Timing Omega and eliminate MSL, Spain.

Restrictive experience criteria for “end-to end service” were specified and altered,
and used to irregularly disqualify MSL, Spain.

Swiss Timing Omega and MSL Spain had jointly provided TSR solutions for Melbourne CWG-2006, Doha Asian Games-2006 and Beijing Olympics 2008, and were, thus, equally qualified / unqualified as to the “end-to-end service requirement”.

OC was left with a single financial bidder, effectively eliminating any opportunity for competitive pricing of TSR.

This facilitated award of the TSR contract to Swiss Timing Omega at an
exorbitant cost of Rs. 135.27 crore (compared to just Rs.39.84 crore equivalent at
Melbourne CWG-2006 from the same vendor).

There were also several deficiencies in the performance of TSR - in particular, the Commentary Information System (CIS) and the Games Information System (provided as Value-in-Kind sponsorship by Swiss Timing Omega).

The award of the Games Management System was also flawed. Restrictive
RFP conditions resulted in disqualification of three out of four bidders, with MSL,
Spain being eliminated through a biased evaluation.

Gold Medal Systems was finally awarded the GMS contract on a single financial bid at a total cost of Rs. 25.29 crore (compared to just Rs. 4.15 crore equivalent at Melbourne-CWG from the same vendor).

OC failed to consider the need for a Games Time website till June 2010. The award of the contract to HT-Hungama was flawed and irregular, with award procedures appearing to lack transparency. In addition to adverse media reports about the website's performance, the CGF President also confirmed serious problems with the website.

Suggested Reading –
Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part One
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-complete-cag-report-on-xix-common.html

Reality views by sm –
Friday, August 05, 2011

Tags – CAG Report On Common Wealth Games 2010 Corruption Report CAG

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Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part One

Read Complete CAG Report on XIX Common wealth Games 2010 Part One

Audit Report on the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010
This Audit Report for the year ending March 2011 has been prepared for
submission to the President under Article 151 of the Constitution.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Commonwealth Games has been tabled in Parliament.


1. During the meeting of Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) General Assembly in November 2003, Delhi won the bid to host the DXIX Commonwealth Games 2010.

2. the host city contract was signed in November 2003 between the CGF, Indian Olympic Association, Government of India (GOI) and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) with the Organizing Committee (OC) (which was constituted later), becoming a subsequent signatory.

3. the XIX Commonwealth Games were successfully held in Delhi from 3 to 14 October 2010

4. The competing bid from Hamilton, Canada did not involve deficit guarantees from the Canadian Federal and Provincial Governments, nor did they agree to be parties to the HCC

5. In the case of India thus, the Games became the property of the nation

6. SM – Canada showed the intelligence and did not accept the guarantee. Government guarantee for meeting the cost of the Games surely gives the scope for corruption. How many people you know who use government property properly. Ever saw anyone burning private properties in the protest.

7. bid document of May 2003 envisaged the OC as a
8. Government-owned registered society, with the Chairman of the OC Executive Board (EB) being a government appointee, and the IOA President being only the EB Vice-Chairman
9. the OC was ultimately set up in February 2005 as a non-Government registered society, with the IOA President Mr. Suresh Kalmadi as the Chairman of the OC EB.

10. This change was orchestrated through a sequence of events, commencing with a document titled as an “updated bid” of December 2003 (which had no legal sanctity or relevance), indicating a changed structure. This “updated bid” dated December 2003 surfaced only in September 2004, viz. 16 months after the IOA made its bid and 10 months after that bid had already been declared successful!

11. Despite serious objections from the erstwhile Minister, YAS, late Shri Sunil Dutt, Shri Kalmadi was appointed as the OC Chairman, based on a PMO recommendation of December 2004.

12. This decision facilitated the conversion of the originally envisaged Government-owned OC into a body outside Governmental control, without commensurate accountability to Government and concomitant controls to ensure propriety and transparency (despite full financial guarantee and funding from Government)

13. In the absence of a single point of authority and accountability and the lack of a clear governance structure, a multiplicity of co-ordination committees were created, disbanded, and reconstituted at different points of time.

14. There was a seven-year window from the award of CWG-2010 to Delhi in November 2003 to its hosting in October 2010, which was not appropriately utilized.

15. The time window from November 2003 to mid-2006, which could have been effectively used for planning, clearances and approvals, was wasted. The OC itself was registered only in February 2005, while EKS was appointed by the OC as the consultant for preparation of venue briefs and site plans only in July 2006.

16. The IOA bid of May 2003 estimated an all-inclusive cost of just Rs. 1200 crore (after setting off operational expenses against estimated revenues from hosting the Games).

17. By contrast, the overall budget estimate for CWG-2010 for GoI and GNCTD (including MCD, NDMC and other agencies) as of October 2010 was Rs. 18,532 crore. This excludes investments by other agencies (such as DMRC and AAI/ DIAL) on allied infrastructure.

18. The internal control environment and decision making structures within the OC were highly inadequate. The state of documentation in the OC was so inadequate that we are unable to derive assurance as to either the authenticity or the completeness of records
19. Contract management by the OC was irregular and deficient.

20. The state of contract documentation is such that we are neither sure of the entire sequence of events leading to award of contracts, nor about the total number of contracts and work orders awarded.

21. We were also unable to ascertain complete contract-wise payments and outstanding liabilities.

22. The processing of certain sensitive contracts/ cases was allocated in an arbitrary and ad hoc manner to certain officials who had no linkages with the concerned Functional Area. Such action diluted the process of due diligence and scrutiny.

23. The argument of urgency was used to obviate the regular process of tendering for award of contracts.

24. CAG found numerous instances of single tendering, award on “nomination basis”, award of contracts to ineligible vendors, inconsistent use of restrictive Pre-Qualification (PQ) conditions to limit competition to favor particular vendors, inadequate time for bidding, cancellation and re-tendering of contracts, and inexplicable delays in contract finalization, all of which seriously compromised transparency and economy. Further, there were numerous deficiencies in the appointment of external consultants and advisors and management of the multiplicity of contracts thereof.

25. We also found that the OC-IOA relationship was blurred, facilitating grant of irregular benefits to IOA at the expense of the OC/ GoI through various means
26. between March 2007 and July 2008, the revenue projections skyrocketed from Rs. 900 crore to Rs. 1780 crore. In our view, this increase in revenue projections (mainly on account of inflated projections of sponsorship revenue and donations) was made with the sole objective of keeping pace with the vastly increased operating expenditure estimates, so as to maintain the claim of revenue neutrality.

27. Both MYAS and MoF failed to exercise necessary due diligence, and did not seriously challenge the OC's claim of revenue neutrality.

28. In reality, the total committed revenues amounted to just Rs. 682.06 crore, and the net revenue actually realized by OC (after deducting revenue generation costs) was just Rs. 173.96 crore

29. It could generate committed sponsorship revenue of just Rs. 375.16 crore (against the target of Rs. 960 crore), out of which nearly 67 per cent was from Government agencies/ PSUs.
30. No revenue has been received on account of merchandising and licensing rights. The engagement of SMAM as the consultant for sponsorship and erchandising/ licensing rights was flawed, as it was based on a single financial bid. It was also unduly influenced by the recommendation of the CGF CEO, and placed undue emphasis on international experience (ignoring the vast potential of the Indian market).

31. OC chose not to derive lessons from the poor performance of SMAM leading upto the Games, and terminated its contract only in August 2010.

32. The agreement for national broadcasting rights between OC and Prasar Bharati was signed only on 23 September 2010, resulting in generation of just Rs. 24.70 crore of revenues for the OC. With regard to international broadcasting rights, OC could sign agreements for only Rs. 213.46 crore, of which only Rs. 191.40 crore has been received.

33. Gross ticketing revenue of just Rs. 39.17 crore was realized (against the target of Rs. 100 crore). The appointment of the ticketing consultant and the ticketing agency was delayed enormously, and sale of tickets commenced only in September 2010. The generous distribution of high value complimentary tickets was excessive (nearly thrice that of earlier CW Games at Manchester and Melbourne). Also, OC adopted a wide range of ticket pricing, contrary to the recommendations of consultants, which contributed to low ticket sales (particularly of high denominations).

34. OC included a revenue target of Rs. 300 crore in July 2008 from donations/ raffle, against which it collected a paltry sum of Rs. 0.99 crore.

Reality views by sm –
Friday, August 05, 2011

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4 Billion Years Ago Earth had 2 Moons which Collided Merged – New Scientific Theory

4 Billion Years Ago Earth had 2 Moons which Collided Merged
– New Scientific Theory

Scientist always tried to find the reasons and understand why the near side of the Moon - the one visible from Earth - is flat and cratered while the rarely-seen far side is heavily cratered and has mountain ranges higher than 3,000m.

Researchers after studying computer simulations found that a collision with a second, sibling moon in Earth's early history might solve the longstanding puzzle of why the two faces of the moon differ so dramatically.


The moon shows only one face to the Earth because its centre of mass is slightly off-centre – around 2km closer to our planet than the geometric centre.
There is no dark side of the moon, though much of the surface spends 14 days in daylight and 14 days in darkness.



Left side - Far side of moon --------------- near side of the moon right side


According to scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Bern in Switzerland, two moons merged in a very slow collision more than 4 billion years ago to create the one that lights up the night sky.

Prevailing idea is that gravitational tidal forces are to blame for the moon's lopsided outer layer.
But current theory can explain the vast differences in the lunar landscape.
The moon's far side has mountainous highlands while the side facing Earth is low and flat.
Scientist claim that the remnants of a second moon that orbited the Earth billions of years ago may be splattered across the far side of our moon.


Big Impact of the moon theory –

Dr Martin Jutzi from the University of Bern in Switzerland, who led the research, said it is likely that both moons were created at the same time, when an object the size of Mars crashed into Earth and broke up.

Earth was struck about four billion years ago by another planet about the size of Mars. This is known as the global-impact hypothesis. The resulting debris eventually coalesced to form our Moon.
This new theory says the incident also created a smaller, second moon.

Asphaug and Jutzi have created a computer model showing that the Moon's current state can be explained by a collision with a sister moon about one-thirtieth the Moon's mass, or around 1,000 kilometers in diameter.

Computer models showed that a sister moon roughly 1,200km in diameter could have accompanied the larger moon around the Earth for tens of millions of years.

But as the two moons' orbit moved further away from Earth, the balance of forces became unstable and they collided.

A high-speed impact would have punched a giant crater into the moon and kicked a shower of rock into space, but if the two bodies met at less than three kilometers a second, the smaller moon would have splatted onto the surface of the larger and stayed there.

Martin Jutzi said that "It's kind of a gentle collision that doesn't form a big crater. The smaller moon gets more or less pancaked onto the larger moon."

Further he said that the impact thickened the moon's crust on the far side, creating the highlands and forcing subsurface magma to the opposite side. "It wouldn't matter where the impact happens, because after the collision, the moon would reorient itself so that the material left from the impact was on the far side.

Now scientist are planning to further prove this idea by is to compare Jutzi and Asphaug's simulations with details of the moon's internal structure, gleaned from lunar maps drawn up by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and high-resolution gravity maps of the moon, which will be obtained next year by Nasa's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission.


New Theory Explained in simple language

1. Earth is hit by another planet the size of Mars

2. Then two moons were formed from the debris following same orbit

3. Moons move away from earth and in that they came close to each other

4. At low speed both hit each other and got merged

5. Smaller moon pancakes across the face of larger

6. This is the reason difference between two sides of Moon. Far Moon and Near Moon which we see

Reality views by sm –

Source – published in the journal Nature - The study appears in the journal, Nature

Tags - Two Moon Theory

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Gene Pitney - Just One Smile with lyrics and video

Gene Pitney - Just One Smile with lyrics and video

Just One Smile - "Gene Pitney" - Peak Position; #64 in1967

Below are the lyrics of the song Just one smile


Can’t I cry? A little bit.
There’s nobody to notice it.
Can’t I cry if I want to?
No one cares?

Why can’t I pretend?
That you love me again?
All I’ve had has been taken from me.
Now I’m crying, and tears don’t become me.

Just one smile, the pain’s forgiven.
Just one kiss, the hurt’s all gone.
Just one smile, to make my life worth living'.
A little dream to build my world upon.

How I wish I could say.
All the things that I want to say.
If some way you could see what’s in my heart.
I don’t ask for much.
A look, a smile, a touch.
Try to forget, Lord knows I’m trying.
But it’s hard to forget, when your whole world is dying.

Just one smile, the pain’s forgiven.
Just one kiss, the hurt’s all gone.
Just one smile, to make my life worth living'.
A little dream to build my world upon.

(Fading)
Just one smile, the pain’s forgiven.
Ahh just one kiss, the hurt’s all gone...

Watch the video of the song just one smile by Gene Pitney




Reality views by sm

Tags – Classic Music Songs Gene Pitney Just one smile

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BMC Commissioner KO Bill Bhejo campaign - Dilip Moorkoth a Powai resident Mumbaikar with difference

BMC Commissioner KO Bill Bhejo campaign - Dilip Moorkoth a Powai resident Mumbaikar with difference

How to fight against path holes t Dilip Moorkoth (35), a Powai resident Mumbaikar with difference acts

Are you frustrated and angree Mumbaikar because of path holes and no roads?

As normally there is no road present we Indians are used to use the path holes everyday finding the road.


Now here is the Motto of Dilip Moorkoth (35), a Powai resident Mumbaikar
If any of the many potholes in the city have damaged your person or property in any way, go ahead; send the monthly bills to the civic commissioner.

Dilip is encouraging people and teaching them to fight for our own rights
He says that not to simply sigh with frustration at potholes, but take some concrete action to address the situation instead.

Dilip Moorkoth is a senior management executive with a private company, has taken up the crusade against the city's potholes, initiating a unique campaign - BMC Commissioner KO Bill Bhejo on site Facebook.

As part of the campaign, Moorkoth has appealed to Mumbaikars to join him in collecting monthly bills for expenses incurred owing to potholes.

He intends to present these bills to the civic chief shortly, so he can forward them to contractors who have failed miserably in making good their many promises of repairing potholes properly.

This means that next time if you suffer losses because of path holes, like you damage your car and have to spend money on repair send the bill to the BMC.

This means that next time if you suffer losses and have to do medical expenses as because of Path hole you damage or your leg and you fall on the road send the Bill to the BMC Commissioner Subodh Kumar.

On August 15, 2008, a frustrated Moorkoth had lodged a non-cognizable complaint at the Powai police station against the MMRDA and the BMC, submitting the many complaint token numbers that he received in earlier attempts.

But we know nothing happens as our laws are like Jokepal bill only to fool us Indians.

Do you know that where the rich and political people reside 365 days the roads are in good condition
We the poor people of India only suffer as we are not united.

Do you know the name of any officer or contractor was fined or went to jail for giving path holes on the name of Road.

Reality views by sm –

Tags – News Mumbai BMC Path Hole Roads Corruption

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Mcafee reports Hackers hacked 72 Nations – know about operation shaddy rat and which nations were how hacked

Mcafee reports Hackers hacked 72 Nations –
know about operation shaddy rat and which nations were how hacked

Information security company Mcafee uncovered one of the largest ever series of cyber attacks in the history.
Hackers targeted the computer networks of 72 organisations around the world over a five-year period, in the biggest hacking campaign discovered to date, security firm McAfee said on Wednesday.


McAfee's chief European technology officer, Raj Samani told to BBC that
the attacks were still going on.

The spying was dubbed "Operation Shady RAT," or "remote access tool" by McAfee -- and it led to a massive loss of information that poses a huge economic threat.

What does the "RAT" in Operation Shady RAT stand for?
RAT stands for "remote access tool," a type of software that hackers and security professionals often use to access computer networks from afar.


Who are the victims?
Which countries or organisations were hacked?
Following is the list of organisations, countries that were hacked.
1. Governments of Canada,
2. India,
3. South Korea,
4. Taiwan,
5. United States
6. Vietnam
7. International bodies such as the United Nations
8. the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
9. the International Olympic Committee
10. the World Anti-Doping Agency
11. - 12 US defense contractors, 1 UK defense contractor
12. Companies in construction
13. steel
14. energy
15. solar power
16. technology
17. satellite communications
18. accounting
19. media
20. Other groups ranging from a US insurance association to the Nevada county government and think tanks.

When the hackers started to attack and how the attack was made?
Mcafee said that attacks started before year 2006 few lasted for a month and few lasted up to 28 months.

The hackers sent so-called spear-phishing emails, which are tainted with malicious software, to specific people at the targeted organisations. When the unsuspecting individual clicks on an infected link, it allows intruders to jump on to the machine and use it to infiltrate the computer network.

McAfee Vice President of Threat Research Dmitri Alperovitch said the attacker sought data that would give it military, diplomatic and economic advantage.

McAfee's Alperovitch said he believes that a nation state was behind the attacks, but he declined to identify it.

Mr. Alperovitch told Reuters that "This is the biggest transfer of wealth in terms of intellectual property in history," he said. "The scale at which this is occurring is really, really frightening."

He said that McAfee had notified all the 72 victims of the attacks, which are under investigation by law enforcement agencies around the world. He declined to give more details, such as the names of the companies hacked.

Jim Lewis, an expert in cyber attacks with the Center for Strategic and International Studies said that presence of Taiwan and the International Olympic Committee in the victims list suggest China is most likely the perpetrator of the attack.

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Tags – News Technology Hacking Mcafee 72 Countries Hacked China

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An Open Letter all Member of Parliament an appeal to all MPs From Anna Hazare

An Open Letter all Member of Parliament an appeal to
all MPs From Anna Hazare

Anna Hazare has written an open letter to the MPs making an appeal to them not to allow introduction of a Joke pal that is Lokpal Bill.

Read the letter written by Anna Hazare to all MPs.

Dated: 2nd August 2011


To,

Hon’ble Members of Parliament

Parliament of India

New Delhi

Subject: My sincere appeal to prevent introduction of the anti-poor Lokpal Bill passed by the Cabinet

Dear Hon’ble Members of the Parliament,

Like many of you I have been serving my country to strengthen democracy at the grass roots. Like many of you all my efforts have been focused on reducing the sufferings of the common man, the poor farmer, worker or service person. Again like many of you I have seen from very close quarters how corruption hurts the poor most.

It is only to protect his interests that I volunteered to be a part of the joint drafting committee. I regret to share that many issues which were addressing common man’s persisting concerns have been totally overlooked in the government cleared bill.

Introduction of such a defectively structured bill is an affront to the honorable Parliamentarians, which does not have the option of debating on some of the critical issues that we had raised for a strong anti-corruption Act.

1. A Strong Public Grievance Redressal mechanism – with penalties so that all departments can work effectively to reduce corruption, which is creating so much misery for the poor.

Inclusion of lower bureaucracy under the ambit of the Lokpal – most cases of corruption of poor, farmers, workers and general populace would be in the interaction with the lower bureaucracy. All cases of corruption even at higher level and political levels would not be possible without involvement of the lower officers.

2. Same bill should create a strong, accountable and independent Lokpal as well as Lokayuktas at state level – because many of the corruption cases impacting the poor involve state government officers.

3. Independent selection, funding and removal mechanism to ensure autonomy of function.

4. Strong effective checks and balances to ensure accountability and transparency of the Lokpal and Lok Ayuktas.

5. Many other important issues like the coverage of the PM, Judiciary, MPs in Parliament, dismissal of corrupt officers, strong punishment, and empowerment along with checks and balance of Lokpal etc.

While there are many important issues in the lokpal I write to focus and highlight the plight of the common man yet again being left out.

It is my hope that the institution of the Parliament will continue to uphold its glorious heritage and prevent introduction of such an ANTI POOR bill by the government.

A copy of the comparative statement of our demands vis-à-vis the government draft is enclosed herewith for your perusal.

Yours’ Sincerely,

Anna Hazare

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Tags- News Corruption Anna Hazare India Against Corruption Letter MPs

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