I had opportunity to go to the HAl for inspecting one of its facilities. I was shocked to see many workers sleeping in the hanger. The bosses looked the other way because they know the power of the unions. If one tries to drive on the old Airport road towards Whitefield, you have to choose a time well before 2.45pm on 'working' days, as the HAL buses stream out of the facility, with people already sleeping in it. This is not to belittle the institution which has many sincere people in its employment. The problem is with the public sector attitude where there is a brazenness about the employees 'rights'. One often wonders about the fate of air-force fighters which are maintained by the organisation. Along with Air-India, it is high time it is privatised.
Re: The HAL
by piri on Feb 11, 2018 11:45 AM
And it will be unsaid but very convenient if such *privatisation* can give either the BJP or the Congress thousands of crores of rupees as usual in kickbacks to run very expensive election campaigns while declaring a tiny fraction of such expenses to the election commission as they always do !!
And of course, the middle classes would, as usual, remain far too stuxpid to understand how the loot works and take such *privatisation* as *development* !
Re: Re: The HAL
by Radhakrishnan on Feb 11, 2018 01:28 PM
Fabian Socialism has been a failure. Private enterpreneurs are the ones who can bring in efficiency and quality. The checks and balances in the system will take care of corruption. Corruption not withstanding, the Bofors guns are a good product.
Re: Re: Re: The HAL
by piri on Feb 11, 2018 03:16 PM
Fabian socialism failed or did not fail depending on how receptive and alert common people have been. In India, its success or failure varies heavily from place to place. Kerala is one example where it has been a huge success, so much so that the state ranks almost on a par with many developed economies in terms of various indices of human development ! On the other hand, it has not even been tried seriously enough in some of the worlds most backward boondocks (north Indian states) only because commoners in those states are, by and large, too stuxpid to understand what is good for them !
As a result, 28 lakh poor north Indians now work in Kerala because they get Rs 600 to Rs 800 per day for unskilled manual work whereas they get just Rs 80 to Rs 150 in their boondock states !
Private enterprise and Privatisation are not exactly the same !
Privatisation in the Indian experience of the last 2 decades (whether under the Congress or under the komaaaali party) has almost invariably been large scale or very large scale loot of state wealth by croxny capitalists who bribed the Congress and the BJP with huge kickbacks to allow them to do so !
There are innumerable examples. The 2G scam arose from one such attempted loot (by Anil Ambani) to get bandwidth (a natural asset of the general public) at throwaway prices !
Private experience, in the Indian experience, on the other hand, involved both big time thieves as well as many who are not thieves !
stinks primarily because the Modi govt is attempting to use this defence purchase as a conduit to channel money from the Indian exchequer to the pocket of Anil Ambani !
There is no other reason why the public sector HAL, which has the expertise, infrastructure and viability (it has been turning in thousands of crores of rupees in profit for several years) to undertake maintenance and manufacture of high end defence aircraft with TOT, has been unceremoniously pushed out of the deal and the hurriedly set up conduit company - Reliance Defence limited - has been brought in by Narendra Modi in the revised deal with Dassault !
There is no other reason why the price for the Rafale has apparently tripled compared to the earlier deal which was bogged down in long negotiations !
And, the deal stinks also because Nirmala Sitharaman, after first fumbling in response to journalists queries regarding the price finalised in what she claimed to be a *better* deal and then promising to come back to them with the price, turned up instead with a new claim that the price cannot be revealed due to a mystery clause in the agreement !
Anil Ambani, whose attempt to go big in data and telephone services by bribing the UPA ally DMK was torpedoed by the then CAG with his famous Rs 1.76 lakh crore comment, was ailing with a Rs 1.25 lakh crore NPA he owed to various public sector banks.
The Modi govt began the *rescue* of this croxny capitalist and a few others like him with its deceptively named program of *bank recapitalisation* !
Rs 2 lakh crores was paid to the ailing PSU banks (to which such big time thieves as Anil Ambani and his brother and a few others owed a total of more than Rs 6 lakh crores) from public funds !!
This lessened Anil Ambanis debt by a sum that is yet to be disclosed by the banks despite several RTI queries sent to them.
Now, with this windfall Rafale deal tailor made to transfer tens of thousands of crores from the exchequer into his pocket, Anil Ambani is set to arrive *back in the black* !
Hon.,Mrs Seethamqann had hardly taking charge of the Ministry when she said that details will be given. UPA should be realistic on her statement. The reasons given for not open disclosure are very reasonable and this controversy should be buried by UPA for good otherwise UPA will be badly exposed and lose all moral authority to seek clarifications on NDA's actions. The Standing Committe of Defense is there where such matters can be discussed and cleared in confidence rather than with a spirit of washing dirty linens of either side.
Why should they not be taken as appropriate? If the Congress does it, its fine. I suggest that both go to the Privileges Committee and disclose every bit of all such contracts. Do not be selective in this choice. Also ensure that no information placed before the committee is debated or leaked. This will clear the air of both sides.
Sir in my opinion congress and its supporter are trying to manufacture corruption in this deal of NDA, because they have tried every trick in book to malign NDA, but failed, hence trying this trick, Director of drama is R===OWL bawa.
Are you all rediff guys and journalist Gandhi chamchas ? There can be no price for freedom, it is priceless. If we do not upgrade the technology from time to time, we will be left behind. Bloody Congress people just wasted 10 long years for the fighter jet and did nothing. Do you even know what this fighter jet is capable of ? You stupid people will just keep on jumping on the price like jokers. As IAF could no longer wait, it was right to cancel the 124 fighters bid and take 36 fighters into straight flying in war readiness. Since French previous Kargil war hero Mirage 2000 is outdated, and this Rafale is its advance version with better capabilities, this deal was right, rather than wasting more time. Technically a very superior aircraft with great avionics and maneouverabilty. It is foolish to even right such articles.
... What if its a special price for only India with a clause that if the price is revealed, the deal remains cancelled, as all other countries will demand the same price.
Also, what if revealing the price involves revealing details of additional components
