Corruption at all level of Govt service-from Councillor to Minister and Peon to Collector.

All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.
Buddha

Tata reference to bribe demand creates furore

 TV reports on Monday quoting Ratan Tata saying that an unnamed aviation minister had asked him for a bribe — more than a decade ago — to clear his airline proposal raised a storm on Monday with former aviation minister C M Ibrahim bristling over the allegation and threatening to commit suicide unless Tata named the minister. The Tata group clarified later in the evening that the industrialist had not said he had been asked for a bribe.
    To a question on corruption during an interaction in Dehradun, where he was keynote speaker for Uttrakhand’s foundation day, Tata said his plans to float an airline jointly with Singapore Airlines fell through because he refused to pay for getting clearances.
    “I happened to be on a flight once, a fellow industrialist (was) sitting on a seat next to me and he said, ‘You know I don’t understand, you people are very stupid. You know that the minister wants 15 crore of rupees, why don’t you just pay, you want the airlines’. I said, ‘You will never understand this; I just want to go to bed at night knowing that I haven’t got the airline by paying for it’,” Tata said in reply to a question on corruption in government.
    He added how, even after approaching three prime ministers, “an individual thwarted our efforts to form the airline”. Tata refused to throw any more light on his remark.
    In its clarification denying Tata had been asked for a bribe, the Tata group said it was the fellow industrialist’s view point.  
Tata group denies bribe reports
Mumbai/Dehradun: Following reports on Monday that an unnamed aviation minister had asked Ratan Tata for a bribe, the Tata group went on a damage-control mode.
    In its clarification denying Tata had been asked for a bribe, the Tata group said it was the fellow industrialist’s view point. “Mr Tata in no way was in agreement to the fact that he was asked for bribe by any minister,” it added.
    But the initial TV and news website reports saying Tata had been asked for a bribe — before the clarification was issued — evoked an angry reaction from Ibrahim, who was aviation minister from May 1997 for less than a year. “Tata should name the minister, or I will commit suicide,” Ibrahim told a news channel. Ibrahim clarified that he did stop the Tata-Singapore Airlines project in the interest of the nation.
    But speculation was rife in Delhi and Mumbai that Tata could have been referring to one of two other aviation ministers, BJP’s Pramod Mahajan
or JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav.
    In an earlier interview, when he was civil aviation minister, Ibrahim was quoted as saying, “I am against airlines of another country coming and operating in our domestic circuit. No western country allows a foreign airline to take over a domestic circuit. Even Singapore Airlines does not have foreign investment. Why should I allow Singapore Airlines into my country?”
In the same interview, he said, “He (Ratan Tata) came to see me and I told him, ‘I admire your family but why do you need to bring in Singapore? Do it yourself.’ I told Ratan Tata, ‘Basically you are an Indian first and a businessman next. Don’t forget that...’ I think, I have convinced him.”
    Even in early 2000, when the government put Air India on the divestment roster, the Tatas had joined hands with Singapore Airlines to bid for it. However, the privatisation plan was called off due to stiff political opposition.
    Singapore Airlines, whose association with the Tata group goes back a long way, starting with software, had sought a 40% stake in Air India, the Indian airline which was originally owned by the Tatas and was later nationalised.
    The group set up Tata Aviation Service on October 15, 1932, with the Puss Moth plane taking off from Karachi to Mumbai. However, post-Independence, the group formed a joint venture with the government and in 1953, Tata Airline was nationalized and it became Air India.
    Interestingly, the Tata group has a presence in many businesses allied to aviation, such as airports, air charter services, flight air catering, an equity interest in Spice Jet, other than the fact that Tata himself is fond of flying. A trained pilot, even after his retirement in 2012, Tata hopes to pursue his interest in flying.

Source: The Times of India dt 16.11.10