Random Thoughts - Pattabhi Sitaraman

The much awaited judgement was finally delivered on 21st December 2017 on the by far the biggest scam the country had seen during the UPA-1 and UPA-2.  The allocation of spectrum for 2G connectivity in 2006-07 on the principle of 'first come first served' instead of auctioning it and alleged benefits to many political and non political persons in the bargain was the basis of the case. The issue came to light with the then Comptroller and Auditor General of the country (CAG) assessing a presumptive loss of Rs. 1.76 lakhs crores (INR 1760 billion = approximately USD 28.39 billion) to the ex-chequer in his report to the parliament on the Telecom Ministry.  The then government was forced to institute a CBI inquiry into that and the SC took matters in its hand and asked the CBI to file charge sheet. The CBI arrested the then Telecom minister A Raja as a conspirator and later he got bail. The CBI also arrested Ms. Kanimozhi, an upper house MP in the Indian Parliament on the charge...

The concept of protecting the public deposits with the banks came up after the banking crises in Bengal in 1948.  The Rural Banking Enquiry Committee set up in 1950  recommended various measures to protect the interests of the depositors with commercial banks which included insuring the deposits with the commercial banks. But this idea got further cemented  after the Pala Central Bank Ltd. in Kerala and the Lakshmi Bank Ltd. crashed, It forced the hands of the government and a bill was submitted to the parliament during August 1961 and the Deposit Insurance Corporation came into being as and from 1st January 1962. Another Corporation that was formed in 1971 viz. Credit Guarantee Corporation was merged with DIC and it came to be known as DICGC from 1978.  From a small amount at the time of inception of the corporation the amount of insurance coverage of deposit with the banks has been progressively increased to Rs. 100,000/- in 1993. Presently the government has...

The title of this is somewhat akin to the question that was asked and tried to be answered by the great journalist CHO S Ramaswamy,editor of Thuglak. He asked the question "Where is the Brahmin?" and wrote a full blown novel based on this question to try to answer the question.  The similarity ends there.  There is not much any one has not tried to explain in the past that I am trying to answer. It is another feeble attempt that enables me to spend the time to generate a topic for discussion in the social media.  With this proviso, let me take you into the following write up. In the past, one can very comfortably conclude that India had not been a single nation.  There was Gandhara in the north west which is presently in Afghanistan known as Kandahar to Chera kingdom adjoining the western sea and Pandya kingdom adjoining the eastern sea  in the southern peninsula . Thus the present day India was divided into many small kingdoms and these were in existence ...