Probe BSY role in illegal mining: SC--ToI-12.5.12 Order To CBI Hits Ex-CM’s Comeback Bid Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the CBI to probe former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa for allegedly permitting illegal mining by major corporate groups like Jindals and the alleged “windfall profits” reaped by his relatives through quid pro quo by mining firms. A bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and Swatanter Kumar accepted the April 20 report of its environmental panel, Central Empowered Committee (CEC), and asked the CBI to complete the investigations in three months and file a chargesheet against accused persons before the court concerned. The bench rejected the pleas of Yeddyurappa, Jindal Steels and South West Mining Ltd who attempted to persuade the court not to accept the CEC’s recommendations for a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the award of mining leases, iron ore extraction and the payment of donations as a quid pro quo to NGOs run by the ex-chief minister’s relatives. The order is a setback for Yeddyurappa who was hoping for a comeback as CM, and interferes with BJP’s plan to put its Karnataka house in order ahead of the challenges of state and Lok Sabha polls. Although the BJP strongly resisted Yeddyurappa’s demand for reinstatement, its hopes of protecting its new-found dominance in Karnataka hinged on the Lingayat strongman’s return to the helm in Bangalore. The setback for Yeddyurappa may ensure the continuation of Sadananda Gowda as chief minister: hardly an appealing prospect for those who are worried about BJP’s sliding graph in Karnataka. Asking the agency to treat the CEC report as “informant’s information to the investigation agency”, the apex court said, “The CBI shall undertake investigations in a most fair, proper and unbiased manner uninfluenced by the stature of persons and the political and corporate clout, involved in the present case. The CBI shall complete its investigation and submit a report to the court of competent jurisdiction with a copy of the report to be placed on the file of this court within three months.” It further said, “Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and all other government departments of that or any other state to fully cooperate and provide required information to the CBI.” The court expressed anguish over the CEC report pointing out the inaction on the part of government and statutory authorities to stop rampant illegal mining of iron ore carried out with impunity under political patronage in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. “The facts in the present case reveal an unfortunate state of affairs which has prevailed for a considerable time in the mentioned districts of both the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The CEC has pointed out, and the complainant and petitioners have also highlighted, a complete failure of the state machinery in relation to controlling and protecting the environment, forests and minerals from being illegally mined and exploited,” said Justice Kumar, writing the 46-page judgment. The abject failure of the state and statutory authorities to stop devastation of the environment and forest through illegal mining was the trigger for the apex court to order CBI probe and direct it to bring the guilty to book. Justice Kumar, writing the judgment, said, “Wherever and whenever the State fails to perform its duties, the court shall step in to ensure that rule of law prevails over the abuse of process of law.” THE WAY FORWARD TILL YEDDY GETS READY Options before Yeddyurappa Lie low till CBI inquiry is completed Try to strengthen his position in the party even as inquiry is on Strategize to keep his flock together Team up with G Janardhana Reddy and B Sriramulu Attempt to float a new political outfit and support Congress to defeat BJP Destabilize the Sadanan d a Gowda government Stay within the BJP and demand that Gowda and K S Eshwarappa be replaced with his supporters Demand accommodation of his supporters during cabinet expansion Slowly fade away from politics in the face of arrest Options before BJP Lend moral and leg legal support to Yeddyurappa Sympathize with BSY, meet his minor demand s Keep Yeddyurappa at bay and build party image Keep distance as the party is fighting corruption at the national level Key accused in illegal mining scam gets bail Hyderabad: Gali Janardhana Reddy, Obulapuram Mining Company director and prime accused in the illegal mining case, was granted bail by a CBI court here on Friday. Gali, who is currently in a Bellary jail, is also accused in another mining case in Karnataka and will walk free only if he secures a bail there. TNN Using NGO’s to coerce nation -- The Pioneer –8.5.12

Non-Western nations have long known that non-Government organisations, ostensibly set up to provide humanitarian services to citizens in their

respective countries, such as against the police or other public authorities, fighting poverty or environmental degradation, are funded by foreign regimes to serve their agendas. They are, in that sense, a tool of

coerciive diplomacy, or war by other means. Some weeks ago, Egypt, front-runner of the aborted Arab Spring, clamped down on foreign NGOs and refused to license eight US civil groups, including the election-monitoring

Carter Centre, prior to the presidential poll. Under Egyptian law, NGOs cannot operate without licence.

American NGOs, called ‘quangos’, tend to focus on promoting democracy abroad, an euphemism for electing Governments that serve American interests. Last month, the UAE decided to shut down the offices

of an American ‘quango’ run by the Democratic Party but mainly funded by the US Government. Observers said the move was engineered by Riyadh and other capitals that felt the ‘quango’ was interfering in

their internal affairs, and hence urged the UAE to close it. Many capitals view ‘quangos’ as intrusive

of national sovereignty. By grooming ‘democracy activists’ — recall the Colored Revolutions in former Soviet republics —they create the environment for US-desired changes to occur. The decision by the UAE and other Gulf countries to curtail the functioning of German and US foundations is likely to usher in a new system whereby entities directly or indirectly funded by foreign Governments will be allowed to function only under negotiated agreements and can no longer operate as they please. The National Endowment for Democracy, closely associated with the Reagan Administration, was conceived as a tool of US foreign policy by its founder MrAllen Weinstein, a former professor, Washington Post writer, and member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a neo-conservative think-tank whose members included Mr Henry Kissinger and MrZbigniew Brzezinski. The NED’s first director, Mr Carl Gershman, was candid that it was a front for the CIA. From its inception in1983, the NED’s annual funds are approved by the US Congress as part of the United States Information Agency budget. Its activities include funding anti-Left and anti-labour movements; meddling in elections in Venezuela and Haiti; and, creating instability in countries resisting imperial America.Freedom House, set up in 1941 as a prodemocracy and pro-human rights organisation,

is engaged with the Project for the New American Century, and much of the

War-mongering in Washington, DC. The Bush Administration used it to support its

‘War on Terror’. The US Government provides 66 per cent of its funding via US AID, the State Department, and the NED.

Freedom House leapt into the Arab Spring, training and financing civil society groups and individuals, including the April 6Youth Movement in Egypt, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, and grassroots

Activists in Yemen.

The Bush Administration also compelled NGOs to serve its imperial agenda. In 2003,US AID Administrator Andrew Natsios saidthe NGO-USAID link helped the Karzai Government to survive, but Afghans did not appreciate this. In Iraq, he wanted NGO work there to show a connection with US policy. It is difficult to be more explicit.By far the most important tool of empire is Amnesty International. Its current executive director, Ms Suzanne Nossel, was previously Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Organisations at the US State

Department. She is credited with coining the term ‘smart power’ to achieve US goals by

recruiting others to work for them, as in Libya, where Washington used the UN to engage in ‘humanitarian intervention.’ Amnesty has actively joined the propaganda war against Syria. The author of a 2011 report on custody deaths in that country confessed in an interview that Amnesty had not been allowed to enter Syria at the time, so research for the report was done mainly from London, neighboring

countries and other sources. In other words, unverified information. In India, despite decades of unhappiness

with Western NGOs, the Union Government decided to openly confront

them only when it felt aggrieved over the stalling of its _15,000 crore Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu, and   protests over genetically modified crops. Indian law bans NGOs from taking foreign

funds for political purposes or affecting the security, strategic, scientific or economic

interest of the state. The Church-organised Kudankulam protest was purely political.

Popular concerns over the power of NGOs, however, stem from their staggering funding, dubious agendas including religious conversion, and untrammeled powers to interfere in domestic matters. Data available

with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, as reported first by The Pioneer, shows that in

the nine years between 2001 and 2010, NGOs received more than _70,000 crore. The

highest donors were the US, Germany and Britain, and the most significant recipients

include Gospel For Asia Inc, USA (_232.71crore), Foundation Vicente Ferrer, Barcelona,

Spain (_228.60 crore) and World Vision Global Centre, USA (_197.62 crore).

                          Analysis of the data shows that the greatest ums out of the foreign contributions were

utilised for establishment expenses (_1482.58crore), followed by rural development(_944.30 crore), welfare of children (_742.42crore), construction and maintenance of school/college (_630.78 crore) and grant of

stipend/scholarship/ assistance in cash and kind to poor/deserving children (_454.70crore). Note the diminishing values. Now, if 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the funds of any organisation are spent on establishment expenses, such as buying land, buildings, vehicles, office infrastructure,

mobiles, laptops and cameras, paying salaries, consultancy fees, honorarium, and on foreign

travel, should such expenditure be tax free when there is no public beneficiary? Huge sums are expended on conversions, which also cannot be designated as ‘charity’ or ‘public service’. World Vision, in particular, has an exclusive Christian identity, as attested to by its own website, where it admits that while 20 per cent of its world wide staff belongs to other faiths, all prospective staff are expected to affirm their Christian faith in writing. This was after firing some staff in America for changing their religious affiliations. In the light of these experiences, many Indians feel that the country does not need foreign aid to improve the lot of its citizens,

and that all social service activities can be meaningfully conducted with local donations. As India itself provides considerable assistance to other Asian and African nations, there is no merit in accepting foreign funding on the

pretext of charity, and then using the same for conversions or politics.

(The Church was actively involved in

organising the NGO-sponsored protests against

the Kudankulam nuclear power project.)