FM must own responsibility; resign to save face
Entrepreneur Vijay Mallya has blasted quite a few bombs sitting in his abode abroad. While the water crossed the danger mark, Mallya has pushed union minister Arun Jaitley and tried to perch over the minister’s back to save his life. He has informed the media that he tried meeting the finance minister before he left India, and had even expressed his inclination to clear the dues up to the tune of Rs 9000 crore that he owes to various banks.
Finance minister Jaitley has also broken his long silence and said Mallya only met him in the central hall in the parliament and that it was an informal meeting. Many people like Mallya have played a big role in the economic distress the country is facing today. Demonetisation was done to save big corporate loan sharks like Mallya, and the poor had to push themselves to cough up money to make good for the bad loans that the government had given to the barons.
Now things are coming to light about what aspect of the government helped Mallya escape the legal framework of this country. Reserve Bank former governor Raghuram Rajan has brought a few facts to light in the recent times. He said when he left office upon completion of his term, he had submitted a list of risky loans that could cause problems in the future. Government could have initiated action against the likes of Mallya immediately thereafter. At least, caution could have been exercised to ensure he and his ilk didn’t leave the country.
Rajan had specifically sent a report on NPA (Non Performing Assets) and that it was imperative to initiate action against such loans. Bad loans had caused problems to banks during UPA-I. This response has somehow made the Modi government somewhat happy. But the other statements of Rajan has got the government very worried because they are direct jibes at the NDA. Rajan has precisely said the central government has failed to take action against default loaners and has not shown due diligence in probing the bank irregularities.
NDA government is projecting that it is busy creating a policy to deal with dormant assets/properties since the last few years. Among the policies that were brought into force, amendment to banks and financial institutions loan recovery act 1993, and the Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill.
Through this, loan recovery tribunals have been established and code on bankruptcy and financial distress has been included.
Despite this, banks have not shown great progress in loan recovery, says Rajan. Reasons for this are quite clear. The corporates who get big loans are clearly on the side of the government. The government may pretend to initiate action on them, but in reality would protect them. Now this statement by Mallya is proving the apprehension right.
Within a few days after Rajan’s statement, Mallya said he had shown interest in clearing the loan during his conversation with the finance minister. Even the minister has concurred to this, partially. So, for the precarious situation that country is facing financially, the finance minister is solely responsible. And yet, he does not deem it fit to resign accepting his responsibility. This shows the insensitivity of the person. The current situation has failed to reprimand even a single defaulter. While Rajan had sent a letter with the list of those who had taken big loans, he had even mentioned that he’d help file a case against at least a few high profile cases to recover the loans. But since this was not met with any or positive response, Rajan moved on. Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi’s names also figure in the list Rajan submitted to the PM’s office.
So the escape route for loan sharks has become easy under NDA government since the biggies can bribe the higher ups. Mallya’s escape is dubbed as ‘escape with help’ from the government as per the current higher officers.
Weapons dealer Sanjay Bhandari had left the country under the most watchful period by the government. Former IPL chief Lalit Modi was helped by Sushma Swaraj to obtain papers to leave the country. The defaulters are grabbing the headlines everyday with their cleverly executed plans. But some of them are still living in the country. Though the union government may say it is not responsible for the escape of Mallya, it is indeed answerable about why no action has been initiated regarding the others.
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Maharashtra Dy CM Ajit Pawar, four others killed in plane crash
Baramati (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four other persons on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Maharashtra’s Pune district on Wednesday.
The 66-year-old leader’s death has not only left a vacuum in the BJP-led state coalition government, but also cast a shadow on the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he headed.
His uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar said the plane crash was an accident which shouldn't be politicised.
The "black box" (comprising the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder) from the aircraft, will be analysed after recovery to determine the cause of the accident, an official said.
Ajit Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.
The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali.
The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar's death.
The aircraft, a Learjet, was cleared for landing in Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance it did not give any read-back' to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.
In aviation parlance, a go-around is a standard procedure where a pilot discontinues a landing attempt and initiates a climb to fly another approach. It is used when a landing cannot be completed safely due to factors like poor weather, an unstable approach, or traffic on the runway. It is a proactive safety measure rather than an emergency.
A readback is a crucial safety procedure where a pilot repeats back the essential parts of a message or instruction received from Air Traffic Control (ATC). It acts as a "closed-loop" communication system, ensuring that the controller's instructions were heard and understood correctly by the flight crew.
The 16-year-old chartered aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, crashed while attempting a second landing approach at Baramati airport which is an uncontrolled airfield where traffic information is typically provided by instructors and pilots from local flying training organisations.
V K Singh, owner of VSR Ventures, said the pilot apparently could not see the runway and carried out a "missed approach", a standardised procedure in such cases.
Terrifying eyewitness accounts have emerged from the site of the aircraft crash as residents near the Baramati airport described a scene of chaos as the plane appeared to lose control before erupting into a series of big explosions.
An eyewitness described watching the aircraft circle the airport, noting it appeared 'a bit unstable' before its final approach. According to her, the plane 'hit the ground hard and exploded' upon impact, with the blast being heard in homes throughout the area.
Later, the Civil Aviation Ministry, quoting the person manning the Air Traffic Control at Baramati, issued a statement about the sequence of events indicating that the flight encountered visibility issues during its landing attempt despite reports of calm weather.
The statement said that at 8.18 am, the aircraft first established contact with Baramati air traffic control after being released by the Pune approach at 30 nautical miles (around 55 km) inbound to Baramati.
The crew was advised to descend at their discretion under Visual Meteorological conditions and were also informed that winds were calm and visibility was approximately 3,000 metres.
Upon reaching the final approach for the runway, the crew reported that the runway was not in sight and initiated a go-around to reposition for a second attempt on the runway.
After initially stating the runway was still not visible, the crew reported "runway in sight" just seconds later and the ATC cleared the aircraft to land at 8.43 am.
However, the crew did not provide the mandatory readback of this final clearance and at 8.44 am, exactly one minute after the last communication, ATC personnel observed flames erupting near the threshold of the runway.
Emergency services reached the scene immediately following the explosion and the wreckage was located on the left side of the runway.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is currently analysing why the crew struggled to maintain visual contact with the runway despite the reported 3,000-metre visibility.
According to eyewitnesses, the force of the explosion was so great that parts of the aircraft were hurled through the air, landing near residential structures. "The plane tilted before coming down. We saw the explosion and it was frightening," an eyewitness said.
Another eyewitness reported that the aircraft appeared to be losing control from an altitude of approximately 100 feet above the runway.
"The way the plane was coming down, we felt it was going to crash... As we rushed towards it, we saw flames, followed by four to five consecutive blasts, which prevented us from going anywhere near the aircraft".
Pramod Madurikar, a witness at the scene, said the victims were identified shortly after the crash and were shifted to ambulances. Fire brigade personnel reached the spot shortly.
The aircraft was trying to land amid poor visibility, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu told reporters in Pune.
VSR Ventures’ fleet includes seven Learjet 45 aircraft (including the one involved in the crash), five Embraer 135BJ aircraft, four King Air B200 aircraft and one Pilatus PC-12 aircraft, the statement said.
Superintendent of Police, Sandip Singh Gill, said that after the crash, there was a fire. "People onboard were immediately taken to the hospital," he said.
Ajit Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of the Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay.
His Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had contested the recent municipal corporation elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP).
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several other leaders expressed grief over Pawar's demise.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who reached Baramati and met Ajit Pawar’s family members, described the NCP leader’s tragic death as unbelievable, and said he had lost a good friend.
Maharashtra government declared a three-day state mourning till January 30, during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast on all buildings.
Ajit Pawar’s last rites will be held with full state honours on Thursday in Baramati.
Modi and Shah are expected to attend the funeral, which will be held at Vidya Pratishthan ground at 11 am, the Nationalist Congress Party said.
