2G SPECTRUM














The 2G spectrum scam in India involved the issue of 1232 licenses by the ruling Congress-led UPA alliance of the 2G spectrum to 85 companies including many new telecom companies with little or no experience in the telecom sector at a price set in the year 2001. The scam involved allegations regarding the under pricing of the 2G spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications which resulted in a heavy loss to the exchequer, and the illegal manipulation of the spectrum allocation process to favour select companies.
The issue came to light after the auction of airwaves for 3G services which amounted to 677,190 crore to the exchequer. A report submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General based on the money collected from 3G licenses estimated that the loss to the exchequer due to under pricing of the 2G spectrum was 176,379 crore.
The scam came to public notice when the Supreme Court of India took Subramaniam Swamy's complaints on record . It is a very dangerous scam by A Raja. There still many licenses sold from A Raja....

Former telecommunication minister Andimuthu Raja, who is facing trial in the country’s biggest corruption scandal, deflected blame onto the prime minister in court on Monday, saying Manmohan Singh had knowledge of a key decision, media quoted him as telling a special 2G trial court.


The pre-trial comments put the government on the defensive after efforts by Singh to move past a series of damaging corruption scandals that have paralysed government policy-making and hurt foreign investment in India, Asia's third largest economy.Raja, a member of UPA coalition partner DMK, has been charged with flouting telecoms rules and accepting bribes to favour some firms when they sought lucrative mobile phone licences at rock bottom prices, possibly causing the state losses of $39 billion in revenue.Shortly after the licences were sold on a first-come-first-serve basis a number of foreign companies, including Norway's Telenor and Etisalat, bought stakes in the Indian companies at much higher prices, hence prosecutors believe a crime was committed.


"Where is the crime? Where is the conspiracy? Telenor buying a stake in Unitech Wireless and Etisalat buying a stake in was totally legal as per the corporate law," Raja said. "The finance minister approved the sale in the presence of the PM. Let the prime minister deny it," Raja said.Ministers from the ruling Congress party were immediately deployed to say no such divestment had taken place and accused the opposition of seeking to derail the parliamentary session.

PARLIAMENT PARALYSIS THREAT?


The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seized on Raja's comments demanding Singh's resignation. That demand could be an ominous portent for the government gearing up to introduce major reform bills such as on land acquisition in the next session of parliament.The Congress party, the largest in the coalition government, has sought several times to distance itself from the telecoms fiasco, a case that has damaged relations with the DMK and pricked investor confidence."They are preparing the ground because it's the ideology of the BJP not to allow parliament to function," telecoms minister Kapil Sibal said. They want a paralysis because they want to hit headlines of newspapers.
Kanimozhi, an MP from Tamil Nadu has also been charged with handling $45 million worth of bribes in connection with the 2G scandal. She has denied any wrongdoing.