DTN News - CORRUPTION AS A BARRIER TO INDIAN PROGRESS: Indian PM Faces Heat Over Lost $211 Billion By Selling Coalfieds Too Cheaply To Firms
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 23, 2012: Opposition legislators have staged noisy demonstrations in the Indian parliament after a draft report from a government auditor said the country had lost up to $211b in revenue from selling coalfields too cheaply.
(Read full article at Defense-Technology News - Link: http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/03/dtn-news-corruption-as-barrier-to.html)
Thursday's uproar added to pressure on Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, after months of scandals and policy missteps.
The prime minister's office called the estimated loss "exceedingly misleading," after the report - leaked from the federal auditor and published in the Times of India newspaper - prompted calls for an explanation and rattled investors.
The leaked draft from the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) office criticised the allocation of 155 coalfields to about 100 private and some state-run firms between 2004 and 2009, questioning why they were not auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The firms mentioned include a subsidiary of the world's largest steel maker, Arcelor Mittal, whose shares were trading down 3.2 per cent in Amsterdam.
"This is the mother of all scams," said Venkaiah Naidu, a senior leader in the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party."The prime minister should reply," he said.
