tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809414561174316144.post1214821431103913131..comments2024-03-13T16:51:19.256+05:30Comments on babus of india: Post JPC grilling, CAG Rai’s reports on S-Band, UMPP may become harsherBoI Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13245810347655135358noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809414561174316144.post-14785033612346780972011-11-17T16:43:24.607+05:302011-11-17T16:43:24.607+05:30Why shouldn't CAG Vinod Rai and Rekha Gupta b...Why shouldn't CAG Vinod Rai and Rekha Gupta be impeached?<br /><br />The impact on the exchequer of the policy not to auction 2G spectrum must be based on a normative judgment of what policy <br /><br />seeks to achieve with telecom. Is to maximize revenue? If so, they should auction to the highest bidder to maximize revenue. <br /><br />Or is to maximize market penetration that enables the maximum number of individuals in a poor country to afford the service? <br /><br />Then these services need to be priced the cheapest. <br /><br />Governments cannot have the cake and eat it too - meaning that they have to choose either of the options. The UPA <br /><br />government, just like the NDA government before it, opted to maximize market penetration. So we have today around 600 <br /><br />million mobile connections, one of the highest in the world. Even a beggar or a fish vendor or a domestic helper or an <br /><br />autorickshaw driver can be found with a mobile phone. The UPA policy substituted a share of the revenue from telecom <br /><br />services for up-front charges. The policy of not collecting up-front charges for spectrum underpinned this telecom spread. The <br /><br />CAG report ignored all this and came up with its notional loss that are nothing but arithmetic extrapolations divorced from <br /><br />policy intent or consequence. The 2G scam lay, as the charge framed by the CBI court notes, in the fiddling of the queue for <br /><br />fresh licences, not in the policy of not auctioning spectrum.<br /><br />It is unfortunate that the common man fell for this conspiracy of viewing 2G spectrum as a scam. Unfortunate as they did not <br /><br />ask what will happen to their per minute mobile costs if spectrum was indeed auction and for the value - Rs 1,658 crores <br /><br />which CAG estimates as the loss. This would have made mobiles a luxury service for only the super rich with per call per <br /><br />minute at least Rs 16. As it is, without paying spectrum charges, companies like Reliance are running in the red, trying to <br /><br />recoup their investment. Imagine if they had to apportion spectrum fees into their operational costs! India has one of the <br /><br />cheapest mobile rates in the world. Instead of celebrating these cheap rates, the BJP conspiracy turns it as a scam.<br /><br />Read more: http://exitopinionpollsindia.blogspot.com/2011/11/parliament-should-impeached-cag-vinod.htmlRajan Alexanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07496301416048254072noreply@blogger.com