Whether or not, our politicians dispense their political
duties to their utmost capabilities, they do come up with the most brazen and
stumping arguments. The reason for debate now is the new entrant in the quagmire
of scams, the coal mining scam.
Now that the sophisticated glamour of the finance ministry
has been re-established with the entry of Mr.P.Chidabaram, the UPA seems to be
banking on him to tote the “no loss theory”. According to our union finance
minister, the 1,86,000 crore rupee loss to the exchequer, as given in the
initial report produced by the Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) is, but a
delusional number. His argument is based on the fact that the process of mining
has not yet been carried out so technically the companies, to which the blocks
had been allocated, have not benefited monetarily. This argument is
unimpressive and weak coming from a politician that of Mr.P.Chidabaram’s stature.
Let us discuss why.
Yes, the actual mining has not taken place as of now, but is
it not a fact that the coal blocks are no longer under the government’s
authority and control? Is it not fact that the private players can dictate how
that coal can be priced? Is it not fact that one of the primary motives behind
any business is profit, and that it is no different for the new owners? Not
only this, but looking at the issue at hand from the perspective of Dalal
street; the mere holding of these coal blocks by those certain companies, the
likes of Essar Power, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Jindal Steel and Power,
could have and will continue to, arguably increase their market value along the
line. The moral here is that, profit has been a reassuring actuality to these
companies and loss, a biting reality to the exchequer.
Another reason that this theory has been touted as ridiculously
weak, lies in its similarity to the erstwhile argument propounded by, indeed,
Mr.Kapil Sibbal during the 2G spectrum scam. Because the coal has not yet been
unearthed, does it forever negate the occurrence of its sale at higher prices altogether?
It is very important for both of our esteemed UPA colleagues to understand,
that, just because the barracks are empty, does not necessarily mean that the
war is not imminent. As is tradition, the blame game now ensues with Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh relaying the rhetoric of complete responsibility for
his decisions as the ex-coal minister while simultaneously passing the buck to
the state governments. Yes, it is within his right to condemn the governments that
had opposed the move to auction the coal blocks during the UPA first regime in
2006. But this free for all tomfoolery by the coal ministry in his regime, under
his nose, how will he be able to justify that?
The only theory that the government seems to be following apart
from the “zero loss theory” seems to be the “Hawley’s Risk theory of profit”
which states that, the riskier the industry, the higher it’s profit rate. The
industry here is politics.
