Full 2G Spectrum Scam Story

What Is basically 2G scam ?

• 2G licenses issued to private telecom players at throwaway prices in 2008
• CAG: Spectrum scam has cost the government Rs. 1.76 lakh crore
• CAG: Rules and procedures flouted while issuing licenses.
• Person accused is the Telecom minister : A.Raja

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said it has submitted to the government the report on the 2G spectrum allotment that is presumed to have caused a revenue loss of up to Rs. 1.76 lakh crore.

• CAG has accused the telecom ministry for undervaluing 2G spectrum, sold to new players in 2008, and held that the allotment price was not realistic, which has caused a revenue loss of up to Rs. 176,700 crore to the government.
• The report is also believed to have castigated telecom minister A Raja for ignoring the advice of finance and law ministries on allocation of 2G spectrum to benefit a few operators.
• It is also believed to have criticised telecom regulator TRAI standing as a helpless spectator when its recommendations were being ignored or misused.
• The CAG report said the price at which the spectrum was alloted in 2008 was based on 2001 prices, which was quite low and has resulted in a loss to the government exchequer.
• Also, no proper auction method was followed and no bids were taken to sell out the spectrum.

Yielding to relentless opposition pressure, Union telecom minister A Raja resigned 0n the wake of the 2G Spectrum allocation scam on 14th november.

Who All Benefited from This Scam ?

• 2G spectrum was allocated beyond contracted quantity to 9 firms including Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL, Reliance, Aircel," the report said.Niira Radia is said to be involved.Read her details.
• Department of Telecommunications (DoT) circumvented the rules to help Swan Telecom, which effectively acted as a front for Reliance Telecommunications. The charges in the CAG report are that Swan should not have been considered for a license because Reliance Communications held 10.7% stake in Swan - and according to the rules, a telecom operator cannot own more than 10% stake in another telecom company operating in the same service area. "Email ID of Swan Telecom was shown as that of a Reliance ADA group official
• Another big beneficiary of the 2G spectrum allocation was Unitech Wireless, which had no experience in the telecommunication sector.
• After Unitech got the license for a throwaway price of Rs. 1,661 crore, it sold 60 per cent stake to Telenor Asia for a whopping Rs. 6,200 crore.

The political crisis after the scam

• The stand-off between the government and the Opposition over 2G scam continues. The Opposition wants a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the 2G scam.
• Parliament has not functioned at all this winter session - the Opposition says it won't let the House get to work till a JPC is announced.
• Niira Radia also seem to be involved in big way to 2G spectrum scam.She is a corporate lobbynist for big corporate leaders like TATA group, Reliance Industries etc.

Source : http://mustknowledge.co.cc