Codenamed "Operation Duryodhana”, the sting was carried out over eight months, by an internet media portal, Cobrapost and a TV channel. (Note: Indian websites tend to be heavily loaded with pop-ups and other crap.)
Journalist Aniruddha Bahal, who spearheaded the sting operation, said:
“the probe logged more than 56 videotapes and 70 audiotapes besides recording over 900 phone calls.
"At times we thought our cover would be blown. But we stuck in there and finally it came through well.”
A dangerous rivalry broke out between two of the principal middlemen, Gupta and Dinesh in May when Dinesh realised Gupta was undercutting and double crossing him by introducing us to MPs without his knowledge, putting the whole operation in peril.
The team posed as representatives of a fictitious lobbying organisation called the North Indian Small Manufacturers' Association (NISMA).
They succeeded in having the MPs submit more than 60 questions in the rigorous question balloting system of parliament, of which 25, at the last count, were selected.
Sometimes, the same set of questions was put in by more than one MP.
(1 US Dollar = 46.15506 Indian Rupee INR)
The going price for questions ranged between INR15,000 and INR 110,000.
Several MPs even wanted an "annual fee" of INR 500,000 to INR 600,000 from NISMA to put in as many proxy questions as it wanted.
MPs caught on tape range across
Cobrapost paid a total of INR 500,000 to the MPs for asking questions. Manoj Kumar, the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) MP from Palamau, topped the list with INR 110,000, said post on the website.
'The particular configuration of MPs that finally emerged had all to do with the particular middlemen that the team came into contact with. If it had been a different set of middlemen, the configuration of MPs would obviously have reflected that.' Cobrapost
Among the questions commissioned:
Has the ministry lifted the 1962 ban it imposed on the book "For whom the
A Reason to Rort?
There was a side report on what an Indian MP gets paid. The salary of an MP in
* INR 14,000 (about $311) for office expenses every month, which includes INR 3,000 for stationary items, INR 1,000 on franking of letters and INR 10,000 for secretariat services.
* A monthly constituency allowance of INR 10,000.
* A daily allowance of INR 500 when Parliament is in session. Parliament has three sessions every year. The Budget Session (February to May), Monsoon session (July to September), and Winter session (November and December).
* A daily travel allowance of INR 8 per kilometre.
* Each MP and his spouse or companion is entitled to unlimited, free, first class railway travel anywhere in the country.
* They can also travel anywhere in India, with a spouse or companion, 40 times by air free of cost every year, business class.
* An MP gets a sprawling bungalow in the heart of
* Each MP gets near-free electricity of 50,000 units every year, and free water.
* The MP's bungalow is furnished, with air conditioners, refrigerators and television sets; free of cost. Maintenance of the house, including washing of sofa cover and curtains, is done free of cost by the government.
* MPs are entitled to three phone lines and 170,000 free local calls every year.
* When an MP travels abroad officially, he is entitled to free business class air tickets. He is also paid a daily travelling allowance, which varies depending upon the country being visited.
* Most medical expenses of MPs are taken care of by the Contributory Health Service Scheme of the Union government.
* Each MP also gets INR 20 million (about $434,782) each year from the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Fund. But the MP does not get the money directly. Instead, it is transferred to respective district headquarters where projects are being implemented.
* After an MP completes a term in office, he is entitled to pension. The basic monthly pension amount is INR 3,000 (about $66). But it goes up according to the number of years an MP has served in Parliament.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of
2 comments:
They had a really interesting piece on the media secret camera stings in India on NPR this morning.
It talked about a couple different ones and said that it was the result of privatization, that suddenly a whole bunch of new news stations are competing for viewers, and these stings are one part of that.
Your post made me think of that.
Mike
It's great that privatization can actually lead to some positive results. Usually it just creates more graft. I wonder what India's anti corruption people were doing while this was happening?
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