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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Robert Vadra needs to answer allegations, land market distortions must be corrected

Robert Vadra needs to answer allegations, land market distortions must be corrected

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published Published on Oct 10, 2012   modified Modified on Oct 10, 2012
-The Times of India

The India Against Corruption (IAC) group led by Arvind Kejriwal levelled fresh charges againstRobert Vadra yesterday, pointing to a quid pro quo deal with real estate giant DLF for business on highly favourable terms. That came on top of earlier accusations that the large funds provided by DLF to Vadra facilitated lucrative deals, which allowed the latter to amass extensive real estate, in return for favours provided by the Congress governments in three states. While IAC has by no means advanced proof for its allegations against Vadra, the questions raised are serious and deserve an answer from him. 

Instead, Vadra has responded with a species of aristocratic disdain with his barb about "mango people in a banana republic", referring to IAC. 'Mango people' here is a verbal play on 'aam admi'. But if it was just a joke as Vadra now claims, he should realise that the joke is actually on him, as the so-called "banana republic" is ruled by the UPA, and Vadra happens to be Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law. 

Congress isn't the only party under the scanner on corruption. That the BJP has refused to leverage the Vadra papers, in the public domain for more than a year, is in itself an admission of the party's reluctance to probe such matters in depth. The political parties' ambivalent, if not muted response to the revelations seem to underscore their own insecurities, as well as their murky records on corruption. The open secret of India's political class is how quickly relatives of well-connected politicians come to acquire vast assets in a short space of time. It can't be that they are all very smart businessmen. There's a systemic malaise at work here, with powerful politicians at both the central and state levels facilitating close relatives amassing fortunes through control over land and natural resources, even as the rest of the economy spirals downwards. 

One reason why land has become an important source of arbitrage is its inelastic supply because of government restrictions on usage of the land, coupled with discretionary powers of politicians to relax those restrictions. To tackle the problem at its root it is necessary to develop a buoyant land market, by curbing those discretionary powers, easing land acquisition laws, making establishment of land title easier and auctioning large tracts of land available with central and state governments.

The Times of India, 10 October, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Robert-Vadra-needs-to-answer-allegations-land-market-distortions-must-be-corrected/articleshow/16744083.


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