When Whistle Blowers in India got blown off (Killed)

A whistle blower is a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public. The term “whistle-blowing” originates from the practice of British policemen who blew their whistles whenever they observed commission of a crime. Whistle blowing means calling the attention of the top management to some wrongdoing occurring within an organization.

A whistle blower may be an employee, former employee or member of an organization, a government agency, who have willingness to take corrective action on the misconduct.As per Sec.177 of the Companies Act, 2013, certain companies  have to establish Vigil/Whistle-blowing mechanism to report any unethical behavior or other concerns to the management.

How Safe are Whistle blowers in India?

We are presenting cases where Whistle blowers got themselves blown off (Killed) by goons as there is hardly any protection provided to them by the Government. Let us see the first case.

 Case No1.

 Satyendra Dubey (1973-2003) was a project director at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) spots huge financial irregularities in handling of GQ project.Sends an anonymous letter to the PMO with a separate CV attached telling the PM how many contractors had "submitted forged documents to justify their technical and financial capabilities" to win bids for the contract. Requests PM not to reveal his identity. Letter is forwarded along with the CV to the Ministry of Road,Transport and Highways.On Nov 27,2002, Shot dead in Gaya. Case is presented as that of robbery by CBI.

Fixed Assets' Componentization

Fixed Assets' Componentization

IFRS (IAS 16) requires companies to separate fixed assets into their component parts, if the cost of an individual part is significant in relation to the cost of the total asset.  Once fixed assets get disaggregated, companies can more easily account for the reality that different components have unique physical and economic lives.  Assets with shorter lives can then be depreciated at rates faster than those applied to assets possessing longer lives.

India has also introduced the new Companies Act 2013, replacing the old Companies Act 1956. The new Companies Act has introduced a new concept for measurement of depreciation and useful life of assets that is similar to the concept of component accounting under IFRS (IAS 16). This may have a significant impact on the financial statements of asset intensive industries.

Objectives of component accounting:

• To improve and make depreciation accounting more reflective of reality and to facilitate accounting for the replacement of components
• To ensure that the financial position is fairly reflected in the balance sheet and that the income statement appropriately reflects the consumption of economic benefits inherent in those assets

HELICOPTER MONEY IN INDIAN CONTEXT

Helicopter money is name coined in reference to an idea made popular by the American economist Milton Friedman in 1969 In the now famous paper “The Optimum Quantity of Money”, Friedman included the following parable:

Let us suppose now that one day a helicopter flies over and drops an additional INR 100 Billion in bills from the sky, which is, of course, hastily collected by members of public. Let us suppose further that everyone is convinced that this is a unique event which will never be repeated.”The basic principle is that if a central bank wants to raise inflation and output in an economy that is running substantially below potential, one of the most effective tools would be simply to give everyone direct money transfers. In theory, people would see this as a permanent one-off expansion of the amount of money in circulation and would then start to spend more freely, increasing broader economic activity and pushing inflation back up to the central bank’s target.

Helicopter Money in Indian Context 

Over the last two years Government of India is expediting the financial inclusion in a big way so that all Indian Citizens have bank accounts. Govt has started process of direct transfer of subsidies/benefits to Individual Indian Citizen account. A day is not far when Govt of India may wave of all Loans taken by Indians farmers/Persons having small incomes or to make country’s Middle class happy by slashing the Income tax rates or reducing housing loan interests /Increasing drastically the salaries of all Govt.employees thereby creating demand and economic growth further.

Another way which is adopted by many politicians is to siphon off money earmarked for country's development and then distributing this directly to rural voters to win elections. Whatever way is chosen “Helicopter money” had been and will remain prominent with Indian Masses down the poverty line. Biggest amount of Helicopter money goes to some fraudulent business owners (I will not name any)  through Public sector Bank Loans and gets adjusted/waived off as NPA s (or Bad loans) by these banks and such fraudulent business promoters leaving India in helicopter and vanish for ever with CBI-Enforcement Directorate chasing them and Govt showing helplessness,What a pity.