Corruption is the wound that keeps bleeding.

In 2001, the then BJP government did not allow Dnata, a company based in Dubai and with links to Pakistan, to win contracts at Indira Gandhi airport at Delhi after the Intelligence Bureau raised concerns about the company. The owner of the company, one Moin Qureshi is a meat exporter based in Kanpur but has an extensive network with politicians and civil servants, as member of Doon School old boys and St Stephens old boys societies, some of whom are close to the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi. Having been thwarted in 2001 he tried again in 2013 through a former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, AP Singh. Qureshi was paying a large sum of money to rent a portion of Singh's house in New Delhi. Meanwhile the Comptroller and Auditor General has reported that the previous Congress government in Delhi did not carry out much development work in illegal colonies despite spending Rs 30.3 billion for the work. The Aam Aadmi Party is demanding that former Chief Minister, Sheila Dixit should be sacked from her post as Governor of Kerala so that she can be prosecuted. We remember that Ms Dixit was appointed Governor of Kerala within hours of the previous incumbent stepping down, to avoid the code of conduct before the general elections, and has steadfastly refused to resign her post despite being politely nudged by the new BJP government. Corruption produces massive amounts of black money which can only be invested in real estate. So property prices in India have been rising despite a slowdown in the economy. Since stamp duty and registration fees are extremely high in India people rarely show the full value of any property they buy so half the value is paid in cash or black money. Politicians are always greedy for increased tax revenue so that they can distribute handouts to win elections so they keep on increasing ' circle rates ', allegedly to decrease black money. Circle rate is the minimum rate set by the government on which the stamp duty will be calculated even if the actual sale value is less than that. That leads to further increase in prices of properties and then the circle rates are hiked again. Of course, nothing can go on increasing in value forever so one day prices will have to crash. Till then the constantly rising real estate prices and rents mean that ordinary people find it difficult to survive. So our girls have to go to extremely dangerous places in far off lands to earn money for their families to survive. Maybe the US Federal Reserve will help us by raising interest rates in the US which may force the Reserve Bank to increase rates here. That will be very interesting indeed.