The funny money carousel.

Just once a in while our suspicions are confirmed. An unnamed contractor, based in Pune, has written a strong letter to the state government and the governor of Maharashtra claiming that bribes cost 22% of the cost of building a dam. He has given a break down of how the money is distributed. Bribes are paid to 15 people of which the Executive Engineer, Superintending Engineer, Chief Engineer and the local Member of the Legislative Assembly get 1-2% each while the Chairman of the Corporation takes in a massive 5-10%. About the officers this is what he wrote," All of them are entertained by the bidders, who give cash fixed by the department unofficially. Approximate 10% of the billed amount in cash must be paid to the executive officers. Besides, there is what is called an adjustment amount, shared equally between contractors and officers. Projects were awarded at hugely inflated costs. A work costing, say, Rs 100, was pegged at Rs 500....these contractors did much less work, but charged double the amount from the department. Politicians became partners of small-time contractors who in turn entered politics." Contractors had to " go with the flow " or they were " dealt strongly ". The saddest sentences are," This is routine established procedure. No one feels they are doing anything wrong." The irrigation scam in Maharashtra broke in 2012 when an engineer turned whistleblower but the Congress led state government found nothing. The new BJP government has authorised an investigation against the previous ministers of Water Resources but whether all the proof has been destroyed remains to be seen. Meanwhile, farmers in Maharashtra continue to commit suicide as crops fail due to scanty rainfall. Since 1995, 54,000 farmers have killed themselves in Maharashtra, of them 33,752 suicides were since 2003. It is interesting that the Congress has ruled the state since 1999, till this year, when they came in third with 42 seats, down by 40. In the new assembly 88% are crorepatis, 1 crore equals 10 million, and 165 ( 57% ) have declared criminal charges against themselves as opposed to 136 in the previous assembly. But that maybe because the Congress is adept at hiding its crimes. People in Maharashtra must be congratulating themselves because 90% of ministers in the newly formed state of Telengana have criminal charges against them. So much corruption generates massive amounts of black money which runs a parallel economy in which there are no taxes and no control by the Reserve Bank. So how much black money is there? To give us an idea an estimated Rs 6 trillion went of India in 2012 alone. What happens to this money? Some of it round-trips back to India as white to buy assets, such as real estate or stocks. A most entertaining merry-go-round, what?