The former cooperative minister of Bihar, Ramadhar Singh, who was jailed earlier has been denied bail.

He was declared absconder in 1995 case leading to his resignation from cabinet.

Later he surrendered in Aurangabad court which sent him to jail. Complaining of deteriorating health he sought permission to be admitted to hospital. But the court asked the medical superintendent to report on his health condition.

His bail was rejected by the court on the ground that he has been absconding for many years. His opponents, citing previous cases, argued that an absconder is not given bail.

The fact that court summons were hanging on him was well known to the former minister, argued the lawyer. In his election petition he has very well mentioned pending cases against him to the election commission.

The court has fixed 9th June 2011 for next hearing of the case.

The cooperative war in Bihar has taken ugly turn with BJP and RJD pitted against each other. The deputy chief minister has publicly called Ramadhar Singh’s arrest and prosecution, a handy work of RJD. Mr Modi promised to reinstate the jailed minister after the charges are disproved against him. RJD camp meanwhile is happy with the rejection of bail petition. Talking to indiancooperative.com, BISCOMAUN chairman Sumil Singh told that it won’t be easy for Ramadhar Singh to get bail.

Chief Minister, meanwhile has been reduced to the status of mear on looker.

The ghost of lecturer recruitment scam seems to haunt NCUI no end. A Mazumdar, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture has been entrusted with the job of inquiry into the shoddy affair and he is said to have taken up the job quite seriously.

Ministry officials have virtually lay seize of NCUI campus through both week days and  weekends. Verifying  papers and certificates they are trying to ascertain the extent of flouting of norms in the selection process.

NCUI officials led by new Chief Executive Dinesh Mishra are having tough time answering Ministry’s queries.

Indiancooperative.com had earlier reported the incidence of scam in the recruitment. PMO also got scent of it and ordered agriculture Ministry to look into the matter.

On March 14^th the Ministry has asked to stop the process of issuing appointment letters. But as reported earlier, the process was continued with back dated signatures and is verifiable by dispatch section.

Ministry sources have confirmed that 4 point directions have been issued to NCUI

1 Remove the Secretary of NCCT. Mr Paramjyot is the present Secretary who is alleged to have bungled the whole affair of recruitment.

2 Cancel the appointment thereby making the given appointment letters null and void.

3  Explanations called from Mrs Anita Manchanda, the then Chief Executive who was in the Committee and who had the overall responsibility of fair selection

4  Reduce the power of Chairman in day to day affair of NCUI such as transfer –posting, routine administration as well as financial power

It is also learnt from Ministry sources that the Chairman of NCUI  Mr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav met agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on the issue who asked him to wait till the enquiry is over.

Talking to Indiancooperative.com,  NCUI Chairman did concede of Ministerial enquiry but refused to admit incident of partiality in the selection process.

The Selection Committee consisted of Senior IAS official and men of great reputations. There may have been some hanky panky in screening but not in selection, said a confident President.

Mr Chandra Pal also said there is no proposal to remove NCCT Secretary whose future is decided every three years after review of his performance.

Goa Urban Cooperative bank fell victim to robbery on Saturday in which Rs 30 lakh was stolen from the Margo branch of the Bank.

An internal staff took Rs 30 lakh from the bank which was to be deposited in the Axis bank. The money was kept on one of the counters and when it was searched to be taken to Axis bank it was not there.

The branch manager has lodged a complaint with the Margo town police.According to police there was no cctv in the bank which resulted into easy stealing.

Nature of theft points to internal collusion in the whole affair which would be clear only after the police enquiry is completed.

Home and Transport Minister R Ashok of Karnataka inaugurated the new building of Kaggalipura Agriculture Cooperative Bank at Kaggalipura on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister told the cooperative banks not to depend on assistance from the government.

“National banks mainly give loans for business or industrialists in urban areas and they can’t reach more people. In the rural areas, cooperative banks should work for development of farmers and betterment of their life and agriculture. I wish more cooperative banks to come up in rural areas.

All self  help groups should work together and win the trust of people for the agriculture development. The government is giving more importance to agriculture in the state, I wish all the farmers to get benefit from this,” he noted.

Addressing the farmers and villagers of Kaggalipura, the Karnataka Housing Board Chairman G T Devegowda said, “Wherever there are cooperative banks those places are developed.

The cooperative banks are active in the rural areas. Since the banks the banks’ officials will be localites, they know the people better and giving loans will be easier.”

Founder of the Art of Living Foundation Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said: “There are 30,000 people in the village. Only 4,000 have people taken the membership of the cooperative society.

I wish by the end of this year it should have a minimum of 10,000 members.” Kaggalipura Agriculture Cooperative bank is a branch of Ravugodlu Agriculture Cooperative Association which has a turnover of Rs 52 crore annually.

President of the bank, staff members and villagers were present.

Ela Bhatt, the founder of NGO Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), was Saturday awarded the Radcliffe Institute Medal by Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in recognition of her “life and work that have benefited society”.

Bhatt was presented the medal, awarded annually to individuals who have substantially and positively influenced society, on Radcliffe Day, a traditional event that follows Harvard’s Commencement ceremonies.

“When women have an income of their own, they are able to fight their own battles in their own way. For that, economic freedom is the key,” Bhatt said.

“In my experience women are the key to building holistic communities,” she added.

Although her workers still occupy the “margins” of society, “it is from the margins that real transformation comes to the centre,” Bhatt said.

Bhatt founded SEWA in 1972. Conceived as a women’s trade union, SEWA has grown into an NGO that offers microlending, health and life insurance, and child care – all overseen by more than a hundred women-run cooperatives.

SEWA membership has grown to about 1.3 million. “The Radcliffe Institute is proud to honour her this year, in which gender in the developing world is one of its dominant themes,” the Institute said.

Bhatt has been recognised for her long battle for social justice.

In November last year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had honoured Bhatt at the Global Fairness Initiative Award.

Radcliffe Day is the Institute’s annual celebration of women, as well as the alumni and fellows of Radcliffe College and the Radcliffe Institute.

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University is a scholarly community where individuals pursue advanced work across a wide range of  academic disciplines, professions and creative arts.

Within this broad purpose, the institute sustains a continuing commitment to the study of women, gender, and society.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has found evidence of financial transactions between Mumbai Congress chief Kripa Shankar Singh and former Jharkhand minister Kamlesh Singh, an aide of ex-chief minister Madhu Koda , who is in jail and facing charges of corruption.

During a search at the Gurgaon residence of Kamlesh Singh’s son Surya Sonal Singh on Wednesday, CBI found evidence of a one crore transfer, in two installments, from Samta Sehkari Cooperative Bank, Mumbai, to Sonal Singh’s account in the Shalimar Bagh branch of ICICI Bank. The account in the cooperative bank is operated jointly by Kripa Shankar Singh’s son Narendra Mohan and his wife Ankita, the daughter of Kamlesh Singh.

Also, CBI found that 1.3 crore was deposited through few tranches between July-October, 2008, in the cooperative bank account of the couple. Investigating agencies are trying to find out if this is Kamlesh Singh’s ill-gotten money y during his stint as a minister in the Koda government.

Kripa Shankar Singh has been under CBI scanner for over a year. The Bombay High Court had last June asked CBI to investigate his role in Koda’s money-laundering case. Singh and his family members were asked to respond to a public interest litigation filed by activist Dinanath Tiwari, which accused them of amassing wealth and assets by using ties with the former Jharkhand chief minister Koda.

Dinanath Tiwari’s alleged that Kripa Shankar Singh had by virtue of his role as Congress in-charge of Jharkhand played a vital role in installing Koda as the chief minister.

His son later married the elder daughter of Kamlesh Singh, who was a minister in the Koda government.

Koda and Kamlesh Singh are in jail for almost a year-and-a-half. They were arrested by Jharkhand’s vigilance bureau in November, 2009, for possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. They face charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act too.

During the searches conducted at Surya Sonal Singh’s Gurgaon residence, which is in his father’s name, CBI sleuths came across six bank accounts – two each in the State Bank of India and ICICI Bank, and one each in IDBI Bank and HDFC Bank. While one account in the ICICI Bank is in the name of Surya Sonal Singh, the second is a HUF account in the name of Kamlesh Singh’s second daughter Manisha, who is married to the son of leader of the opposition in Jharkhand assembly, Rajendra Prasad Singh.

CBI officials also found a Hyundai Verna and an Audi in the possession of Surya Sonal Singh.

The second car, Surya Sonal Singh claimed, was in the name of his sister Manisha, who is staying with him for preparing for an exam., said the officials.

Courtsey:ET

Former Bihar Cooperative Minister was at last sent to jail on Thursday in Patna. The issue of communal statement made by him in the wake of Ayodhya demolition was gathering heat over some weeks now.

The Minister was sent to jail but not without  physical fight between his lawyers and Opponents’. Talking to Indian Cooperative.com Sunil Singh, Chairman of Biscomaun said that ‘Wrong doer is finally in jail”. He said that his lawyers turned violent and tried to derail the process by indulging into violence but the court finally sent him to jail.

Being four time BJP MLA, Deputy CM Sushil Modi had earlier lent his support to the Minister and assured his followers that Ramadhar Singh would be back in the Cabinet as soon as court cases are settled.

The fight to remove him is as much legal as political. He had tightened the screw on the existing cooperative leaders, most of whom have allegiance to RJD. According to one of his supporters his opponents ferreted out long forgotten cases against him by burning mid night oil. But that too is not going to sustain in the court of law.

Meanwhile, the fight between two groups has also become personal with Biscomaun Chairman again daring the Minister to spell Biscomaun correctly. Talking to Indian Cooperative.com Sunil Singh said rather sarcastically that we would resign and pave way for Ramadhar Singh if he proves himself competent.

Readers may be aware that the jailed Minister had ordered vigilance enquiry into the affairs of Biscomaun.

Yara International which entered into failed Joint Venture with Kribhco and ended up paying a bribe of one million USD to some “Indian Consultant” has reacted to the story of Indian Cooperative.com.

We produce below mail sent by Bernhard Stormyr, Information Manager / Informasjonssjef  Yara International ASA.

Dear Ajay,

In this recent article on indiancooperative.com, you write:

“The story of revelation of one million USD pay off to an Indian Consultant in Kribhco-Yara joint venture is no different. It was also revealed by the authorities of Norway only while raiding Yara International on some other pretext not involving Kribhco.”

http://indiancooperative.com/kribcho/kribhco-scam-will-yara-turn-approver/

This is not accurate.

An internal whistleblower gave notice on this case to Yara’s management. Consequently, Yara’s Chief Compliance Officer informed The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim).

Following our warning of this issue to Økokrim, Yara’s office was searched to find evidence.

So the searching of Yara’s office was directly related to the Kribhco case, which we informed Økokrim about.

I ask that you correct the story on indiancooperative.com accordingly.

So it’s wrong to state that there was a raiding on another pretext. The pretext was information on the Kribhco case, and this information came to Økokrim from Yara.

I’d appreciate if you could do your best to verify this and update the article at your earliest convenience.

If you have sources that claim there was a raid on any other pretext, I would like to reach out to this/these sources to clarify the issue.

Regards

Bernhard Stormyr
Information Manager / Informasjonssjef
Yara International ASA

Indiancooperative.com would indeed endeavor to present the story as truthfully as it can. Editorial Board seeks apology if there indeed had been omission of facts-Editor

Political maturity has at last begun to bring the two allies-NCP and Congress close again,After the in initial fire work and acrimonious exchanges,  saner mind is prevailing once again.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said in N Delhi that the row over the issue of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) will not have any impact on the ties between his party and the Congress in the state.

The Union Agriculture minister also indicated that his party and the Congress would contest the local body elections scheduled by 2011 end separately.

The Reserve Bank of India has been requested by the state government to consider allowing the bank to continue its business as its net worth for the fiscal last ended figured to a positive amount of Rs 238.14 crore.

Earlier, Prithavi Raj Chavan ,the Chief Minster has told media that the dissolution of Board of MSCB was not political. It was not aimed at weakening the grip of NCP on the farmers’ community who are backing NCP for the benefits they got through cooperative banks.

A truce is inevitable given the fact that Shiv Sena, BJP and now Athawale have joined hands to take on Congress-NCP combine. The tone and tenor of leaders of each parties Congress as well as NCP has softened over the weeks.

Meanwhile, there is  report that  NABARD may refinancing the MSCB. The state government has made a strong pitch with RBI for this purpose. Meanwhile, the political heat over ot MSCB between the ruling allies Congress and NCP is easing slowly with each realizing the futility of this showdown.

The Reserve Bank of India has been requested by the state government to consider allowing the bank to continue its business as its net worth for the fiscal last ended figured to a positive amount of Rs 238.14 crore.

Indian tax authorities can never find out cases of corruption. Whenever high profile corruption cases involving Indians have cropped up , sources have mostly been in foreign soil. In the CWG scam also it was British  authorities which revealed kickback while raiding the accounts of UK based AM Cars and Films.

The story of revelation of one million USD pay off to an Indian Consultant in Kribhco-Yara joint venture is no different. It was also revealed by the authorities of Norway only while raiding Yara International on some other pretext not involving Kribhco.

Indian cooperative.com is collaborating with the leading Norway Financial newspaper to get at the bottom of truth.

According to information acquired by Indiancooperative.com, Norway Police is investigation the matter quite seriously. The police in Norway is in many ways very silent when it comes to this case. Its quite normal in cases of corruption. But they keep on investigating the case.

The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime is conducting the investigation. Senior public prosecutor Marianne Djupesland in the Corruption Team is leading the investigations.

Police found evidences of a payment during a police raid against the head quarter of Yara.

Yara International ASA is the world’s leading chemical company that converts energy, natural minerals and nitrogen from the air into essential products for farmers and industrial customers. Its global workforce is more than 7,300 employees having headquarters in Oslo. It operates in more than 50 countries and sales to about 150 countries.

In addition  to the Kribhco deal, Yara signed a MoU with Deepak Chemicals and Fertilisers in January 2008. There have been no allegations related to corruption in this deal.

But what ultimately may tip the scale is possibilities of Yara turning approver in the case. Having caught off-guard, Yara has defended itself by saying that the company alarmed the police about suspicious transaction related to a deal in India.

Presently Yara International officials are tightlipped on the matter. But once the matter hots up and authorities tighten the screw it may turn to be approver in the matter.

The same happened in case of AM Films of UK in CWG scam. AM Films now wants to be approver and is ready to reveal all details.

The scale of the scandal in terms of finance  is quite small but the implication could be far-reaching. Kribhco is a cooperative with avowed promise of helping farmers and its members. People managing the affair of Kribhco are not managers but high profile politicians who are never tired of talking about patriotism.

Unfortunately, Ministry has no role in Kribhco’s affair. Though govt share to the tune of 30 per cent is with it,  its affairs are conducted by Board of directors who are elected through polling.

Indiancooperative.com is keeping close watch and days are not far off when it would be able to expose the black sheep.