Licence Permit Raj morphed into a Land Mafia Raj

I am appending my letter published (edited version) in the Times of India (November 4, 2010), Mumbai edition, on the Adarsh Society ,Colaba, Mumbai scam. You may like to put it on "Report My Signal" site for reading by all IESM members.
Regards,
Shashank Bendre
Wg Cdr (Retd)

Letter to Editor, The Times of India, "My Times My Voice":
Sir,
With reference to "Towering Mess" (Economist Raghuram Rajan has rightly said that yesterday's licence-permit raj has morphed into a land mafia raj, with huge socio-economic costs for the country. We need to clean up the mess, starting now.), it was time you expressed your views on the issue in your editorial. Perhaps the delay could be attributed to your reluctance to bring the so far holy image and honour of the Armed Forces personnel into question. Real Estate scams and land grabs are not new to Indian cities, towns and even villages are not spared by the land mafia. The only new and dark dimension in the Adarsh Society scandal is the open involvement of top military bosses conniving with politicians and babus to grab a piece of property in the prime locality of Mumbai where no ordinary mortal can ever dream of stepping in. The decline in moral values of the civil society has been evident for almost two decades but the shocking revelation that the bug has affected the defence services too is now bound to land the nation in turmoil as never before. This is a sad situation because the armed forces is the only institution looked upon by the general public as the last bastion of the nation for upholding honesty, uprightness and discipline and the latest exposure is bound to plant a seed of doubt in the minds of the people whether the Armed Forces too, have slipped into the quagmire of corruption that is slowly but surely gobbling up the very foundation of the nation. All veterans would like to hand their heads in shame. The article "How To Root Out Corruption" very much linked to this scam closely, advises setting up of an agency called "Lokpal" as a remedy. Though we already have a plethora of agencies and institutions established to watch over the functioning of the government and other undertakings, the fact remains that corruption thrives unhindered because these watchdogs themselves have become hotbeds of corruption. In such a scenario, the government is left clueless on how to tackle this problem. It is trapped in an unenviable position where any firm step against the corrupt politicians will invite the fall of the government itself. And that is precisely why Naxalism has gained acceptance by a large section of the people in the countryside, whose very livelihood is threatened by corruption, unlike the city folks and see no succour from the authorities. Everybody, including the corrupt themselves, must wake up to the stark reality that the situation is truly alarming as the very existence of the nation is at stake.
Yours faithfully,
Shashank Bendre
Wing Commander (Retd)