Saturday, November 12, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Indian Black Money: The Swindler’s List
ASHISH KHETAN accesses the black list that has been kept away from Indians for two years
It is almost two years since the German Government had passed on the names and bank account details of eighteen Indians who had stashed their alleged ill-gotten wealth in the LGT bank of Liechtenstein, a well-known tax haven nation, 190 km from Munich, Germany.
Germany had officially handed over the list to the Indian Government on 18 March 2009. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee have since said more than once that this list cannot be disclosed to the Indian people. Opposition parties like the BJP and the Left Front have repeatedly said the names must be disclosed. The BJP has been accusing the government of shielding the names of the tax evaders and not doing enough to bring back the crores of rupees stashed away in tax havens.
Thus, the list has become a subject of tremendous controversy and suspense.
TEHELKA has accessed 16 of the 18 names, of which we are putting out 15 right now. These names include individuals as well as trusts. At this point, we are putting out 15 names without disclosing details like their addresses, the businesses they are involved in and the total money they have stored away in Liechtenstein. Abiding by the basic journalistic principle of proving the accused an opportunity to present their side of story, TEHELKA has approached each of these individuals involved and is awaiting their response.
Once these individuals respond, we shall share the full details of who these people are and what they do. We shall also put out their responses. This, then, is the list.
1. Manoj Dhupelia
2. Rupal Dhupelia
3. Mohan Dhupelia
4. Hasmukh Gandhi
5. Chintan Gandhi
6. Dilip Mehta
7. Arun Mehta
8. Arun Kochar
9. Gunwanti Mehta
10. Rajnikant Mehta
11. Prabodh Mehta
12. Ashok Jaipuria
13. Raj Foundation
14. Urvashi Foundation
15. Ambrunova Trust
The three trusts in this list are registered outside India.
The government has been claiming so far that a detailed investigation into all the bank account details provided by Germany is underway and making the names public would violate the agreement between two sovereign countries, India and Germany.
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According to highly placed sources, the investigation into the 15 names that TEHELKA is disclosing, is close to completion and the Central Board of Direct taxes would soon prosecute these trusts and individuals under the relevant provisions of the Income tax Act.
The sources told TEHELKA that the two main charges proved against these individuals are of tax evasion and concealment of income.
The authorities also believe that some of these account holders could be fronts for high profile individuals. One name in particular is being investigated for suspected links with a well-known Indian politician.
The name of the chairman of a major Indian corporation is also part of the list, but TEHELKA is holding back his name until we have his full version.
According to Pranab Mukherjee, the German Government has provided the information under the strict confidentiality clauses of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, and hence they could not be disclosed at the stage of investigation.
However, once the government launches prosecutions, the name would be made public, he had said.
These 18 names are part of the list of 1,400 clients, which were stolen from the databank of LGT Group, the Liechtenstein bank owned by the principality's ruling family, and passed on to German tax authorities in 2008.
The German government had paid as much as €5 million, or $7.4 million, for information on German account holders in Liechtenstein on a disk provided by an informant to the German Federal Intelligence Service, or BND.
After this, Germany and England had launched massive investigations into the suspected tax evasions and have since prosecuted dozens of their citizens on charges of tax evasion and concealment of income.
The German Government alone had initiated action against over 600 of its tax payers.
Besides taking action against its own citizens, the German Government had also shared this information with other countries including India.
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But the Indian names figuring in LGT Bank list are only a tip of the iceberg. Experts estimate that Rs 65 lakh crores of ill-gotten wealth earned by Indians is stored in Swiss banks alone.
According to R Vaidyanathan, Professor of Finance at the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru, the average amount stashed away by Indians in offshore tax havens between 2002 and 2006 was $136.5 billion. “These illegal funds lying in tax havens are not just related to the issue of tax evasion. It is capital flight from India and part of a corrupt nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and corporate companies,” says Vaidyanathan.
Different Indian governments over the past 20 years have done little to bring this money back by making necessary changes in existing Indian taxation and foreign exchange management laws.
Besides, the government has been slow in renegotiating double taxation avoidance treaties with different tax havens and making provisions for clauses under which the governments and banks could be compelled to disclose the account details.
For instance, under the existing Indo-Swiss Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), information on the Swiss bank deposits of Indian residents could not to be revealed until the Indian Government furnishes evidence of criminality behind these banking transactions.
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India enters into DTAAs with other countries to encourage flow of foreign capital and technology, and also to check tax evasion. The purpose of a DTAA is to mitigate the hardship caused by dual taxation on the same source of income. Double taxation on a single source earned by an individual is possible under income tax, as taxation depends not on citizenship, but on residential status.
To date, India has signed comprehensive double taxation avoidance agreements with 77 countries.
“I have asked the revenue department to reopen negotiations for all 77 double tax avoidance agreements with all countries that we have entered into so far, so that we can have real time exchange of information on tax evasion and tax avoidance,” Mukherjee had said at the India Economic Summit in November 2009.
Since the recession hit the economies of developed countries, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been leading a campaign for transparency in the international banking system, and making the tax havens to necessarily exchange information with other countries where tax evasions are involved.
The US in particular has been proactive in using the might of its economy to make different tax havens fall in line, and share the names of US citizens who have deposited money in these tax havens.
For instance, the UBS Bank, a Swiss bank and the world’s largest wealth management company, came under US scrutiny in June 2008 to uncover the identity of US nationals who maintained secret accounts in the bank and were defrauding the American revenue department.
When the US Government threatened to prosecute the USB Bank, the bank paid a fine of $780 million and also agreed to reveal the details of the hidden assets of US nationals within a fixed time frame failing which it would face prosecution.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
JANLOKPAL BILL SILENT FEATURES!
- An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up
- Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.
- Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.
- The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.
- How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.
- So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month’s time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years.
- But won’t the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.
- What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
- What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.
- It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide protection to those who are being victimized for raising their voice against corruption.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
INDIAN BLACK MONEY IN SWISS BANK
Our Indians' Money - 70, 00,000 Crores Rupees In Swiss Bank
1) Yes, 70 lakhs crores rupees of India are lying in Switzerland banks. This is the highest amount lying outside any country, from amongst 180 countries of the world, as if India is the champion of Black Money.
2) Swiss Government has officially written to Indian Government that they are willing to inform the details of holders of 70 lakh crore rupees in their Banks, if Indian Government officially asks them.
3) On 22-5-08, this news has already been published in The Times of India and other Newspapers based on Swiss Government's official letter to Indian Government.
4) But the Indian Government has not sent any official enquiry to Switzerland for details of money which has been sent outside India between 1947 to 2008.. The opposition party is also equally not interested in doing so because most of the amount is owned by politicians and it is every Indian's money.
5) This money belongs to our country. From these funds we can repay 13 times of our country's foreign debt. The interest alone can take care of the Center s yearly budget. People need not pay any taxes and we can pay Rs. 1 lakh to each of 45 crore poor families.
6) Let us imagine, if Swiss Bank is holding Rs. 70 lakh Crores, then how much money is lying in other 69 Banks? How much they have deprived the Indian people? Just think, if the Account holder dies, the bank becomes the owner of the funds in his account.
7) Are these people totally ignorant about the philosophy of Karma? What will this ill-gotten wealth do to them and their families when they own/use such money, generated out of corruption and exploitation?
8) Indian people have read and have known about these facts. But the helpless people have neither time nor inclination to do anything in the matter. This is like "a new freedom struggle" and we will have to fight this.
9) This money is the result of our sweat and blood.. The wealth generated and earned after putting in lots of mental and physical efforts by Indian people must be brought back to our country.
Indian MPs' assets top Rs 3,000 crore
India is home to the largest number of poor in the world, but 543 MPs who have been elected to the Lok Sabha have a combined asset of Rs 3,075 crore.
In a nation where over 28 crore people live below poverty line, the average asset of the MPs elected to the Lower House of Parliament works out to be over Rs five crore. According to UN estimates, 80 per cent of Indians live on less than two dollars (Rs 100) a day.
Interestingly, the total asset size of the new MPs makes their congregation more valuable than a vast majority of the public companies in the country. There are close to 4,700 listed companies in India, out of which just about 150 companies have a market valuation of more than Rs 3,000 crore.
According to the information furnished by the Election Commission, there are MPs who have zero asset to those who boast of property and cash of over Rs 100 crore each.
There are an estimated 300 MPs with assets worth Rs one crore or more in the new Lok Sabha, which is nearly double from 154 in the 14th Lok Sabha.
TDP's Namma Nageswara Rao, who has won the election from Khammam in Andhra Pradesh, leads the tally of MPs with assets worth about Rs 174 crore, followed by Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal (s 131.07 crore). Jindal has won the election from Kurukshetra in Haryana for the second time.
A total of four MPs have assets worth more than Rs 100 crore and include Congress' L Rajagopal in Andhra Pradesh and NCP's Padamsinha Bajirao Patil from Maharashtra.
These are followed by NCP's Praful Patel (Rs 89.9 crore), Congress' G Vivekanand (Rs 72.9 crore), Congress' Y S Jaganmohan Reddy (Rs 72.8 crore), Congress' Rajkumar Ratna Singh (Rs 67.8 crore), Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur (Rs 60.3 crore) and NCP's Supriya Sule (Rs 50.4 crore).
Besides, there are BSP's Surendra Singh Nagar (Rs 49.2 crore), BJP's Shivakumar Udasi (Rs 48.2 crore), Congress' Preneet Kaur (Rs 42.3 crore), Congress' Annu Tandon (Rs 42.1 crore), Congress' Rajamohan Reddy (Rs 36.3 crore), Congress' Priya Dutt (Rs 34.9 crore) and Congress' Kapil Sibal (Rs 31.9 crore).
In terms of parties, Congress has as many as 138 crorepati MPs, followed by BJP's 58, SP's 14 and BSP's 13. Besides, there are 11 from DMK, nine from Shiv Sena, eight from JD(U), seven from NCP and six each from BJD and AITC.
In a nation where over 28 crore people live below poverty line, the average asset of the MPs elected to the Lower House of Parliament works out to be over Rs five crore. According to UN estimates, 80 per cent of Indians live on less than two dollars (Rs 100) a day.
Interestingly, the total asset size of the new MPs makes their congregation more valuable than a vast majority of the public companies in the country. There are close to 4,700 listed companies in India, out of which just about 150 companies have a market valuation of more than Rs 3,000 crore.
According to the information furnished by the Election Commission, there are MPs who have zero asset to those who boast of property and cash of over Rs 100 crore each.
There are an estimated 300 MPs with assets worth Rs one crore or more in the new Lok Sabha, which is nearly double from 154 in the 14th Lok Sabha.
TDP's Namma Nageswara Rao, who has won the election from Khammam in Andhra Pradesh, leads the tally of MPs with assets worth about Rs 174 crore, followed by Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal (s 131.07 crore). Jindal has won the election from Kurukshetra in Haryana for the second time.
A total of four MPs have assets worth more than Rs 100 crore and include Congress' L Rajagopal in Andhra Pradesh and NCP's Padamsinha Bajirao Patil from Maharashtra.
These are followed by NCP's Praful Patel (Rs 89.9 crore), Congress' G Vivekanand (Rs 72.9 crore), Congress' Y S Jaganmohan Reddy (Rs 72.8 crore), Congress' Rajkumar Ratna Singh (Rs 67.8 crore), Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur (Rs 60.3 crore) and NCP's Supriya Sule (Rs 50.4 crore).
Besides, there are BSP's Surendra Singh Nagar (Rs 49.2 crore), BJP's Shivakumar Udasi (Rs 48.2 crore), Congress' Preneet Kaur (Rs 42.3 crore), Congress' Annu Tandon (Rs 42.1 crore), Congress' Rajamohan Reddy (Rs 36.3 crore), Congress' Priya Dutt (Rs 34.9 crore) and Congress' Kapil Sibal (Rs 31.9 crore).
In terms of parties, Congress has as many as 138 crorepati MPs, followed by BJP's 58, SP's 14 and BSP's 13. Besides, there are 11 from DMK, nine from Shiv Sena, eight from JD(U), seven from NCP and six each from BJD and AITC.
Monday, January 10, 2011
KNOW ABOUT INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
| other statistics pages by subject |
| India tourism statistics Indian telecom and IT facts & figures India health statistics Economy and employment statistics Judicial and crime statistics India election statistics Himachal Pradesh stats |
| parliamentary statistics |
| - age of the oldest MP in the 14th Lokh Sabha (House of Parliament): 94 (May 2004) - youngest MP in the 14th Lokh Sabha: 26 years, Sachin Pilot (May 2004) - average age of the MPs in the 14th Lokh Sabha: 52.7 (May 2004) - number of women MPs in the 14th Lokh Sabha: 44 (May 2004, four less than in 1999) - candidates with criminal background in UP who made it into the 14th Lokh Sabha: 12 - number of MPs in 13th Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament): 543 (feb 04) - number of women MPs in 13th Lok Sabha: 46 (feb 04) - number of female Chief Ministers dec 2003: 5 (Sheila Dikshit, Vasundhara Raje, Uma Bharti, Rabri Devi, Jayalalitha) |
| figures on India's population |
| - total population: 1.06 billion people (mar 2004) - daily population increase: about 50,000 people - one baby born in India: every 1.25 seconds - India's working age population (15-60 years): 610 million (estimate 2003) - population dependent on agriculture for livelihood: 65 % - population living in approx 600,000 villages countrywide: 722.8 million people [2001] - population living in cities: 277.8 million people [2001] - population living a significant distance from a road: nearly 40 percent [Sahara Time, Mar 2004] - population growth per year (1991 - 2001): India: 1.9 % -- Rajasthan: 2.5 % -- Kerala: 0.9 % - population growth in India within decade 1991-2001: 21.4 % [HT Mar 04] - population growth in Kerala within decade 1991-2001: 9.42 % [HT Mar 04] - population density in Kerala: 819 people per sq km (3rd highest in India, after West Bengal and Bihar) [HT Mar 04] - population density in Ladakh: 1.3 people per sq km - Delhi population: 1981: 6.2 million -- 2003: 13.5 million - population of Bangalore approx 2 decades ago: approx 2 million [BBC, Jan 2006] - current population of Bangalore: approx 8 million [BBC, Jan 2006] - population of different religions (acc to figures by census commissioner, census of 2001): 80.5% Hindu, 13.4% Muslim, 2.3% Christian, 1.9% Sikh, 0.8% Buddhist, 0.4% Jain, 0.01% Zoroastrian, 1.3% other - loss of female births within past 2 decades caused by abortion and sex selection: estimate of more than 10 million [BBC, Jan 2006] - annual 'girl deficit' due to prenatal sex selection and selective abortion: 500,000 according to researchers for the Lancet Journal [BBC, Jan 2006] - child sex ratio of 0-6 year olds acc to census data 2001 (numbers of females per 1000 males): Himachal: 1991:951, 2001: 897 -- Spiti Valley in HP: 2001: 1009 -- Punjab: 1991: 875, 2001: 793 -- Haryana: 2001: 820 -- Sikkim: 2001: 986 more facts and figures about India in quick reference stats popup |
| various Indian statistics |
| - position in the corruption index of 133 countries surveyed (2003): 83rd (survey by Transparency International) - number of districts in India (2003): 593 - number of families: 192 million - number of houses: 179 million - Indian families living in one-room-houses: 40 % - number of places of worship (temple, mosque, church etc): 2.4 million (more than schools, colleges and hospitals combined) - number of gays, lesbians and transgender individuals: 70 million (estimate by Humsafar Trust) - estimated percentage of sexually active males in India who have had sex with men at least once: 25 % (estimate by National AIDS Control Organisation health survey) - Indian families who own a TV set: 32 % - illegal immigrants from Bangladesh: over 15 million - length of the Indo-Bangladesh border: 4096 km [Indian Express Oct 04] - most polluted river in India: Yamuna (July 2003) - annual increase of forest cover: 38,000 hectares (according to HP forest Minister Chander Kumar) - India's first test tube baby: 1978 (world's second test tube baby); Kanupriya Aggarwal - literacy rate: 1990: 52 % (61.8% male; 33.7% fem) -- 2001: 65.4 % - * newspaper readership in urban areas in 2006: 45% of urban population [DNA Aug 2006] - * growth of newspaper readership from 2005 to 2006: 12.6million more readers [DNA Aug 2006] - * average time spent on reading newspaper: 44 min [DNA Aug 06] - * people listening to the radio: 27% of the total population [DNA Aug 06] - percentage of rain during 4 months summer monsoon: 80 % of yearly rainfall in India - number of NRIs in Britain: 1,3 million (NRI: Non Resident Indian) - number of Indian nurses working in the UK: almost 10,000 [2004] - number of additional villages electrified in 2003: 6,350 (acc. to Ministry of Power) - number of single light connections released to "Below Poverty Lines" family: over 3 million (acc. to Ministry of Power) - number of portraits of Jayalalitha by painter Shihan Hussaini drawn by his own blood: 56 [HT Feb 04] - India's road accident record 1998: 6 % of the world's road accident deaths happen in India (while India has only 1 % of the world's road vehicles) [GBoWR] - death and injury caused by accidents on India's roads: 1 person dies every 6 minutes; 10 are injured in the same time frame [BBC; Sep 2005] - * India's percentage of global car population: 1% [Daily Telegraph Sep 06] - * India's share of global car accidents: 10% [Daily Telegraph Sep 06] - financial losses due to road traffic injuries 2005: 550 bn Rs = 3% of GDP [BBC; Sep 2005] - number of vehicles per km in Mumbai: 591 [BBC; Sep 2005] - number of road accidents in Mumbai: up to 35 per day (with up to 15 deaths per day) [BBC; Sep 2005] - number of cars in Bangalore (Karnataka): 1.95 million cars (Bangalore's population is 6.5 million people) [BBC Sep 04] - increase of alcohol consumption in past two decades in India: by 106 % [HT Jul 04] more facts and figures about India in quick reference stats popup |
| figures on glaciers / global warming |
| - * average yearly retreat (vanishing) of Himalayan glaciers: 2006: 30 metres -- 1935-1999: 18 metres -- 1842-1935: 7 metres [DNA Jan 07] - * average decrease of glacier thickness (of 30 glaciers monitored by WGMS) in 2005: 66 cm (WGMS: Swiss based World Glacier Monitoring Service) [DNA Jan 07] - * Himalayan glaciers and years in which they are to vanish due to global warming: Gangotri, Miyer, Mlion, Janapa to vanish by 2030-2050 [TNJ Jan 07] - * number of people directly affected if above glaciers were to melt: 1.5 billion [TNJ Jan 07] - * length of India's largestglacier, Gangotri: 2006: less than 20km -- 1930: 25km [DNA Jan 07] - * rate in which India's largest glacier, Gangotri, melts: 28.1 metres per year [TNJ Jan 07] - * year in which Himalayan glacier Gangotri will disappear: 2050, if glacier melt continues at same rate [TNJ Jan 07] - * distance that Siachen glacier retreated between 1990 and 2001: 578 metres [TNJ Jan 07] - * average yearly melt of Siachen glacier between 1990 and 2001: 52 metres [TNJ Jan 07] |
| some facts & figures on poverty in India |
| - people below poverty line: about 260 million (acc. to AB Vajpayee feb 04) - poor living in India: one quarter of the world's poor [BBC Aug 04] - people living on less than 1 Euro per day (50-55 Rs) 2004: about 30 % of population - * number of people in India living on less than 50 pence per day: about 300 million [BBC News Night, Oct 2006] - number of people living in slums: 150 million [BBC 15 sep 2004] - people in Mumbai living in shanty towns, open spaces, or on pavements: 50% of Mumbai's population [BBC, Nov 2005] - world's largest slum: located in Mumbai; Dharavi, 432 acres - number of inhabited buildings declared as dangerous or dilapidated in Mumbai: 19,000 [BBC; Sep 2005] - number of children in India who die before the age of 5: 63 out of 1000 according to UN report [BBC; Sep 2005] - children under 3 years of age in Orissa severely malnourished: 21 % (Feb 04, acc to National Family Health Survey); or 3.8 % (acc. to data collected by the state) - tribal children below the age of six who have died of malnourishment-related causes in 15 districts of Maharashtra: 9,000 (between Apr 2003 and May 2004) - number of street children in Delhi: 150,000 estimate [BBC; Sep 2005] |
| various world records |
| - * world record in "worms eaten in 30 seconds": by C. Manoharan, aka "Snake Manu", in Chennai, Tamil Nadu; he ate 200 earthworms each at least 10 cm long in November 2003 [GBoWR] - * world record for longest hair: 5.15 m long hair by Hoo Sateow (1997) [GBoWR] - * world record for longest beard: 1.83 m by Shamsher Singh, Punjab (1997) [GBoWR] - * world record for the longest fingernails (1998): 6.15 m as the combined length of the five nails of left hand by Shridhar Chillal from Pune, Maharashtra [GBoWR] - * age of the oldest person to become Prime Minister: 81 years, Morarji Ranchhodji Desai, Indian PM 1977-1979 [GBoWR] - * number of movies output in India 1990: 948 (standing record) [GBoWR] - * estimated number of people who donated hair at the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh 1999: 6.5 million - a standing record [GBoWR 2004] - * world record of highest monthly rainfall: 9,300 mm at Cherrapunji, Meghalaya, July 1861 [GBoWR] - * worst train disaster in the world: in Samastipur, Bihar, India, on 6 June 1981; more than 800 passengers died [GBoWR] - * highest motorable road in the world: Khardung La, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, with an altitude up to 5,682 m (18,640 ft) [GBoWR] |
| some statistics on education |
| - expenditure on education in 2000-2001: 778.5 billion Rupees, equiv. to 4.11 % of the GDP of that year - number of universities: 1950-51: 27 -- 2000-01: 254 - number of colleges: 1950-51: 578 -- 2000-01: over 10,000 (some estimate over 13,000) - * number of college graduates per year: 20 lakh (2 million) [BBC Jan 07] - number of teachers in higher education: 1961: 62,000 (estimate) -- 1997: over 320,000 -- 2003: over 330,000 (estimate) - number of students enrolled: 1961:17.9 million -- 1991: 72.4 million - average number of students per teacher: 220 - people partaking of higher education: 1 person out of every 14,000 - number of pupils at the City Montessori school in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 2002: 26,312 pupils (world record) [GBoWR] - number of Indians going as students to Britain: 17,000 per year - number of Indians going as students to the US: 14,000 per year |
| data on agriculture |
| - number of cows globally: 1.5 billion [NATURE oct 04] - number of cows in India: 200 million [Times of India aug 04] - number of buffaloes in India: 90 million [Times of India aug 04] - annual number of cattle smuggled from India into Bangladesh: 6 million - milk production 2001-2002: 84.6 million tonnes - people who are farmers: almost 550 million [Sahara Time, Mar 04] - number of agricultural labourers: about 200 million (many with daily wages below 10 Rs per day) [Sahara Time, Mar 04] - cultivation which is rain-dependent: nearly 60 percent [Sahara Time, Mar 04] - area in which pesticides are used: 1980: 6 million hectare -- 1990: 125 million hectare - people in Andhra Pradesh who depend on agriculture: 60 % (of population of 76 million) [HT May 04] - number of farmers in Andhra Pradesh: 12 million [HT May 04] - number of small/marginal farmers in Andhra Pradesh who depend on rain for irrigation: 10 million [HT May 04] - number of debt-ridden farmers committing suicide every day in AP: 5-7 [HT May 04] - * number of farmer suicides due to bad debt in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra within the past 3 years (2006): 1,500 according to revenue records -- 930 since 2001 according to Maharashtra state Government [DNA Jun 06] - interest rates charged by "moneylenders" and local "businessmen" for a small agricultural loan: 100 to 450 % [Sahara Time, Mar 04] - GDP from agriculture: 24 % of total gross domestic product [BBC Jul 04] - government spending for the agricultural sector: 8 percent of the annual budget [Sahara Time, Mar 04] - total of arable land which is not irrigated: nearly 63 percent [Sahara Time, Mar 04] - bank credit allocated for agriculture: 12% of total bank credit in India [Sahara Time, Mar 2004] - money allocated for various irrigation policies by the government: 620 million Rs for the 2003-2004 budget [Sahara Time, Mar 2004] - disparity in average income between farmers and non-farmers: 5 times (non-farmers earn 5 times more than farmers) [Sahara Time, Mar 2004] - production of fruit and vegetables by India: 14% of world wide production [BBC Sep 04] - India's export of fruit and vegetables: 1 % of world's fruit/veg exports [BBC Sep 04] - India's tea production in 2003: 856 million kg [BBC Sep 04] - tea produced in Assam: 55 % of India's total tea production [BBC Sep 04] - daily tea production in Assam in high picking season: 2 million kg [BBC Sep 04] - decrease of Assam's best quality tea prices within 5 years: 10 % [BBC Sep 04] |
| numbers on the Kumbh Mela |
| - * size of population in Allahabad: 2 million [BBC Jan 07] - * number of visitors to Allahabad during the Maha Kumbh Mela: 1989: 15 million -- 2001: 50-70 million [DI Jan 07] - * expected number of visitors to Allahabad during the Ardh Kumbh Mela 2007: about 60 million [BBC Jan 07] - * area covered by the festival ground in Allahabad: 1,620 hectares (6.2 square miles) [BBC Jan 07] - * number of tents erected as temporary accommodation on the Kumbh Mela ground (2007): 50,000 [BBC Jan 07] - * number of temporary toilets on the Kumbh Mela ground in Allahabad (2007): 25,000 [BBC Jan 07] - * number of police patrolling the festival grounds (2007): 20,000 [BBC Jan 07] |
| various Delhi statistics |
| - * number of weddings in Delhi on the auspicious day of 10 Dec 2006: around 36,000 [IND Dec 06] - * cost of 2-3 bedroom middle-class luxury apartment in tier II or tier III town: around 20 lakh Rs (approx 25,000 GBP); tier II and tier III towns are about 2-3 hours drive from Delhi, for example Kundli, Sonepat, Panipat in Haryana and Rudrapur in Uttaranchal [TH Jan 07] - * cost of equivalent apartment in Delhi: 60-70 lakh Rs (approx 75,000 - 87,000 GBP) [TH Jan 07] - * cost of studio apartments (1 bedroom) in Rishikesh: up to 30-40 lakh Rs (37,000 - 50,000 GBP) [TH Jan 07] - bottles of beer sold in financial year 2002-2003: 27.5 million - Delhi's annual per capita consumption of alcohol: 5.7 litres (compared to 9.25 litres in the UK, 14.02 litres in France) [HT Jul 04] - average age a Delhiite loses his/her virginity (according to a survey 2003): 18 years - number of female births per 1000 male births: 1992:862 -- 1994: 840 -- 1995: 744 -- 1998: 899 -- 2000: 820 - abandoned babies per year: 2002: 90 (about 60 % female) -- 2000: 100 - estimated number of cattle / cows on Delhi's streets: 40,000 [NATURE oct 04] - number of "cowboys" hired by Delhi municipality to catch stray, free roaming cows to be transported to special reserves outside the city perimeter: 100 [NATURE oct 04] - estimated number of stray dogs in Delhi: 200,000 - estimated number of monkeys in Delhi: 5,000 (with annual growth rate of 20 %) - monthly salary of monkey catcher (government rate): 3000 Rupees - number of fixed telephone lines in Delhi: 2.3 million (2002 or 2003) - number of mobile telephone connections in Delhi: 3.4 million (2002 or 2003) - reduction of pollution level in Delhi since 1996: down by up to 73 % (base is year with highest pollution levels 1996) - number of security personnel deployed Republic Day 2004: 23,000 - amount of explosives seized by Delhi police in the run-up to Republic day 2004: 6.5 kg of high explosives, rocket propelled grenade, detonators and timers - tube wells running dry in Delhi: about 20 % of the Delhi Jal Board's (water board) total of 2,800 tube wells [HT Jun 04]education more facts and figures about Delhi in quick reference stats popup |
| miscellaneous stats about Indian states or places |
| - beef consumption in Kerala: 40 % of meat consumed in the state - Haryana cost of buffalo: 18,000 - 24,000 Rupees - Haryana cost of girl (human trafficking): 4000 Rupees - Uttaranchal hydropower theoretical potential: 20,000 MW - Uttaranchal hydropower potential actually used: 8 % - number of diesel engine tube wells in Uttar Pradesh: 2.7 million [BBC sep 04] - number of electric motor tube wells in Uttar Pradesh: 600,000 [BBC sep 04] - installation of solar pumps in Uttar Pradesh in 2003: 109 [BBC sep 04] - number of guests invited to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha's foster son's wedding: over 150,000 people at a cost of 2 crore for security, paid by the state [GBoWR] - * number of buses owned by APSRTC in 1999: 18,397 (APSRTC = Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation) - a world record [GBoWR] - * casualties in 2003 in Andhra Pradesh due to Naxalite insurgency: Naxals: 172 -- civilians: 137 -- police: 14 - * number of personnel (police and para-military forces) involved in anti-Naxalite operations in Andhra Pradesh: 20,000 - * number of years with uninterrupted Communist rule in the state of West Bengal: 27 (since 1977 CPI-M in power) [BBC Oct 04] - * number of vehicles on Bangalore's road: 5 million [BBC Jan 07] - * number of casualties in the "jallikattu" (bull taming event) at Palamedu, near Madurai: 2006: 2 dead, 450 injured -- 2007: 50 injured [TH Jan 07] |
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