Truth Vs Hype

In Maharashtra, the political noise over the irrigation scam has taken away the focus from the actual scam itself: a state that has spent Rs 70,000 crores to build 4000 small and big dams, more than any in the country, but despite this dam building frenzy, has only managed to water 17% of its cultivated land, less than half the national average. Where has the money gone? From RTI documents, testimonies of whistleblowers and on ground reports, emerges a picture of how rules were bent and broken to favour a cartel of contractors and politicians, leaving the people of the state high and dry.

There is something deeply ironic that of all the reform measures that brought the UPA government to a brink, it was allowing FDI into multi-brand retail. Ironic because big retail is only a tiny blip in India's economic radar, not significant enough to merit claims by the government of huge benefits or provoke such widespread protests by the opposition. This week we investigate the claims and counterclaims made by both sides on the merits and dangers of retail FDI, grounded less in facts, and more in propaganda and doublespeak.

On Truth vs Hype this week, right in the middle of a seemingly unending controversy over coal block allocations, comes, what some are calling Iron-gate - the Shah Commission Report, first broken on this show, which has found Goa's iron ore mines guilty of a rash of violations. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar reacted to the report by suspending all mining operations in Goa until the mine owners can prove they are in the clear. But the threat by Mr Parrikar, who belongs to the BJP to also file FIR's against leaders of the former Congress regime has led to an all out political war. And there are worries that what should have been an opportunity to clean up the deep rot in Goa mining, may have degenerated into the politics of one-upmanship and vendetta.

The CBI's raids on companies allotted that were coal blocks has stirred a hornet's nest. By coincidence or design, three of the five companies raided share the same parentage: the Nagpur-based Jayaswal Group and their business partners, the Dardas, an influential political family from Maharashtra. This week we focus on how the rise of a little-known business family, which went on to get one of the largest number of coal block allotments, could be a modus operandi for Coal-gate. Did the Jayaswal-Darda combine capture millions of tonnes of coal using a mix of political influence, and companies that exist only on paper? And did those companies, simply by owning coal blocks, make crores of profits without spending a single paisa?

In Part-I of our investigation into the coal allocation controversy, we had traced the deep seated flaws in the policy of allotting of captive coal blocks and how it had created conditions ripe for corruption. This week, in Part-II, we cut to the what is the heart of the controversy: Of how dozens of companies with no prior experience or financial backing, in some cases using direct or proxy political connections managed to corner crores of rupees of captive coal.

By the end of this week, a marginal farmer in the neglected region of Jangalmahal in West Bengal would have spent 15 days in jail. His crime? He disrupted a public meeting held by Mamata Banerjee, which made him in her eyes, a Maoist. Truth vs Hype travels to a state that elected a leader with the mandate of change, but is grappling with the politics of intolerance. What has led Mamata Banerjee, the one-time political rebel, to become so averse to dissent? Or is this, as her supporters insist, a selective focus on a few incidents, which ignore her attempts to transform West Bengal?

In Assam, the flames of violence refuse to fully die out. The police say they have made 100's of arrests, registered nearly 400 FIRs, and claim to have provided village pickets in all sensitive districts. But many say that unless those who stoked the hatred are identified and brought to book, the climate of animosity will persist. This week, we investigate systematically how politicians and organisations on both sides resorted to fear-mongering and exaggerated claims on the issue of illegal migration, and then used the violence to further their political ambitions.

Truth vs Hype returns to the Manesar plant of Maruti, where the largely peaceful agitation by workers we had reported on last year has erupted into an outbreak of terrible violence. Reconstructing the event is not easy, because almost all workers involved or present at the plant are on the run, or under arrest. But we try, within those limitations, to find answers to the questions surrounding day of rage at Maruti: How did a negotiation over a suspended worker result in a brutal attack on Maruti officials? Was it a spontaneous outburst, or do it roots lie in a deeper unresolved tensions between the union and management? And what impact will it have on labour equations in Haryana's restless auto belt?

With Abu Jundal's return, we focus on a far more important but forgotten chapter of homegrown terrorism, the Indian Mujahideen.

Ever since it was set up in 2004, the National Advisory Council has existed in a uneasy equation with the government.

A detailed investigation of what is turning out to be one of the most controversial chapters in the history of insurgency.

This week, the standoff between the Education Ministry and the IIT's on the IIT entrance exam came to an end. On the surface it may seem like yet another turf war between Kapil Sibal and India's elite educational institutions, but at a deeper level, it has opened up a Pandora's Box of questions. Is the IIT entrance test, as Mr Sibal claims, damaging the school system? Are children falling prey to coaching factories? Are the IITs to blame for setting one of the toughest exams in the world? Or is the real problem a malfunctioning school system and a mindset amongst parents that want to push their kids, regardless of their level of ability, into becoming 'geniuses'? Parents, children, teachers, coaches and IIT faculty from across the country open up with rare candour on the risks and rewards that come in the quest for academic brilliance.

If the headlines of the past few weeks are to be believed, the nightlife of India's most cosmopolitan city has been killed by a mid level police officer. For those who missed it, a series of raids were carried out by ACP Laxman Dhoble, on the city's clubs, bars and restaurants which he claimed were guilty of legal and moral violations. But now that the furore has started to level out, more fundamental questions have surfaced - what triggered the police crusade? Is this about a rogue officer, or a set of archaic laws that govern the nightlife in big cities? Why are these laws still in place - for reasons of public morality, or to allow for political discretion and police corruption?

A Raja's first public appearance after a year in jail saw roaring crowds in a series of public meetings across his constituency in Nilgiri Hills. Was this - as Raja and the DMK claimed - a spontaneous event, or was it a carefully stage managed one?

This week, the CBI moved in to investigate allegations of corruption in coal allocation by the UPA Government. And the Government's critics have escalated their attack, targeting even the PM. But is coal allocation a scam bigger than 2 G? Involving the highest office of the land? Or is it well-intentioned policy that badly misfired? In the first of a 2-part Truth vs Hype on Coal-gate, we sift through reams of official documents, track down key players, and cut through the political rhetoric to try and make sense of the latest storm to rock the Government.

The rise in petrol prices has seen usual protests, from the Opposition and even UPA allies. The government defended to move citing rise in global crude oil prices and falling rupee. But was such a large hike inevitable? And is the Opposition justified in taking to the streets? On Truth vs Hype, we decode the complex maze of fuel pricing.

As the BJP top brass gather in Bombay for their national executive, in a no holds barred interview to Truth vs Hype in Bangalore, BS Yeddyurappa took aim at the party's national leadership and outlined to us his exit strategy. But will his supporters join him if he takes the extreme step of quitting the party? Can he shake off the mounting charges of corruption? This week, inside the world of BSY, as he reaches the brink with the BJP.

As the burning summer in Vidarbha brings drought and a fresh spurt of suicides, the government has gone into damage control. They claim that the water shortage is because of poor rainfall, and that they have fast-tracked long pending irrigation projects. This week, we set out to investigate the entirely man-made causes of Vidarbha's water crisis - from apathy and corruption to the diversion of river waters and a mammoth slew of power projects across the region, projects which reflect a collusion of political and business interests.

The search is narrowing for the next President of India, a constitutional authority meant to be a neutral referee of Indian politics. But over time, has the office of the President been deeply politicised? Has the executive curbed the powers of the President, even irrevocably compromised it? This week on Truth vs Hype, the inside story of the biggest controversies to shake Rashtrapathi Bhavan; new details on the signing of the Emergency proclamation, to a coup hatched inside Rashtrapathi Bhawan, to what really happened on the flight from West Bengal carrying Rajiv Gandhi in 1984, a journey which has implications even today.

Season III of Truth vs Hype begins with an exclusive investigation into the kidnapping of Jhina Hikaka, the tribal MLA from Odisha's backward and Naxal - affected Koraput district. Was Hikaka abducted so that the Naxals could free their colleagues, or did a secret deal go wrong between Odisha's ruling party and a group described as a Maoist front organisation? From his mountain hideout, one of Odisha's most wanted outlaw's confirms the explosive truth behind the shaming of an elected MLA.