The statement by Ratan Tata that a minister wanted Rs 15 crore to allow the Tatas to set up a domestic airline in collaboration with Singapore Airlines is a shocking revelation of the top-level corruption in our system (“Tata told to bribe minister for airline”, November 16). If a business tycoon like Ratan Tata can be denied licence for not paying a bribe to a minister, what happens to others can be well imagined. Ratan Tata has alleged that “an individual” had repeatedly “thwarted” his attempts in that direction and “another industrialist” had advised him to give “the minister” a Rs 15-crore bribe, which he refused to do. In national interest Ratan Tata should reveal the names of the people he has pinpointed.
M C Joshi, on email
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