Tales of fasting and bribery in India's graft saga

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a meeting of all political parties for Wednesday to help douse anti-corruption protests that have spiralled since last week in solidarity with the 74-year-old Anna Hazare.

Singh's coalition government has struggled to contain a string of graft scandals since last year that have left him looking personally weak and stymied policy making both in parliament and in ministries. The following are some of the major corruption issues facing the ruling Congress party: Anti-corruption legislation

The government has been in deadlock with social activist Anna Hazare over a parliamentary bill, which was first presented in 1968, to create a special ombudsman, or 'Lokpal', to prosecute ministers, bureaucrats and judges.

By going on a fast and mobilising thousands of supporters, Hazare prompted Singh's government to introduce the bill into parliament in August, a significant milestone given that the legislation has stuttered for decades.
However, drafts have been introduced several times before and perished.
Hazare's supporters have slammed the existing draft as toothless, because it exempts many in a position of power from prosecution while in office, including the prime minister and the judiciary. Meetings between activists and politicians to draft the bill ended in mudslinging.
The bill is now parked with a parliamentary standing committee. The protesters want the government's draft bill withdrawn and their own version passed by the end of the month, a demand which senior government figures have said is unrealistic and undemocratic. Telecoms licence row

India may have lost up to USD 39 billion in revenue when the telecoms ministry gave out lucrative licences and radio spectrum in 2007/08 at below-market prices, the state auditor has said.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India's (CAG) report in November also said rules were flouted when the licences were awarded, which led to many ineligible firms winning licences.
Telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja was sacked in November after the report was released.
He was then arrested on charges of misuse of ministerial office and criminal misconduct and is facing trial along with a group of telecoms executives and a prominent lawmaker from a key government ally, who was accused of conspiracy and accepting bribes. All involved have denied wrongdoing.
Three firms have been charged: Reliance Telecom, Swan Telecom (now called Etisalat DB) and Unitech Wireless.
Etisalat DB is now part-owned by Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat. Norway's Telenor owns a majority of Unitech Wireless and the rest is owned by Indian realty firm Unitech Ltd. Both Etisalat and Telenor invested in their Indian ventures after the events in question. Commonwealth games fiasco

Controversy has swirled around the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which were held in October in the Indian capital, as the world's third-biggest sporting event was hit by rows over perceived official incompetence and corruption.

Construction of major structures such as stadiums and athlete housing missed a series of deadlines, ran many times over their original cost and were shoddily maintained, which became a PR disaster for the Indian government.
The former head organiser of the event, Suresh Kalmadi, a Congress party stalwart, was arrested on charges of inflating tenders worth millions of dollars for equipment. Kalmadi's appointment also put the prime minister under rare scrutiny.
Delhi's chief minister Sheila Dixit, another Congress bigwig, also came under fire from a state auditor over costly tenders given to questionable contractors on her authority, sparking street clashes and prolonged protests that shut down parliament. Space agency scandal

India's space agency is being probed by the CAG for granting a private firm lucrative mobile Internet bandwidth in 2005 without a proper bidding process that reports say has cost the government up to Rs 200,000 crore (USD 44 billion).

Prime Minister Singh, who personally oversees India's space ministry, has denied that any revenue had been lost.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) leased transponders on two of its satellites to private firm Devas Multimedia, which granted it access to S-band telecom spectrum, worth billions of dollars to communication providers.
S-band spectrum, while not currently in extensive use, is likely to become increasingly valuable in India's rapidly-growing mobile phone market, with its ability to provide wireless broadband and other mobile data services.
The ISRO admitted that it granted Devas improper access to a valuable national resource in a flawed contract that undervalued the spectrum. Housing scam
Congress party politicians, bureaucrats and military officials, including the former army chief, have been accused of taking over Mumbai's Adarsh apartments intended for war widows.
After the story broke in local media the government sacked Ashok Chavan, the powerful chief minister of Maharashtra.
Following a probe, the environment ministry ordered the demolition of the 31-storey building in January, citing the violation of environmental and land-use rules.
The Arabian Sea-facing block with 103 apartments was built in an upscale Mumbai district that is among the world's most expensive pieces of real estate. Apartments were sold for as little as USD 130,000 each, while local media estimated their value at USD 1.8 million each.