Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

Thank you for your inputs as well!!! The most prudent thing for any mature and intelligent government is first and foremost to prioritize their areas of action. In a country where the basic infrastructure is in complete shambles in major portion of the country, the basic needs of any human being that include food, shelter and security to life and honour are at a threat, can such a government be expected to spend crores of rupees that is hard earned by taxpayers' on nonproductive and futile visits to other countries?

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

Thank you for your inputs as well!!! The most prudent thing for any mature and intelligent government is first and foremost to prioritize their areas of action. In a country where the basic infrastructure is in complete shambles in major portion of the country, the basic needs of any human being that include food, shelter and security to life and honour are at a threat, can such a government be expected to spend crores of rupees that is hard earned by taxpayers' on nonproductive and futile visits to other countries?

Thats exactly my point ! How can a hard working committed Pm and his team think of visiting other countries without having achieved anything and justify it as well? Sadly ,even the citizens who are going to pay for all these follies seem to agree that it is a necessary???? expenditure ! I am reminded of a proverb in Kannada which when translated means " Even if the stomach is empty you need to wear flowers in your hair ...

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

Thank you for your inputs as well!!! The most prudent thing for any mature and intelligent government is first and foremost to prioritize their areas of action. In a country where the basic infrastructure is in complete shambles in major portion of the country, the basic needs of any human being that include food, shelter and security to life and honour are at a threat, can such a government be expected to spend crores of rupees that is hard earned by taxpayers' on nonproductive and futile visits to other countries?

Thats exactly my point ! How can a hard working committed Pm and his team think of visiting other countries without having achieved anything and justify it as well? Sadly ,even the citizens who are going to pay for all these follies seem to agree that it is a necessary???? expenditure ! I am reminded of a proverb in Kannada which when translated means " Even if the stomach is empty you need to wear flowers in your hair ...

Agree with you for some extent. But I believe such tours (specially for the top level people) are done not expecting immediate result but considering the future prospects, bilateral relationships etc. And the real question is how much money is really went into the productive tours and how much money is wasted. I bet you can't find the difference in between both :)

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

Thank you for your inputs as well!!! The most prudent thing for any mature and intelligent government is first and foremost to prioritize their areas of action. In a country where the basic infrastructure is in complete shambles in major portion of the country, the basic needs of any human being that include food, shelter and security to life and honour are at a threat, can such a government be expected to spend crores of rupees that is hard earned by taxpayers' on nonproductive and futile visits to other countries?

Thats exactly my point ! How can a hard working committed Pm and his team think of visiting other countries without having achieved anything and justify it as well? Sadly ,even the citizens who are going to pay for all these follies seem to agree that it is a necessary???? expenditure ! I am reminded of a proverb in Kannada which when translated means " Even if the stomach is empty you need to wear flowers in your hair ...

Agree with you for some extent. But I believe such tours (specially for the top level people) are done not expecting immediate result but considering the future prospects, bilateral relationships etc. And the real question is how much money is really went into the productive tours and how much money is wasted. I bet you can't find the difference in between both :)

In fact, a Prime Minister cannot totally avoid tours. Not only our P.M. and President visits other countries. Their counterparts in other countries also visit our countries. They also extend invitation to our leaders. Most visits are reciprocal and obligatory.

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

Thank you for your inputs as well!!! The most prudent thing for any mature and intelligent government is first and foremost to prioritize their areas of action. In a country where the basic infrastructure is in complete shambles in major portion of the country, the basic needs of any human being that include food, shelter and security to life and honour are at a threat, can such a government be expected to spend crores of rupees that is hard earned by taxpayers' on nonproductive and futile visits to other countries?

Thats exactly my point ! How can a hard working committed Pm and his team think of visiting other countries without having achieved anything and justify it as well? Sadly ,even the citizens who are going to pay for all these follies seem to agree that it is a necessary???? expenditure ! I am reminded of a proverb in Kannada which when translated means " Even if the stomach is empty you need to wear flowers in your hair ...

Agree with you for some extent. But I believe such tours (specially for the top level people) are done not expecting immediate result but considering the future prospects, bilateral relationships etc. And the real question is how much money is really went into the productive tours and how much money is wasted. I bet you can't find the difference in between both :)

In fact, a Prime Minister cannot totally avoid tours. Not only our P.M. and President visits other countries. Their counterparts in other countries also visit our countries. They also extend invitation to our leaders. Most visits are reciprocal and obligatory.

And we should not forget that a prime Minister never travels alone but with a delegation and team of advisers. He goes under certain obligations or attend meetings which cannot be avoided even if we feel (prima facie) his tours would not be fruitful

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

Thank you for your inputs as well!!! The most prudent thing for any mature and intelligent government is first and foremost to prioritize their areas of action. In a country where the basic infrastructure is in complete shambles in major portion of the country, the basic needs of any human being that include food, shelter and security to life and honour are at a threat, can such a government be expected to spend crores of rupees that is hard earned by taxpayers' on nonproductive and futile visits to other countries?

Thats exactly my point ! How can a hard working committed Pm and his team think of visiting other countries without having achieved anything and justify it as well? Sadly ,even the citizens who are going to pay for all these follies seem to agree that it is a necessary???? expenditure ! I am reminded of a proverb in Kannada which when translated means " Even if the stomach is empty you need to wear flowers in your hair ...

Agree with you for some extent. But I believe such tours (specially for the top level people) are done not expecting immediate result but considering the future prospects, bilateral relationships etc. And the real question is how much money is really went into the productive tours and how much money is wasted. I bet you can't find the difference in between both :)

On the other hand where India is concerned, the wastage definitely outbeats the productivity and so actually no purpose is served since there is not much thought and effort gone into the tours themselves ...I have read several reports about foreign tours undertaken and the report filed after they are back - it is most of the time negative, having not achieved what was meant to be , which goes to show the kind of half hearted efforts that go into it ! If such tours are not wasteful then what can be called wasteful...Neither have we gained bilaterally nor have we improved any relationships - take a simple example of Dubai, a peanut sized country that is almost totally dependent on Indian work force and tomorrow if all Indians decide to return home Dubai would go bust as far as services are concerned .Inspite of this fact , Even they are not willing to sign an extradetion treaty with us to get Dawood and gang back here, simply because our politicians are totally lacking in their PRO skills....So we can forget about achieving anything with more powerful countries, it is mostly give a meter and take an inch...

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 ( six hundred and twenty ) crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

I do agree. 9 years is considerably long time and even our local corporators spent 20 crores on foreign tours in a single year :evil:

First of all, are the ministers and the corporators legally entitled to spend such huge amounts of public money on themselves? Manmohan Singh , as a PM may have some benefits that are due to him because of his position, but considering that they go there as state guests, I find it ridiculous when people suggest spending crores as peanuts involved...There should be accountability for the money spent, even if it is the PM and of course inflation and its effect is something anyone with an iota of common sense would know !
When we take the collective amount spent by the current government - 620 ( six hundred and twenty) crores by the PM, 205 crores by Pratibha Patil, 26 crores by Meria Kumar and so on...we see that that becomes a really huge amount!
Can a country like India which still has people dying from hunger and starvation and farmers committing suicide because they cannot pay back loans need such luxury? can any responsible citizen support such an act and say it is needed , if so for what ? I am amazed that educated people support such an act..

@Usha

My personal take on the issue would be completely different as it is not the dimension of the expenditure but the purposes to which it has been put to that should be the central question. Even a far-fetched comparison with whatever is spent by corporate honchos is not material here as we all know their expenses are under legal control as well as that of shareholders,stakeholders of companies. I have a feeling that Manmohan Singh in his two term has developed a dangerous obsession for grandstanding with world leaders and how much the country has gained out of his endless trips to different destinations of the world I have very serious doubts. All said and done I can only affirm that the governmental functionaries of this country have thoroughly desensitized themselves in using government money for private benefit to the utter detriment of the common people of this country. Mr Singh is no exception although once he hailed from a poverty-ridden family. Isn't it very ironic ?

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 ( six hundred and twenty ) crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

I do agree. 9 years is considerably long time and even our local corporators spent 20 crores on foreign tours in a single year :evil:

First of all, are the ministers and the corporators legally entitled to spend such huge amounts of public money on themselves? Manmohan Singh , as a PM may have some benefits that are due to him because of his position, but considering that they go there as state guests, I find it ridiculous when people suggest spending crores as peanuts involved...There should be accountability for the money spent, even if it is the PM and of course inflation and its effect is something anyone with an iota of common sense would know !
When we take the collective amount spent by the current government - 620 ( six hundred and twenty) crores by the PM, 205 crores by Pratibha Patil, 26 crores by Meria Kumar and so on...we see that that becomes a really huge amount!
Can a country like India which still has people dying from hunger and starvation and farmers committing suicide because they cannot pay back loans need such luxury? can any responsible citizen support such an act and say it is needed , if so for what ? I am amazed that educated people support such an act..

@Usha

My personal take on the issue would be completely different as it is not the dimension of the expenditure but the purposes to which it has been put to that should be the central question. Even a far-fetched comparison with whatever is spent by corporate honchos is not material here as we all know their expenses are under legal control as well as that of shareholders,stakeholders of companies. I have a feeling that Manmohan Singh in his two term has developed a dangerous obsession for grandstanding with world leaders and how much the country has gained out of his endless trips to different destinations of the world I have very serious doubts. All said and done I can only affirm that the governmental functionaries of this country have thoroughly desensitized themselves in using government money for private benefit to the utter detriment of the common people of this country. Mr Singh is no exception although once he hailed from a poverty-ridden family. Isn't it very ironic ?

However we look at the issue, it seems as if the person that Manmohan Singh was once a decade ago is no more the same committed, simple and straightforward individual...ten years of being in power, even if it was borrowed and monitored has definitely changed him !

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 ( six hundred and twenty ) crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

I do agree. 9 years is considerably long time and even our local corporators spent 20 crores on foreign tours in a single year :evil:

First of all, are the ministers and the corporators legally entitled to spend such huge amounts of public money on themselves? Manmohan Singh , as a PM may have some benefits that are due to him because of his position, but considering that they go there as state guests, I find it ridiculous when people suggest spending crores as peanuts involved...There should be accountability for the money spent, even if it is the PM and of course inflation and its effect is something anyone with an iota of common sense would know !
When we take the collective amount spent by the current government - 620 ( six hundred and twenty) crores by the PM, 205 crores by Pratibha Patil, 26 crores by Meria Kumar and so on...we see that that becomes a really huge amount!
Can a country like India which still has people dying from hunger and starvation and farmers committing suicide because they cannot pay back loans need such luxury? can any responsible citizen support such an act and say it is needed , if so for what ? I am amazed that educated people support such an act..

@Usha

My personal take on the issue would be completely different as it is not the dimension of the expenditure but the purposes to which it has been put to that should be the central question. Even a far-fetched comparison with whatever is spent by corporate honchos is not material here as we all know their expenses are under legal control as well as that of shareholders,stakeholders of companies. I have a feeling that Manmohan Singh in his two term has developed a dangerous obsession for grandstanding with world leaders and how much the country has gained out of his endless trips to different destinations of the world I have very serious doubts. All said and done I can only affirm that the governmental functionaries of this country have thoroughly desensitized themselves in using government money for private benefit to the utter detriment of the common people of this country. Mr Singh is no exception although once he hailed from a poverty-ridden family. Isn't it very ironic ?

However we look at the issue, it seems as if the person that Manmohan Singh was once a decade ago is no more the same committed, simple and straightforward individual...ten years of being in power, even if it was borrowed and monitored has definitely changed him !

@Usha

Some people say that Mr. Singh is an over-rated economist and an under-rated politician and the route he chose for himself to occupy the position he holds today is highly dubious. Had Dr. I.G. Patel ,a celebrated economist and a distinguished bureaucrat not declined the original offer of Late Narasimha Rao to join his cabinet as Finance Minister, it would have pulled curtains on Mr. Singh's career. The way he sings in praises of Rahul Gandhi I am put to shame!!!! Sycophancy at its ugliest form!!

Guys, please stick on to the issue. Deviating to discuss unnecessary issues/topics would result in unproductive outcome especially for the important discussions like this. Are you guys not worried about the hundreds of crores of rupees being spent without any productive result or you guys believe, feel and conclude that the money was spent wisely?

Personally I have never read the full details of the expenditure made on foreign tours but definitely someone has requested the full details of such expenditure using RTI. Anyone has such details and what are the benefits of such expenditure (unless I miss some point here)?

I personally do not think that our PM spent too much on his tours if you take into consideration the amount of 620 ( six hundred and twenty ) crore spent in almost 9 years. I am not a supporter of the present ruling party but Manmohan singh personally was never listed in ministers who spent unnecessarily.

I do agree. 9 years is considerably long time and even our local corporators spent 20 crores on foreign tours in a single year :evil:

First of all, are the ministers and the corporators legally entitled to spend such huge amounts of public money on themselves? Manmohan Singh , as a PM may have some benefits that are due to him because of his position, but considering that they go there as state guests, I find it ridiculous when people suggest spending crores as peanuts involved...There should be accountability for the money spent, even if it is the PM and of course inflation and its effect is something anyone with an iota of common sense would know !
When we take the collective amount spent by the current government - 620 ( six hundred and twenty) crores by the PM, 205 crores by Pratibha Patil, 26 crores by Meria Kumar and so on...we see that that becomes a really huge amount!
Can a country like India which still has people dying from hunger and starvation and farmers committing suicide because they cannot pay back loans need such luxury? can any responsible citizen support such an act and say it is needed , if so for what ? I am amazed that educated people support such an act..

@Usha

My personal take on the issue would be completely different as it is not the dimension of the expenditure but the purposes to which it has been put to that should be the central question. Even a far-fetched comparison with whatever is spent by corporate honchos is not material here as we all know their expenses are under legal control as well as that of shareholders,stakeholders of companies. I have a feeling that Manmohan Singh in his two term has developed a dangerous obsession for grandstanding with world leaders and how much the country has gained out of his endless trips to different destinations of the world I have very serious doubts. All said and done I can only affirm that the governmental functionaries of this country have thoroughly desensitized themselves in using government money for private benefit to the utter detriment of the common people of this country. Mr Singh is no exception although once he hailed from a poverty-ridden family. Isn't it very ironic ?

However we look at the issue, it seems as if the person that Manmohan Singh was once a decade ago is no more the same committed, simple and straightforward individual...ten years of being in power, even if it was borrowed and monitored has definitely changed him !

@Usha

Some people say that Mr. Singh is an over-rated economist and an under-rated politician and the route he chose for himself to occupy the position he holds today is highly dubious. Had Dr. I.G. Patel ,a celebrated economist and a distinguished bureaucrat not declined the original offer of Late Narasimha Rao to join his cabinet as Finance Minister, it would have pulled curtains on Mr. Singh's career. The way he sings in praises of Rahul Gandhi I am put to shame!!!! Sycophancy at its ugliest form!!

Yes it very common in congress to buttering of Gandhi's family. Rahul is child in front of Singh. Why he is doing all these? I think only to keep happy to his mother Sonia. Today Sonia Gandhi visit here to laying foundation stone of two unit of thermal power. For it huge amount spend by government. I think it is misuse of public fund.