'The Scam: From Harshad Mehta To Ketan Parekh', one of the most thrilling non-fiction business books ever written in India by Debashis Basu and Sucheta Dalal, is now available in Marathi. The book, translated into Marathi by Atul Kahate and Poonam Chhatre, was launched in Pune on Friday by the original authors.
The Scam is a chronicle of two of the most famous scams in the Indian stock markets. Its Marathi version is published by Pune-based Manovikas Prakashan, one of the leading book publishers in Maharashtra, owned by the Patkar family.
Mr Kahate, who has authored over 70 books on computer technology and a few other subjects, says, "We started working on the translation more than two years ago when the web series 'The Scam' was in the limelight. However, after COVID, the work got stuck, and I also got busy with other stuff. When Arvind, Ashish and Reena Patkar decided to print the book, I revisited the transcription and realised I needed help, especially to decipher and accurately translate the legal terminologies and sentences. We asked Ms Chhatre, and she readily agreed to do it."
"Although I have written my own books and translated several books in Marathi, this book, The Scam, not only brought me out of a comfort zone but also made me learn and adopt the style of Ms Dalal and Mr Basu. They both are stalwart investigative journalists and have put their hearts into writing the original book in an enthralling manner. From our side, we have tried to do justice to their writing style. Hope book readers would like it," he added.
After the book launch, Mr Kahate anchored a discussion with Ms Dalal and Mr Basu. Replying to a question, Ms Dalal said, "No financial scam is possible without political patronage. Not just the Harshad Mehta scam, but even the Ketan Parekh scam also has several political connections. When the Harshad Mehta scam happened, leaders like George Fernandes, Somnath Chatterjee, and Gurudas Dasgupta raised the questions in Parliament daily. Has anyone asked any questions on financial fraud there in the past ten years?"
Elaborating on this, Mr Basu said, "The Union government had control over oil companies and banks, which had the money. Public sector units (PSUs) and government organisations have funds. Brokers found out about this money lying in the public sector and started using it in the stock market.
"Delhi used to regulate the fund flow from PSUs. Also, at that time, global banks operating in India were under the impression that the rules of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) were only guidelines and not the law. But I suggest you read the book to understand more about this."
First published in April 1993, the 11th printing of the book now includes the original Harshad Mehta scam and the Ketan Parekh scam while also delving into the JPC fiasco and the Global Trust Bank scam.
Several prominent personalities from Pune were in attendance, including renowned writer and retired IAS officer Bharat Sasane, who is also the president of the 95th Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, Dr Manikrao Salunkhe (former vice-chancellor of Shivaji University), Deepak Mhaisekar (ex-divisional commissioner, Pune and adviser to Maharashtra chief minister), senior journalists Mahavir Jondhle and Vinita Deshmukh, authors Nilambari Joshi, Vinita Kamte, Dr Ravindra Tamboli and Deepa Deshmukh, and award-winning documentary filmmaker Mrinalini Bhosale, among others.