NGO Corruption in India

Monday 27 May 2019

The 1978 Suresh Ram Scandal - Maneka Gandhi’s Orchestrated India’s First Political Sex Scandal

It’s not always the politicians themselves that engage in illicit activities. Sometimes their own families are to blame for their political downfall. Such is the case of Jagjivan Ram. Jagjivan had the potential to become independent India’s first Dalit Prime Minister. However, his son Suresh Ram was caught in a sex scandal that ruined those chances.

The Sex Scandal Breaks Out

Jagjivan Ram was deputy prime minister at the time of the scandal. When Indira Gandhi was beaten in the 1977 Janata Party movement, Jagjivan was looked upon as the favorite choice for the post of Prime Minister. Jagjivan had moved away from Congress and he had a strong reputation as an able administrator and experienced politician.

A magazine known as Surya published a two-page spread of nude photos of his 46-year-old son, Suresh Ram, and a college student named Sushma Chaudry. They were seen in very compromising positions. Unfortunately, his father bore the brunt of the ensuing scandal. There is more to the story than just photos beings published in some magazine though.

Politics Behind Photos

The magazine that printed these photos was edited by Maneka Gandhi. Maneka was Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law. It was India’s first political sex scandal to be published. The photos had been taken on a polaroid camera. Many believe that this scandal coming out at such a critical point in Jagjivan’s career was nothing less than a plot to ruin his political career. Some have even theorized that politicians from his own party had a hand in the scandal.

Kushwant Singh was the consulting editor of the magazine at the time of the sex scandal. He stated that the polaroid photos were sent in an envelope to his National Herald office, which was run by Congress. Bear in mind that, at the time, obscenity tolerance was low and any media house that would have published these pictures risked being shut down. So there had to be some kind of vested interest behind these photos being published. Most agree that the photos appeared to be politically motivated.

It’s alleged that the photos were meant as a weapon to personally destroy Jagjivan’s political career. Jagjivan had broken away from his 30-year career as cabinet minister of the Congress. He then joined the Janata Party, giving an alternative to Indira Gandhi.

Accounts of the scandal say that Jagjivan would have given up the chance at being Prime Minister of the Janata Government, returning to Congress, if the photos remained unpublished. However, he was asked to first leave Janata, which he did not do, and the deal fell apart. It was then that Surya published the pictures of Suresh Ram.

The fallout was that Jagjivan’s political career fell, and the Janata Party split in two. It was the downfall of the Morarji Desai government. So, with the outside support of Congress, Charan Singh became the next Prime Minister.

A Case of Karma

Nearly 40 years later, in 2016, history seems to be repeating itself. The very same Maneka Gandhi seems to be getting a taste of karma. What she did to Jagjivan and Suresh Rash is now being done to her son Varun Gandhi. The pictures look extremely doctored and many say they are photoshopped. However, they have done their job in ruining the future political career of her son.

Reference Links-

The Bofors Scandal

One of the biggest political scams in India took place between the 1980s and 1990s between Sweden and India around a weapons contract and illegal illicit payments being made to a number of public servants and private investors in India. It was referred to as the Bofors Scandal and the investigation into it lasted 31 years.

What was the Bofors Scandal?

In March of 1986, a contract was signed between Bofors, a Swedish arms manufacturer, and the Indian Government, for 410 Howitzer guns to be supplied to the Indian army. One year later, allegations were made by a Swedish radio station that Bofors had bribed a number of top politicians, including the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and defense personnel in India as a means of securing the contract.

At the beginning of 1990, an F.I.R (First Information Report) was lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigations against Bofors president, Martin Ardbo for forgery, cheating, and criminal conspiracy. Included in these charges were middlemen Win Chadda and the Hinduja brothers.

The allegations stated that, between 1982 and 1987, a criminal conspiracy was entered into by a number of private individuals and public servants in both India and abroad. At the time of the conspiracy, a number of illegal actions took place, including bribery, forgery, corruption, and cheating.

The first sheet of charges, in this case, was filed in October of 1999 against the following:

Win Chadda – an agent of the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors.

S.K. Bhatnagar – former defense secretary of India

Ottavio Quattrocchi – Italian businessman who was the conduit for bribes in this case

Martin Ardbo – president of Bofors

Rajiv Gandhi - former Indian prime minister

Bofors company – Swedish arms manufacturer that paid illegal bribes to those involved

A secondary sheet was also made against Gopichand, Srichand, and Prakash Hinduja of Hinduja Group.

The Motive Behind the Bofors Scandal

There were two main motives surrounding the Bofors scandal. For India, it was shown that Rajiv Gandhi wanted to use the commission from Bofors exclusively for meeting the expenses involved with running the Congress party. However, upon investigation by the Swedish police, nothing was found to suggest that Gandhi had ever received any payments. He was, however, guilty about having the knowledge that these illicit payments were happening and not taking action to report them.

For the Swedish gun manufacturer, a deal that would give them £802 million was far too good to pass up. In their desperation to win the bid on this lucrative deal, they bribed many politicians to forge documents that would quickly pass the deal through and ensure that they won the bid.

It was also of the opinion that the Bofors scandal was created by those who wanted to see the continuation of the monopoly that the Soviet Union had over selling weapons and arms to India. This was something that Rajiv Gandhi wanted to change, allowing purchases from other countries that he felt would be priced competitively. The Bofors scandal had a large impact on politics in subsequent elections, all of which eventually led to Congress losing power.

Reference Links-

Thursday 16 May 2019

Raghavji Lakhamsi Savala Sex Scandal

Who is Raghavji Lakhamsi Savala?

Raghavji Lakhamsi Savala is a well known and long-serving veteran leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. His political career began in 1946 when he joined this organization. He also became a practicing lawyer in 1958 and was elected as an MLA for the constituency of Vidisha in 1967. He twice served as an MP for Lok Sabha from 1977 to 1979 and then from 1989 to 1991. From 1991 to 1992, and then 1994 to 2000, he served in the Rajya Sabha.

During Raghavji Lakhamsi Savala's term as MP, he held roles serving in a number of ministerial committees. After serving a term in the capital, he came back to state politics in 2003, when he was elected as an MLA. Since 2003, Raghavji Lakhamsi Savala has been the Finance Minister. During his time he has introduced 10 state budgets. Another important role that he had was as part of the Empowered Committee of the State Finance Minister. This committee was responsible for outlining the details of the Goods and Services Tax, which Raghavji was opposed to.

Raghavji has had a long and productive political life. However, in 2013, this all changed when allegations of a sexual scandal were brought to light. It would be the end of his political career, seeing him stepping down from his role as the Finance Minister of Madhya Pradesh at the age of 79.

The Scandal Against Raghavji

On July 5th of 2013, a sex scandal broke out involving Raghavji and a male domestic servant called Rajkumar Dangi. Rajkumar, whom was called Rajkumari in private by Raghavji, went to the police in Habibganj, where he accused Raghavji of sexual exploitation and sexually abusing him. Rajkumar stated that he was promised a permanent job in the government by Raghavji. He claimed that the 79-year-old ex-minister had sodomized him, using these promises to coerce him into sexual acts. He handed over a CD and demanded that he and his family be protected.

There were two other servants who came forward, Sher Singh and Suresh Singh, who backed the victims' claims of sexual exploitation, which they said had been going on for years. He was also accused of other unethical dealings by another servant.

The CD and allegations sparked political attacks that intensified. An FIR was registered against Raghavji but he went missing soon after it was filed. He had also submitted his own anticipatory bail plea. When the state assembly session began on that Monday, Raghavji was nowhere to be found. It is said that he was in Vidisha at the time of the FIR being filed.

On July 9th the police were tipped off that Raghavji's was hiding in a flat in the Kohifia district of Bhopal. When they arrived to arrest Raghavji, they found that the main entrance to the apartment was locked from the outside, but believed he was still there hiding. The door had to be broken down by the police and, once inside, they found and arrested the ex-minister. He was then taken to a hospital to have a medical check before being brought to the Habibganj metro station.

On July 22nd the court sent him into custody. Raghavji's bail plea was rejected so he applied to the High Court. The High Court granted him bail on August 13th, based on the ex-ministers age. At this point, Raghavji had been in custody for 34 days.

Many questioned why there was such a delay in arresting Raghavji. The opposition claimed that this was due to him being protected by Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan. It was also alleged, by Congress leader Ajay Singh, that the FIR was not registered for 6 hours after the discovery of the scandal.

The Chief Minister denied these allegations and claimed that, within one hour of the CD coming to light, he had called Raghavji to ask him to submit his resignation papers. On the same day, the BJP suspended Raghavji.

The supporters and family of Raghavji have stated that this case is a politically motivated one and that the victim who made these accusations against the 79-year-old ex-minister had left his services a month prior to the accusations. They believe that the man was supported by leaders in Congress.

The Effects of the Scandal

This was the first blemish against someone who had served in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly and in Parliament. When a CD was released as proof of the sexual acts, Raghavji was forced to resign from his position. The Minister of Water Resources, Jayant Malaiya, was given charge of the Finance Ministry when Raghavji resigned.

The sex scandal created a rift between Raghavji and the government that did not close, even after he was given bail. A once powerful politician saw his career break apart like fragile glass. He was seen sitting alone at the foundation celebration of the Vidisha Medical College with former colleagues keeping their distance. Since then he has been marginalized by the government. Should the charges against him be proven as true, he could face 10 years in prison.

References-

Monday 8 April 2019

Sabal Bharat Sansthan Jaipur – A Political Scandal in the Brewing

In a country where unemployment is at its highest, people are desperate to take any opportunity that comes their way. This is a fact that fraudsters count on, playing on the poor, vulnerable, and unemployed. One of the biggest scandals of India is fraud NGOs that target people such as these. These fraud NGOs of India claim they will help you, but do nothing for you.

One such organization is Jaipur's Sabal Bharat Sansthan. They have created a website that appears very professional, but what they offer is fake hope. Its main goal is not to get people the help and skills they need for employment, but to scam people of their money. The organization conducts exams across a number of cities around the country. Their target is unemployed and poor.

Under the guise of a government-funded organization, this company is run by founder Sunil Gurjar. His is a name that should be quite familiar, as he was involved in a big Rajasthan political scandal several years ago. Many people have their hands in this organizations' running; bureaucrats, government, civil servants, corrupt officials, and public servants. They all work together to take money from the poorest to line their own pockets. If you look on their website, https://www.sabalbharat.org/sabal-bharat-team, you will see that all of the members are retired bureaucrats.

The harsh reality of NGOs in India is that they paint a wonderful picture of what people can have, a settled life, a good job, and the skills to succeed. These are the dreams that people live for and the dreams that fraud NGOs of India rely on.

https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/textiles-ministry-files-complaint-against-ngos-1346760-2018-09-23

The organization begins by targeting those in need. They tell them what they want to hear and invite them to take a simple exam. They are offered free food, lodging, and accommodations, as well as skill training for a variety of areas, such as banks, hotels, and IT companies. All of this for taking one simple exam that will determine your skill level and, based on those merits, will allow you to be awarded one of their scholarships. They even have a specific syllabus' for their various levels of education.

It's the Sabal Bharat Exam that is the modus operandi of this organization. This is where they collect money. Candidates are required to pay an exam fee of INR 560 (about $9.00). That may not sound like a lot, but for the poor, it can be. And they are doing this on a large scale, taking this small amount for thousands and thousands of candidates, twice a year, in all the states of India, you can do the maths.

The exam is pretty much the only real thing about this company. After all, they need to have something tangible to make people believe they are a legitimate government-funded organization. It's the claims they make that, successful candidates can benefit from a number of training programs, are a lie. It's a fraud organization of Skill India program.

The state that their training programs are geared towards skill development, claiming to help empower people. Candidates are led to believe that, after having this training, they will be able to navigate the corporate world and find better employment opportunities.

After taking the exam, candidates are told that results will be published on their website and via text in no more than 2 months. However, those results never come. Sure, they post one or two results on their website, but it is believed that these candidates don't even exist. Once they have your money you won't hear from them again. Many candidates are still waiting, several months on, to hear anything at all.

The trick here is the small amount they take. It's enough to keep them under the radar. It also helps that they are hand-in-hand with many high ranking political and government people. Not many people are willing to fight to get back such a small amount. But the damage that this company has done to their hopes and self-esteem is irreparable.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-fraud-NGOs-in-India

It's more or less like a Ponzi or pyramid scheme. Each district salesperson is required to bring in as many candidates for testing (revenue) as they can. In order to give the test, they will have to pay the fees. The fees collected are pure profit. Once you have created your own infrastructure of people beneath you, you just sit back and let the money flow in.

The number of people who have contacts Sabal Bharat after taking the exam and hearing nothing back is high. These people are waiting for results to see which Sabal Bharat program they have qualified for. The founder, Sunil Gurjar, is not interested in helping people through education. He is only interested in helping fill his coffers.

The worst thing about this organization is that they have strong political and government ties. It's because of this that Sunil Gurjar manages to get away with cheating such a large number of people and there is no one who can speak out against him or his organization. It also casts a shadow over the legitimate government funded Skill India programs that actually do help people.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/99-ngos-are-fraud-money-making-devices-hc/story-2AMyh5VMGA0edUtvtRnAMP.html

In truth, the Sabal Bharat Exam holds no value and you will gain nothing from taking it. You will, however, lose time and money. It's important to know how to identify a fake NGO, and one step is to learn more about the background of the individual running the organization.

If you check the background of Sunil Gurjar, you will find it isn't his first encounter with the law. However, he seems to have no fear of breaking laws because no one will go up against him to stop him. You may recall the Bhanwari Devi Murder Case. It was one of the biggest political scandals of India that affected the entirety of India's middle class. It involved the sexual exploitation and murder of a government employee and was a campaign against Mahipal Maderna. In the end, it caused a downfall of Rajasthan's Congress government. And the person behind it? Sunil Gurjar!

So, if you have been considering getting any help from Sabal Bharat or taking their exam, think twice. All you end up doing is wasting energy, time, and money to get nothing in return.

References-

Tata Tapes Controversy - illegal Tapping of Phone Calls of Nusli Wadia

A big political scandal in India took place in the 1990s that involved the owners of a company called Tata Tea, terrorist group ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam), and the Assam government. Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the then Chief Minister of Assam alleged that Tata Tea was involved in conduct deemed anti-national.

The situation came to light when a journalist for Indian Express, Ritu Sarin, published a story regarding illegal tapping of phone calls of Nusli Wadia, a business tycoon. The transcripts were published and involved a number of high profile individuals, including a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, and Ratan Tata.

The History Behind the Controversy

It was during the 1990s that the ULFA, a banned terror group, had been very active in the Assam area. The group had been extorting funds from tea companies as a means of funding their activities. Fear made most of the tea companies pay the ULFA, however, Tata Tea refused. In 1997, ULFA was responsible for a number of militant activities and terror attacks. One such attack was the failed attempt at an assassination against the Chief Minister who headed the Assam government, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. It brought publicity to the breaking down of law and order of the Assam region, which negatively impacted the Mahanta government. It was during similar circumstances in 1990 that his previous government was dismissed.

Mahanta visited Calcutta to raise funding for his party before the assembly elections but did not get a good response from the tea companies, more importantly from Tata Tea, who refused to pay anything.

In August of 1997 an ULFA member, Pranati Deka, was arrested, along with her baby and two others. They found a visiting card on one of the accomplices belonging to one of Tata Tea's senior executives, Brojen Gogoi. It was reported that he had gone with Deka to Mumbai for her to give birth and cover her medical costs and lodgings. Tata Tea had paid INR 50,000 and claimed it had not been aware of Deka's link to the ULFA.

Tata Tea top officials were interrogated by the Assam police, leading to the arrest of General Manager, SS Dogra under the charge of aiding and abetting ULFA in their unlawful activities. Gogoi was also wanted for questioning but authorities were unable to arrest him at the time. He was reported to have been abroad studying, however, reports claimed he was using a guest house in India to avoid the police. It wasn't until September that he turned himself in.

The Tata Tapes

The Tata tapes held conversations that took place between Nusli Wadia and a number of powerful industrial and political individuals. The tapes proved that the Tatas were attempting to coerce the central government to step in to deal with the issues they were having with the Assam government. It was also suggested that the Tatas were aware of Gogoi's whereabouts and had lied to the Assam government when questioned.

The mystery in this situation is who actually tapped Wadia's phones, The Central Government denied that it was them, and a probe was launched to find out who was responsible for infringing on these individual's privacy.

The controversy brought to light what the Assam tea industry was dealing with for the past two decades, grabbing the attention of the entire country. The industry had been putting up with extortion, kidnapping, and murder by militants of both the ULFA and NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland).

References:

1. http://indiatodaygroup.com/itoday/20101997/cov.html
2. http://www.india-today.com/btoday/22101997/tata.html
3. http://www.rediff.com/news/oct/13assam.htm
4. http://www.rediff.com/business/sep/15tata.htm
5. http://www.rediff.com/business/sep/16assam.htm
6.https://web.archive.org/web/19971007063854/http://www.expressindia.com:80/ie/daily/19971007/28050903.html
7.https://web.archive.org/web/19971023074806/http://www.expressindia.com:80/ie/daily/19971006/27950853.html

Radia Tapes Controversy - How one women controlled entire government policy in India through sexual favours

The Radia Tapes Controversy (also known as the 2G Spectrum Scam) is one of the Scandals of India took place between 2008 and 2009. It involved political lobbyist, Nira Radia of Vaishnavi Communications, and several of her media friends, such as Vir Sanghvi, Hindustan Times' editorial director, and Barkha Dutt, the group editor of NDTV. In these tapes, they are heard making promises to Radia, her political friends, and her corporate clients. The tapes show how one woman attempted to influence government policy via the control of journalists and politicians, how she destroyed careers and reputations.

During a one year period, the Home Ministry gave the Indian Income Tax Department to go-ahead to tap Radia's phones. It was part of their ongoing investigation into the possibility of money laundering, tax evasion, financial practices that were restricted. The decision was made after finance ministry had received an anonymous letter claiming Radia was a covert operator to a foreign government.

One question that was asked was, why was this particular anonymous letter taken so seriously? And how did it make it's way to the ministry's highest levels? It is believed that the letter came from a powerful organization that was known to some of the ministry's important people.

It was in 2010 that a magazine called OPEN published a story that included transcripts from some of these conversations between Radia and others involved, where Radia attempted to make deals related to the 2G Spectrum Allocation. Radia attempted to use people from the media to influence the decision of having A. Raja appointed as the telecom minister. Radia influenced news reports and Parliament discussion at the request of corporate houses.

The Motive Behind The Scandal

The motive here was the abuse of power by one small group of very powerful people within the public sector; politicians, journalists, and businessman. This group attempted to subvert the democratic system for their own benefit and interests.

Those involved tried to claim it was a breach of privacy, being tapped secretly. However, the argument is that it involved public interests, therefore the public should be made aware of what was going on. The media felt they had an obligation to report this to the public and their fundamental rights for freedom of speech. At one point, a media blackout that banned the publishing of the tapes would have defeated both freedoms of expression and public interest just to save the privacy of a small powerful, but a corrupt group of people trying to manipulate the system.

One main player who tried to prevent publication of these transcripts was Ratan Tata, an Indian industrialist. However, it was felt that the conversations revealed a number of immoral and illegal acts that the public had a right to know about. The strange part is that, where other people's reputations and careers were ruined, Tata emerged from the incident with barely a scratch to his, even though he was heard on these tapes trying to manipulate policy.

It was reported that only 100 out of 5,800 tapped conversations had been made public and these were enough to reveal how India was being run, the subservience of politicians, how court decisions can be fixed, how MP's will lobby for big business houses, and that everything in the country is managed by corporate.

References

1. http://expressbuzz.com/nation/radia-tapes-featuring-senior-scribes-create-stir/224516.html
2. http://business-standard.com/india/news/radia-shuts-vaishnavi/454061/
3. https://www.ibtimes.com/indian-medias-mighty-stand-exposed-wrong-side-2g-spectrum-scam-248166
4. http://www.zeenews.com/news670068.html
5. http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4595860
6. http://news.oneindia.in/2010/11/21/does-media-follow-unethical-biased-journalism.html
7.http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/96109/Top%20Stories/%27Radia+lobbied+to+get+Raja+telecom+ministry%27.html
8. http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/some-telephone-conversations
9. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main47.asp?filename=Ws1911102G_FALLOUT.asp
10. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_leaked-tapes-cbi-says-it-has-5851-recordings_1470650
11. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/120849/India/jpc-on-radia-tapes.html
12. http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/apr/290410-india-inc-tapped-phone-tapping-leaked-report-ratan-tata-mukesh-ambani-sunil-mittal.htm
13. http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268071
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15. http://www.dnaindia.com/blogs/post.php?postid=318
16. http://openthemagazine.com/article/nation/i-am-there-you-want-me-to-speak-to-anyone
17. http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/favourite-lobby-horses/265345
18. http://business.outlookindia.com/view.aspx?vname=Barkha--18-188819-0-10-20090522-094851.wav
19. http://business.outlookindia.com/view.aspx?vname=Barkha%20Dutt-02-188819-0-01-20090522-104733.wav
20. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_barkhagate-protests-in-140-characters-leave-no-space-for-gray-areas_1471128