By KS Reddy
Corruption in India is a result of the connection between bureaucrats, politicians and criminals. Scams have become so common that we have become accustomed to it. We have been accustomed to this word since we got independence. It started with Rs.80 lakh for Jeep scam in 1948 to Rs.2,00,000 Crores for The Wakf board scam. Let’s take a look into scams that rocked our nation and the amount we have lost so far to these scams :
THE COAL SCAM
Amount Lost : Rs.1,86,000 Crores
2012
The coal scam, or what’s popularly called the coalgate, first came to light when India’s audit watchdog, The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, raised the issue of inadequacies in the allocation of coal blocks from 2004 onwards. It created a political storm, as the loss to the exchequer was initially pegged at over Rs. 10 lakh crore. The final report scaled it down to Rs. 1.86 lakh crore.
2G SCAM
Amount Lost : Rs.1,76,000 Crores .
2008
Government undercharged mobile telephone companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they then used to create 2G spectrum subscriptions for cell phones. licenses were granted to ineligible corporations, those with no experience in the telecom sector (such as Unitech and Swan Telecom) and those who had concealed relevant information. Several laws were violated and bribes paid to favour certain firms in granting permissions for the 2G spectrum licenses.
WAKF BOARD SCAM
Amount Lost : Rs.2,00,000 Crores
2012
In Karnataka, nearly half of the 54,000 acres that is in the custody of the Wakf board has been misused. Property worth an estimated Rs. 2 lakh crores has been illegally transferred to private institutions and individuals. The report says middlemen, politicians and Wakf board officials colluded to make this happen between 2001 and 2012.
COMMON WEALTH GAMES SCAM
Amount Lost : 70,000 Crores
2010
This scam disgraced the nation in front of other countries and an international audience. According to estimations, 70000 crore INR was spent on the game of which only half the amount was actually spent for the event. The investigation performed by Central Vigilance Commission revealed that various hefty payments were made in the name of non-existent parties and voluntarily delay was made in the preparation process which collective lead to misuse of the funds.
TELGI SCAM
Amount : 20,000 Crores
2002
Abdul Karim Telgi, the maestro of conning, managed to print fake stamp papers and then he sold them to various financial institutions and banks. This scam became possible because the offender has strong connections with high government officials and this is indeed the major failure of the Indian political and judiciary system.
SATYAM SCAM
Amount : 14,000 Crores
2009
This is the biggest fraud in the Corporate history of India , Chairman Ramalinga Raju kept everyone in the dark for a decade by fudging the books of accounts for several years and inflating revenues and profit figures of Satyam. This was also considered to be “THE ENRON OF INDIA “. It was later taken over by Tech Mahindra and the rest is a history
Jeep SCAM-1948
Amount: 80 lakhs
The jeep scandal in 1948 was first major corruption case in independent India. V.K. Krishna Menon, the then Indian high commissioner to Britain, ignored protocols and signed a Rs 80 lakh contract for the purchase of army jeeps with a foreign firm for the purchase of 200 army jeeps. While most of the money was paid up front, just 155 jeeps landed, the then Prime Minister Nehru forced the government to accept them .
Somehow this list never ends , we have the BAAP of scams i.e Black money Scam , it’s not possible to estimate the amount of money that’s stashed in tax heavens. We also have Bofors Scam, Mining Scam, Hawala Scam, Fooder Scam & it never ends
Hope we see a corruption free INDIA !!!!
