Scams have become commonplace in India now and a very regular headline in the daily news. Another multi-million scam does not raise an eyebrow anymore, as it was more or less expected anyways! An average Indian slogs his day off at work, pays taxes and faces harassment from Government officials only to get betrayed as his hard earned tax money is pocketed by tainted ministers and politicians. Here is a brief on five scams that caught the country by surprise:
- The 2G Spectrum Scam
This was perhaps an eye-opener and perhaps defined the benchmark of the highest scam ever. A. Raja the convicted minister so callously led the Government to losses up to Rs. 1,76,000 crore was absolutely unbelievable. Mercenary and selfish motives behind the 2G scam led to the stashing away of incredible amounts of money by the rich, which could have otherwise led to the betterment of the millions of poor Indians living below the poverty line was absolutely intolerable.
- Commonwealth Games Scam
Another shameless revelation in the string of scams was the Commonwealth scam. On one hand we had India trying to promote sports and increase the level of sportsmanship in the country, to reports revealing how shabbily our Indian sportsmen were treated at the Commonwealth Games to the final showdown: the Commonwealth scam. This robbery was a slap on the face of the hosting country, which faltered yet again despite a remarkable spectacle at the Commonwealth Games. The original budget of the games was Rs. 90 crores, and most of the money was usurped leading to a chaotic last minute situation at the incomplete venues and the attempts to ‘polish’ up the face of New Delhi.
- Satyam Scam
Satyam scam was perhaps the greatest corporate scandal that rocked the IT world in India and was perhaps the greatest amongst the many scams on 2009. The former chairman of Satyam had fudged figures in the account books showing inflated revenues and profits. This led to the bankruptcy of the company and a major setback to the IT sector.
- Bofors Scam
This was one scam that caught the Congress Party on the wrong foot. The most infamously popular Bofors scam was what caught the nation’s imagination in the 1980s and 90s. Rajiv Gandhi (the then Prime Minister) and many other Congress politicians were accused of receiving kickbacks for awarding a bid for supplying 155mm field howitzer to Bofors AB.
- IPL Scam
Cricket is the passion of most Indians and the most watched game too. However, cricket has also been in the news for the wrong reasons. The latest in the string of IPL scams has been the recent match-fixing by various bookies and Bollywood personalities with popular cricket sportsmen who received bribes.
