New Delhi: In the recent past, India has been rocked by a series of scams both small and big. These scams have caused the most damage to the country's image and shocked the nation. Here are top 10 Indian scams that shook the nation. These include political, financial, corporate and others. 1. Fodder Scam ( 1996) Known as the mother of all scandals, this scam broke out in 1996 in the town of Chaibasa, Jharkhand (formerly Bihar). The fodder scam involved fabrication of fictitious livestock for which husbandry equipment, medicines and fodder were supposedly procured. The animal husbandry department is said to have embezzled Rs 950 crore through the scheme. After the scam erupted, the CBI began probing the entire scam under the leadership of U. N. Biswas (now a Trinamool Congress minister in West Bengal). Bihar's then chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had to resign and go to jail. Another former chief minister Jagannath Mishra was also convicted.Recently, Lalu Prasad was sentenced to five years in prison and fined Rs.25 lakh for his involvement in the fodder scam.Former chief minister Jagannath Mishra and former MP Jagdish Sharma were also jailed for four years each and fined Rs.2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh respectively. 2. Coal block allocation scam (2012) It is a political scam that exposed corruption in the higher echelons of power. This scam involved the Indian government's allocation of the nation's coal deposits to public sector entities (PSEs) and private companies by the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In March 2012, in a draft report CAG accused the government of allocating coal blocks in an arbitrary manner during the period 2004–2009, causing a loss of Rs1.86 lakh crore.Dr Manmohan Singh was in charge of the Coal Ministry between 2006 and 2009.The BJP lodged a complaint regarding the matter which led to a CBI probe into the scam and demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation.3. Chopper scam (2013) Also referred as choppergate scam, this is one of the most recents scams that involves several politicians and defence officers, who have been accused of having accepted bribes from AgustaWestland to clear a contract to supply 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters to India. In February 2010, India had signed a contract to purchase 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters. On February 12, 2013, the Rs3600 crore-scam came to light when Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi was arrested by Italian authorities for bribes allegedly paid to secure the sale of 12 helicopters to India.Indian Defence Minister AK Antony ordered a CBI probe into the contract the very next day. The investigation into the Italian firm Finmeccanica, which started more than a year ago, is one of a series of corruption scandals in defence dealmaking in India.4. 2G spectrum (2010) This sacm is of the largest financial scams in the country that involves illegal undercharging by government officials to various telecom companies during the allocation of 2G licenses for cell phone subscriptions.Instead of a transparent auction system, advised by the PMO,the telecom bandwidth tender was undervalued and offered to a preferred few on a 'First-Come-First-Served' basis. According to the CAG, the scam amounts to about Rs 176,000 crore, whereas the CBI estimates it at Rs 30,984 crore.In 2008 during the tenure of then minister for communications IT A Raja, investigations revealed that 122 122 licenses were issued. The then Telecom Minister A. Raja is the main accused in the case and he was forced to resign on November 14. He has been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting illegal gratification. Raja recently came out of Tihar jail on bail. Apart from Raja, DMK Chief M. Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi has also been named in the case.5. CWG Scam (2011)CWG is a scam that drew attention of media worldwide. The Centre announced formation of a special committee to probe into allegations of corruption and mismanagement against the Organising Committee (OC) for Delhi Commonwealth Games.Suresh Kalmadi is the main accused who was the chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games. This scam comprised of a number of deals involving overstated contracts. He has been accused of awarding a contract to install Timing, Scoring and Results (TSR) system for the 2010 CWG to Swiss Timing at inflated rates causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the exchequer. In the further investigations the CBI has alleged that Kalmadi awarded the contract to the Swiss firm at a much higher bid despite having a cheaper option. Less than 10 days before the games, athletes were asked to move into apartments that were shabby and dilapidated. The CBI has named eight persons including OC former Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and former Director General VK Verma as accused apart from Suresh Kalmadi.6. Satyam Computer scam (2009) This scam was a major corporate scandal in which the then chairman of Satyam Computers, B Ramalinga Raju was the main accused. He misappropriated books and inflated figures which led to a scam that led to a loss of Rs 8000 crore.The global corporate community was shocked and scandalized when the chairman of Satyam, Ramalinga Raju resigned on 7 January 2009 and confessed that he had manipulated the accounts by US$1.47-Billion.7. Adarsh Housing Society scam In 2002 Chief Minister of Maharashtra allotted land for construction of a cooperative society for the welfare of Kargil widows. It was named Adarsh Housing Society. Instead, military officials , politicians and bureaucrats got themselves flats in the society at low prices.The Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax department and CBI found former Chief Ministers Sushilkumar Shinde, Late Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan to be involved in the scam, which led to Chavan's resignation.The case is continuing in court. 8. Bellary mining scam This scam occured in Karnataka which led to the resignation of its chief minister B S Yeddyurappa. It started with the allegations that Gali Karunakara Reddy and Gali Janardhana Reddy paid some money to bag contracts for their mining company—Obulapuram Mining Company in Bellary.In a report that was published by former Lokayukta of Karnataka, Justice Santosh Hegde Said that Yeddyurappa and his family members had accepted bribes in the form of donations to trusts from mining companies in exchange for issuing mining leases. The Karnataka government suffered a loss of Rs16,085 crore. 9. Bofors Scam (1980-90) The Bofors scam which is sometimes referred to as India's Watergate scandal gave rise to a political storm in the country pointing fingers at Rajiv Gandhi, who was the Prime Minister then, for receiving a bribe from Bofors AB, a Swedish company. The estimation of the scam amounted to Rs 64 crore. The government of India and the Bofors signed a contract in 1986 for the supply of 155mm Howitzer field guns. About a year later the Swedish radio alleged that Bofors paid kickbacks to politicians and defence officials to close the deal. Bofors scam shook the entire nation as it involved the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. This scam took place between 1980 - 1990.Several top leaders and bureaucrats were accused of receiving kickbacks from the now defunct Swedish arms company Bofors AB for clearing a contract to supply 155 mm field howitzer The middleman associated with the scandal was Ottavio Quattrocchi, was believed to be a major player in the scam. With Quattrocchi's death after years of legal battle, the Bofors saga came to an end on July 13, 2013.10. Cash-for-votes scam ( 2008) Cash for vote scam is one of the major scams that shook the nation's conscience and exposed the corruption that prevails at top political levels in the country.Nearly one crore rupee in cash was brought by three BJP MPs into the Lok Sabha on July 22, 2008, hours before the House was to vote on a confidence motion moved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The BJP MPs alleged they were offered bribes to vote for the government. The cash was seized, and stored in the Lok Sabha secretariat, and later handed over to the investigating agencies. Nothing came out of it. Instead, the three BJP MPs who had revealed this bribe giving were arrested by CBI and later released.
