India is a land of scams – some serious and some really ticklishly funny. Certain scams have the power to tickle your senses by their sheer sense of absurdity and intelligence. I have detailed some of them here. I hope you enjoy reading it :

CHAPPAL SCAM:

Chappals are flip-flops. The rubber footwear that almost hugs your feet practically all the time that you are home. Well, how can somebody do a scam with chappals? You may ask. But yes, that is the sheer intelligence of the whole scam. The tamil nadu government under the AIADMK rule was giving away free chappals. Any reason why? You may ask. Of course, to get votes. Yes, the politicians of our country are too clever and the ordinary people are quiet gullible. It might sound a little off the mark but then, India happens to be a country where there are more people under the line of poverty than above it. Of course, anything free matters here.

The case was filed that there were irregularities in the procurement of chappals which were meant for distribution to school children in rural areas. Apart from the irregularity in the supply, the ones that were supplied were of cheap quality. As a result, the government had to suffer a loss of a whooping 1.20 crores. I hope the people who benefitted are not wearing garlands of chappals at home apart from the ones adorning their feet. How much surplus is enough?

FODDER SCAM:

I feel sad for the poor non-existent cows that did not get their fair share of fodder. This was one of the biggest crimes and involved people in dignified posts like the chief minister of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Jagannath Mishra, Chandrasekhar Singh etc. There was an alleged embezzlement of approximately 950 crores from the government treasury of Bihar. This scam spanned for almost two decades and involved the fabrication of ‘vast herds of fictious live stock’ for which medicines, fodder and husbandry equipments were allegedly procured. Dvivedi, the inspector with the anti-curruption vigilance department of the state who submitted a report on the same was soon suspended from his position and later became one of the witnesses of the corruption case. Another witness was found dead on the railway tracks. The chief minister at that time, Laloo Prasad Yadav, allegedly ‘ate’ the fodder worth 300 crores. The CBI filed chargesheets against Laloo and 55 other co-accused. The demands on Laloo continued to mount and finally he resigned from his position only to install his wife Rabri Devi was the new chief minister on the same day. Laloo Prasad Yadav happens to be the only person on whom the Lok Sabha debated for a complete session as the official agenda.