Ranchi: The way fodder scam, worth around Rs 1,000 crore, was unearthed is no less than a blockbuster movie plot.
The whistleblower Saryu Rai, after parting ways with Janta Party and bidding goodbye to his political career, was a freelance journalist with Navbharat Times, Patna, back then. The person to register the first FIR, the then Chaibasa deputy commissioner Amit Khare, is advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi now.
The fodder scam of the 1990s which has many firsts to its record is apparently the first scam of Independent India, that has reached a logical conclusion, reposing the faith of masses in investigation agencies and law of the land. Talking to TOI, Saryu Rai reminisced about the flow of events almost chronologically. It was in July 1984 that he resigned from Janta Party and decided to renounce politics. In 1986, he started a career as a freelance journalist with newly launched Patna edition of Navbharat Times under the then editor Dinanath Mishra. Rai was working on the beats of finance and economy of Bihar back then when he noticed discrepancies in the state budget, particularly of the animal husbandry department. “I noticed that in the financial year 1990-91, 91-92 and 92-93, the budget estimates and revised estimates for AHD were far less than the actual expenses and this increase in expenditure was never adjusted through supplementary demand of grants. It was during this period that the CAG report was also not laid on the floor of Bihar assembly. This...
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