Scams, scandals and corrupt activities have surfaced time and again in the country. The most common trick for the scammers is to flee the country and gain international protection when caught. In a country with so many people under the poverty line, scams have made the innocent poor even poorer. Here are some of the biggest scandals that India has faced which had gained international attention

Commonwealth Games Scam

The news that India would be hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2010 created a lot of buzz in the country and a want to provide for the best to people who would be coming from international locations. However, the poor conditions in which the athletes had to live drew the attention of many. India lost about Rs. 35,000 crores due to this scam. The large-scale corruption in this matter had shamed India worldwide. The Chairman of CWG, Suresh Kalmadi, and two of his aides were arrested for this.

Coalgate Scam

In September 2012, a scam was unearthed where the Comptroller and Auditor General of India found out that the Government had to bear a loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh crores because instead of auctioning the coal blocks, they had been sold for lesser than what they should have been sold at. The Supreme Court ruled that all coal blocks between 1993 and 2010 were illegal. The former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with Kumar Mangalam Birla and P.C. Parekh was accused and summoned by a special court. 

2G Spectrum Scam

This scam surfaced in 2008 when it was realized by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India that the government had undercharged for mobile telephone companies for frequency allocations licences. These licences were actually used to create 2G spectrum subscriptions for cell phones. It was found that the difference between what was collected and mandated to be collected was Rs 1.76 trillion.

 Fodder Scam

This scam has found justice only very recently. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra were disqualified from the parliament for corruption. Rs 900 crore worth of money was scammed for this. It was found out in 1996 when animal husbandry department found corruption in the funds meant to purchase cattle fodder, medicines and animal farming equipment. By 2013, nearly 500 people who were accused were arrested.

Satyam Scam

Some call this the Indian Enron scam. This scam is one of the biggest corporate scams in the country. It involved fraud in auditing practices and was alleged to be in support of the auditors as well as chartered accountants. Satyam Computer Services Ltd. lied about its financial health by grossly inflating its account to stakeholders, board, regulators, etc. It was seen that the money was used to buy thousands of acres of land across Andhra Pradesh. The amount was inflated to show 300 crores more than the actual amount there was.