Agencies
New Delhi: India Foundation, run by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s Shaurya Doval, who is partner in a financial services firm, has top ministers as directors, and relies on financial support from foreign and Indian corporates some of which have dealings with the government, says a Wire report.
For an organisation that has been around since 2009 producing monographs on themes like radical Islam in Kerala and the ‘forced conversion’ of adivasis, the rise of the India Foundation since 2014 has been phenomenal so say the least.
Considered to be country’s most influential think-tank it provides a platform for captains of industry, both foreign and Indian, to rub shoulders with powers that be and discuss the finer points of government policy. But the presence of top ministers as directors in India Foundation and its executive director Shaurya Doval’s day job, which is running Gemini Financial Services , a firm specializing in transactions and capital flows between the OECD and the emerging Asian economies, also raise the prospect of conflict of interest and lobbying, something that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to uproot forever from the corridors of power, said Wire report.
Shaurya Doval being son of national security advisor Ajit Doval adds a new element to the dynasticism of Indian politics and public affairs.
India Foundation, which is run by Shaurya Doval and BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav Varanasi, has among its directors Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu, besides two ministers of state – Jayant Sinha (civil aviation) and MJ Akbar (external affairs).
Thus the India Foundation has the kind of weight that others can obly fream about. Every event organized by the foundation has in attendance top decision-makers in that field, which easily not only guarantees a full house but sponsorships; by government and private bodies, both national and international.
The source of its success, however, is also the India Foundation’s greatest weakness, for the very visible presence of the six raises uncomfortable questions about conflicts of interest, and the possibility of foreign and Indian companies leveraging their support for foundation ‘events’ in order to seek favours from the government on issues where they may have a business stake.
As a trust, the foundation is not obliged to make public its balance sheet. However, despite the presence of ministers on its board of directors, it has shied away from providing any information about its source of revenue.
