Raising its reservations over activities of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), RSS affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding removal of Nachiket Mor from the RBI board on grounds of conflict of interest.
Mor is currently National Director for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—India. He is also the member of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India. In a letter to the Prime Minister, the co-convenor of SJM Ashwini Mahajan said the appointment of Mor on the RBI board is of the most glaring examples of "conflict of interests arising in various corners of the establishment." Mahajan said.
The SJM said Home Ministry is keeping their vigil on BMGM because of allegations that the foundation is working in favour of multinational companies "by influencing government policies relating to health and agriculture".
"There is no case for retaining Nachiket Mor on the board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It is a fit case of conflict of interest, as his principal employer BMGF receives foreign funds and the RBI is regulator of the fund," Mahajan said in his letter to Modi dated April 15..
He further alleged that the activities of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) are suspicious. "We request you to take stringent action, so that the message must go to all that they can't take India for granted," the letter added.
The fact that BMGF is functioning in India with RBI's permission makes it a glaring case of conflict of interest, he said.The SJM also demanded that instructions must be issued to NITI Aayog, ICMR and the Union ministries of Agriculture, Health and Family Welfare, Finance besides the Women and Child Development to keep such outfits and their representatives at bay. There have been some media reports recently, making further allegations that the foundation is funding an NGO, Global Health Strategies or GHS to push globally-redundant vaccines to India, Mahajan said.
"Obviously, this would create more business for certain pharmaceutical companies where BMGF and many of these NGOs have cross funding, but these vaccines will create a negative impact on our fellow Indians," he added.
Mahajan also said that serious charges of conflict of interest of a joint-secretary in the Ministry of health, appointment on a panel of GHS have been reported.
"The same joint secretary was responsible for the National Immunization programme and GHS is lobbying for use of vaccines such as HPV vaccine. Obviously, questions are raised about the influence of the pharma giants on the National Immunization Program", he said.
