New Delhi: The RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding the removal of Nachiket Mor from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board on grounds of conflict of interest.
There is no case for retaining Nachiket Mor on the board of RBI. It is a fit case of conflict of interest, as his principal employer Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) receives foreign funds and the RBI is regulator of the fund, the SJM co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said in his letter to Modi. He further alleged that the activities of 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.
Mor is full-time India representative of BMGF, which is under strict vigil of the Ministry of Home Affairs and is actively getting funds from foreign sources, Mahajan said in his letter. The fact that BMGF is functioning in India with RBI’s permission makes it a glaring case of conflict of interest, he said.
The Home Ministry is keeping a vigil on BMGF because of the allegations that the foundation is working for multinational companies to influence government policies on health and agriculture sectors in their favour, the SJM 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.
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.
There have been some media reports recently, making further allegations that the foundation is funding an NGO, Global Health Strategies 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.
GHS, responding to Mahajan’s allegations, said, “We strongly reject false claims that GHS is ‘pushing for redundant vaccines’. The Government of India makes independent decisions on the introduction of new vaccines based on the recommendations of senior scientists on the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI). It is therefore incorrect, even preposterous, to imply that GHS can or would influence these decisions.”
GHS’s response on April 17, 2018.