Dedicated to my spiritual master His Divine Grace Abhaya Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami 'Srila Prabhupada'
Allegation 1. Hiding details of payment being made by Government for supply of mid day meals: - Akshaya Patra Foundation is attempting to hide from public view that it is a fully paid contractor engaged to supply mid day meals.
Reply – Fully paid? Please ascertain the facts before throwing in such allegations. Please do your homework before you plan to make statements of permanent record.
Allegation 2. Other NGO contractors report payment from the government is adequate:
Reply – May be the other NGO’s can manage. But in case of Akshaya Patra, Government is providing only subsidized ration. Moreover 100% of the working and other costs is to be borne by the Foundation itself.
Allegation 3. Inflated costs shown by Akshaya Patra just to raise donations:
Reply – The accounts are audited by a reputed firm called KPMG. This allegation is like disreputing them too. The donors are beneficiaries of tax deductions and so obviously proper receipts need to be given to them for their 100% tax deduction. So how can there seem to be a problem here.
Allegation 4. Considering Scale of operations and automation – Akshaya Patra should actually have the lowest and not highest costs in the industry: How is it when they the largest scale of operations and in light of their claim that they have the most cost efficient operation, fully automated kitchens (all of which have been sponsored by the IT majors, corporate and banks etc), is it not strange that they report the highest cost of operations?
Reply – Work yourself in this direction and find out how running costs are usually higher than calculated costs prior implementation.
Allegation 5. What about the extra/surplus grains? What is to the hundreds of tones of extra rice and grains? Are they being sold in the black market? Some sample stories have been reported
Reply – If someone else is caught, it doesn’t mean TAPF has to be measured in the same scale. The board consists of reputed personalities whose only motive is to service the mankind through this scheme. And moreover these words just imply that it is a question asked whimsically and not an allegation per se.
Allegation 6. An unethical campaign that suppresses vital information and creates false hype
Reply – Is advertising unethical. The answer for this is the school attendance reports. Kindly go through them. And why don’t you survey the more than happy children who are the ultimate beneficiaries of the project.
Allegation 7. Madhu Pandit and his family members have suddenly become one of the biggest real estate project developers: Neither Madhu Pandit nor his co-brother are able to satisfactorily explain where the money for these projects is coming from. What is the real secret behind the new found prosperity of the two co-brothers and their families?
Reply – Thanks for making me and several others relatives of Madhupandit and Chanchalapathi Prabhu. It for me is a great honour. And I can understand your inquisitiveness regarding their (sorry our) prosperity? The answer is chanting the holy names, following regulative principles and initiation by a BONAFIDE Acharya. In short Srila Prabhupada is the heart and soul of the institute and where a pure devotee like Him resides there Krishna and the Goddess of fortune reside too. Simple secret. Got it? Probably you must try this too.
Allegation 8. Making a complex maze of numerous trusts, societies and businesses to hide the real ownership and camouflage the business interests of the Madhu Pandit family : Madhu Pandit das, its has set up a smokescreen around the Hare Krsna Hill and behind the smokescreen he has created a complex maze of trusts, societies and other fictitious organistaions.
Reply – Smokescreen is required to bring out the rats that are hiding in the unseen holes who are a nuisance to the functioning of the society. A complex maze of trusts speaks about organizational abilities.
Allegation 9. There are several unanswered questions and suspicions regarding the real intention of the two co brothers who together now control a vast business empire worth over a 1000 crores of rupees
Reply – Suspicions are not valid. If there is tangible proof (if any exists hypothetically) then we welcome you to present it to us and the world. And it is obvious that it is the 1000 crores that is bothering you so much. Perhaps, May be or Could be sentences have no meaning.
Allegation 10. The mystery that shrouds the working of the Madhu Pandit family is giving raise to allegations of fraud, nepotism, unethical conduct. However keeping in mind, the fraud the two co-brothers have played on ISKCON, it is only natural that there could be devious intentions.
Reply – The real fraudsters are the ‘self-appointed gurus’ of ISKCON worldwide and their dull-headed followers whose eyes have been poked to blindness by the GBC’s coercion, threat and twisting of facts about Prabhupada’s desire.
Allegation 11. Cost of the mid day meal supplied by the Akshaya Patra – calculated from the figures provided by the Akshaya Patra Foundaion:
Reply – Already I have mentioned that on-paper projected costs and the working costs usually do not match in any endeavor. The latter almost always overwhelmingly exceeds the former. This is my personal opinion. And if you have ever done anything useful in your life constructively then you would have understood this.
My view and thoughts of this issue
The last nail in the coffin of these allegations would be- ‘Why anyone should go negatively behind a venture that intends to feed needy children a nutritious meal on a daily basis and retains them in the classrooms. Is it not a strong and surefire way of building the nation and is not also a novel way to reach the hearts of millions of soul in their stage of life where a positive impact can be made?” Stop finding faults. Look at the reach of the program which stands at over 12 lakhs today. A phenomenal number that has earned the project awards and recognition by heaps. While the whole world is applauding the effort here are our own brothers picking on the so-called faults. Faults can always be corrected (if any).
Intelligence and commonsense does not lie in abandoning a leaky boat but in fixing the leaky spot. Look at the ship and what it has been doing and what it can do to these children. Be constructive towards the hole if any exists. I am sure the authorities are open-minded will be glad to correct themselves if inadvertently they have overlooked a crack or if a defect has manifested while functioning.
Don’t be the kind of people who go to abalashramas or vrddhashrams and complain about the cracks. Atleast a roof exists as shelter and more so when you are playing no active role in the upkeep of the same. Of course the cracks, if any can be pointed out, and certainly they need to be addressed to but asking the house to close down or razing the shelter to the ground because an alleged crack exists is the typical mindset of a vengeful asura. You can always approach with your genuine doubts they will be addressed to in a manner that lays out all the facts into the open and to your satisfaction.
Every venture has a learning-curve and there is a lot to learn my friends.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada
Dr Jagadeesh TG
Prabhupada Dasa
RadhaKrishna Sevak
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