Pulwama attack:

The 2019 Pulwama attack occurred on 14 February 2019, when a convoy of vehicles

carrying Indian security personnel on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway was attacked
by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethapora in the Pulwama district of the erstwhile state
of Jammu and Kashmir. The attack killed 40 Indian Central Reserve Police
Force (CRPF) personnel as well as the perpetrator—Adil Ahmad Dar—who was a
local Kashmiri youth from the Pulwama district. The responsibility for the attack was claimed
by the Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed. India blamed
neighbouring Pakistan for the attack, while the latter condemned the attack and denied having
any connections to it. The attack dealt a severe blow to India–Pakistan relations,
consequently resulting in the 2019 India–Pakistan military standoff. Subsequently, Indian
investigations identified 19 accused. By August 2021, the main accused along with six others
had been killed, and seven had been arrested.
On 14 February 2019, a convoy of 78 vehicles transporting more than 2,500 Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF) personnel from Jammu to Srinagar was travelling on National Highway
44. The convoy had left Jammu around 03:30 IST and was carrying a large number of
personnel due to the highway having been shut down for two days prior. The convoy was
scheduled to reach its destination before sunset.
At Lethpora near Awantipora, around 15:15 IST, a bus carrying security personnel was
rammed by a car carrying explosives. It caused a blast which killed 40 CRPF personnel of the
76th Battalion and injured many others.[1] The injured were moved to the army base hospital
in Srinagar.[5]
Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack. They
also released a video of the assailant Adil Ahmad Dar, a 22-year-old from Kakapora who had
joined the group a year earlier. Dar's family had last seen him in March 2018, when he left
his house on a bicycle one day and never returned. Pakistan denied any involvement, though
Jaish-e-Mohammed's leader, Masood Azhar, is known to operate in the country.
It is the deadliest terror attack on India's state security personnel in Kashmir since 1989.

Panama Scam:
The Panama Papers (Spanish: Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or
2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The files had been
leaked from the world's fourth-largest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The papers detail
financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The
documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, former
Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca.
The documents contain personal financial information about wealthy individuals and public
officials that had previously been kept private.[11] The publication of these documents made it
possible to establish the prosecution of Jan Marsalek, who is still a person of interest to a
number of European governments due to his revealed links with Russian intelligence, and
international financial fraudsters David and Josh Baazov.[13] While offshore business entities
are legal (see Offshore Magic Circle), reporters found that some of the Mossack
Fonseca shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and
evading international sanctions.
"John Doe", the whistle-blower who leaked the documents to German journalist Bastian
Obermayer from the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), remains anonymous, even to the
journalists who worked on the investigation. "My life is in danger", the whistleblower told
them. In a May 6, 2016 document, John Doe cited income inequality as the reason for the
action and said they[a] leaked the documents "simply because I understood enough about their
contents to realize the scale of the injustices they described". Doe added that they had never
worked for any government or intelligence agency and expressed willingness to help
prosecutors if granted immunity from prosecution. After SZ verified that the statement did in
fact come from the source for the Panama Papers, the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) posted the full document on its website.

Bofors Scam:
The Bofors scandal was a major weapons-contract political scandal that occurred
between India and Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s, initiated by Indian National
Congress politicians and implicating the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and several
other members of the Indian and Swedish governments who were accused of
receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB, an arms manufacturer principally financed by
the Wallenberg family's Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, for winning a bid to supply to India
their 155 mm field howitzer. The scandal relates to illegal kickbacks paid in a US$1.4-billion
deal between the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors with the government of India for the
sale of 410 field howitzer guns, and a supply contract almost twice that amount. It was the
biggest arms deal ever in Sweden, and money marked for development projects was diverted
to secure this contract at any cost. The investigations revealed flouting of rules and bypassing
of institutions.
On 16 April 1987, a Swedish radio station broke out a story based on a whistle-blower in the
Swedish police, alleging that the reputed Swedish artillery manufacturer Bofors had paid
kickbacks to people in several countries, including Sweden and India, to secure a ₹15
billion (equivalent to ₹160 billion or US$2.3 billion in 2019) contract. This had been done
the previous year for a deal to supply 410 155 mm calibre howitzer guns for the Indian army.
However, none of the newspapers in India were aware of this. In May 1987, a broadcast by a
Swedish radio station revealed that bribes of ₹600 million (equivalent to ₹6.6 billion or
US$92 million in 2019) had been paid by Bofors to Indian politicians, members of the
Congress party and bureaucrats. This was picked up by a young journalist from The
Hindu, Chitra Subramaniam, who happened to be in Sweden at that time, covering another
story. The scale of the corruption was far worse than any that Sweden and India had seen
before and directly led to the defeat of Gandhi's ruling Indian National Congress party in the
November 1989 general elections. The Swedish company paid ₹640
million (US$9.0 million) in kickbacks to top Indian politicians and key defence officials.
The case came into light during Vishwanath Pratap Singh's tenure as defence minister, and
was revealed through investigative journalism tipped off by a Reuters news revelation on
Swedish radio, followed up by a team led by N. Ram of the newspaper The Hindu. The
journalist who secured the over 350 documents that detailed the payoffs was Chitra
Subramaniam reporting for The Hindu. Later the articles were published in The Indian
Express and The Statesman when The Hindu stopped publishing stories about the Bofors
scandal under immense government pressure and Chitra Subramaniam moved to the two
newspapers. In an interview with her, published in The Hoot in April 2012 on the 25th
anniversary of the revelations, Sten Lindstrom, former chief of Swedish police, discussed
why he leaked the documents to her and the role of whistle-blowers in a democracy.

Watergate Scam:
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving
the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's
resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual attempts to
cover up its involvement in the June 17, 1972 break-in of the Democratic National
Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C. Watergate Office Building. After the five
perpetrators were arrested, the press and the U.S. Justice Department connected the cash
found on them at the time to the Nixon re-election campaign committee. Further
investigations, along with revelations during subsequent trials of the burglars, led the U.S.
House of Representatives to grant its judiciary committee additional investigation authority to
probe into "certain matters within its jurisdiction", and the U.S. Senate to create a special
investigative committee. The resulting Senate Watergate hearings were broadcast "gavel-to-
gavel" nationwide by PBS and aroused public interest. Witnesses testified that Nixon had
approved plans to cover up administration involvement in the break-in, and that there was a
voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office. Throughout the investigation, the
administration resisted its probes, which led to a constitutional crisis.
Several major revelations and egregious presidential action against the investigation later in
1973 prompted the House to commence an impeachment process against Nixon. The U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to release the Oval Office tapes to government
investigators. The tapes revealed that Nixon had conspired to cover up activities that took
place after the break-in and later tried to use federal officials to deflect the investigation. The
House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against Nixon
for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. With his complicity in
the cover-up made public and his political support completely eroded, Nixon resigned from
office on August 9, 1974. It is believed that, if he had not done so, he would have been
impeached by the House and removed from office by a trial in the Senate. He is the only U.S.
president to have resigned from office. On September 8, 1974, Nixon's successor, Gerald
Ford, pardoned him.
There were 69 people indicted and 48 people—many of them top Nixon administration
officials—convicted. The metonym 'Watergate' came to encompass an array of clandestine
and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration,
including bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his
officials were suspicious; ordering investigations of activist groups and political figures; and
using the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Internal
Revenue Service as political weapons. The use of the suffix "-gate" after an identifying term
has since become synonymous with public scandal, especially political scandal.

Rafale Scam:

The Rafale deal controversy is a political controversy in India related to the purchase of

36 multirole fighter aircraft for a price estimated at €7.8 billion by the Defence Ministry of
India from France's Dassault Aviation. The origin of the deal lies in the Indian MMRCA
competition, a multi-billion dollar contract to supply 126 multi-role combat aircraft to
the Indian Air Force (IAF).
On 14 December 2018 the Supreme Court upheld the Rafale deal, stating that no
irregularities or corruption have been found.[1] The Supreme Court delivered the final legal
judgement on the controversy on 14 November 2019 and dismissed all the petitions seeking a
review of its December 2018 judgement. In June 2021 a French judge has been appointed to
lead a judicial investigation into alleged corruption and favouritism in the deal.
On 31 January 2012, the Indian Ministry of Defence announced that Dassault Rafale had won
the MMRCA competition to supply the Indian Air Force with 126 aircraft, along with an
option for 63 additional aircraft. The first 18 aircraft were to be supplied by Dassault
Aviation fully built and the remaining 108 aircraft were to be manufactured under
license by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with a transfer of technology from
Dassault. Rafale was chosen as the lowest bidder based on life-cycle cost, which is a
combination of cost of acquisition, operating cost over a duration of 40 years and cost of
transfer of technology. The negotiations with Dassault dragged on due to disagreements on
warranty for aircraft produced by HAL. India wanted Dassault to ensure the quality of
aircraft produced by HAL, but Dassault refused to do so. In January 2014, it was reported
that the cost of the deal had escalated to $30 billion (₹1,86,000 crore), with each aircraft
costing $120 million (₹746 crore). In February 2014, defence minister A. K. Antony said that
the procedure of calculation of life-cycle cost was being re-examined and the contract could
not be signed in the fiscal year 2013-14 due to budgetary constraints. In March 2014, HAL
and Dassault signed a work share agreement to manage licensed manufacture. After
the Indian general election in April–May 2014, the National Democratic Alliance led
by Bharatiya Janata Party took control of the government from the United Progressive
Alliance led by the Indian National Congress.
As disagreements over cost and warranty for aircraft produced by HAL continued, defence
minister Manohar Parrikar said that the Sukhoi Su-30MKI could be acquired as an alternative
to Rafale. Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha disagreed, saying that the Su-30MKI and Rafale had
different capabilities, they were not interchangeable. In February 2015, it was reported that
the Rafale purchase was headed for cancellation as it had been misjudged to be the lowest
bidder due to deficiencies in Dassault's bid. On 25 March 2015, Dassault's CEO Éric
Trappier said that although the deal was taking time, it was "95 percent completed".
During an official visit to France in April 2015, Indian prime minister Narendra
Modi announced that India would acquire 36 fully built Rafales citing "critical operational
necessity". In July 2015, defence minister Manohar Parrikar informed the Rajya Sabha that
the tender for 126 aircraft had been withdrawn and negotiations for 36 aircraft had begun. In
January 2016, India and France signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for
acquisition of 36 aircraft without finalising the financial terms of the acquisition. In May
2016, the two sides arrived at a figure of €7.87 billion (₹58,891 crore) for the agreement,
compared to €11.8 billion quoted in April 2015 and €8.6 billion quoted in January
2016. Unnanmed government officials quoted by Press Trust of India said that the decrease
in price was due to a change in escalation formula from a fixed 3.9% to a floating rate linked
to European inflation indices along with a cap of 3.5%.[21]
Jean-Yves Le Drian and Manohar Parrikar signing the Rafale inter-governmental agreement
in September 2016
In September 2016, India and France signed an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) for the
acquisition of 36 aircraft following clearance from the Indian Cabinet Committee on
Security. According to The Hindu, citing defence sources, the agreement provided for many
components superior to those in the original deal, in particular the weapons package. It was
reported that India would acquire 28 single-seat aircraft at a cost of €91.1 million
(₹681.7 crore) each and 8 dual-seat aircraft at a cost of €94 million (₹703.4 crore) each. The
deal also included tailor-made enhancements for the Indian Air Force at a cost of €1.8 billion
(₹13,470 crore), a weapons package costing €710 million (₹5,313 crore) and a performance-
based logistics agreement at a cost of €353 million (₹2,641 crore). The weaponry procured
included missiles such as MICA and Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air
missiles and SCALP air-to-ground cruise missile. The India-specific enhancements included,
among the dozen or so enhancements, the integration of an Israeli-made helmet-mounted
display (HMD), radar warning receivers and low-band jammers.
The agreement included a 50% "offset clause", which required the companies involved in the
agreement—primarily Dassault, Thales, Safran and MBDA—to invest 50% of the contract
value (approximately €3.9 billion or ₹30,000 crore) back into India, with 30% of the total
(approximately €1.2 billion or ₹9,000 crore) reserved for the Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO). Of this 50%, 74% (approximately €2.9 billion or
₹22,200 crore) was to come from purchase of goods and services from India, which was
expected to bolster the government's efforts to promote Indian defence equipment
manufacturers.
On 3 October 2016, Reliance Group and Dassault Aviation issued a joint statement
announcing the creation of a 51:49 joint venture named Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited
(DRAL) to focus on aero structures, electronics and engine components as well as to foster
research and development projects under the "Indigenously Designed Developed and
Manufactured" (IDDM) initiative. Dassault intended to invest in excess of €100 million in the
joint venture as part of its offset obligations. The joint venture was to manufacture
components for Legacy Falcon 2000 series of jets such as the nose, cockpit and doors at the
DRAL facility in Nagpur starting from January 2018.