No findings in Indian probe into fraud against Adani Group, coal project to net huge taxes: Australian minister

Way to the coalmining site in Australia

By A Representative
The Australian government has brushed aside fresh allegations being made in the country's media on multiple financial crime and corruption probes Adani Group of companies for "siphoning" money offshore and artificially inflating power prices at the expense of Indian consumers, as nothing but “faking news”.
In an interview with the powerful Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Matthew Canavan, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia and a senator from Queensland province, where the Adani Group is going ahead with its $16 billion coalmining project, has said that “there are no findings at this stage on this investigation.”
In an effort to bail out the Adani Group, Canavan insists, “It's not unusual of course for tax authorities and others to investigate large companies, as it happened in this country with many companies and have involved large settlements with the Australian Taxation Office. ”
On being asked whether the Australian government was “aware of this investigation by the intelligence arm of the Indian Finance Ministry into the Adani Group”, Canavan says, he has asked his department for advice about it as he does not know its status “apart from the fact that they remain allegations.”
“The biggest issue will be how do we get jobs and Adani and this project will create jobs”, the minister says, adding, he is “very confident that the Adani project. Hopefully it will happen, it will deliver billions of dollars of taxes to both the Queensland and Australian governments. ”
On being asked about why the Adani Group was being offered “$1 billion “taxpayer subsidized loan for the rail project part” of the Adani coalmining venture by the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility “when there are all these fraud investigations underway”, the minister says, he will “take advice” on the matter, but the Facility is an “independent skills-based board”, which will “make an assessment.”
On environmental concerns about the Adani Group's projects in India, the minister said, “Both the Queensland and Australian governments have looked at all of this extensively, indeed I remember this coming up in questioning to the Department of Environmenquestionedt when the approvals were made and I was comfortable with what the Department of Environment federally has looked at.”
The Australian government clarification came following an ABC investigation by business reporter Stephen Long, claimed to be based on a circular issued by India's Directorate of Revenue Intelligence obtained by ABC.
The report said, "Intelligence obtained by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence indicated that certain importers of Indonesian coal were artificially inflating its import value as opposed to its actual value."
“Five Adani Group companies are among a number of power companies named in the circular as under investigation”, the report said, adding, ”These include Adani Enterprises Ltd, the ultimate parent company of the Adani entity, which holds the environmental approvals for the planned Carmichael Coal Mine and a railway to the mine.”
“Adani Enterprises Ltd has also been accused of involvement in large-scale illegal iron ore exports and bribery of public officials”, the report said, adding, “According to a 2011 report by the ombudsman of the Indian State of Karnataka, obtained by the ABC, police seized documents from Adani Enterprises in raids which indicate that money has been regularly paid to port authorities, customs authorities, police department, mines and geology and even to MLAs/MPs".

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Search This Blog