Apart from the many stand-alone articles, we also did in-depth multi-part series to not only delve deeper but also cover all aspects of the issue.
Published Dec 31, 2024 | 4:00 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 31, 2024 | 4:00 PM
Best of South First series 2024
In 2024, South First did a series of investigations, ground reports, and analyses covering topics from education to political funding, from fiscal federalism to Hindi imposition.
Apart from the many stand-alone articles, we also did in-depth multi-part series to not only delve deeper but also cover all aspects of the issue.
Here is the list of series we did in 2024:
South First in July- August, did a series of ground reports from across Southern states on the impact of the Union government’s decision to impose proficiency in Hindi as a mandatory yardstick for teachers’ recruitment to Eklavya schools. These schools are meant to focus on education for children from tribal communities.
Distressed staff, confused kids: Price of Centre making Hindi mandatory for Eklavya schools Teacher recruitment
In Telangana, a 25-year-old man belonging to the local Lambadi community speaking with South First admitted that making Hindi mandatory has disadvantaged a major chunk of the aspirants. “The centralised recruitment process is undoubtedly beneficial to students. However, the flaws in the exam pattern have caused a disproportionate hiring of staff, both in terms of language and gender,” he stated.
Imposition of Hindi in Ekalavya schools: Kannada sidelined, staff divided and students worried
In Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar, South First discovered that the EMRS at Hanur taluka was facing a linguistic crisis due to the absence of teachers to teach Kannada to Classes 6 to 10 students. The school had no permanent or guest faculty to teach Kannada, making students struggling to cope with their studies.
Eklavyas’ Hindi hurdle: Teachers and students need a mediator to talk as cultural disconnect mars education
Similarly, in Karnataka’s Kolar, the parents had expressed their concerns regarding the language barriers with the teachers.
Tamil Nadu rejects union government’s Hindi mandate in Eklavya school recruitments — but confusion prevails
However, in Tamil Nadu, recruitment procedures have been governed by state-level guidelines, and evaluation was based on the subject-specific expertise of candidates, without regard for Hindi proficiency. But confusion prevailed.
Several parents are frustrated over the skyrocketing fees, hidden charges, and a lack of transparency. Parents across states like Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka share a common sentiment: The urgent need for regulation in school fees.
South First did a two-part series to delve deeper into these issues.
Rs 2.2 lakhs for preschool! Fees crush working-class parents in cities
In the first part, South First focused on the cost of education, especially in metropolises, becoming a significant financial burden for parents.
School fees are unreasonably high but nobody knows why: Where’s the transparency
In the second part, South First dug into the why, and way ahead— with lack of transparency and inconsistent implementation of policies like the Right to Education (RTE), parents across South India called for reforms to make education accessible and equitable.
Alleging fiscal injustice, South Indian states demanded an equitable share of resources from the Union government.
At the peak of the “South Tax Movement”, in February, South First did a three-part series.
Fiscal federalism: How much do southern states contribute to India’s revenue?
The first part explained how much southern states have contributed to the country’s revenues in the last five years.
Data offered by the Union Finance Ministry revealed that the five southern states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana — have registered a consistent upward growth in total revenue and net direct tax collections in the last five fiscal years.
Fiscal federalism: How share from Central pool of taxes to Southern States consistently reduced
The second part explained how the southern states received consistently reduced funds from the Union government over five fiscals.
Union government’s data showed that the percentage of tax devolution has decreased consistently over the years. The tax devolution—share in the divisible pool of Central Taxes and duties — released to five southern states put together has decreased from 17.98 percent in 2018-19 to 15.75 percent in 2022-23.
Fiscal federalism: The glaring gap between what southern states give and receive
The third part exposed the glaring gap in what Southern States give and what they get in return while Hindi-heartland states continue to get more funds despite reduced contributions.
The list of the states’ shares divulged that Uttar Pradesh has been receiving an estimated ₹2,18,816.84 crore as its share from the central pool. The amount is over ₹26,000 crore more than the share of all the five southern states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala — combined. Together, they receive ₹1,92,725.7 crore.
In what was considered a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court on 15 February, struck down the much-touted electoral bonds scheme, stating that it was “unconstitutional.” The Election Commission of India (ECI) on 21 March, published complete data on electoral bonds following the Supreme Court’s order.
Following this, South First published a series of investigations about the donations made to political parties through electoral bonds, and the implications they had.
Future Gaming, MEIL, Aditya Birla: Here are top 10 political donors through Electoral Bonds
A relatively obscure Future Gaming and Hotel Service Private Limited emerged as a major contributor to political parties via electoral bonds. Apart from the company, here are the top 10 political donors through Electoral Bonds.
45% of funds via electoral bonds to YSRCP came from ‘Lottery king’ Santiago Martin’s firm
Controversial ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin-owned Future Gaming donated ₹154 crore to the ruling YSRCP through the now-banned electoral bonds.
Besides Santiago Martin’s firm, MEIL with ₹37 crore, RAMCO Cements (₹24 crore), and Greenko (₹10 crore) donated generously to YSRCP.
‘Lottery king’ is DMK’s biggest benefactor: Of ₹656.5 crore electoral bonds, Santiago Martin’s firm bought ₹509 crore
With the limited information on donors that was made available, Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, the DMK, seemed to have received the highest contributions from “lottery king” Santiago Martin’s firm Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited.
As per the party’s submission in the sealed cover document, the DMK received a total of ₹656,50,00,000 (₹656.50 crore) between 14 April, 2019, and 10 April, 2023. Of this, ₹509,00,00,000 (₹509 crore) via electoral bonds came from Santiago Martin’s firm Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited. This makes the lottery king the DMK’s biggest beneficiary.
Big donors from Andhra and Telangana: Pattern of raids, electoral bonds and Rajya Sabha seat
Several companies from the Telugu states—Telangana and Andhra Pradesh—figure among the long list of firms and individuals who purchased electoral bonds to benefit different political parties. We tried to find the pattern of raids, electoral bonds and Rajya Sabha seat.
Hetero Pharma bought ₹50 crore in electoral bonds months before BRS made its Chairman a Rajya Sabha MP
Hetero Pharmaceuticals, through its eight subsidiaries, purchased electoral bonds worth ₹137.5 crore. Of this, ₹117.5 crore was donated to the BRS. Notably, ₹50 crore contributions occurred shortly before the Hetero Group Chairman, B Partha Saradhi Reddy, was nominated as a Rajya Sabha member by the BRS in June 2022.
Decoding link: Chaitanya Educational Institutions to Ramky Group in electoral bond purchases
In Andhra Pradesh, firms associated with Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutions, once targeted politically by then Chief Minister YS Jagan over paper leaks allegedly linked to the TDP government, purchased electoral bonds totalling ₹18 crore through its associated companies.
Interestingly, it was not the Chaitanya Educational Society that purchased the electoral bonds directly, but the companies associated with Sushma Boppana, daughter of Rao and the CEO and academic director of Chaitanya.
Cotton King with RSS links caught in the strings of ₹53-crore electoral bonds purchase
Dr Mandava Prabhakar Rao of Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd (NSL), known as Cotton King of India, with RSS links, was linked to the purchase of electoral bonds worth around ₹53.5 crore — individually, through his firm’s subsidiaries, as well as linked companies.
Incidentally, five months after the third-term purchase, on 21 December, 2023, Prabhakar Rao, the founder member and president of the National Seed Association of India (NSAI) — India’s largest domestic seed industry body — also assumed the role of president of Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA).
Who donated electoral bonds worth ₹162 crore: The real Yashoda Hospital, please stand up
Going by the list made public by the Election Commission, an entity named Yashoda Super Speciality Hospitals purchased multiple bonds worth ₹1 crore each between 4 October 2021 and 11 October 2023, totalling ₹162 crore. Which is the “mysterious” Yashoda Hospitals that has contributed a whopping ₹162 crore by way of electoral bonds?
It’s a match! Hyderabad based Yashoda Hospital donated ₹94 crore to BRS, ₹64 crore to Congress via electoral bond
Soon we found that it was a match! The Hyderabad based hospital, disbursed this sum in 12 instalments to five political parties. The transaction took place between 4 October, 2021, and October 11, 2023 according to SBI data published by ECI.
During this period, Yashoda Hospital Private Limited first donated to Congress via electoral bonds. By October 11, 2023, a lion’s share of its donations had gone to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
2 medical stores linked to Yashoda Hospitals bought electoral bonds worth ₹22 crore
The data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) has spit out the names of two interesting entities — Lakshmi Medicals and Dheeraj Medicals.
The two entities donated a total of ₹22 crore to two political parties — ₹17 crore to the BRS and ₹5 crore to the Congress.
These did not appear to be corporate entities. Their Goods and Services Tax (GST) Number matched with the names of the people associated with the Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad.
Unholy to Holy: Aurobindo’s Sharat Chandra Reddy and electoral bonds of ₹77 crore
Hyderabad-based pharma major Aurobindo and its subsidiaries, whose director P Sharat Chandra Reddy was arrested in the liquor case, donated ₹77 crore via electoral bonds, most of which went to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He donated ₹4.5 crore to BJP before his arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case. Post his arrest, Reddy donated bonds worth a whopping ₹55 crores to BJP, the ruling party at the centre.
JD(S) got ₹40 crore from MEIL via electoral bonds; Kiran Shaw, JSW, Embassy among donors
In Karnataka, Embassy Group of Companies, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited, Biocon, JSW Steel Ltd, Amara Raja Groups and Infosys were found to be the major donors for JD(S).
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited and its subsidiaries bought electoral bonds worth ₹1,200 crore, of which ₹40 crore was encashed by the JD(S) on 18 March, 2023. This is the biggest benefactor of the JD(S).
