10 highlights
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Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation Inc, which is registered in the United States, showed a net income of Rs 56.43 crore in 2018, as per Internal Revenue Service records. Of this, it says, about Rs 35.81 crore came from donations. There are no public records of the foundation’s revenues in India but it claims that donations – or “contributions”, as it prefers to describe such transactions – account for a considerable chunk.
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In 2014, a Swedish citizen of Indian origin filed a complaint of cheating against Isha at Alandurai police station, Coimbatore. Jeya Balu said she had paid the foundation Rs 4,50,000 for yoga sessions and a yantra ceremony, but instead of a bill she was handed a receipt for donation.
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From all these companies, according to the union ministry of corporate affairs records, Isha earned nearly Rs 117 crore in 2019-2020.
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Similarly, a 12-day trip on motorcycle to the Himalayas with Vasudev is priced at up to Rs 12 lakh per person; a five-day Varanasi tour costs up to Rs five lakh in Vasudev’s company and Rs 50,000 without; a dash to the Chamundi Hills in Mysore is for Rs 3-4 lakh; and a five-day trip to Rameshwaram or Madurai sets a devotee back by up to Rs 45,000 per person.
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The foundation also makes considerable sums selling “spiritual” jaunts. A 13-day trip to Kailash Mansarovar with Vasudev costs up to Rs 50 lakh per person.
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In 2018, Achimuthu Shankar, the former Tamil Nadu vigilance official and whistleblower, complained to the state’s income tax commissioner that Isha was misusing the 80G exemption, which solely covers ‘voluntary donation’, to evade tax. The
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Moreover, Shankar added, “One of the conditions for exemption under 80G is that the organisation must have nothing to do with religious or business activities. Isha is involved in both religious and business activities.
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And Vasudev said his project was approved by the government, though Niti Aayog regulations stipulate that river rejuvenation projects can be undertaken only by state or central governments. Private organisations or NGOs can only assist them. No private organisation can collect money in the name of river rejuvenation without the approval of the state government. And here Isha was collecting enormous sums of money for a project that was not even registered
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In the end, the government added, it only gave 73.44 lakh saplings to Isha because the forest department pointed out that raising two crore saplings of many different species wasn’t feasible.
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At a hearing on March 8 this year, the high court suggested that the state investigate whether Isha had collected funds for the Cauvery Calling project by hawking it as a government project. Isha Outreach promptly moved the Supreme Court to halt any such inquiry. There, the matter languishes unheard.