My comment on Pachaurigate at Indian Express

On an article on the sensation created by the allegations leveled against Dr. Pachauri in the Daily Telegraph, I left this comment-

International Khiladi

The conflicts of interest listed in the article are simply too many to be brushed away. IMO, the main conflict of interest is not even the profit motive -even if he has not taken a penny from any of his posts(so what does he live on then -bhiksha(charity)?), he as the head of the IPCC is in a powerful position to influence policies of most countries in the favor of entities where he is the 'adviser'.

He is thus, for such companies and organizations, a 'fixer' of the greatest effect.Power lust is a motive sometimes far greater than mere lucre.

He is, as we say in India, an International Khiladi(player) and that is his reward.

Note -the formatting is slightly modified here for clarity.


Update -
       another commentator on the same article-

The article also states that he founded Glorioil. This is confirmed by online company information and he is still listed as a scientific adviser to them. According to the Glorioil website their corporate vision and mission are: "Our vision is to be the leader in bio-technology solutions to the global oil and gas industry and service provider of choice to both independent and major oil and gas producers. Our mission is delivering state of the art bio-technology solutions to improve and increase recovery from mature oil wells and to solve complex problems associated with the production of oil, gas and water." Founding a company which aims to maximise the extraction of oil and be a "partner of choice" to international oil producers does not seem to sit well with his position as Chair of the IPCC and its concerns about climate change due to GHG emissions!