You see some hard-working people getting appreciated and receiving awards on TV all the time. What would be your reaction if we say you can also get an award at the hands of the Governor of Telangana? You don’t believe us, right? But, this is possible. As per a report published in The Deccan Chronicle English news daily, awards can be bought with money!

As per the DC report, some people are misusing the names of high-profile personalities and making them believe that they could share the stage with other “ prestigious awardees “ if they agree to make a donation to their organisation.

The awards ceremony, which is scheduled for Friday evening, is expected to be graced by the Governor Tamilisai Soundarrajan, who will present the awards to some of the well-known personalities including the state Minister K.T. Rama Rao, Central Minister G. Kishan Reddy, Tollywood actor Allu Arjun, and ace shuttler Saina Nehwal.

The media report elaborates how their reporter contacted the organisers for receiving the Champions of Change (COC) award. The report states a member of the award committee, who identified himself as Arpit Gupta, senior manager, Communications, Interactive Forum Indian Economy and Champions of Change award committee member, contacted the reporter posing as an aspirant and offered confirmation of the award if he could pay Rs 6 lakh to Rs 6.5 lakh which would be treated as a donation for the trust. Interactive Forum Indian Economy is headed by a person named Nandan Jha.

During the interaction, the committee member claimed previously the Champions of Change award was conferred on several Chief Ministers and Cabinet Ministers and also presented to Padma awardees like Mohammed Azharuddin and P.V. Sindhu. Gupta also said, “ I was informed you can be one of the awardees, because you are a very highly well-known person in Telangana.”

The COC award committee member said getting this award is a very long procedure and he could get an award confirmation from the trust chairman if the reporter could “ join hands with our trust and donate money for some of our CSR projects.” Gupta said to get this award, he needed to fulfill the ‘ minimum criteria ‘ by making a donation supporting about 50-60 students, which is between Rs 6 lakh to Rs 7.2 lakh.

When the DC reporter agreed to make a ‘donation,’ Gupta told him to pay 25 per cent ( around Rs 1.5 lakh ) of the donation amount immediately. Once the amount is deposited in the trust account, he would get a confirmation email from the COC award committee. The reporter was asked to pay the remaining 75 percent amount the next day, post which he would receive another email mentioning “ the jury has selected you for the award.”

The annual awards are organised by Interactive Forum Indian Economy (IFIE). As per the forum’s website, it is a Government of India recognised non-profitable company.