A complex web of foreign funding, pharmaceutical interests, and media manipulation has emerged around the Thakur Family Foundation (TFF), a US-based organization, raising serious questions about its influence on Indian media and public health narratives.
Recent revelations concerning substantial grants from TFF to individuals closely associated with the fact-checking website Alt News have brought these concerns into sharp focus, suggesting potential violations of Indian laws and a coordinated agenda against India’s pharmaceutical and traditional medicine sectors.
The Thakur Family Foundation: Origins And Key Figures
The Thakur Family Foundation Inc. is a United States 501(c)(3) organization founded by Dinesh S. Thakur, based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The foundation describes its mission as working in “public health and civil liberties” and “invests in capacity building for an empowered society through participative, socially-just governance,” according to its profile on Ashoka University.
Dinesh Thakur’s history is pivotal to understanding the foundation’s activities. In the early 2000s, after working for a decade in senior positions at US pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Thakur surprisingly quit to “serve India.” He joined Ranbaxy in 2003, coincidentally around the same time that Ranbaxy was engaged in a legal dispute with Pfizer over the generic version of Lipitor, which threatened Pfizer’s billion-dollar market.
During his brief 2–3-year stint at Ranbaxy, two other BMS colleagues – Dinesh Kasthuril and Venkat Swaminathan – also joined the Indian pharmaceutical company in different branches. All three subsequently left Ranbaxy and returned to the US, after which Thakur “exposed” Ranbaxy to the US FDA. This resulted in Ranbaxy being fined USD 500 million, with Thakur receiving a whistleblower reward of USD 48.6 million.
While Ranbaxy was indeed at fault, the narrative that emerged targeted not just one company but extended to “Indian pharma” and “generic medicine” broadly. This pattern of targeting Indian pharmaceutical interests has continued through Thakur’s foundation activities.
The TFF’s leadership includes Thakur’s former BMS and Ranbaxy colleagues. Swaminathan and Dinesh Kasthuril serve as directors of the foundation, recreating their earlier professional alignment. Kasthuril also joined Thakur’s venture Sciformix before moving to LabCorp’s Fortrea.
The Alt News Connection: Foreign Funding And Conflicting Narratives
The controversy intensified with the discovery that TFF provided significant grants to two individuals closely associated with Alt News:
Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh, a neuroscientist and author, received a substantial grant from TFF.
Another Alt News ‘contributor’ Sharfaroz Satani, reportedly received USD 5,907 (approximately ₹4.43 lakh) between 2020 and 2021 from the Thakur Family Foundation. When combined with the grant to Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh, the total amount comes to around ₹50 lakh. Since Alt News does not possess an FCRA licence, it is not permitted to accept foreign contributions directly — yet the funds appear to have reached the platform indirectly through its employees.
The Grant’s Purpose And Propaganda
Documentation from the Thakur Family Foundation’s website explicitly states the purpose of the award: “WE MADE AN AWARD TO NEUROSCIENTIST AND AUTHOR, DR. SUMAIYA SHAIKH, TO SUPPORT HER FACT-CHECKING CLAIMS RELATED TO EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE.”
There are also links to the specific articles produced under this grant on Alt News website. These articles, which were published on platforms associated with the individuals, are alleged ‘fact-checking’ pieces that apparently debunked various claims related to COVID-19. The articles include:
Debunking claims that Vitamin C and lemon-infused hot water can protect against coronavirus or cancer.
Addressing exaggerated effects of the “Janta curfew” as a 14-hour period to kill the coronavirus on surfaces.
Countering claims of genetic superiority of Indians in dealing with COVID-19.
Investigating the scientific basis of Patanjali’s Coronil as a cure for COVID-19.
Scrutinizing home remedies promoted by an Ayurvedic practitioner and the AYUSH ministry’s promotion of “immunity boosters” like Arsenicum Album 30 and Ayush Kwath.
The Larger Pattern: TFF’s Media Network In India
The Alt News funding represents just one node in TFF’s extensive network of media influence in India:
MoneyLife Foundation: Sucheta Dalal’s “startup” received seed funding from Thakur in 2017 and “generous funding” of approximately USD 100,000. Coincidentally, MLF subsequently “exposed” Sun Pharma, which had taken over Ranbaxy in 2015, causing its stock to crash.
Bezwada Wilson/ARUNK (Safai Karmachari group): A grant (~USD 45,628) is reported in the dossier; critics note Wilson’s institutional links and membership roles (including presence in DIGIPUB forums).
The Wire: Received direct grants from TFF, with four of its journalists receiving approximately $75,000 for COVID-19 coverage. The Wire’s founder, Siddharth Varadarajan, has longstanding ties with Thakur, serving on the advisory board of Thakur-funded “Project 39A.” The Wire’s coverage consistently favored foreign vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) while criticizing Indian vaccines as “hasty” and “risky.”
Similarly with Newsclick
Multiple News Portals: TFF grants to various Indian news portals over three years amounted to INR 16 crore, creating a extensive network of media influence.
The Pharmaceutical Connection and Larger Agenda
The pattern suggests a coordinated effort to undermine confidence in Indian pharmaceuticals and traditional medicine:
Global Narrative Building: A series of reports about “bad Indian medicine” emerged simultaneously across multiple countries (Gambia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Iraq), creating a global narrative against Indian pharma.
Questionable Testing Methods: The Bloomberg report that found “bad Indian medicine” in Iraq used US firm Valisure for testing, which had previously been admonished by US courts for “utilizing unreliable methods” and received warnings from US authorities in 2022 for “invalid methods & subpar equipment.”
Valisure Connection: Valisure received awards from Thakur’s foundation around the same time it was producing reports critical of Indian medicines.
Strategic Timing: Thakur’s book “Truth Pill,” co-authored with Prashant Reddy, was published precisely when the Gambia case broke, providing the perfect backdrop for its launch.
Last Word
The Thakur Foundation’s activities represent a sophisticated network leveraging foreign funding to influence Indian public discourse, particularly around pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The pattern suggests a coordinated strategy to undermine Indian generic medicine, traditional healthcare systems like Ayurveda, and promote specific corporate interests under the guise of public health advocacy.
The Alt News case exemplifies how foreign funding can potentially bypass Indian laws to influence public narrative, while the larger TFF network demonstrates how multiple media organizations can be leveraged to create an echo chamber supporting specific agendas.
(This article is based on an X thread by Disinfo Lab)
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