http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/02/26/india.fraud.reut/index.html
Hey guys,this news not v related but since I believe this is a ****
bashing section thread so just add some info.
In a country hungry for international recognition, 17-year-old
Saurabh Singh was feted as a national hero after announcing he had
won NASA's International Scientist Discovery examination, which he
said he took at Oxford University.
The Uttar Pradesh state government rewarded him with a
500,000 rupee ($11,500) prize and more than 100 members of the
state's upper house each donated a day's salary to
him.
But as he was at the president's official residence awaiting an
audience during the week, his story unravelled.
An Indian news portal, rediff.com, contacted NASA, which denied any
knowledge of the exam.
"Right now, no one knows where this examination comes from," Rediff
quoted NASA education official Dwayne Brown saying.
A meeting planned with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was hastily
called off and the boy returned to his village of Narhai, where he
is now under police investigation.
Singh had also said President Abdul Kalam and Indian astronaut
Kalpana Chawla, who died in the Columbia shuttle explosion in 2003,
had sat the test. Kalam's office denies this.
Singh insists he met Kalam, although some Indian newspapers say the
meeting was cancelled as he waited to go in.
"It was really inspiring," Singh told Reuters by phone. "And let me
tell you, he saw my certificate and praised me for the achievement,
while you all are asking all kinds of questions and trying to dub
me as a fraud."
The certificate, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, declared
"You are the member of NASA" (sic) and is signed by Singh and
"Chief of NASA, Cin K. Kif" -- NASA's former administrator was Sean
O'Keefe. It also lists the name of Singh's father, common practice
in Indian documents.
Singh says he flew to London on Indian Airlines -- which does not
fly to the city -- and took a taxi to Oxford University and back
every day for the exam from January 4-8, a round trip of about 230
km (140 miles).
Singh told Reuters he stayed in a hotel, but told a Hindi language
newspaper he stayed at Buckingham Palace.
The Indian school where he says he sat the preliminary exam along
with 200,000 others does not exist. The Bansal institute, where he
says he studied mathematics, has never heard of him.
Singh cannot produce his passport to back his claim. That, he says,
is with institute director P.K. Bansal.
"How can we possess his passport when we don't even know him?"
Saturday's The Indian Express quoted Bansal saying.
Actually all countries also have this similar fraud,nothing
special but what this fraud stands out from other is 'IT MANAGE TO
FOOL THE PRESIDENT AND MP OF WHOLE INDIA'. LOL!!! 
This incident clearly show India desperate for international
recognition and reporter will rush to publish any international
achievement by India without proper authentication.
