Rajiv Dixit


Rajiv Dixit was an Indian social activist, public speaker and a promoter of Ayurveda.

Career

Dixit founded the "Azadi Bachao Andolan" in the early 1990s as a campaign to protect Indian industries, at a time when multi-national corporations were increasing their presence in India as a part of a trend towards globalisation. An aide to Ramdev, Dixit served as the national secretary of Ramdev's anti-corruption organisation Bharat Swabhiman Andolan.
During his career as an activist, Dixit demanded decentralisation of the Indian taxation system, stating that the existing system was the core reason for bureaucratic corruption. He claimed that 80 percent of tax revenue was used to pay the salaries of politicians and bureaucrats and compared the modern budget system of the Indian government to the earlier British budget system in India.

Death

Dixit died on 30 November 2010 in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, due to poison in his meal. Dixit allegedly refused to undergo emergency medical treatment, citing his distrust of Allopathic medicine, leading to his death.
However, his death is a subject of controversy as no autopsy was performed, despite some of Dixit's followers being suspicious that the actual cause of death was poisoning. There were accusations against Ramdev of a conspiracy to kill Dixit, but these allegations were rejected by the Supreme Court of India.