-Factly.in There was an intense debate around the introduction of Electoral Bonds by the government. Data obtained from SBI reveals that there is hardly any demand for Electoral Bonds of smaller denomination while 99.9% of bonds sold in terms of amount are of Rs 10 lakh & Rs 1 crore denomination. The Electoral Bonds were first announced in the 2017-18 budget and the scheme was subsequently notified in January 2018. Factly...
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Secularism at risk as RTI Act weakens, says Aruna Roy
-The Hindu ‘Information Commissioners are not being appointed’ Hyderabad: Releasing her RTI Story Power to The People in the city, activist Aruna Roy, who led the movement for getting the legislation in place, said citizens were moving towards a more challenging and non-transparent environment. “This government has consolidated opaqueness. It has systematically weakened the RTI Act by granting exemptions to CBI and other agencies on security grounds. Electoral Bonds are a case in...
More »Don't believe the BJP and Congress claims that they're cleaning up poll funding -Milan Vaishnav
-ThePrint.in The larger lesson is clear: in an era when the Congress & the BJP can agree on next to nothing, they will gladly join hands to save their own skin. Among all the talk of the aam aadmi focus emerging from last week’s Budget, many people may have missed one of its most self-serving acts. This manoeuvre found no mention in the Union Finance Minister’s presentation itself, but was instead buried...
More »CPM in SC over poll bonds
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The CPM has challenged in the Supreme Court the constitutionality of the recently introduced Electoral Bonds, alleging that it is a "ripe way" of ensuring all kinds of quid-pro-quo arrangements by the ruling party with entities whose identities will not be up for public scrutiny. The matter came up for hearing on Friday and the Supreme Court issued a fresh notice to the Centre. The bench, headed by...
More »Electoral Bonds prize anonymity, you won't know who's bought them -Milan Vaishnav
-The Indian Express Far from reducing opacity in how politics is financed, this new vehicle merely legitimizes it. It is an open secret that political finance in India is, to put it mildly, a sordid affair. When it comes to political contributions, opacity reigns. The situation is not much better when it comes to expenditure, as candidates regularly declare laughably small amounts of campaign spending in order to give the appearance...
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