-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...
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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 »Jaitley's electoral bonds Pose A Major Threat to Indian Democracy -Prabhat Patnaik
-TheCitizen.in It’s a powerful means of centralising power and crushing opposition NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had outlined a scheme of electoral bonds in his budget speech on February 2, 2017. Now, exactly 11 months later, the notification of the scheme and some details of it have finally been announced in a Press Information Bureau release on January 2, 2018. Along with this release Jaitley himself has also written an explanation-cum-defence of...
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...
More »Are electoral bonds an elaborate ruse to protect anonymous donations? -Suchindran B N & Param Pandya
-The Economic Times blog electoral bonds represent the latest attempt at removing black money from the electoral system. It is a financial instrument, much like a demand draft or currency note, which will conceal the identity of the donor from the intended recipient political party from everyone except the issuing bank. These bonds can be purchased for any value, in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1,00,000, Rs 10,00,000 and Rs...
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