-Hindustan Times Access to formal credit can be a major game-changer in determining farm-incomes. It is to be expected that richer farmers would find it easier to avail of formal credit lines. What ails Indian farmers? The answer to this question is often mired in ideological quarrels. Some blame a lack of reforms in agricultural markets, while others accuse the state of not doing enough to support farming. Systemic issues are...
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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 »Aadhaar open to attack from cyber criminals: RBI-backed paper
-The Hindu Bengaluru: Aadhaar, an identity number issued to all Indians based on their biometric and demographic data, faces a potential threat from cyber criminals which can cripple the economy, according to a white paper done by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking, which is affiliated to the Reserve Bank of India. “Thanks to Aadhaar, for the first time in the history of India, there is now a readily...
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 »The fine print: Groups of individuals, NGOs can buy electoral bonds without public disclosure -Nitin Sethi
-Scroll.in The scheme could help entities route black money to political parties through shell companies, experts fear. It isn’t only companies that have been allowed to make anonymous donations to political parties through electoral bonds. The fine print of the scheme announced by the Finance Ministry on Thursday also allows individuals, groups of individuals, NGOs, religious and other trusts, Hindu Undivided Family units and all other entities recognised by law to...
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