-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement demonetising high denomination notes on November 8, 2016, will do little to address the prime objective of flushing out black money but will adversely affect the economy in the short term, especially the informal sector, which is predominant in India, says M. Govinda Rao, a Member of the Fourteenth Finance Commission and Emeritus Professor, National Institute of Public...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre today told the Supreme Court that political parties that received donation from Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies could not be said to have flouted the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act as Parliament had amended the relevant provision in 2010. Neither the BJP nor the Congress had, therefore, violated the FCRA in receiving donations from the Vedanta Group's Indian subsidiaries between 2007 and 2009, the Centre contended. Hence,...

-The Hindu In a landmark judgment in 2013, the Central Information Commission had ruled that political parties come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act. The tug of war between the six national political parties and the Central Information Commission (CIC) continues as they continue to defy its orders three years after it had declared them as “public authorities” under the Right to Information Act, 2005 making it mandatory for...

-Business Standard FCRA amendment raises questions about ethical governance The little-noticed announcement in the Finance Bill to retrospectively amend a clause in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) does little to enhance the government's reputation for ethical governance. The amendment, to apply from 2010, will mean that donations to political parties by Indian companies with foreign direct investment within mandated sectoral limits will no longer be considered "foreign contributions". The FCRA bans...

-The Times of India New Delhi: The Delhi high court has tightened norms for political parties accepting cash donations without submitting their books for scrutiny. The move is being seen as a major boost for more transparency in political funding, plugging a vulnerability in law which could be exploited to mask illicit contributions. A bench of Justices S Murlidhar and Vibhu Bakhru held this week that parties which fail to maintain audited...