-Outlook Transparency promotes democracy, more the reason for political parties to come under RTI Act's purview There was great public outrage when legislators in Mumbai beat up an assistant police inspector because he stopped an MLA's car for speeding on the Bandra-Worli sealink. The sentiment was: What arrogance! How can lawmakers have so little respect for the laws they themselves made? However, the amendment in Parliament aimed at removing political parties...
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From now, lawmakers who get two years in jail will lose seats
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The rules of the game have changed for the political class, with the Supreme Court asking the government on Friday to enforce its order for immediate disqualification of sitting MPs, MLAs and MLCs convicted for an offence attracting a sentence of two years. "Sitting Members of Parliament and state legislators are no longer protected by clause 4 of Section 8 of the Representation of People Act,"...
More »Fleeing the light -Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey
-The Hindu Political parties have acted as judge, jury, supplicant and advocate in their move to amend the RTI Act and exempt themselves from its purview. Their rhetoric on transparency is more hollow than ever A friend called the other day, and said: "I want to congratulate all of you in the RTI community, because you have managed to do what no one, and nothing else has managed to for a long...
More »Enough transparency without RTI: Govt
-The Telegraph New Delhi: When the Union cabinet yesterday decided to amend the Right to Information Act to exempt political parties from its ambit, it argued that citizens already have several legal avenues to find out about the donations the parties receive and details of their poll candidates. The cabinet approved the draft bill to be introduced in the coming Parliament session to amend the 2005 act, excluding political parties from the...
More »Demanding transparency in political finance-Shailaja Chandra
-The Hindu Building on the work by RTI activists, India needs to set up a mechanism that can make for accountability on the sources and utilisation of party funds Throughout the world, political parties collect funds to build and sustain the organisation, to train party cadres and fight elections. Recognising that they are the main link to the citizens (as voters) and, by implication, the mainstay of democracy, many countries, including India,...
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