-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Breaking ranks with the other parties, the Samajwadi Party on Thursday said it favoured a mechanism of checks and balances for transparency in the functioning of the political parties. The SP was referring to the June 3, 2013, ruling of the chief information commissioner (CIC) that says political parties come under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Almost all national parties have opposed the CIC ruling. National...
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CIC order: Transparency is important in democracy, says Arvind Kejriwal
-The Economic Times The information commissioner's order asking that stringent disclosure norms prevail on political parties is a welcome move. Transparency with regard to political parties, especially when it concerns funding, is extremely important in a democracy as this is where political corruption begins. In the past, there have been allegations of quid pro quo between big corporate houses, who fund parties in elections, and policy changes effected to suit them. Some...
More »Open up the accounts
-The Business Standard But RTI is not the tool to impose transparency on parties There is no doubt that much is wrong with how elections in India are financed. In India, as in most democratic countries, the need for political funding is often what causes cronyism and outright corruption - in fact, more than one politician, cutting across party lines, is on record making this argument. It is necessary, certainly, to introduce...
More »Time to check the Khemka syndrome-Pradeep S Mehta
-The Hindu Despite attempts at reform, frequent transfers of civil servants by loyalty-seeking politicians continue. Only a guarantee of tenure can end the menace. In April this year, the Haryana government transferred senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka for the second time in six months, or for the 44th time in his 22-year career. The use of transfers and postings in States as a means of harassing officers who are inconvenient because of...
More »Funding of parties can come under RTI Act: Arun Jaitley -Mohua Chatterjee & Dhananjay Mahapatra
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: BJP leader and cricket administrator Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the Central Information Commission (CIC) ruling bringing political parties within the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act was per se not wrong as long as it applied to their funding. However, he was quick to introduce caveats. "The CIC logic behind applying RTI Act to political parties is that they are given land at concessional...
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