-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) made the highest cash deposit among political parties during 50 days of demonetisation, reveals data analysis by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Income Tax department (I-T). The top 15 national and regional political parties deposited Rs 167 crore during demonetisation, data accessed by HT has revealed. Besides Rs 104 crore cash deposit by the BSP, other 14 parties have put Rs...

-The Indian Express Government could have undone the damage of demonetisation through the budget. The opportunity has been missed in deference to the whims of global finance. Since 97 per cent of the value of demonetised currency has returned to the banks, causing, contrary to the government’s expectations, very little extinction of currency, it is obvious that demonetisation has totally failed to achieve its purported objective of denting the black economy. It...

-The Indian Express The enhancement of state Powers without control or transparency is not being done against our wishes The clamour for security, accountability and transparency is leading to unfettered increase in the Power of states. We are enacting law after law, introducing technology after technology, to render citizens transparent to the state. But at the same time, we are weakening protections and consenting to technologies in a way that makes the...

-The Hindu Disappointed by the government’s track record in implementing anti-corruption measures, a group of eminent citizens has decided to take the initiative of setting up a forum to hear complaints of corruption or malfeasance from whistleblowers. Called the Citizens Whistleblowers Forum (CWF), it would “act as a unique, credible platform to provide much-needed confidence to whistleblowers” to expose, without fear, “cases of corruption or wilful misuse of Powers”, said a statement...

-Caravan Magazine Arun Kumar is an eminent economist who has been studying the black economy in India for close to four decades. His 1999 book The Black Economy in India is among the foremost accounts of the black-money problem in the country. In Understanding the Black Economy and Black Money in India: An Enquiry into Causes, Consequences and Remedies, released in February 2017, Kumar discusses the misconceptions around black money, the...