-Hindustan Times Election Commission of India (ECI) is outgunned when it comes to confronting those who circumvent existing campaign finance rules and lacks power to sanction candidates. It is a truism to note that political finance sits at the heart of corruption in modern India. While politicians publicly lament the status quo, they privately profit from the current system. Therefore, the fact that the Narendra Modi government has made reforming political finance...

-Hindustan Times In India, it’s difficult to find accurate estimates of campaign spending. Research also shows that illicit funds are important in funding elections in the country. Despite constant chatter about the massive (and rising) costs of election campaigns in India, there is a dearth of credible data on the actual costs, the sources of support for candidates, and the implications of campaign costs on governance between elections. However, newly available survey data...

-Hindustan Times The issue of money in politics is a matter of pressing concern across the democratic world. Recent headlines, for instance, reveal that scandals linked with political finance irregularities dot the globe. In France, former president Nicolas Sarkozy is being investigated on allegations that his 2007 campaign received millions of dollars from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. In Brazil, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sentenced to a dozen years...

-DNA Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi has again raised objections against the provision of implementing Cash transfers in lieu of dietary supplements, known officially as Take Home Ration (THR), marking perhaps the third time the ministry has officially spoken against it. A decision to implement the provision in ten vulnerable districts was passed at the National Nutrition Council's inaugural meeting on April 18, chaired by NITI Aayog...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The government has prematurely withdrawn a scheme under which shopkeepers would get an incentive of up to Rs 1,000 for accepting payments using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Another one providing customers Cashbacks of up to Rs 500 has also been withdrawn and replaced with a scheme that provides rewards of up to Rs 150 but only for Bhim app users. The move to withdraw the incentives...