Political parties can now receive anonymous donation of just Rs 2,000 -Governance Now

Political parties can now receive anonymous donation of just Rs 2,000

This is a major reform in the system that can bring in transparency in funding of parties and thus address the root cause of corruption in India.

GN Bureau | February 1, 2017

#reform #Rs 2000 #transparency #anonymous donations #Political parties

The political parties can receive donation of only Rs 2000 from anonymous sources. This was announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech.

This constitutes a major reform in the system that can bring in transparency in funding of parties and thus address the root cause of corruption in India.

So far, political parties were not required to disclose the source of their funds to the tune of Rs 20,000, while filing their annual returns. Some of the cash rich parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Mayawati, in fact, had claimed that it had nothing to declare since all its funding was from small donors who have paid Rs 20,000 each.

Members welcomed Jaitley’s announcement as he said this step was in line with the recommendation of the Election Commission for cleansing the electoral system.

Besides, he said, the Reserve Bank of India will also issue electoral bonds which the donors can purchase and give to their favourite political party without getting identified. The political parties can redeem these bonds within a stipulated time. He said, for this, the RBI Act would have to be amended.

Jaitley also said the system for digital donations will be set up soon.

Comments

Other News

“But for Nehru’s non-alignment, India would’ve been where China is today”

Dark Secrets: Politics, Intrigue and Proxy Wars in Kashmir By Iqbal Chand Malhotra Bloomsbury, 277 pages With his latest work, ‘Dark Secrets’, scholar and media personality Iqbal Chand Malhotra continues the investigation he began with

Maharashtra schools to reopen on January 24

Maharashtra has announced the reopening of schools for classes 1-12 from January 24 with Covid protocols. Education minister Varsha Gaikwad said on Thursday that the government will reopen schools for classes 1-12th with Covid protocols from January 24. “We have also decided to open p

No irregularly in appointment of engineer: BMC counters BJP MLA

The BrihanMumbai municipal corporation (BMC) has rejected BJP MLA Ameet Satam’s demand in a letter to BMC commissioner Iqbal Chahal to cancel the appointment of Sunil Rathod, deputy chief engineer, building and proposal department, western suburbs, for getting caught red-handed accepting bribe by ACB

Cast your vote, not vote for caste

Once the schedule for the next assembly elections has been announced, there is a flurry of activity around building caste coalitions. This is more intense in the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, which is the most important state in India in any election, in view of its large population estimated a

Maharashtra cities dominate Smart Cities Mission #Streets4People Challenge

In a competition organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nagpur and Aurangabad from Maharashtra are among the 11 cities selected for scaling up their pilot projects and creating permanent public infrastructure. #Streets4People Challenge was org

CNC, Admiral R Hari Kumar condoles deaths of three navy personnel

The three Navy personnel who succumbed to injuries caused by an explosion on board Indian Navy`s destroyer ship INS Ranvir have been identified as Krishan Kumar MCPO (master petty chief officer)I, Surinder Kumar MCPO II & AK Singh MCPO II. In a condolence message, Admiral R Hari Kumar s