Corporate houses "officially" donated Rs 410 crore to BJP, Rs 128 crore to Congress in 2014-15: NGO report

By Our Representative
In an interesting revelation, a new report by two well-known NGOs, the National Election Watch (NEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), suggests a powerful hold of corporates over the two main political parties, BJP and Congress, in India.
Based on an analysis of the donation figures Rs 20,000 plus in financial year 2014-15, submitted by national political parties to the Election Commission of India, the report says, they received a total of Rs 622.38 crore, out of which Rs 576.37 crore was received from the corporate houses. The rest came mainly from individuals.
A further breakup provided in the report suggests that, while the BJP received Rs 409.94 crore from 794 corporates out of a total of Rs 437.35 crore it received as donations in 2014-15, while the Congress received Rs 127.96 crore from 121corporates out of a total of Rs 141.46 crore.
In fact, the donation details suggest that the clout of the Congress, whose government led the coalition till May 2014, was already down, presumably among corporate donors, in the financial year 2013-14 itself: During 2013-14 the total declared donations amount was Rs 247.77, of which the BJP’s amount was Rs 170.86 crore, as against the Congress’ Rs 59.58 crore.

The analysis said, there was “incomplete disclosure of information in the donations report”. Thus, “Rs 83.92 lakh was declared as received by the BJP from 20 such donors whose PAN details, address and mode of contribution (together) were unavailable. Only names of donors and the contributed amount were declared.”
Giving details of “top donors”, the report said, Bharti Group’s Satya Electoral Trust donated a total of Rs 13 crore to the BJP, the Congress and the NCP. “The trust donated Rs 107.25 crore to BJP (25% of total funds received by the party), Rs 18.75 crore to INC (13% of total funds received by the party) and Rs 6 crore to NCP”, the report said.
Then, the report said, the Aditya Birla Group’s General Electoral Trust, which did not make any donations to national parties in 2013-14, “contributed a total of Rs 117.30 crore to BJP and Congress in 2014-15”, of which the “BJP received Rs 63.2 crore (14 per cent of total funds) and the Congress received Rs 54.10 crore (38 per cent of total funds received).”
A further segregation suggests, “Corporates from Maharashtra donated Rs 246.56 crores while those from Gujarat gave Rs 22.68 crore”, the report said, adding, “Rs 77.81 lakh could not be segregated into the corporate or individual donations due to incomplete donor details.”
The report said, “290 donations, amounting to Rs 142.23 crore and formed 23 per cent of the total donations received contained incomplete information of the mode of contribution”.
It added, “Cash donations formed the least preferred mode of contributions where only 27 donations (Rs 89 lakh) were made by cash which constituted 0.14 per cent of the total contributions.”

Comments

India performs 'poorly' in Quality of Life Index, ranks 62nd out of 64 countries

Counterview Desk “Expat Insider”, which claims to be one of the world’s most extensive surveys about living and working abroad, in a survey of 20,259 participants from around the globe, has found that of the 64 destinations around the globe, has found that while Taiwan is the best destination for persons living outside their native country, closely by Vietnam and Portugal, India ranks 59th.

Youngest of 16 activists jailed for sedition, Mahesh Raut 'fought' mining on tribal land

By Surabhi Agarwal, Sandeep Pandey* A compassionate human being, always popular among his friends and colleagues because of his friendly nature and human sensitivity, 33-year-old Mahesh Raut, champion of the democratic rights of the marginalised Adivasi people of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, has been in prison for over two years now.

Human development index: India performs worse than G-20 developing countries

By Rajiv Shah A new book, “Sustainable Development in India: A Comparison with the G-20”, authored by Dr Keshab Chandra Mandal, has regretted that though India’s GDP has doubled over the last one decade, its human development indicators are worse than not just developed countries of the Group of 20 countries but also developing countries who its members.

US publication blames Gates Foundation for 'accelerating' India's healthcare crisis

By Rajiv Shah A new book, published by the New York-based Monthly Press Review (MPR), has blamed Microsoft founder Bill Gates for “crowning” the crisis allegedly engulfing India’s health sector, stating, the top American billionaire’s foundation of late has acquired “extraordinary influence" over India’s public health governance, giving a fillip to a policy that deprives access of public healthcare facilities for majority of the country’s population.

India's GDP down by 50%, not 23%, job loss 200 million not 122 million: Top economist

By Our Representative One of India’s topmost economists has estimated that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decline was around 50%, and not 23%, as claimed by the Government of India’s top data body, National Statistical Organization (NSO). Prof Arun Kumar, who is Malcolm S Adiseshiah chair professor, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, said this was delivering a web policy speech, organised by the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi.

Stan Swamy vs Arnab Goswami: Are activists fighting a losing battle? Whither justice?

By Fr Sunil Macwan SJ* It is time one raised pertinent questions over the courts denying bail to Fr Stan Swamy, who was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and granting it to Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of the Republic TV, arrested under the charge of abetting suicide of Avay Naik, who ended his life in 2018. It is travesty of justice that a human rights activist is not only denied bail but is also made to wait for weeks to hear a response to his legitimate request for a straw to drink water, while Arnab Goswami walks free.

India among heavily impacted by Covid-19, China 'notoriously' evading transparency

By NS Venkataraman* With the year 2020 inevitably ending in the next few weeks, the thought amongst the people all over the world is whether the coming year 2021 will be free of Covid-19 (often dubbed as Wuhan virus, as it known to have spread from Wuhan in China).In the early 2020, many people thought that Covid-19 would be a localized affair in China but later on, it proved to be a global pandemic.

Namaz in Mathura temple: Haridwar, Ayodhya monks seek Faisal Khan's release

By Our Representative As many as 23 members of the Hindu Voices for Peace (HVP), including the founder president of the well-known Haridwar-based Matri Sadan Ashram, Swami Shivananda Saraswati, and a one of its top monks, Brahmachari Aatmabodhanand, have expressed their “dismay” over the arrest of Khudai Khidmatdar chief Faisal Khan and three others on charges of “promoting enmity between religions” and “defiling a place of worship” after they offered namaz in Mathura’s Nand Baba temple premises on October 29.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines massively destroyed by Brahmanical rulers in "pre-Islamic" era: Historian DN Jha's survey

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Search This Blog