Modi govt "concession" to India's top babus: They need not declare assets of spouses, dependent children

By Our Representative
With the Bill amending the Section 44 and the related rule-making provision in Section 59 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (LL Act) passed in the Lok Sabha without any debate, India's top babudom should feel happy: Their spouses and dependent children would be exempted from making any public declaration of their assets.
Suggesting this, Vehkatesh Nayak, senior activist with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has said, provision requiring “only a public servant” to declare assets would lead to a situation where “the assets and liabilities declarations of IAS, IPS and IFoS officers which are currently in the public domain, may be withdrawn.”
“The current formulation of Section 44 regarding declaration of assets and liabilities covers not only the public servant but also his/her spouse and dependent children”, Nayak says, adding, the “amendments will restrict the declaration only to the assets and liabilities of the public servant. Assets and liabilities of the spouse and dependent children will be exempt.”
Similarly, he says, the proactive disclosure of the assets and liabilities declarations of Union Ministers under the Code of Conduct applicable would "go offline" as a result of the amendments to the LL Act.
The amendment talks of "every public servant shall make a declaration of his assets and liabilities in such form and manner as may be prescribed" on and from the date of "commencement of this Act", automatically cancelling the requirement to file annual return of assets and liabilities by July 31, even as omitting the requirement to publishing it online.
In the original Act, which came into effect in January 2014, every public servant was supposed to file annual returns of assets and returns "on or before the July 31 of every year", with the competent "competent authority" required to ensure that all such statements are published on its websites August 31 of that year..
“Currently”, he says, “The PMO website displays the assets and liabilities declarations for only 4 Cabinet Ministers and 2 Ministers of State for the year 2015-16. According to data available on the PMO website two Cabinet Ministers and a handful of Ministers of State are yet to cause their assets and liabilities statements disclosed for 2014-15.”
“The current formulation of Section 44 requires mandatory public disclosure of the assets and liabilities statements by public servants on the official websites of their ministries and departments”, Nayak says, adding, “The proposed amendments seek to do away with this proactive disclosure requirement. So people will not have access to the assets and liabilities statements of the public servant at all under the LL Act. This will only be a non-public declaration.”
While some activists in the media may talk of “benefits” by these amendments, Nayak says, “The only benefit that I can recognise is what is available to other public servants, namely, disclosure of assets and liabilities only for self and not for one's spouse and dependent children and of course the declarations will not be made public proactively.”
He underlines, “NGOs office bearers specified in the LL Act such as directors, secretaries, managers and other officers will still have to submit their assets and liability declarations to the concerned authorities. In the case of NGOs covered by the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 declarations by their office bearers will have to be submitted online to the Union Home Minister.”
Only, their spouses and children would be exempted, their declaration would not be put online, and the fixed date for filing it -- July 31 -- has been abrogated.
Nayak says, “Sri Lanka was the first country in South Asia to have a law on assets disclosures for public servants during the 1970s”, says Nayak, adding, “The law then required such declarations to be kept confidential. However, amendments made in 1988 permitted people to seek copies of such declarations on payment of the prescribed fee, but restrictions were imposed on the use of such information for publication or for initiating legal action against the public servant.”

Comments

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat* The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia. The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam* The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

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 were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

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".

'A disaster in the making': Expansion of oil palm plantations in Northeast India

By Rupa Chinai, Ravi Chellam* Until a few decades ago, India was nearly 100% self-sufficient in edible oils, with a diverse variety of oilseeds that were grown and consumed sustainably in keeping with the ecological and climatic conditions of different regions in the country. Today, India is highly reliant on palm oil imports to meet its vegetable oil demands.

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani* A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid* We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra* Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Counterview

Search This Blog