The Hindu : News / National : No transparency in source of funds of political parties, reveals RTI

Only 11.89 per cent of the Congress income and 22.76 per cent of the BJP income in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 financial year have come from donations received in excess of Rs. 20,000, the two parties have claimed in contribution reports submitted to the Election Commission of India.

In a detailed analysis of the Income Tax returns filed and donations received by the political parties, the National Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms have raised several questions on the lack of transparency regarding the source of funds that the parties claimed to have received in the past years.

According to the I-T returns filed by various parties and contribution reports submitted to the EC which are accessed by these two organisations through the Right to Information Act, the top five parties with the highest income between 2004-05 and 2010-11 were: the Congress with Rs. 2,008 crore, the BJP - Rs. 994 crore, the BSP – Rs. 484 crore, the CPI(M) – Rs. 417 crore and the SP – Rs. 279 crore.

The who’s who of mining are funding India’s political parties

by Raman Kirpal Sep 11, 2012

There are strings attached to every charity! A list released by Delhi-based NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), reveals that 26 of the top 50 companies, which made political donations to the Congress Party, are associated with mining of natural resources in one way or the other.

These companies belong to Jindal group of industries, Adani Group of Industries, Shyam group of industries, Essar group of industries, ACC and Ambuja Cements, Vedanta group of industries, Torrent Power Ltd, Salgaoncar, Chowgule, etc. Other companies listed are service providers, and provide logistics and infrastructure to these companies dealing with power generation, cement, steel, sponge iron and export of iron ore.

Thus, most of these companies require captive coal blocks, captive iron and bauxite mines. These companies are not only generous to the Congress, they are also liberally make political donations to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other political parties, and seem focused on keeping the political class happy.

Representational image. Reuters

The Jindal Group alone holds control over 10 captive mines. The Jindals made a contribution of Rs 1.05 crore to the Congress. Essar has captive coal mines at Chakla and Karanpura districts in Jharkhand and its contribution to the Congress was Rs 75 lakh.

ACC and Ambuja Cement companies donated Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore respectively to the Congress war-chest. Both belong to the same management and they too have captive coal mines at Raniganj, West Bengal. They have cement plants at Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

HEARD ON THE STREET FROM WISE PEOPLE ON POLITY AND POLITICS

"Politics, as a practise, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds". 

"Good government is known from bad government by this infallible test: that under the former the labouring people are well fed and well clothed, and under the latter, they are badly fed and badly clothed".

"The political arena leaves one no alternative, one must either be a dunce or a rogue".

"A passion for politics stems usually from an insatiable need,

either for power, or for friendship and adulation, or a 

combination of both".

"Avoid this crowd like the plague. And if they quote you, make damn sure they heard you". 

"I have simplified my politics into an utter detestation of all 

existing governments; and, as it is the shortest and most 

agreeable and summary feeling imaginable, the first moment 

of an universal republic would convert me into an advocate 

for single and uncontradicted despotism. The fact is, riches 

are power, and poverty is slavery all over the earth, and one 

sort of establishment is no better, nor worse, for a people 

than another".

"The truth is that every intelligent man, as you well know, 

dreams of being a gangster and ruling over society through 

violence alone. Since this is not as easy as the novels would 

have us believe, people generally resort to politics and join 

the cruelest party".