Source:
Date:
03.01.2017
City:
After the surgical strike on black money, PM Modi seems all set for another surgical strike. This time the target is political funding.
According to highly placed sources, Modi is going to call a meeting of all the political parties after assembly elections to discuss the twin issues of poll funding as well as poll reforms. This meeting is likely to take place in the second half of the budget session, which is likely to begin from March 1.
The 50-day-long demonetisation period has thrown up several questions. The most important of them is - If the government is indeed serious about tackling the menace of black money, it will have to walk the talk by hitting on something that has been on the public radar for a long time.
HERE IS ALL YOU MUST KNOW
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Opaque political funding leaves a lot of scope for black money to be pumped in and out without any iota of scrutiny.
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How critical the situation is can be gauged by the report released by the Association of Democratic Reforms(ADR) which shows that between 2004-12, sources for over 75 per cent of the funding received by six national political parties could not be traced.
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Experts believe that if the government really wants to curb the menace of black money, it needs to reform the funding of political parties.
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During the period of demonetisation as well as before it, PM Modi talked a lot about accountability of political parties in ensuring transparency of political funding and how we should switch to state funding of the election.
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During the washed-out winter session, PM Modi in a meeting of BJP MPs said he had emphasised on transparency in political funding and the issue of state funding of election to make the process transparent.
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In fact in a rally in Kanpur in December 2016, Modi urged the Election Commission to pressure political parties to create transparency over the donation they get.
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PM Modi and his advisers know that if the government is able to walk the talk on this issue, it will give him a great political capital as he will be seen as cleaning a system which the common man has given up hope of seeing happen.
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Along with this, the issue of poll reform is also on the agenda. PM Modi has been pitching for the simultaneous holding of general election and assembly elections.
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In September 2016, the government had even started a discussion on this issue on the My Gov portal.
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After Diwali in a function at the BJP office, PM Modi made a strong pitch for a public debate on code of conduct.
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He also exhorted the media to initiate a public debate on this. The Prime Minister had also tasked a group of officials to consider the matter and they had drawn up a possible schedule that would mean that assemblies whose terms end either six months prior to the next Lok Sabha or after could go to polls together.
