THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-January 26, 2017- Topic 1
Donations and disclosures
If you want to know how political parties raise funds in the country, you
will only get a part of the answer. The known donors and sources of
contributions to national and regional parties account for less than a third of
their total income. An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms shows
that 69% of funds and contributions received by political
parties from 2004-05 to 2014-05 came from unknown sources.
There cannot be a
better case than this statistic for demanding greater transparency in political
funding. Going by income tax returns and statements submitted to the Election Commission, six national and 51 recognised regional parties together
had an income of ₹11,367.34 crore during this period, but only ₹1,835.63 crore
came from named donors, while other declared sources such as sale of assets,
bank interest, membership fee and sale of publications accounted for ₹1,698.73
crore. This means a total income of ₹7,832.98 crore came from unknown sources.
Details submitted by the Congress held that 83% of its income came from unknown
sources and the BJP said it raised 65% of its funds as anonymous contributions.
The reason for these startling numbers is that under the present income tax
law, parties need not disclose the names of those donating up to ₹20,000. To
enjoy income tax exemption, they need to maintain records only of those who
donate sums above this. This provision effectively gives parties the required
cover to pass off sizeable donations as small contributions from anonymous
donors.
Political parties in the legislature make far-reaching decisions, and their
donors could have a bearing on policy. In 2013, the Central Information
Commission ruled that political parties were covered under the Right to
Information Act. It was pointed out that they got tax exemptions, land
allotments and free airtime on state-owned media, in effect benefiting
significantly from the exchequer. The order, however, is yet to be accepted by
parties. Bringing them under the ambit of the RTI Act is definitely a step in the
right direction. It would mean the list of donors, regardless of size of
contribution, is open to public scrutiny. For this, parties would have to
maintain records of small donors as well. State funding, perhaps partial, of
elections is another solution to reduce the dependency on contributions, though
the financial implications of this needs careful consideration. A more
practical mechanism is to have a regulatory authority to receive authentic
reports on political funding, scrutinise them and put them in the public
domain. Transparency in funding is essential to ensuring clean, democratic
governance.
Vocabulary
Contribution: a gift or payment to a common
fund or collection.
Example: Charitable contributions
Synonyms: donation, gift, offering, present, handout, grant, subsidy
Statistic: a fact or piece of data from a study of a large quantity
of numerical data.
Example: The statistics show that the crime rate has increased
Anonymous: not identified by name; of unknown name.
Example: The anonymous author of Beowulf
Synonyms: unnamed, of unknown name, nameless, incognito, unidentified
Startle: very surprising, astonishing, or remarkable.
Example: He bore a startling likeness to their father
Synonyms: surprising, astonishing, amazing, unexpected, unforeseen
Exemption: the process of freeing or state of being free from an
obligation or liability imposed on others.
Example: Exemption from prescription charges
Synonyms: immunity, exception, dispensation, indemnity, exclusion
Bearing: relation or relevance.
Example: The case has no direct bearing on the issues
Synonyms: relevance, pertinence, connection, appositeness
Exchequer: a royal or national treasury.
Example: The most important post in judging the character of the government is its
finance minister and chancellor of the exchequer .
Scrutiny: critical observation or examination.
Example: Every aspect of local government was placed under scrutiny
Synonyms: examination, inspection, survey, study, perusal, investigation
Authentic: of undisputed origin; genuine.
Example: The letter is now accepted as an authentic document
Synonyms: genuine, real, bona fide, true, veritable, legitimate, lawful