Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

Days after Trump won his way to the White House, becoming the 47th President of the United States, the US Federal Reserve slashed the interest rates by 25 basis points, bringing them within the range of 4.5-4.75%. This is the second time this year that the Fed has lowered the interest rates, after cutting them down by 50 basis points in September 2024. u Fed chair Jerome Powell noted that monetary policy remains tight as inflation remains elevated at 2.4% as of September 2024, slightly above the 2% mark set by the commission. However, the Fed remained optimistic about the current state of the economy. "The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at 2% over the longer run. The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance. The economic outlook is uncertain, and the Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate," the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) noted in its press release. The rate cut was along widely anticipated lines, although experts were wary of the Fed's way ahead, given that Donald Trump has been elected as the US President. In the past, he has, on multiple occasions, expressed his desire to yield greater influence on the Fed, apart from publicly criticizing Powell. However, Powell continued to stand his ground, noting that Trump cannot legally sack him. He believed in keeping the Fed independent, at least until his tenure as governor ends in 2028. He highlighted that even if he is explicitly asked by Trump to quit, he won't do so. <h2>Trump's regime to inch up inflation?</h2> Trump's electoral promises, if translated into policies, could spell disaster for the Fed's effort to curtail inflation. Reportedly, Trump has promised to levy aggressive tariffs against US trading partners, particularly China, and even extend his 2017 tax cuts. This could mean higher levels of the federal deficit, which would push up prices, wages, and hence, inflation, even as the Fed tries to consistently bring it under control. Apurva Sheth, Head of Market Perspectives and Research, SAMCO Securities, notes that it wasn't a surprise when the US Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.75%. The Fed had given enough clues, and the market too had anticipated these rate cuts. "However, what was surprising was how the <keyword id="23863852" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="US-10-year-bond-yields" source="keywords">US 10-year bond yields</keyword> moved over the last one and a half months, which have been rising relentlessly from 3.6% to almost 4.5% despite the 50 bps cut in the last Fed meeting. It seems that the market is anticipating slower rate cuts going ahead, and maybe there are even chances of inflation rising. The bond yields have cooled off and slipped below the 4.335% mark. This should be bullish for emerging markets like India," he added.

US Fed cuts interest rates by 25 bps, Powell notes Trump's victory to have no impact on policy decisions

It takes an Oscar-worthy director to come up with the juicy drama that somehow seems to pervade India’s pre-general election seasons. Amid all the chaos, a political hot topic has just witnessed a major development: the electoral bonds row. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What are electoral bonds?" comment="subhead" text="What are electoral bonds?">What are electoral bonds?</cmsannotation> For those unversed in the whole episode, the government introduced the <keyword id="4697813" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="electoral-bond" source="Orion">Electoral Bond</keyword> Scheme via the Finance Act of 2016-2017, allowing anyone to anonymously make an indefinite number of non-capped donations to their preferred political parties. Before this scheme, all donations above Rs 20,000 had to be explicitly made public, and donations of more than a certain percentage of the company’s revenue were disallowed. Such restrictions were meant to ensure that no political party had an unfair monetary advantage over the others and that the policies would not be influenced by the rich. Therefore, many experts were concerned that this new lack of transparency in the donation process opened up a gaping avenue for big corporations to donate for favourable outcomes from the ruling regime in terms of acquiring licences, government contracts, leases, and even accelerating favourable policy changes. The government insists that the measure ensures transparency as the purchaser would be allowed to buy bonds only on due fulfilment of all the extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank account. However, the opposition parties kept raising objections, with the <keyword id="19895371" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="congress" source="keywords">Congress</keyword> leader Rahul Gandhi terming the electoral bond scheme as a legalisation of the process of accepting bribes and commissions. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="How did the Supreme Court step in?" comment="subhead" text="How did the Supreme Court step in?">How did the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> step in?</cmsannotation> Recently, in a move that many celebrated as a major win for transparent and fair electoral practices, a Constitution Bench panel of five Supreme Court judges scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme on February 15, deeming that the whole ordeal was “unconstitutional” to begin with. Subsequently, the <keyword id="19934368" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india" source="keywords">State Bank of India</keyword> (<keyword id="19898108" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sbi" source="keywords">SBI</keyword>) was ordered to disclose all details of the donors that had purchased electoral bonds, the amount purchased, and the recipients of these “support” donations. Nearly a month after the directive, SBI finally submitted the electoral data to the <keyword id="19895782" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="election-commission" source="keywords">Election Commission</keyword> on March 13, after the apex court denied its application for more time. The bank attributed the delay in compiling the information to the non-digital nature of the way electoral data was collected and stored, making it harder to collate and produce. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What does the data reveal?" comment="subhead" text="What does the data reveal?">What does the data reveal?</cmsannotation> The data published by the Election Commission based on SBI’s affidavit revealed information on over 22,217 electoral bonds purchased between April 1, 2019 and February 1, 2024. This also means there exists a year’s worth of data missing from the first year of the electoral bonds scheme, amounting to hundreds of crores of Rupees. Further, the very content of the data remains lacklustre, many experts maintain. The problem is that individual electoral bonds do not have their serial numbers attached. This makes it impossible to accurately ascertain who these bonds were directed to, meaning we still do not know which corporations donated how much to which parties. Condemning the SBI for not divulging the unique serial numbers as per its previous full-disclosure directive, the Supreme Court has now issued a notice for a prompt response by March 18. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Which political party benefited the most?" comment="subhead" text="Which political party benefited the most?">Which political party benefited the most?</cmsannotation> While many political parties benefited from this scheme, the Bharatiya Janata Party (<keyword id="19894848" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bjp" source="keywords">BJP</keyword>) encashed about 1,300 crores worth of electoral bonds during the 2023 financial year, according to media reports. This amounted to about half of the total electoral bond donations, and more than seven times the amount Congress received during the same period. Out of a total of 12,155 crores worth of electoral bonds purchased between 2019 and 2024, BJP redeemed Rs 6061 crores, followed by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress at Rs 1610 crores. A total of 213 donors purchased bonds worth over Rs 10 crores, with the top 20 donors accounting for nearly half of the total electoral bonds. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Are scams hiding behind the electoral bonds?" comment="subhead" text="Are scams hiding behind the electoral bonds?">Are scams hiding behind the electoral bonds?</cmsannotation> The ruling party receiving such a disproportionate share of the electoral bonds has raised many eyebrows. Rajya Sabha Minister Kapil Sibal expressed discontent with the SBI report, calling it a “scam” and explaining that it needs thorough investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Jharkhand Congress President Rajesh Thakur emphasised that a comprehensive study is essential to ascertain the true extent to which companies might have their money to get favour from the central government. Many Congress leaders, such as Manickam Tagore and Jairam Ramesh, also held that it was suspicious that only companies that donated funds to the BJP were given projects and contracts. The other problem is the fact that several of the big purchasers have been consistently under the radar of central agencies, facing frequent raids. This includes the top donor, Lottery company Future Gaming and Hotel Services, led by “Lottery King” Santago Martin, who donated a whopping Rs 1,368 crores. Many others also concern that large corporations may have donated money through shell corporations, in order to hide their involvement in any political favouritism. Congress MP Manish Tewari asked for a Supreme Court order to “lift” this corporate veil of shell companies to reveal the true purchasers of the bonds. Further, as per a Mint analysis, several donor companies who contributed massive amounts were found to be ‘inactive’, and thus the true details of the donors were not transparent at all. According to their report, this included entities such as Rungta Sons, SN Mohanty, Sasmal Infrastructure Private Limited, Avees Trading Finance, and others, whose collective contributions amount to hundreds of crores of Rupees. The official electoral bond data can be accessed via the <a href="https://www.eci.gov.in/candidate-politicalparty" data-type="tilCustomLink">Election Commission of India website</a>.

Electoral bonds: What are they? What does the newly-released data reveal? Would it make an impact?

New Delhi, The BJP, the biggest beneficiary of electoral bonds with donations worth over Rs 6,000 crore in the last four years of the scheme, got funds from several corporates and individuals, including Megha Engineering, Future Gaming, and Reliance-linked <keyword id="21044437" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="qwik-supply" source="keywords">Qwik Supply</keyword>. Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering, which won several contracts for infrastructure projects, donated Rs 584 crore to the BJP, <keyword id="21047704" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="qwik-supply-rs" source="keywords">Qwik Supply Rs</keyword> 395 crore, and Future Gaming Rs 100 crore, according to data released by the Election Commission on Thursday. The BJP also got Rs 346 crore from Keventers Food Park, MKJ Enterprises and Madanlal Ltd -- three firms with the same <keyword id="19896626" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kolkata" source="keywords">Kolkata</keyword> address, Vedanata contributed Rs 226 crore, and Haldia Energy Rs 81 crore. <keyword id="19919721" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vedanta" source="keywords">Vedanta</keyword> was also a key contributor to the Congress with donations worth Rs 125 crore. The opposition party also received funds from <keyword id="21047706" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="western-up-power-and-transmission" source="keywords">Western UP Power and Transmission</keyword>, MKJ Enterprises and Yashoda Super Speciality Hospitals. The BJP also got donations worth Rs 80 crore from <keyword id="21047705" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="western-up-power-and-transmission-company" source="keywords">Western UP Power and Transmission Company</keyword>, and Rs 42 crore from Welspun. Industrialist Lakshmi Mittal donated Rs 35 crore to the BJP in individual capacity, while several other individuals donated funds in the range of Rs 10-25 crore to the ruling party. The Election Commission made public a fresh data set of electoral bonds, including their alpha-numeric numbers that can help match their purchasers with the political parties that received the funds. Two separate lists of the donors and the recipients were published by the poll panel on its website after the details were submitted to it by the State Bank of India earlier in the day as per a Supreme Court order.

Electoral bonds: Megha Engineering, Qwik Supply big donors for BJP

New Delhi, Several political parties declined to share details of electoral bond donors citing various legal provisions, while others said they received the funding instruments through "drop box" or by post without any name. The DMK, which received most of its donations from a lottery firm, reached out to its donors to seek details of the electoral bonds as demanded by the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> in 2019. The BJP cited the amendments to the Representation of People Act, 1951 and the relevant portions of the Reserve Bank of India Act and the Income Tax Act for not revealing its donors. "It is duly submitted that the electoral bonds were introduced with the aim of bringing only accounted for funds in political funding while protecting the donors from any consequences, therefrom," the BJP said in its letter to the <keyword id="19895782" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="election-commission" source="keywords">Election Commission</keyword>. The <keyword id="19895371" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="congress" source="keywords">Congress</keyword> shot off a letter to the <keyword id="19934368" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india" source="keywords">State Bank of India</keyword> (SBI) seeking details of donors of electoral bonds, the amount, the bank account in which it was credited and the date. The SBI responded to the Congress that the details of the electoral bonds were available with the political parties and shared the statement of the bank account which was shared with the Commission. The Samajwadi Party shared details of bonds of relatively smaller amounts of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, but merely mentioned that 10 bonds of Rs 1 crore each were received by post without any name. The DMK, which received almost 77 per cent of its funds from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming, said it had reached out to the donors of the party to get details of the donations they had made. "The scheme also does not require the details of the donor to be furnished to the donee. ... Be that as it may, following the directions of Hon'ble Supreme Court, we contacted our donors and we were able to collect the details from them," the DMK said. The <keyword id="19910625" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="telugu-desam-party" source="keywords">Telugu Desam Party</keyword> mentioned "not readily available" in the column for listing out the names of donors. The <keyword id="19968095" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trinamool-congress" source="keywords">Trinamool Congress</keyword> said the electoral bonds were sent to the party office and were "dropped in the drop box". The party said some bonds were sent through messengers from various persons who wished to support the party, many of whom prefer to remain anonymous. The NCP, then led by Sharad Pawar, expressed inability to furnish details of donors against each bond as the party had not maintained details or issued any receipts. The letter by the NCP to the Election Commission said several of its office-bearers were busy with the election campaign. "Wherever possible we have indicated the name of the person through whom bonds were received by the party," the NCP said. The Goa unit of the Congress reached out to its donor V M Salgaonkar and Brothers to get details of the electoral bonds worth Rs 30 lakh given by them to the party. The RJD said the details about donations worth Rs 1.5 crore were not readily available. The Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) has told the Election Commission that someone delivered to its office an envelope with electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore in 2019, which were redeemed by the party.

Electoral bonds dropped at office, received by post, say political parties

New Delhi, The <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> on Thursday struck down the electoral bond scheme, saying it violates the right to information and the freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution. In a landmark judgement that will have wide ramifications, it ordered the <keyword id="19934368" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india" source="keywords">State Bank of India</keyword> to disclose to the <keyword id="19895782" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="election-commission" source="keywords">Election Commission</keyword> the names of the contributors to the six-year-old scheme. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice <keyword id="19936357" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="d-y-chandrachud" source="keywords">D Y Chandrachud</keyword> delivered two separate and unanimous verdicts on the pleas challenging the scheme, delivering a major blow to the central government. Pronouncing the verdict, the CJI said the scheme is violative of freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of Constitution. The bench said the fundamental right to privacy also includes citizens' right to political privacy and affiliation. It also held as invalid the amendments made in various laws, including the <keyword id="20592932" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="representation-of-peoples-act" source="keywords">Representation of Peoples Act</keyword> and the Income Tax laws. It directed that the issuing bank shall stop issuance of electoral bonds and the State Bank of India shall submit details of electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 till date to the Election Commission. The top court had on November 2 last year reserved its verdict in the matter. The scheme, which was notified by the government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding. According to the provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by any citizen of India or entity incorporated or established in the country. An individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals without disclosing the identity. Critics have said this eliminates transparency in electoral funding and gives an edge to the ruling parties.

SC strikes down electoral bond scheme, terms it unconstitutional

New Delhi, A petition has been filed in the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> seeking contempt action against the <keyword id="19934368" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india" source="keywords">State Bank of India</keyword> (SBI) alleging it "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit details of contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 6. The plea, filed by two NGOs, claimed SBI's application seeking extension of time till June 30 to disclose the details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties has been deliberately filed at the last moment to ensure that details of donor and the amount of donations are not disclosed to the public before the upcoming <keyword id="19895394" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lok-sabha" source="keywords">Lok Sabha</keyword> elections. A bench headed by Chief Justice <keyword id="19936357" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="d-y-chandrachud" source="keywords">D Y Chandrachud</keyword> on Thursday took note of the submissions by advocate <keyword id="20027334" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prashant-bhushan" source="keywords">Prashant Bhushan</keyword>, who appeared on behalf of NGOs Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause, that he wanted initiation of contempt proceedings against the SBI. Bhushan said the SBI's application is likely to be listed on March 11 and the contempt application should also be heard together with it. "Please send an e-mail. I will pass the order," the CJI said. The SBI moved the top court on March 4 seeking extension of time till June 30 to disclose the details of the electoral bonds that were encashed. In a landmark verdict on February 15, a five-judge constitution bench of the apex court had scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordering disclosure by the Election Commission of the donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13. Ordering closure of the scheme forthwith, the top court had directed the SBI, the authorised financial institution under the scheme, to submit by March 6 the details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 till date to Election Commission (EC), which will publish the information on its official website by March 13. In the contempt plea, the NGOs have said that two days before the expiry of the stated deadline, the SBI has filed an application seeking time till June 30 to comply with the directions. "It is submitted that the said application is mala fide and demonstrates a wilful and deliberate disobedience &amp; defiance of the judgement passed by the constitution bench of this court. It is further a clear attempt to undermine the authority of this court," it said. "The petitioner herein is filing the instant petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against State Bank of India for wilfully and deliberately disobeying the order dated February 15 passed by this court... wherein this court directed SBI to submit details of contribution made to the political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India by March 6," it said. It said the affidavit supporting the SBI's application has neither been sworn by the chairman or the managing director of the bank. It said SBI has the record of the unique number allotted to each electoral bond and the know your customer (KYC) details of its purchaser. "The requirement of the KYC is mentioned in section 4 of the EB scheme itself, therefore, the SBI is well aware of the identity of purchasers of each electoral bond," the plea said. It said as per clause 7 of the electoral bond scheme, information furnished by the buyer can be disclosed when demanded by a competent court. "As per clause 12 (4) of the scheme, electoral bonds have to be encashed within fifteen days failing which the amount of bonds not encashed are to be deposited by the bank to the PM relief Fund. Thus, it is inconceivable that SBI does not have the recorded information readily available within its data base," it said. The plea said electoral bonds are "completely traceable" which is evident from the fact that SBI maintains a secret number-based record of donors who buy bonds, and the political parties they donate to. It said as per information received through RTI, in 30 phases of electoral bonds sale, only 19 out of 29 SBI authorised branches sold electoral bonds and 14 SBI branches encashed them. "The data available as on January 2024 further shows that only 25 political parties had opened their account and are eligible for encashing electoral bonds. Therefore, compiling of this information should not be difficult as the system is already in place," it said. "It is mandatory that SBI furnishes all information relating to electoral bonds within stipulated time frame given by this court as voters will not be able to exercise their informed opinion properly during Lok Sabha 2024 if complete information about EBs is not shared with them," it said. The plea said any form of anonymity in the finances of political parties goes against the essence of participatory democracy and people's right to know enshrined under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. It said availability of information about electoral bonds will give voters a chance to truly inspect, express and decide their choices. "This defiant approach of the SBI towards citizen's 'right to know' about huge sums of money received by parties through electoral bonds and corporates in a non-transparent and unaccountable manner is reprehensible and betrays its clear motive to stifle citizen's voice and right to audit actions of the political class, and therefore it should be held as serious breach of contempt by this court," it alleged.

Electoral bonds: Plea seeks contempt action against SBI for disobeying SC's order

New Delhi, About 82 per cent of the total income from unknown sources declared by national political parties in 2022-23 came from electoral bonds, according to a poll rights body. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) also said that the analysis of the national parties' audit reports and donation statements filed with the Election Commission (EC) shows that the sources remain largely unknown. Out of the Rs 1,832.88 crore as income from unknown sources, the share of income from electoral bonds was Rs 1,510 crore or 82.42 per cent, according to the analysis of the financial reports for the fiscal year 2022-23 submitted to the poll panel, it stated. For this study, six national parties were considered -- the <keyword id="19931558" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharatiya-janata-party" source="keywords">Bharatiya Janata Party</keyword> (BJP), the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the National People's Party (<keyword id="20864989" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="npep" source="keywords">NPEP</keyword>). The BJP declared the highest income from unknown sources among the national parties at Rs 1,400 crore or 76.39 per cent of the total amount. The Congress declared an amount of Rs 315.11 crore (17.19 per cent). The BSP has declared that it did not receive any funds from voluntary contributions -- above or below Rs 20,000, sale of coupons or electoral bonds, or unknown sources of income, the ADR said. Though the amount of donations from electoral bonds has been highlighted for the national parties, state parties also get a substantial amount of money from electoral bonds, the NGO noted. Between the financial years 2004-05 and 2022-23, the national parties collected Rs 19,083 crore from unknown sources, it said. On its latest analysis for the financial year 2022-23, the ADR said among these unknown sources, the major contributor was income from electoral bonds, constituting a "massive 82.42 per cent of the total income from unknown sources". Further scrutiny revealed that out of the total income from unknown sources, Rs 1,510 crore came from electoral bonds, it said. In addition, the Congress and the CPI(M) have also declared a combined income of Rs 136.79 crore from the sale of coupons, constituting 7.46 per cent of the income from unknown sources, its analysis showed. The BSP received Rs 29.27 crore from other known sources of income which included bank interest (Rs 15.05 crore), membership fees (Rs 13.73 crore), gain on sale of immovable property (Rs 28.49 lakh) and interest on income tax refund for 2021-22 (Rs 20.65 lakh), the organisation said. The total income of the six national political parties in the financial year 2022-23 is Rs 3,076.88 crore, it said. Donations from voluntary contributions below Rs 20,000 formed 10 per cent of the income from unknown sources, totalling Rs 183.28 crore. Currently, political parties are not required to reveal the names of individuals or organisations giving less than Rs 20,000. The ADR has suggested stringent measures to enhance transparency and accountability in political funding. It advocates for full disclosure of all donors under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and proposes that the mode of payment for all donations, regardless of the amount, be declared in the audit reports submitted to the Income Tax Department and the EC. Moreover, the EC's recommendation to grant tax exemption only to parties contesting and winning seats in elections, along with the disclosure of donors contributing above Rs 2,000, has received support from the ADR. In a landmark verdict delivered last month, ahead of the <keyword id="19895394" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lok-sabha" source="keywords">Lok Sabha</keyword> polls, the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> scrapped the government's electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, terming it "unconstitutional" and ordering disclosure of the names of the purchasers, value of the bonds and their recipients.

About 82.4% of national parties' unknown income tied to electoral bonds says poll rights body

The <keyword id="6354977" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> on Thursday agreed to hear on March 24 a <keyword id="2543501" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="fresh-plea">fresh plea</keyword> seeking a direction to the <keyword id="6356303" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Centre">Centre</keyword> and others to not open any further window for sale of <keyword id="4127459" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="electoral-bonds">electoral bonds</keyword> during pendency of a PIL pertaining to funding of political parties and alleged lack of transparency in their accounts. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian took note of the submission of an NGO that its plea be heard urgently. The hearing assume significance as it would take place ahead of assembly polls in several states including West Bengal. <keyword id="1760256" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="lawyer-Prashant-Bhushan">Lawyer Prashant Bhushan</keyword>, appearing for NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, said for the last two years, the PIL has not been listed for hearing. The <keyword id="6354335" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="reserve-bank-of-india">Reserve Bank of India</keyword> and the <keyword id="40807" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Election-Commission">Election Commission</keyword> have said that illicit monies are being transacted which is also detrimental to the economy, the lawyer said, adding that on April 1, the bonds will be issued and hence, the case needed an urgent hearing. The bench asked Bhushan whether the plea for stay on the electoral bond scheme has been rejected earlier by the court. It has not been rejected "in clear terms" as the apex court had earlier asked the political parties to submit their account statements to the poll panel in sealed covers, Bhushan replied. Since then several developments have taken place and it has been said that the electoral bonds allow transactions of illicit money, he said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that Attorney General K K Venugopal would appear in the case. The bench fixed the fresh plea, filed in the pending PIL, for hearing on next Wednesday. The NGO, in its fresh plea, has claimed that there is a serious apprehension that any further sale of electoral bonds before the upcoming assembly elections, including in West Bengal and Assam, would further "increase illegal and illicit funding of political parties through shell companies". On January 20 last year, the apex court had refused to grant interim stay on the 2018 Electoral Bonds Scheme and sought responses of the Centre and the Election Commission on an interim application by the NGO seeking stay on the scheme. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/kishore-biyani-future-group-appeals-to-the-singapore-arbitrator-to-exclude-future-retail-from-the-fight-with-amazon/articleshow/81562016.cms">Ahead of Delhi High Court's decision, Future Group appeals to the Singapore arbitrator to exclude Future Retail from the fight with Amazon</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/indian-spacetech-startup-pixxel-space-gets-7-3-million-funding-before-the-launch-of-its-first-satellite/articleshow/81562421.cms">Indian spacetech startup Pixxel gets $7.3 million in funding as it announces a new product even before the launch of its first satellite</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-adds-3-times-more-subscribers-than-reliance-jio-vodafone-idea-turns-positive-for-the-first-time-in-15-months/articleshow/81562851.cms">Airtel adds 3 times more subscribers than Jio while Vodafone Idea gets net addition first time in 15 months</a>

Supreme Court to hear a plea next week seeking stay of fresh sale of electoral bonds

<keyword id="4127459" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="electoral-bonds" source="Orion">Electoral bonds</keyword> worth Rs 3,429.56 crore were redeemed by parties in <keyword id="7282869" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="2019-20" source="Orion">2019-20</keyword>, and 87.29 per cent of this was received by four national parties - the <keyword id="14666" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bjp" source="Orion">BJP</keyword>, <keyword id="1575" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="congress" source="Orion">Congress</keyword>, TMC and the NCP, poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said. In a new report, the ADR said the BJP declared a total income of Rs 3,623.28 crore during the financial year 2019-20, but spent only 45.57 per cent (Rs 1,651.022 crore) of it. The Congress' total income in 2019-20 was Rs 682.21 crore. The party spent Rs 998.158 crore, which exceeds its income for that year by 46.31 per cent, it said. The TMC declared a total income of Rs 143.676 crore during FY 2019-20, and spent Rs 107.277 crore (74.67 per cent), the <keyword id="3825940" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="adr-report" source="Orion">ADR report</keyword> added. "As per the data shared by SBI in response to ADR's RTI application, electoral bonds worth Rs 3,429.5586 crore were redeemed by parties in FY 2019-20. Of this, 87.29 per cent was received by four national parties - BJP, INC, AITC &amp; NCP," it said. "The total amount of electoral bonds declared by national and regional parties for FY 2019-20 so far is Rs 3,441.324 crore. The difference in the amount declared by political parties and the data on EBs redeemed received from SBI could be due to the manner in which parties report in their audit report," the ADR said. "Seven national parties (BJP, Congress, CPM, NCP, BSP, AITC and CPI) have declared a total income of Rs 4,758.206 crore, collected from all over India," it said. The poll rights body said national parties that received the maximum income from donations or contributions include the BJP (Rs 3,427.775 crore), the Congress (Rs 469.386 crore), AITC (Rs 108.548 crore), CPM (Rs 93.017 crore) and CPI (Rs 3.024 crore). "Four national parties namely BJP, INC, AITC and NCP collected 62.92 per cent (Rs 2,993.826 cr) of their total income from donations through electoral bonds for FY 2019-20. BJP received donations through electoral bonds worth Rs 2,555.0001 crore, Congress received Rs 317.861 crore, AITC received Rs 100.4646 crore and NCP received Rs 20.50 crore," the report said. The report added that the most common and popular items of expenditure for national parties in FY 2019-20 were election expenses or general propaganda and administrative or general expenses. It also said that between 2018-19 and 2019-20, the BJP's income increased by 50.34 per cent (Rs 1,213.20 crore) from Rs 2,410.08 crore to Rs 3,623.28 crore. The Congress's income decreased by 25.69 per cent (Rs 235.82 crore) from Rs 918.03 crore during 2018-19 to Rs 682.21 crore during 2019-20. "Between FY 2018-19 and 2019-20, the highest percentage increase in income was declared by the NCP of 68.77 per cent (Rs 34.873 crore) from Rs 50.71 crore during FY 2018-19 to Rs 85.583 crore during FY 2019-20," it said. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/mukesh-ambanis-reliance-life-sciences-gets-approval-to-conduct-trials-for-its-covid-19-vaccine/articleshow/85677741.cms">Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Life Sciences' COVID-19 vaccine — here's all we know so far</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tata-motors-is-the-casualty-of-jlr-struggling-due-to-the-global-chip-shortage-and-a-lacklustre-ev-vision/articleshow/85652897.cms">Tata Motors is paying the price because Jaguar Land Rover has been slow in the EV race</a>

Electoral bonds worth over ₹3,400 crore redeemed by parties in 2019-20, says ADR report

<ul><li>SBI began the sale of <keyword id="4127459" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="electoral-bonds">electoral bonds</keyword> from January 13, 2020. </li><li>The electoral bond sale will last till January 22. </li><li>Electoral bonds are the easiest way to donate funds to any <keyword id="6376279" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="political-party">political party</keyword> </li></ul>The State Bank of India began the sale of electoral bonds on January 13. Any individual can donate funds to any political party by filling an electoral bond application at authorised SBI branches between 13 and 22 January. “State Bank of India (SBI), in the XIII Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorized Branches ( as per list enclosed) w.e.f. 13.01.2020 to 22.01.2020,” <a href="https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=197344">said PIB. </a> Here’s how to fill the electoral bond: There are two ways to fill the electoral bonds: <ol><li>Go to the nearest authorised SBI branch to fill the application. <a href="https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=197344">Check all the authorised branches here</a>. </li></ol> 2.) You can also apply for electoral bonds online. — Go to <a href="https://www.onlinesbi.com/documents/ELECTORAL_BOND_2018_APPLICATION_ENGLISH.pdf">onlinesbi.com</a> — Fill the forms with required details — Attach the documents required. — Payment for the Electoral Bond can be made through Cheque, DD, NEFT/RTGS or Direct Debit to the Applicant Account. KYC documents required for Individuals To fill the Aadhaar with current address &amp; Permanent Account Number (PAN) or Form No. 60 as defined in Income-Tax Rules, 1962. In case Aadhaar Number is not available with the customer, he/she shall furnish proof of application of enrolment for Aadhaar. Moreover, in case PAN is not available and/or Aadhaar does not have current address, one certified copy of any one from following five Officially Valid Documents (OVDs) to be submitted: (i) Passport, (ii) Driving Licence, (iii) Voter’s Identity Card issued by Election Commission of India, (iv) Job Card issued by NREGA duly signed by an officer of the State Govt (v) The letter issued by the National Population Register containing details of Name and Address.

You Searched For "electoral bonds" and got 10 results

US Fed cuts interest rates by 25 bps, Powell notes Trump's victory to have no impact on policy decisions

Ira Alok Puranik

Electoral bonds: What are they? What does the newly-released data reveal? Would it make an impact?

Ankush Banerjee

Electoral bonds: Megha Engineering, Qwik Supply big donors for BJP

PTI

Electoral bonds dropped at office, received by post, say political parties

PTI

SC strikes down electoral bond scheme, terms it unconstitutional

PTI

Electoral bonds: Plea seeks contempt action against SBI for disobeying SC's order

PTI

About 82.4% of national parties' unknown income tied to electoral bonds says poll rights body

PTI

Supreme Court to hear a plea next week seeking stay of fresh sale of electoral bonds

PTI

Electoral bonds worth over ₹3,400 crore redeemed by parties in 2019-20, says ADR report

PTI

Delhi Election 2020: Here’s how you can apply for Electoral bonds to fund a political party

BI India Bureau

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides