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The judgment of the Supreme Court of India, on February 15, 2024, striking down the electoral bonds scheme, is a landmark moment. Democracy requires transparency and the fact is that the electoral bonds scheme was opaque.
Voters in India have no idea who has been funding political parties and the amounts given. In all leading democracies, transparency is the basis of campaign funding. The Court has restored that transparency.
There are other legal issues. The first is the limit on funding by a corporate house or organisation. Again, the world over, this amount is limited to prevent undue influence on the government.
We had such a provision in India before electoral bonds were introduced. The chief reason for corporate funding of political parties is to influence the political process which may in turn improve the company’s business performance.
Electoral bonds also removed the earlier limits on how much of its profits a company could donate to political parties. The scheme even allowed loss-making companies to make donations.
This could have opened the door for shell companies to be formed with the purpose of channelling funds to political parties. The Election Commission of India has said, “This opens up the possibility of shell companies being set up for the sole purpose of making donations to political parties.” This too has been reversed by the Court.
News
Torpedoes, refueller aircraft in new deals cleared by DAC (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), the first step in the procurement process, for proposals worth ₹84,560 crore.
The proposals include some long-pending deals — such as for heavy weight torpedoes (HWT) for the Navy’s Scorpene-class submarines and flight refueller aircraft (FRA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) — beginning afresh.
Other major deals include medium range maritime reconnaissance and multi-mission maritime aircraft for the Navy and the Coast Guard, new generation anti-tank mines, air defence tactical control radar, and software-defined radios.
“Further, to keep the Indian naval ships one step ahead of the threats posed by the adversaries, the AoN under Buy (Indian) category has been accorded for procurement of active-towed array sonar having capabilities to operate at low frequencies and various depths for long-range detections of adversary submarines.
The AoN has also been accorded for procurement of HWT for enhancing the attacking capabilities of Kalvari class submarines,” the Defence Ministry said.
The DAC accorded AoN for procurement of FRA for enhancing the operational capabilities and the reach of the IAF.
Coaching centres can’t use misleading ads: draft guidelines (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), an arm of the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry, has released draft guidelines for the “Prevention of misleading advertisement in coaching sector”, which bring such offences under the radar of the Consumer Protection Act.
The CCPA has invited public comments on the three-page guidelines. The CCPA had formed a sub-committee to draft the guidelines earlier after discussions with several stakeholders. The last date for submitting suggestions is March 16.
The Ministry said in a release that the draft guidelines have been framed after detailed deliberations with all stakeholders, including coaching institutes, law firms, government and voluntary consumer organisations.
It has defined coaching as “tuition, instructions or academic support or learning programme or guidance” provided by any person.
Any individual who engages in coaching shall be considered to be engaging in a misleading advertisement if important information related to the course, such as whether it is free or paid, and duration opted by the successful candidate, is concealed.
World
Myammar’s new law may trigger mass exodus (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Myanmar’s plans for conscription has triggered fear that it may create a new wave of exodus of young Myanmar nationals leaving for neighbouring countries in the south and Southeast Asia.
The announcement of conscription that took place during the last weekend has made it compulsory for all Myanmar male citizens in the age group of 18 to 35 to join the armed forces as the military junta deals with countrywide insurgency that has freed large parts of the provinces like Arakan, Chin, Kachin, and Sagaing and a few areas in the southeast of the country near the Thai-Myanmar border.
Sources in the democratic opposition of Myanmar who spoke on condition of anonymity painted a grim internal picture of Myanmar and said the situation could get out of control as the desperate military rulers in Naypyidaw tries to reclaim areas that it lost to groups like the Arakan Army.
Business
SBI in talks with RBI to lower CRR on green deposits (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Dinesh Khara said that the national lender was in talks with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reduce the cash reserve ratio (CRR) requirement on green deposits.
The country’s largest public sector lender had last month announced a green deposit scheme — a first in the domestic banking — to attract long-term retail deposits to be used only to fund green transition projects or climate-friendly projects.