Conrad, Himanta to visit border areas

Staff Reporter

Shillong, May 24: Chief Minister of both Meghalaya and Assam will be visiting West Jaintia Hills and Karbi Anglong areas in the month of June as part of confidence-building measures. These are the areas, where there has been a lot of unrest and conflict in recent times between the Karbi and Jaintia communities.

Talking to reporters after the first official CM-level meeting between the two states on the second phase of border talks, to resolve the remaining 6 areas of difference between the two states, at Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanata Biswa Sarma said, “From today the regional committees of both the states will start meeting, visiting the other state’s sites or areas, where difference still exists. In the month of June, in the last part of June, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya and myself will visit Karbi Anglong and the Jaintia Hills area where presently some unrest is going on as a confidence-building measure.”

“The people on both sides will feel confident and they will be assured that both the states will resolve the differences, resolve the dispute with a spirit of the long-existing friendship between the people of Meghalaya and Assam,” he added.

He was hopeful to resolve the issues and differences through the process of discussion and mutual trust and confidence.

The Regional Committees will submit their reports by July end after which a CM-level review meeting will be held.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said this is the beginning of the process to find a solution for the remaining six areas of differences.

“We have asked regional committees to do fact-finding and start the same process as was done for the first phase of talks. We will consult with stakeholders and we hope to get reports very soon, some areas may take time and some will be faster,” he said.

He also reiterated that the two CMs will visit West Jaintia Hills and Karbi Anglong, where some tension is prevailing there, and appeal for peace and assure the people that through a process, a solution will be arrived at.

“I am confident in the leadership of the Chief Minister of Assam and Govt of India and we will find a way to resolve the matter with mutual trust and friendships,” he said while adding “at the same time, we have asked the Survey of India to continue with their survey work of the first six areas of differences and complete their surveys.”

Uncertainty over setting up of new airport in Meghalaya, says Conrad Sangma

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 26: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said there is a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity when it comes to the proposal for setting of a new airport in the state.

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“Setting up of a new airport will require huge land acquisition which may run into hundreds of crores. Then you need to invest in the airport also and we are not sure whether Government of India will actually invest or not and how much they are going to help. Therefore, there is a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity when it comes to the new airport. We can still examine the (proposal),” Sangma said.

The chief minister however said the easier way is too see how to make the current airport at Umroi slightly more flexible by expanding the runway and get more technical inputs to see whether larger aircrafts can land or not.

“It looks like an easier preposition and hence we are going to explore both but as I said the financial implication for the first one having a new airport are too high and hence it looks like if we go for option B it is possible then we would prefer and we can save money and the existing infrastructure could be used,” he added.

Over Rs 17,249.45 crore collected by national parties from “unknown sources”- IT Analysis

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 11: Over Rs 17,249.45 crore was collected by the national parties from “unknown sources” between the financial year 2004-05 and 2021-22.

This was as per the analysis of their Income Tax Returns and donations statements filed by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Association for Democratic Reforms said in a press release today.

During FY 2021-22, BJP declared Rs 1161.0484 cr as income from unknown sources which is 53.45 per cent of the total income of National Parties from unknown sources (Rs 2172.231 cr).

This income of the BJP is Rs 149.8658 cr more than the aggregate of income from unknown sources declared by the other 6 National Parties (Rs 1011.1826 cr).

AITC declared Rs 528.093 cr as income from unknown sources which is 24.3111 per cent of the total income of National Parties from unknown sources.

Out of Rs 2172.231 cr as income from unknown sources, the share of income from Electoral Bonds was Rs 1811.9425 cr or 83.414 per cent.

The combined income of INC and NCP from the sale of coupons between FY 2004-05 and 2021-22 stands at Rs 4398.51 cr.

AITC’s total donations as per the audit report are worth Rs 38 lakhs (excluding donations via Electoral bonds) but the party has declared donations worth Rs 43 lakhs in the donations statement (details of donations above Rs 20,000). Hence, there is a discrepancy in the party’s statement for FY 2021-22.

CPI has declared donations through Levy, Membership fees, Party funds and Election funds.

For this analysis, 8 national parties were considered – BJP, INC, AITC, CPI(M), NCP, BSP, CPI and NPP. However, BSP declared that it did not receive any funds from voluntary contributions (above or below Rs 20,000), the Sale of Coupons or Electoral Bonds or Unknown Sources of income.

The total income of 8 national political parties in 2021-22 is Rs 3289.34 cr.

Total income of political parties from known donors (details of donors as available from contribution report submitted by parties to the Election Commission and analysed by ADR is Rs 780.774 crore which is 23.74 per cent of the total income of the parties.

Total income of political parties from other known sources (e.g. sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy etc.): Rs 336.335 cr, or 10.22 per cent of the total income.

Total income of political parties from unknown sources (income specified in the annual audit report whose sources are unknown): Rs 2172.231 crore which is 66.04 per cent of the total income of the parties.

Out of Rs 2172.231 cr as income from unknown sources, the share of income from Electoral Bonds is Rs 1811.9425 cr or 83.414 per cent.

On income from unknown sources, the ADR said out of the total income of Rs 2172.231 cr of 7 national parties from unknown sources, 83.414 per cent or Rs 1811.9425 cr came from Electoral Bonds.

Income from the sale of coupons declared by INC, CPI(M) & NCP) formed 6.785 per cent (Rs 147.3886 cr) of income from unknown sources while Donations from Voluntary Contributions (below Rs 20,000) formed 9.184 per cent (Rs 199.4951 cr) in income from unknown sources of the 7 national parties.

Meanwhile, the ADR in its recommendations said that since a very large percentage of the income of political parties cannot be traced to the original donor, full details of all donors should be made available for public scrutiny under the RTI.

Some countries where this is done include Bhutan, Nepal, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, Bulgaria, the US and Japan. In none of these countries, it is possible for more than 65% of the source of funds to be unknown, but at present, it is so in India.

Mode of payment of all donations (above and below Rs 20,000), income from the sale of coupons, membership fees, etc should be declared by the parties in the ‘Schedules’ of their audit reports, submitted annually to the Income Tax department and the ECI.

It said the ECI has recommended that tax exemption be awarded only to those political parties which contest and win seats in Lok Sabha or Assembly elections. The Commission has also recommended that details of all donors who donate above Rs 2,000 be declared in the public domain. ADR supports ECI for its strong stand to enforce reforms in the funding of political parties and hopes that these reforms are proactively taken up by the Government for implementation.

Scrutiny of financial documents submitted by the political parties should be conducted annually by a body approved by CAG and ECI so as to enhance transparency and accountability of political parties with respect to their funding.

The national and regional political parties must provide all information under the Right to Information Act. This will only strengthen political parties, elections and democracy. However, RTI or not, political parties should voluntarily account for every rupee that they get or spend.