Despite the Indian government&#39;s pledge to increase transparency,&nbsp;they are&nbsp;aiming to enshrine a law&nbsp;that will make corporate funding to political parties more difficult to track.

Currently, corporations&nbsp;that give money to&nbsp;political parties must publicly&nbsp;divulge who&nbsp;they fund. But the Finance Bill&#39;s proposed change, tabled by the Indian government&nbsp;February during the annual budget session, will no longer require&nbsp;businesses to do so.&nbsp;

The Finance Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on March 22 amid mass walkouts by opposition parties.&nbsp;

Under the proposed alterations to the Companies Act, political parties in power can more easily&nbsp;leverage the granting of contracts to interested parties. It will also be difficult to prove that an auction has taken place at all, making it possible for the government to award contracts without proving that any competitive process has taken place to earn the job.

The Finance Bill has been assailed by opposition parties as being the outcome of a unilateral process.

Money bill

Another controversial change in the proposed law&nbsp;is&nbsp;the &quot;money bill&quot;. If the new legislation is enacted, the &quot;money bill&quot;&nbsp;will bypass the Upper House, also known as the Rajya Sabha, and will go directly from the Lower House, or the Lok Sabha, to the President of India.

This legislation has been particularly&nbsp;criticised by the opposition for&nbsp;strengthening the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as its presence isn&#39;t particularly strong in the Rajya Sabha.

But the upside of the mini-sweep has been the government&#39;s decision to roll out electoral bonds. Business houses&nbsp;will be incentivised to make political donations through digital payments and cheques to make the process of donations more transparent.

Aadhar card

The other big change announced on March 22 is the newly increased&nbsp;importance of Aadhar cards, a multipurpose national identity document. On March 22 it was announced that Indian nationals will have to furnish their Aadhar details while filing tax returns after July 1, 2017.

The Aadhar card requires citizens to give the government both their biometric information, or their fingerprints, as well as a retinal scan.&nbsp;

When asked on March 22&nbsp;if the government was making Aardhar cards mandatory--essentially asking, will Indians have to give the government their fingerprints and retinal scans,&nbsp;Finance Minister Arun Jaitley <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/finance-bill-minister-arun-jaitley-counters-critique-yes-we-are-making-aadhaar-mandatory-4581383/" target="_blank">said</a>, &quot;Yes, we are&quot;.

(WION)

If the bill is enshrined, businesses won't have to name the political party they donate to in their profit and loss accounts

Despite the Indian government's pledge to increase transparency, they are aiming to enshrine a law that will make corporate funding to political parties more difficult to track. Currently, corporations that give money to political parties must publicly divulge who they fund. But the Finance Bill's proposed change, tabled by the Indian government February during the annual budget session, will no longer require businesses to do so. The Finance Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on March 22 amid mass walkouts by opposition parties. Under the proposed alterations to the Companies Act, political parties in power can more easily leverage the granting of contracts to interested parties. It will also be difficult to prove that an auction has taken place at all, making it possible for the government to award contracts without proving that any competitive process has taken place to earn the job. The Finance Bill has been assailed by opposition parties as being the outcome of a unilateral process. Money bill Another controversial change in the proposed law is the "money bill". If the new legislation is enacted, the "money bill" will bypass the Upper House, also known as the Rajya Sabha, and will go directly from the Lower House, or the Lok Sabha, to the President of India. This legislation has been particularly criticised by the opposition for strengthening the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as its presence isn't particularly strong in the Rajya Sabha. But the upside of the mini-sweep has been the government's decision to roll out electoral bonds. Business houses will be incentivised to make political donations through digital payments and cheques to make the process of donations more transparent. Aadhar card The other big change announced on March 22 is the newly increased importance of Aadhar cards, a multipurpose national identity document. On March 22 it was announced that Indian nationals will have to furnish their Aadhar details while filing tax returns after July 1, 2017. The Aadhar card requires citizens to give the government both their biometric information, or their fingerprints, as well as a retinal scan. When asked on March 22 if the government was making Aardhar cards mandatory--essentially asking, will Indians have to give the government their fingerprints and retinal scans, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "Yes, we are". (WION)

Finance Bill's political funding tenet upends govt's vow to tackle graft

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been asked&nbsp;to disclose information on what his administration has done to bring back black money&nbsp;to the country.&nbsp; 
 
The Central Information Commission (CIC), a government regulatory body, has directed the Prime Minister&#39;s Office to respond to a Right to Information query within the next 15 days.&nbsp; 
 
The Right to Information (RTI) Act is a legal instrument that empowers citizens to access information from a public authority. 
 
Modi had made the issue of black money the centrepiece of his 2014 general election campaign. He had vowed to bring back illegal money stashed in foreign banks.&nbsp; 
 
During the campaign trail, the prime minister had promised to distribute the retrieved black money among the poor. He had said&nbsp;he would deposit Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts&nbsp;of every poor person.&nbsp; 
 
Kanhaiya Lal, a resident of the north-west state of Rajasthan, had filed an RTI application to get a status update on Modi&#39;s black money promise. 
 
On February 8, he wanted to know when the government would put the promised Rs 15 lakh in his bank account. 
 
The government is, however, yet to officially reply to the query, and claims not to have received the RTI application. 
 
(WION) 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

PM Modi, during his 2014 election campaign, had vowed to distribute the retrieved black money among the poor

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been asked to disclose information on what his administration has done to bring back black money to the country. The Central Information Commission (CIC), a government regulatory body, has directed the Prime Minister's Office to respond to a Right to Information query within the next 15 days. The Right to Information (RTI) Act is a legal instrument that empowers citizens to access information from a public authority. Modi had made the issue of black money the centrepiece of his 2014 general election campaign. He had vowed to bring back illegal money stashed in foreign banks. During the campaign trail, the prime minister had promised to distribute the retrieved black money among the poor. He had said he would deposit Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts of every poor person. Kanhaiya Lal, a resident of the north-west state of Rajasthan, had filed an RTI application to get a status update on Modi's black money promise. On February 8, he wanted to know when the government would put the promised Rs 15 lakh in his bank account. The government is, however, yet to officially reply to the query, and claims not to have received the RTI application. (WION)

Information body tells Indian PM's office to disclose status on black money promise

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Finance Bill's political funding tenet upends govt's vow to tackle graft

Information body tells Indian PM's office to disclose status on black money promise