'A year ago, Right to Information activist Nanjibhai Sondarva was clubbed and slashed to death by six persons near his village in Rajkot district of Gujarat for demanding transparency and asking for details about funds spent on the construction of a village road. On Wednesday, his 17-year-old son, Rajesh, died following a brutal assault by the same culprits. The RTI activist’s son was on his way home from a Rajkot hostel.
'...Electoral bonds can be donated to parties anonymously. The purported logic is that this will shield donors from retribution at the hands of parties they did not support and also incentivise donors to contribute more. However, anonymity works against transparency, as the public cannot follow the money. It enables the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to claim that it is not corrupt when, in reality, it is squeezing funds out of different groups and people through whatever means necessary. Only the State Bank of India and the Reserve Bank of India will know who purchased bonds.
'Authorities have seized Rs 1.80 crore in cash from the son of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in Arunachal Pradesh and a former legislator at a government guest house in East Siang district's Pasighat town, officials said on Wednesday (April 3). The money was seized from two vehicles parked at the guest house, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kanki Darang said, adding that it was the largest seizure of cash in the state.
'...Last week, on March 6, 2019, during the hearing of Rafale review petition in the Supreme Court, AG Venugopal made a shocking statement. He claimed that secret documents of Rafale deal were stolen from the Defence Ministry, reason enough for the Supreme Court to not consider them, as it would be a breach of the Official Secrets Act, he asserted. To the utter disbelief of all those present in the court of the Chief Justice, he further declared that the government was contemplating legal action against the newspapers that published these documents...
'Earlier this week, the Narendra Modi government, through attorney general K.K. Venugopal, informed the Supreme Court that a set of documents concerning the controversial Rafale deal were stolen from South Block. The usage and publication of those documents, the attorney general warned, could be punished under the Official Secrets Act. This was a warning to news organisations like The Hindu, which over a series of articles, had done exactly that to shed light on the negotiation and pricing details of the fighter jet deal. In an interview with The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani, N.
'...As per several show cause notices (SCN) issued by the DRI, a set of giant companies in the power sector have allegedly resorted to over-invoicing of imports of coal and power generating equipment, cumulatively amounting to more than Rs 50,000 crore. In simple words, for instance, accusations against Adani Group (in the case mentioned above) has been that its companies imported coal at inflated costs by billing through intermediaries in tax havens, and siphoned thousands of crores....'
'More than 10,000 official WhatsApp groups have been created by a leading political party to slam its rivals on social media, said an expert... If the Cobrapost investigation, which exposed that several Bollywood celebrities were willing to pass views of political parties as personal opinion for money, shook your conscience, there is not much you can do to restrict them from doing so because the relevant Indian law is silent on this matter.
'While Shakti Kapoor asked for a fee of Rs 9 crore for 9 months, Vivek Oberoi agreed to settle for Rs 80 lakh per month... After exposing the media outlets last year that were eager to be propaganda machines of the political parties in exchange for hefty sums, in another investigation, Cobrapost has found out that at least three dozen Bollywood celebrities were ready to follow the lead.
'Fighter jet deal caught in web of overpricing, abuse of authority and cronyism charges... On Friday, February 8, 2019, The Hindu daily in India reported that the standard Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was not included in the deal. It meant that standard clauses on “Penalty for use of Undue Influence, Agents/Agency Commission, and Access to Company accounts” of Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation and MBDA France were waived by the Indian government in the supply protocols.
'...First there was that price claim about how much the Rafale would cost, with the government suddenly refusing to give specific details. Then there was the matter of Dassault, the manufacturer, partnering with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence instead of the state-run Hindustan Aeronatics Limited and whether the Indian government had a role in this decision. Finally, there have been a series of questions about whether Modi broke protocol in the way the agreement actually took place...'
