Karti Chidambaram produced before Delhi court:
CBI today produced Karti Chidamabaram, son of Ex FM P Chidambaram, before a Delhi court in the INX Media money laundering case, and sought his custody for six more days. The three-day custody granted to Karti by the court ended today. The court also extended the judicial custody of Karti’s CA S Bhaskararaman, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the case, till March 22.
Special CBI Judge Sunil Rana is likely to hear the bail plea of Karti Chidambaram today. In his plea, Karti, who was arrested by the CBI at Chennai Airport on February 28, claimed that he had never attempted to influence witnesses, tamper with documentary evidence, pollute or obstruct the judicial process as was alleged by the probe agency. Karti had sought bail from the court alleging that the CBI was acting at the behest of the Centre to malign the reputation of his father during whose tenure Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance was granted to the INX Media group.
SC gives sanction for ‘living will’ in passive euthanasia:
Supreme Court allowing passive euthanasia gives sanction to a living will. It also issues guidelines governing execution of living will and also passive euthanasia in the absence of living wills. The bench, comprising justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan also laid down guidelines as to who would execute the will and how the nod for passive euthanasia would be granted by the medical board.
The top court said that directions and guidelines laid down by it and its directive shall remain in force till a legislation is brought on the issue. The ‘living will’ is a concept where a man or woman decides in much advance whether he or she wants to be kept on life support or vegetative condition, in case of a terminal illness.
The CJI, while reading out the judgment, said that all the judges were unanimous that the ‘living will’ should be permitted since a person cannot be allowed to continue suffering in a comatose state when he or she doesn’t wish to live.
The Supreme Court pronounced the verdict on a plea seeking legal sanction for passive euthanasia under which a person suffering from a terminal disease and in his/her last stage of life with no chance of recovery is allowed not to sustain life through artificial support system.The court says it has laid down guidelines on who would execute the will and how nod for passive euthanasia would be granted by the medical board.
A living will, is an advance written directive to physicians for end-of-life medical care. It pointed out that this may lead to the abuse and neglect of the elderly, especially if they were financially well-off.
The SC said it has laid down guidelines on who would execute the will and how the nod for passive euthanasia would be granted by the medical board. The court says its guidelines and directives will remain in force till a legislation is brought to deal with the issue.
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra says other members of the five-judge Constitution bench have concurred on the guidelines and directives passed by it. Supreme Court lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, Common Cause, which had filed the PIL, had earlier submitted to the Apex Court that since a patient under coma or vegetative conditions could not express his/her wish, so he should be given the right to die.
BUSINESS CONFERENCE ON BUILDING COMPETITIVE DELHI
CII DELHI STATE ANNUAL SESSION &
BUSINESS CONFERENCE ON BUILDING COMPETITIVE DELHI
14 March 2018 : 1000-1400 hrs
The LaLiT Hotel, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi
Chief Guest: HE Mr Anil Baijal, Lieutenant Governor of NCT of Delhi
We are pleased to inform you that the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organising itsDelhi State Annual Session and Business Conference on Building Competitive Delhion 14 March 2018 from 1000 hrs onwards at the The LaLiT Hotel, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi.
HE Mr Anil Baijal, Lieutenant Governor of NCT of Delhi has kindly consented to be the Chief Guest and address the industry.
We are writing to cordially invite you to attend the CII Delhi State Annual Session and Business Conference on 14 March 2018 from 1000-1400 hrs at the The LaLiT Hotel, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi.
In case you are not able to join due to prior commitment, then we request you to nominate a colleague(s) to attend on your behalf. You may please confirm your participation through the attached Reply Form.
Look forward to receiving your confirmation.
Regards,
Analysis of Assets & Liabilities of Regional Parties
Analysis of Assets & Liabilities of Regional Parties – FY 2011-12 to 2015-16
Complete report containing Party-wise information related to assets, liabilities and capital is attached in English. Executive Summary reports in Hindi and Kannada are also attached for your perusal.
Introduction
There are a set of accounting standards set for commercial, industrial and business enterprises and these accounting standards are issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI). Political parties fall under the non-commercial, non-industrial or non- business entity. Thus, the standard accounting formats of the other entities are not applicable to political parties.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) requested for recommendations from the ICAI to bring uniformity in the accounting and auditing practices of political parties. Thus, the “Guidance note on Accounting & Auditing of political parties” or the “Accounting guidelines” were formulated in February, 2012 by the ICAI on the request of the ECI, in order to improve accounting and auditing standards of political parties and improve transparency in their finances. These guidelines laid down principles of recognition, measurement and disclosure items of income, expenditure, assets and liabilities in the financial statements of political parties.
This report analyses the assets and liabilities declared by the 22 Regional Partiesbetween FY 2011-12 and 2015-16 – AAP, AGP, AIADMK, AIFB, BPF, DMDK, DMK, JKPDP, JDS, JDU, JMM, JVM(P), LJP, MNS, RLD, SAD, SFD, Shiv Sena (SHS), SP, TDP, TRS, YSR-Congress.
Executive Summary
Frequently asked questions
· What is a balance sheet?
Balance sheet contains information on three main financial aspects of the entity, which is a political party in this case. a) The “Assets” of the party are resources such as cash, their bank investments, moveable and immovable properties, vehicles, etc.; b) The “Capital” or “Reserve Fund” portion of the balance sheet is the accumulated wealth of the political party which is essentially assets minus any liabilities of the party; c) The “Liabilities” of a political party includes borrowings from banks, unsecured loans, access to overdraft facilities, etc.
· What is special about assets and liabilities/ income & expenditure of political parties?
The accounting standards were created keeping in mind the nature of activities of the entities, be it commercial, industrial or business. While political parties do not perform any commercial activities, the purpose of the accounting standard i.e. maintain uniformity in presentation, is kept intact by merely modifying the terminology such as “Income and Expenditure” in place of “Profit and Loss”.
· What are ECI’s transparency guidelines?
Article 324 of the Constitution empowers the ECI with plenary powers which was established in the Supreme Court judgement (AIR 1978 SC 851) by stating that the Commission has the powers to fill any legal vacuum so as to promote free and fair elections. The transparency guidelines, circulated in 2014, were lawful instructions issued after consultation with all recognised parties and hence are binding. These guidelines were formulated to improve financial transparency in political parties and strongly advised the parties to follow the ICAI guidelines formulated and circulated in February, 2012.
· What information is captured in this report?
The assets, liabilities and capital declared by the 22 Regional Parties (Annexure-1) between FY 2011-12 and 2015-16 have been taken up for analysis in this report. The assets include fixed assets, loans & advances, deposits made, investments, etc. while the liabilities include bank borrowings, sundry creditors, overdrafts, other liabilities, etc. The capital/ reserve fund is the amount set aside by the parties after subtracting liabilities from the total assets, every year, for party expenditure.
Declaration of assets by the Regional Parties – FY 2011 to 2015-16
· The average total assets declared by the 20 Regional Parties during FY 2011-12 was Rs 24.11 cr which increased to Rs 65.77 cr during FY 2015-16.
· YSR Congress was registered in March, 2011 and AAP was registered in November, 2012. The average assets declared by the these two parties during FY 2012-13 was Rs 1.165 cr which increased to Rs 3.765 cr during FY- 2015-16.
*The balance sheet of AGP, BPF, JKPDP, JMM, JVM-P, MNS and TRS for the FY 2012-13 is unavailable in the public domain
**The balance sheet of TRS for the FY 2013-14 is unavailable in the public domain
· During FY 2011-12, the declared asset of SP was Rs 212.86 cr which increased by 198% to Rs 634.96 cr during FY 2015-16.
· SP, AIADMK, AIFB and SHS are the only major Regional Parties to show a steady increase in their annual declared assets. The total assets of AIADMK between FY 2011-12 & 2015-16 increased by 155% (Rs 88.21 cr to Rs 224.87 cr) while that of SHS increased from Rs 20.59 cr to Rs 39.568 cr (by 92%).
· The assets declared by Regional Parties fall under 6 major heads: fixed assets, loans & advances, FDR/ deposits, TDS, Investments and other assets.
· During FY 2011-12, the Regional Parties declared maximum assets under FDR/ deposits which amounted to Rs 331.54 cr (68.77% of total assets) which increased to Rs 1054.80 cr (80.19% of total assets) in FY 2015-16.
· It is to be noted that the only asset category to show a reduction in value was “Loans and Advance”. During FY 2011-11, parties invested a total of Rs 19.75 cr whose current value stands at Rs 16.20 cr.
Declaration of liabilities by Regional Parties – FY 2011-12 to 2015-16
· The total liabilities declared by the 20 Regional Parties (whose details are available for both FY 2011-12 & 2015-16), was Rs 47.475 cr during FY 2011-12 which increased to Rs 52.21 cr during FY 2015-16.
· Rs 2.37 cr was the average liability per party during FY 2011-12, while it was Rs 2.61 cr per party during FY 2015-16.
· Total liabilities of YSR-C and AAP for FY 2012-13 was Rs 1.86 cr (an average of Rs 93 lakh per party) and that for FY 2015-16 was Rs 5.03 cr (an average of Rs 2.515 cr per party).
· During FY 2011-12, SHS declared the highest total liabilities of Rs 16.594 cr followed by DMK with Rs 9.214 cr.
· Highest liabilities during FY 2015-16 was declared by TRS (Rs 15.97 cr) but the party had declared NIL liabilities during FY 2011-12. Second highest liabilities was declared by TDP with Rs 8.186 cr.
· Between FY 2013-14 and 2014-15, liabilities of Shivsena reduced by 99.78% (Rs 22.21 cr) while that of TDP increased by 259% (Rs 5.906 cr) between FY 2014-15 and 2015-16.
· The liabilities declared by Regional Parties fall under 2 major heads: Borrowings (from banks, overdraft facilities and sundry creditors) and other liabilities.
· Between FY 2011-12 and 2015-16, the Regional Parties declared a decrease in liabilities under “other liabilities” – Rs 42.47 cr (FY 2011-12) to Rs 32.20 cr (FY 2015-16). Liabilities under “borrowings” showed an increase of 400% or Rs 20.034 cr between FY 2011-12 (Rs 5.006 cr) and FY 2015-16 (Rs 42.47 cr).
· 12 Regional Parties have declared NIL borrowings for FY 2011-12 while 9 parties declared NIL borrowings during FY 2015-16.
Capital declared by Regional Parties – FY 2011-12 to 2015-16
· The total Capital/ Reserve fund set aside by the Regional Parties during FY 2011-12 was Rs 434.635 cr, which increased by Rs 823.535 cr (189.48%) to Rs 1258.17 cr during FY 2015-16.
· Between FY 2014-15 & 2015-16 the Capital declared by Regional Parties increased by 14.66% or Rs 160.90 cr.
*The balance sheet of AGP, BPF, JKPDP, JMM, JVM-P, MNS and TRS for the FY 2012-13 is unavailable in the public domain
**The balance sheet of TRS for the FY 2013-14 is unavailable in the public domain
· SP has the highest capital of Rs 634.913 cr during FY 2015-16 followed by Rs 257.18 cr of DMK and Rs 224.84 cr of AIADMK.
· TDP declared total capital fund of Rs 11.538 cr during FY- 2011-12, which increased to Rs 46.09 cr during FY- 2015-16, an increase of Rs 34.552 cr or 299%.
Observations & Recommendations of ADR
Observations
1. According to the ICAI guidelines, parties are directed to declare details of the financial institutions, banks or agencies from whom loans were taken. The guidelines specify that the parties should state the “terms of repayment of term loans” on the basis of due date such as a year, 1-5 years or payable after 5 years – not declared by the Regional Parties.
2. Details of loans given by the parties in cash/ kind should be specified and if it constitutes more than 10% of the total loans, nature and amount of such loansshould be declared specifically by the parties – not declared by the Regional Parties.
3. ICAI guidelines on auditing of political parties which were also endorsed by the ECI in order to improve transparency in the finances of political parties,remain guidelines only and have not been actively taken up by the political parties as a mandatory procedure to disclose details of their income. These guidelines were meant to standardize the format of financial statements of parties apart from improving disclosure of income, expenditure, assets and liabilities of the unique association, political parties. Details of disclosure included:
a. Classification and disclosure of details of donors (individuals, companies, institutions and others) – classification not declared by the Regional Parties.
b. Revenue from issuance of coupons of different denominations to be disclosed separately – not declared by the Regional Parties.
Recommendations
1. Changing of auditors every three years:
a. The amended Companies Act, 2013, which came into force on 29thAug, 2013, stated that no Company shall have an auditor for more than 5 years but this rule was not applied for political parties. Hence, designating a firm/person for auditing of accounts of parties for long durations is not desirable as there is a feasibility of making finances of parties as opaque as possible.
b. Indian laws do not permit foreign auditing firms to operate directly in India but they might have a tie-up with domestic auditing firms which may enable foreign companies to have access to the parties’ internal accounting.
c. The 255th Law Commission report has recommended that the accounts of political parties be “audited by a qualified and practicing Chartered Accountant from a panel of such accountants maintained for the purpose by the Comptroller and Auditor General.” However as per the current practice, political parties choose their auditors entirely on their own. This needs to change.
2. As the income-expenditure statements of political parties are assessed rarely(even those of National Parties), authenticity of the accounts submitted remains doubtful. When the authenticity is not verified, the auditors who might be under-reporting the accounts, remain out of purview of punishment. With online submission of IT Returns, political parties do not submit details of income, expenditure and assets and liabilities as attachments. Thus, the IT department too does not have enough information on the finances of political parties! Annual scrutiny of documents submitted by political parties is recommended.
3. The 170th Law Commission report recommended introduction of Section 78Ain the RPA and proposed penalties for political parties defaulting in the maintenance of accounts. This needs to be introduced and implemented. Section 276CC of the IT Act penalizes individuals who fail to submit their IT returns. Similar legal provisions should be applicable to political parties too. Supreme Court judgement in Common Cause vs. Union of India & ors. had stated that when parties default in filing their returns, prima facie they violate provision of IT Act.
M6.8 – NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
| Magnitude | 6.8 |
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| Location | 4.389S 153.202E |
| Depth | 15 km |
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At Women’s Day gathering, women speak out, resolve to fight
‘Slum-dwelling women face greater risk to safety and security’
Mumbai | 8th March, 2018: A public meeting organised by Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan on the occasion of International Women’s Day revealed how even in Mumbai, known for being the country’s most women friendly city, women’s safety and well-being depends on the area in the city they occupy and the kind of material structures they live in.
Testimonies at the meeting, attended by around 100 women from several slum pockets in Mumbai, revealed that lives of women in these settlements are several times worse off than that of their counterparts from the upper classes who live in regularised buildings. Not only do the former have to shoulder the burden of arranging for basic amenities like water, unavailable at their door-steps, they must also deal with ever-present threats demolition and the sexual abuse and molestations that follow.
“When our homes are evicted without notice, we are left on the roads, with no toilet facility,” said Sushila Gulab Kale, a resident of Jai Ambe Nagar slum located in Govandi. “It puts our safety at risk in several ways, including possibilities of sexual molestation,” she said at the meeting organised in her slum settlement.
Another resident, Fatima, spoke of the perils pregnant women have to face. “My daughter gave birth to her child and three days after our house was demolished by the government. We spent nights without shelter. No words can explain the pain that we went through after eviction,” she said.
Several women from neighbouring slum settlements of Sathe Nagar, Mandala, Bheemchhaya and Sanjay Nagar came forward to give testimonies about similar difficulties.
Fatima, who works as a sweeper on sub-contract with the Mumbai municipal corporation, said even though she cleaned the gutters and gave sheen to Swachh Bharat, she lacked the basic toilet facility in her slum. “I clean gutters through the entire day. But we in our slum, we are forced to defecate in the open, as there is no toilet. Even then, people living in high-rise buildings adjacent to the open ground where we defecate throw stones at us. You tell us what are we supposed to do? Shall we not defecate and allow our stomachs to swell,” she asked.
Housing, which is a basic necessity, has simply been reduced to a commodity. It implies that if one can afford to buy a house only then he/she will have a house and if one cannot afford to buy a house then there is no provision to get the protection of even a minimum shelter. The commoditization of housing is reason why slum housing comes into being. Urban poverty is a reality. Slums or informal settlement is where urban poverty exists. There is a certain kind of terminology that has been evolved over a period of time to ridicule these settlements. The terminology is totally unjustified at a time when economic inequalities are growing day by day. The existence of slums is the marker of poverty being perpetuated. The demolition of slums has not eradicated poverty but have forced people to become homeless, voiceless and invisible population of the city that ironically are also workers and toilers. These workers are toilers are responsible for subsidizing of economy at a large.Slum demolition has become a norm in major cities like Mumbai.
A number of women at the gathering expressed their anger on false promises made by every politician before elections.
“We have spent several years seeing politicians come to us with folded hands and promise us better facilities. After the elections, everyone forgets us. The only things the politicians leave behind are words. Shall we hold the words, like we hold air? They simply betray us”, said Maya Sutar from Jai Ambe Nagar. “We get paid for our hard work but politicians only make hollow promises. We are honest people, they are liars” added Sutar.
Women in the last concluded that there is no end to their suffering if they not fight themselves to make their lives better. “Though we are suffering, we have not given up. We will fight and we will win”, said Jameela Begum of Sathe Nagar slum and who also moderated the public meeting.
Girija Gupte and Mary Antony of Jagrut Kamgar Manch remained present as the guest in the public meeting.
Contact: 9958660556
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National Alliance of People’s MovementsNational Office : 6/6, Jangpura B, Mathura Road, New Delhi 110014
Phone : 011 24374535 Mobile : 09818905316
Web : www.napm-india.org | napmindia@gmail.com
National Alliance of People’s MovementsNational Office : 6/6, Jangpura B, Mathura Road, New Delhi 110014
Phone : 011 24374535 Mobile : 09818905316
Web : www.napm-india.org | napmindia@gmail.com
Facebook : www.facebook.com/NAPMindia
Twitter : @napmindia
Michelle Obama: On International Women’s Day:
On International Women’s Day:
Michelle Obama <info@obama.org> to you & 1 other(s)
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 00:33:29
Obama Foundation
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