Wednesday, 21 December 2016

M6.5 – KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA

Invitation for Seminar “Supporting and Incentivising MSMEs to Perform Better”

SGFI to organise 62nd National Speed Skating Championship 

    
Belagavi: The 62nd National Speed Skating championship will be held from December 21-24th, 2016 at the Shivganga skating rink, for second time in a row that has confirmed participation of 800 skaters from 26 states, who will fight it out to bag the top honours to be the number one skating state in India.
The event is Organised by the School Games federation of India and Central Board of Secondary Education Welfare Organization.
It will have participation of girls and boys in the age group Under 11, 14, 17 and 19 years in two categories of skates—Inline and Quads. The skaters will participate in 300 meters Time Trial, 500 meters speed, 1000 meters speed races and road race.
“We maintain highest discipline and which results in emergence of best skaters who can compete at International level,” says Kanhiya Gurjar, Field officer School Games Federation of India (SGFI).
ShivGanga skating rink in India meets all the parameters used by the international skating federations.  Built amidst the green fields, built in 2009, the rink has hosted many national and international events. “It was a dream project for us and I am happy that this rink is loved by many skaters in India,” says Jyoti Chindak President Shivganga skating academy.

Jeev Milkha Singh & Shiv Kapur excited to make debut at McLeod Russel Tour Championship

 Jeev Milkha Singh & Shiv Kapur excited to make debut at McLeod Russel Tour Championship.Duo returns to Kolkata for a professional event after a long hiatus. 
Kolkata, December 20, 2016: Indian stars Jeev Milkha Singh and Shiv Kapur will look to make a memorable return to Kolkata and the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) after a long hiatus when they make their debut at the PGTI’s year-ending McLeod Russel Tour Championship which begins from December 22ndthis year. 
Jeev, India’s most successful golfer at the international level with 13 wins to his credit across three tours (European Tour, Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour), is excited to be making his return to Kolkata for a professional event after almost 19 years.
Jeev said, “I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about RCGC and the course is looking in great shape even though I’m yet to play my first round here.
“I’ve also heard a lot about this event over the years. It’s a fantastic initiative by McLeod Russel, they’ve put in a lot of effort for this event. The tournament is very well organized.
“I’ve played a lot of junior golf with Aditya Khaitan. His heart’s in the right place as he believes in supporting the game. We need more people like that to help grow the game in India. I’d like to thank McLeod Russel for hosting us this week.”
Jeev, who won his last tournament back in 2012 in Scotland, has recently shown signs of regaining top form as he came close to winning the Asian Tour’s Indonesia Open before finishing tied second behind compatriot Gaganjeet Bhullar.
“The game’s good. It’s now a matter of having one good week. I strongly feel that a win is around the corner for me.
“I was leading till the third round at last month’s Indonesia Open. But hats off to Gaganjeet, he played some excellent golf to win on the final day. That week I felt that I’m getting closer to where I want to be.”
The 45-year-old seasoned campaigner, who in early 2009, climbed as high as 28th in the world rankings (an Indian record), is now looking forward to competing at a PGTI event after five years.
“The PGTI has been growing year on year. There’s a lot of talent here now. I relish the prospect of competing against some of India’s rising talent such as Rashid Khan, Chikkarangappa and Shubhankar Sharma, this week. I expect these young players to do really well in the future and make their name on the bigger tours.”
Former Asian Tour winner Shiv Kapur, like Jeev, will also be playing competitive golf in Kolkata, after a long break. His last appearance at the RCGC was 12 years back in 2004. Kapur, who has had a mixed season on the Asian Tour with a 34th place finish on the Order of Merit, got a feel of the course during the first Pro-Am event of the McLeod Russel Tour Championship on Tuesday.
Kapur said, “It’s nice to come back to a venue where I’ve played a lot as a junior and an amateur. I’m glad I’m here this time. The McLeod Russel Tour Championship is an event all Indian players talk about all year. They grind hard just to get into this event.
“I think it’s a great initiative by McLeod Russel and Aditya Khaitan. It is events like these that will contribute towards producing more top-class players from India.
“I played the Pro-Am today and I must admit that the RCGC course matches international standards. It is the perfect setting for the year-end Tour Championship. The rough is up and there is a premium on hitting fairways. It’s not easy to find the greens if you land in the rough. Reading the greens will also be a challenge.
Shiv, playing his first event on the PGTI in seven years, is also keyed up by the thought of playing against some of the most experienced Indian golfers as well as the most promising future stars.

“The PGTI has gone from strength to strength over the last decade. The young players we’re putting through on to the international stage is the result of a good system being in place. The emergence of players such as Shubhankar Sharma, Rashid Khan, Khalin Joshi and Chikkarangappa, shows that the competition at home is very strong.

“It’ll be great to see the experienced guys such as Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal, Jyoti Randhawa, Gaganjeet Bhullar, SSP Chawrasia and myself compete against the new crop of talent,” added Shiv.

Analysis of Donations Received above Rs 20,000 by National Political Parties – FY 2015-16

 This report, prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), focuses on donations received by the National Political Parties, above Rs 20,000, during the Financial Year 2015-16, as submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The National Parties include Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). It is to be noted that AITC was declared a National Party by the Election Commission of India based on the party being recognised as a State Party of West Bengal, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
Press release in Hindi and the complete report in English are attached below. 

Executive Summary

The executive summary below lists the key observations drawn from the report:
  1. Donations above Rs 20,000 to National Parties from all over India (FY 2015-16)
  2. The total amount of donations above Rs 20,000 received by National Political Parties during FY 2015-16 is calculated from the donations report submitted to the Election Commission annually.
  3. The total amount of donations above Rs 20,000 declared by the National Parties was Rs. 102.02 crores, from 1744 donations.
  4. A total of Rs 76.85 crores was declared by BJP from 613 donations while INC declared receiving Rs 20.42 crores from 918 donations. The donations declared by BJP is more than thrice the aggregate declared by the INC, NCP, CPI, CPM and AITC for the same period.
  5. BSP declared that the party did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2015-16, as it has been declaring for the past 10 years.

  1.                 Comparison of donations received by National Parties during FY 2014-15 and FY 2015-16
  2. The total donations of the National Parties during FY 2015-16 decreased by Rs 528.67 crores, a decrease of 84%, from the previous financial year, 2014-15.
  3. NCP declared the highest decrease of 98%, from Rs 38.82 crores in FY 2014-15 to Rs 71 lakhs in FY 2015-16 while donations to BJP decreased from Rs 437.35 crores during FY 2014-15 to Rs 76.85 crores during FY 2015-16 (82% decrease).
  4. It is to be noted that BJP’s donations had increased by 156% between FY 2013-14 and 2014-15 while that of INC had increased by 137% during the same period.


III.            Cash donations declared by the National Parties – FY 2015-16
ECI notification dated 29th August, ’14 stated that “…no tax deduction shall be allowed on the contributions made in cash by any person or company to a political party”. This notification was applicable for donations made from FY 2014-15 onwards. Thus, there has been a marked reduction in cash donations to political parties. The National Parties, during FY 2014-15 had declared receiving only Rs 89 lakhs in cash which formed 0.14% of the total donations to the parties, above Rs 20,000.
  1. Out of the total donations of Rs 102.02 crores declared by the National Parties, Rs 1.45 crores from 112 donations was received in cash during FY 2015-16. This formed 1.42% of the total donations of the parties.
  2. Maximum donations in cash was declared by INC which collected a total of Rs 1.17 crores from 10 states/ Union Territories followed by CPI with Rs 22.22 lakhs from 12 States/ UTs and BJP with Rs 51,000 from only Bihar.
  3. Among all the states, donors from Karnataka made the highest donations of Rs 80 lakhs in cash followed by donors from Meghalaya who donated a total of Rs 21.54 lakhs in cash. Both the top donations were made to INC.

  1.    I Donors from Corporates/ business sectors Vs. Individual donors
  2. 359 donations from corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 77.28 crores (75.75% of total donations) were made to the National Parties while 1322 individual donors donated Rs 23.41 crores (22.95% of total donations) to the parties during FY 2015-16.
  3. 283 donations from corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 67.99 crores were made to BJP while 330 individual donors donated Rs 8.86 crores to the party during FY 2015-16.
  4. INC received a total of Rs 8.83 crores via 57 donations from corporate/business sectors and Rs 11.24 crores via 859 individual donors during FY 2015-16.

  1. Incomplete disclosure of information in the donations report
  2. Of the 7 National Parties, 4 parties, BJP, INC, CPI and NCP had not declared PAN details of 473 donations through which the parties collected a total of Rs 11.68 crores. INC collected Rs 8.11 crores from 318 donations but failed to provide PAN details of donors while BJP collected Rs 2.19 crores from 71 donations without PAN.
  3. CPM has not adhered with the format specified by the ECI for submission of donations report. The party has not provided details of mode of contributions of any of its 61 donations. Such details include, cheque/ DD number, bank in which it was drawn, date of receipt or if it was a cash donations or bank transfer.
  4. Similarly, AITC has not provided cheque number, bank on which it was drawn and the date on which the cheque was received/ encashed for any of its 12 donors who contributed a total of Rs 65 lakhs. Thus, without the complete cheque/DD details, it would be a time consuming process to link the donors against their donations and hence trace the money trail.
  5. CPI has also not declared the details of cheque/ DD/ Bank transfer for a total of 71 donations through which the party received Rs 1.19 crores.
  6. CPI has not provided the names and PAN number of 13 state secretaries of the party though their contributions amount to Rs 59.68 lakhs. Overall, the party has not provided PAN details for 82 donations received during FY 2015-16 which aggregate to Rs 1.13 crores.

Observations and Recommendations of ADR

Observations

  1. There is still ambiguity in details of donations declared by the National Parties for FY 2015-16.
  2. During FY 2014-15, in the report submitted by INC, the column for declaring mode of contribution did not contain the Cheque/DD numbers, for 192 donations amounting to Rs 138.98 crores. This formed 98% of total donations above Rs 20,000 to the party.
  3. Rs 8.11 crores was declared as received by INC during FY 2015-16 from 318 such donors whose PAN details were unavailable. 49% of such funds came from individuals who donated Rs 3.99 cr and 51% from corporate donors who donated Rs 4.12 cr. Such blatant disregard for rules by the political parties should be curbed and donations with incomplete details should not be entitled to the benefit of 100% tax exemptions of the defaulting parties.
  4. Rs 83.915 lakhs was declared as received by BJP during FY 2014-15 from 20 such donors whose PAN details, Address and Mode of contribution (together) were unavailable. Thus, only names of such donors and the contributed amount was declared by the party. 73% of such funds came from corporates and 27% from individual donors.
  5. BJP collected Rs 2.19 crores from 71 donations without declaring PAN details in its report submitted for FY 2015-16.
  6. In the report submitted by CPM for FY 2015-16, the column for declaring mode of contribution is missing from the report, for 61 donations amounting to Rs 1.81 crores. This forms 100% of total donations above Rs 20,000 to the party. Without the cheque/DD details, it would be a time consuming process tolink the donors against their donations and hence trace the money trail.
Recommendations
  1. The Supreme Court gave a judgment on September 13, 2013 declaring that no part of a candidate’s affidavit should be left blank. Similarly, no part of the Form 24A submitted by political parties providing details of donations above Rs 20,000 should be blank.
  2. 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 is it possible for 75% of the source of funds to be unknown, but at present it is so in India.
  3. The National and Regional Parties should, ideally, lead by example by filing complete and correct statements of donations to the ECI well in time for public scrutiny so as to encourage financial transparency.
  4. The National and regional political parties must provide all information on their finances under the Right to Information Act. This will go a long way in strengthening political parties, elections and democracy. For more information, please refer to https://goo.gl/o1qFYT

Regards,
Media and Journalist Helpline

+91 80103 94248
Email: adr@adrindia.org
Maj Gen Anil Verma (Retd.)
Head – NEW & ADR

+91 8826479910
anilverma@adrindia.org
Prof Jagdeep Chhokar
IIM Ahmedabad (Retd)
Founder NEW & ADR
+919999620944
jchhokar@gmail.com
Prof Trilochan Sastry
IIM Bangalore
Founder Member,
NEW & ADR
+919448353285,
trilochans@iimb.ernet.in
—
Association for Democratic Reforms
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