Who funds India's political parties? Report says most donors anonymous

New Delhi: It is the best known secret of Indian politics. And it comes as no surprise that India's national, state and regional parties earned Rs. 4,662 crore in the last seven years, mostly in form of donations and contributions, but there is a huge cover of secrecy and lack of transparency in who gave the money to them, a report released by two NGOs has claimed.

The report shows that the Congress has earned the most, Rs. 2,008 crore, between 2004 and 2011 and its annual income has gone up steadily. At number two is the BJP, which in the same period made Rs. 994 crore. Its finances too improved steadily in the same period.

The report analyses income tax returns of political parties and donation documents made available to the Election Commission. The NGOs, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), campaign for transparency in the finances and funding of political parties.

The NGOs say that there is no standardised format for political parties to declare their incomes. A major source of income for all parties is the sale of "coupons" instead of receipts. Voluntary contributions and donations are also on top of the list of sources of income. None of these, the NGOs' report says, are transparent ways to making and declaring money.

To bring some transparency into political funding, the Representation of People Act of 1951 says that political parties must declare details of contributions of more than Rs. 20,000. This report though points out major loopholes, like parties declaring every single contribution of Rs. 20,000 made by any person at one time. But if several donations totalling to more than Rs. 20,000 are made by one person or company in one year, then parties interpret it differently. That leaves them the option of breaking up donations into amounts less than Rs. 20,000.

The BSP (which is third on the list in terms of income) for instance, has shown an income of Rs. 172 crore in between 2009 and 2011 but not declared a single contribution of more than Rs. 20,000. The CPM, which made almost Rs. 150 crore in that period, has shown only 1.39 per cent of contributions of more than Rs. 20,000. For the same period, Congress has shown 11.89 per cent and BJP 22.76 per cent.

The parties with highest "donations" are the Telengana Rashtra Samiti at 99.98 per cent and Lok Janshakti Party at 89.88 per cent.

The other major source of income for the major parties is also donations from corporate houses. The report has a list of which corporate house made how much donation and to which party. Most of them contribute to both the major national parties, the Congress and the BJP. For instance, the General Electoral Trust made a donation of Rs. 36.41 crore to Congress and Rs. Rs. 26.07 crore to BJP between 2004 and 2011. Torrent Power similarly gave Rs. 14.15 crore to Congress and Rs. 13 crore to BJP. And a lot of the companies are new ones involved in infrastructure like power, steel and construction, beating the traditional firms of Tatas and Birlas. 

Range Rover: What's new, what's different, when in India

It's too early to call it a triumph. But it's certainly the most important milestone for JLR since the British company passed into the hands of Tata Motors.

The fourth generation of the iconic flagship of the Land Rover brand will be available to customers in the UK and USA by December. The rest of the world gets it in the first quarter of 2013. The new Range Rover has grown in size and possibly stature too. It attempts to offer new levels of luxury while also trying to stay green. For the first time the Range Rover will use an all-aluminium frame which reduces weight by 180 kg. And despite the slight increase in dimensions. It is 27 mm longer than its predecessor, and yet stays overall shorter than rivals like the Audi Q7 or Mercedes-Benz GL.

So while it is the world's first SUV with an all-aluminium construction, it's also now going to be the first Land Rover offering to feature a hybrid variant. And it's a diesel hybrid by the way - which attempts to cash in on diesel's higher efficiency over petrol to begin with - and enhancing that by throwing in a 50 KW electric motor. Land Rover claims that the addition of the hybrid system, heavy battery included, doesn't change the go-anywhere credentials that are the hallmark of the Range Rover brand. The hybrid variant will be offered only in select markets though, later in 2013.

Of course besides that the company is offering one supercharged petrol V8, and two turbo diesel options - one V6 and one V8.

The company has spent £ 1 billion on the entire project. This is because the new Range Rover's new architecture demanded technology enhancements for the manufacturing processes too. So the Solihull facility that makes this car has also been upgraded to meet the new production requirements at an expense of £ 370 million. The company hopes to make good on the high investment by using some of the facilities and processes - as also the vehicle's platform - for future products.

Most Range Rover Variants will likely breach £100,000 here in the UK, but interestingly its entry variant starts at £72,000 - the same price as the outgoing Range Rover.

Land Rover has unveiled its most important car yet. The market launch will happen at the Paris Motor Show where no doubt the car will be one of the most anticipated debuts - along with sister brand Jaguar's massive model debut too - the two-seater spots car F-Type. Development on both models has also been watched very closely by Tata Group Chairman, Ratan Tata, and will be the last two products launched before he steps down in December. Expect the new Range Rover to be offered in India by mid-2013.

Ratan Tata asks for govt report on how Radia tapes were leaked

New Delhi: Industrialist Ratan Tata has asked the Supreme Court for a copy of the report submitted by the government explaining how the Radia Tapes were leaked.

Mr Tata's conversations with corporate lobbyist Nira Radia were among those carried by some magazines and their websites in 2010. Mr Tata then took the government to court, arguing that the release of the tapes amounts to infringement of his right to privacy.

Mr Tata's lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi, said in court today that his client is not interested in claiming damages, but that he is entitled to information about the leak and that his goal is to "ensure that such a lackadaisical approach should not be taken by the government in future." The two judges hearing the case, however, said, "You are enlarging your prayer by filing application seeking contents of the probe report." Mr Rohatgi said that the information in the report is crucial to the arguments he will make in Mr Tata's case.

The government gave its version of how the tapes ended up in the public domain in a report shared with the court nine months ago.

Ms Radia's phones were tapped between 2008-2009, allegedly by the Income Tax department, as part of an investigation into companies suspected of possible money laundering and tax evasion.

From NDTV