Hindustan Times: Pune: Wednesday, July 19, 2017.
Political
parties are engaged in public duty and therefore, should be brought under the
Right to Information (RTI) Act, said prominent RTI activists from Pune after
Hindustan Times in its Monday edition published a report ‘EC must bring
political parties under RTI Act’. Speaking to HT, RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar
said that unless a fair alternative with the authority to scrutinise,
investigate and penalise offenders is made, all political parties should not be
kept out of the purview of the RTI Act.
“It is very
clear that politics is a major source for black money. If we need to curb back
money, it is necessary to bring political parties under RTI,” said Kumbhar
while reacting to the HT story, which reported on paper published by the Pune
International Centre (PIC). The paper ‘Containing black money: Possible policy
mechanism’ by Dr V Bhaskar, member, 13th Finance Commission, has acknowledged
‘insightful comments’ from Vijay Kelkar, prominent economist and architect of
the recently passed Goods and Services Tax bill.
Kumbhar, who
along with another activist Bhaskar Prabhu had appeared before the
Parliamentary Committee to present their views on inclusion of political
parties under EC, said, “All political parties, for betterment of democracy and
society, must be in public domain irrespective of whether there is any law or
not.”
Vivek
Velankar, another RTI activist from Pune said that in the absence of any
transparency, political parties have become haven for black money. “To
eradicate black money, any move that supports bringing political parties under
EC should be fully backed,” said Velankar.
The PIC paper
states that politics and real estate are the primary sources and sinks for
black money in India.
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