A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on February 15 unanimously struck down the anonymous Electoral Bonds Scheme stating, that it violated the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and therefore it is unconstitutional. The Centre’s Electoral Bonds Scheme facilitated anonymous political donations. The Central Government introduced certain amendments through the Finance Act, 2017. The amendments made three key changes, such as: (1) An amendment to the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RoPA), that exempted the political parties from publishing the details of contributions received through electoral bonds in “Contribution Reports.” (2) Amendment to the Income Tax Act 1961, that exempted the political parties from keeping a detailed record of contributions received through Electoral Bonds. (3) Amendment to the Companies ACT, 2013, that removed any obligation on companies to maintain details of donations made to political parties- a simple total figure was deemed sufficient. There were two crucial questions before the Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, J B Pardiwals and Manoj Misra. First was, whether the non-disclosure of information on voluntary contributions to political parties according to the Electoral Bonds Scheme and the amendments to Section 29C of Representation of the People Act, Section 13A (b) of the Income Tax Act were violative of the right to information und
Is there anything common between Graham Staines, the Australian missionary burned to death by Bajrang Dal activists and the Ram Temple in Ayodhya? There was none. However, from January 22 there will be. The day Staines and his two young sons were burned to death and the day Ram temple was inaugurated will be the same. Is this accidental or purposely done? One would not know easily. But this occasion calls for certain reflections and questions for every Indian citizen. Lest we forget For many today the name of Graham Staines may be strange and unknown. He was an Australian missionary who had worked silently for 35 years serving the poorest of the poor tribals and leprosy patients in Odisha. Allegations of conversion, which was part of the Hindutva project, were raised repeatedly. It reached a pitch so feverish that a mob of men dared to burn Staines and his two young sons in the middle of the night of January 22, 1999. One of the cruelest acts in Indian history. Gladys Staines, the wife of the murdered evangelist, forgave the murderers and continued to serve the poor for five more years , before she returned to Australia in 2004. Ram Temple The feverish or almost hysterical preparations for the inauguration of the temple and accompanying controversies are not the matter for this reflection. Today, Ram Temple has become a passion for millions of Hindus and a rallying point for political mobilization. Let that be. One should, however, continue to ask the question, how muc
I wish to congratulate you, not so much for the appointment as Major Archbishop, but for the hope that you would bring to rest at least for a while the intrigues and fights that have been wounding the Syro-Malabar Church and that there could be ‘listening ears’ amid arguments and counter-arguments on the non-essentials. Pope Francis has given you a mandate – ‘don’t forget the poor.’ That could be the ‘horizon’ (in your own words) for the Syro-Malabar Church, emerging from this unwanted, childish and synod-led crisis. The huge churches (mansions), with Vatican Basilica-type domes, all along the tiny but enrapturing strip of land of Kerala – god’s own country (Hindu, Christian, Islamic, Dalit, Marxist, trans-gender gods?) – do not invite ‘seekers’ inside, but turn true believers into ‘outsiders.’ The Year 2023 gave us ‘The Face of the Faceless’ – that heroic martyr called ‘Rani Maria’ – a true and brave daughter of the Syro-Malabar Church, and a martyr for Justice – witnessed the worst churchy fights, initiated by a thoughtless and provocative Synod, and masterminded by ‘chaldaya vadis’ for whom Jesus of the gospels is to be hidden ‘behind the curtain.’ When Pope Francis defined God as Mercy, and went to Baghdad to release “Fratelli tutti,’ the bishop of Pala is inventing Love Jihad in order to protect his women-folk from the Muslims, this in spite of an obligatory Syrian Catechesis for 12 years of school education. Mi
The ignorant in the media and the more ignorant on social media have presumed that it was a delegation of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, or a representative delegation of Catholic prelates who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently in his hotel room in Kochi during the political leg of his visit to Kerala. The presence of two senior Catholic cardinals and an archbishop among the eight may possibly have conveyed this wrong message. The apex body of Catholic Bishops, indeed, has been remarkably quiet on Christian persecution in the country, and other burning issues that beset India. Its silence has intrigued civil society, and disheartened human rights activists among the clergy, men, and women, religious, and the laity, especially outside Kerala. With parliament muted, if not enslaved and overwhelmed by an extreme right-wing religious nationalist ideology – worse, violent, and often armed cadres roam the cities and countryside as if on patrol – it is civil society that has stood guard against dictatorship. Civil society reaches out to the more concerned amongst citizens, and in fact is at the heart of the alternate media that is holding aloft the banner of a free media though its most rich and powerful TV and newspapers have become lapdogs, or Godi Media, as they are now called. The Church, irrespective of faith or denominational identity, has been an important pillar of civil society. It was integral to the struggle against social evils and political tyr