Campaign Finance Reforms in India: Issues and Challenges
Campaign Finance Reforms in India: Issues and Challenges
Campaign Finance Reforms in India: Issues and Challenges
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ORF Sem<strong>in</strong>ar Series<br />
then, you are send<strong>in</strong>g a person from a particular State, let us say Andhra Pradesh,<br />
to Punjab, <strong>and</strong> the poor fellow does not underst<strong>and</strong> the language, he does not<br />
know the lay of the l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> he has been there for only five or seven days. So, he<br />
tries to correct the situation based on whatever little <strong>in</strong>puts he gets. But, as I was<br />
po<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g out earlier, when you juxtapose a limit of ` 16 lakh aga<strong>in</strong>st an expense<br />
of ` 20 crore, how are you go<strong>in</strong>g to h<strong>and</strong>le the matter?<br />
The only way that you can possibly make a beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g is by look<strong>in</strong>g at larger<br />
systemic reforms; you have an election for an Executive process, put that<br />
Executive under a Lok Pal or or whatever 'pal' you want <strong>and</strong> have the most<br />
robust anti-corruption laws <strong>in</strong> place. This way you may be able to get a h<strong>and</strong>le on<br />
Executive corruption. As far as the legislative process is concerned, if you<br />
<strong>in</strong>sulate it <strong>in</strong> this manner, you may not have a 100 per cent success rate but I<br />
entirely agree with Rudy that you may have to beg<strong>in</strong> with a 30 per cent, 40 per<br />
cent or even 50 per cent success rate <strong>and</strong> you can keep on improv<strong>in</strong>g upon it. But<br />
if you cont<strong>in</strong>ue this way, the way that we are go<strong>in</strong>g…it is not go<strong>in</strong>g to help.<br />
You talked about helicopters, about people's pressure <strong>in</strong> Kerala. Honestly, that is<br />
a m<strong>in</strong>iscule expense. I th<strong>in</strong>k the public uproar was completely uncalled for<br />
because if somebody has to criss-cross a State <strong>and</strong> uses a helicopter, probably it<br />
is hardly any expense at all, ` 2 lakh a day or someth<strong>in</strong>g of that sort. This is<br />
hardly anyth<strong>in</strong>g compared to the amount of money which actually gets spent. If<br />
you take the case of Punjab, it is not alcohol any longer, not even opium; it is<br />
coca<strong>in</strong>e, Ecstasy <strong>and</strong> designer drugs. So, therefore, if at all we want to do<br />
someth<strong>in</strong>g seriously about this, let us th<strong>in</strong>k very seriously about what Rudy has<br />
said, let us try <strong>and</strong> develop on it, maybe we will get somewhere. This artificial<br />
polic<strong>in</strong>g or this k<strong>in</strong>d of a gloss which we are try<strong>in</strong>g to put on, is not go<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
work.<br />
18<br />
www.orfonl<strong>in</strong>e.org
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