India at the Global Hunger Index (GHI) platform is positioned at 105th place, categorizing it within the ‘serious’ category of the Index. The recent hunger 2024 report has put India amongst the 40 odd nation marked as ‘serious’ viz-a-viz on the ‘Book aur Bharat’ scenario. The other nations falling in the same line include neighbouring Afghanistan, Pakistan besides Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc some extent.
As per the GHI report 13.7 percent of the population is undernourished, 35.5 percent of children under five are stunted, 18.7 percent of these children are wasted besides 2.9 percent of children do not survive to their fifth birthday.
However, the coffers of India’s National political parties are overflowing with donations, signifying the obvious. According to a report of Association of Democratic Rights (ADR), comparative analysis of donations received by National parties during financial year 2022-23 and 2023-24 revealed a shocking increase of Rs 1693.84 cr, an increase of a whopping 199.17% from the previous financial year 2022-23.
Interestingly, the party whose ‘Mukhiya’ or self proclaimed ‘Pradhan Sewak’ of the nation had given a call of ‘Na Khaunga, Na Khaane Doonga’, witnessed a disturbing 211.72% increase in donations from Rs 719.858 crore in financial year 2022-23 to Rs 2,243.947 crore in financial year 2023-24.
Interestingly, the trend was similar for the Indian National Congress (INC) too. Donations to the INC rose from Rs 79.924 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 281.48 cr in 2023-24, reflecting a 252.18% increase.
However, a trend reversal was witnessed in case of Aam Admi Party (AAP). As per reports of ADR, in comparison to previous financial year, donations declared by AAP had decreased by 70.18% or Rs 26.038 crore, while donations declared by NPEP also witnessed a decline by 98.02% or Rs 7.331 crore.
Donations above Rs 20,000 to National Parties from all over India, FY 2023-24
Reports of ADR showed that the total donations (above Rs 20,000) declared by the National parties for 2023-24 was Rs 2544.278 cr from 12,547 donations. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declared that it received a total of Rs 2243.947 crore from 8,358 donations while the INC declared that it had received a ‘Chanda’ of Rs 281.48 crore from 1994 donations. The donations declared by BJP were more than six times the aggregate declared by INC, AAP, NPEP and CPI (M) for the same period, stated the report of ADR.
BSP declared that the party did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2023-24, as it has been declaring for the past 18 years.
State-wise donations to National Parties in 2023-24
Reports of ADR mentioned that statewise segregation of donations based on the addresses provided by the parties in their donations report to the ECI revealed that a total of Rs 989.20 cr was donated to the National Parties from Delhi, followed by Rs 404.512 cr from Gujarat and Rs 334.079 cr from Maharashtra.
Further a donation of Rs 7000 from a donor from United States has been made to AAP while a total of Rs 6.062 cr (0.238% of total donations received by the National parties in 2023-24) could not be
attributed to any State/ Union Territory due to incomplete/undeclared information provided by the parties.
Donors from corporates/business sectors versus the individual donors
As per reports of Association of Democratic Reforms, a total of 3755 donations to National parties were made by corporate/business sectors amounting to a whopping Rs 2262.5537 crore (88.9271% of total donations) while 8493 individual donors donated Rs 270.872 cr (10.6463% of total donations) to the parties during in 2023-24.
A significant 3478 donations from corporate/business sectors were made to BJP (Rs 2064.58 crore) while 4628 individual donors donated Rs 169.126 crore to the party during FY 2023-24.
The INC received a total of Rs 190.3263 crore via 102 donations from corporate/business sectors and Rs 90.899 cr through 1882 individual donors during 2023-24.
Reports revealed the BJP (Rs 2064.58 cr) received more than nine times the total amount (Rs 197.9737 crore) of corporate donations declared by all other National parties for the FY 2023-24.
‘CHANDA KA DHANDA’
Political parties rely heavily on donations for contesting elections and running their daily affairs. They receive huge sums of money in the form of donations/contributions from corporates or business houses, trusts and individuals. Section 29C of the Representation of People Act, 1951 mandates that political parties submit their contribution details in excess of Rs 20,000 received from any person or a company to the ECI annually, in order to enjoy 100% tax exemption. The report, prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), focused on donations above Rs 20,000, received by the National political parties including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M) and National People’s Party (NPEP),
during 2023-24 financial year, the details of which have been submitted by parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
