BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l september 20, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION After air force, Army shifts its Annual Day parade out of Delhi The move came after the Centre asked the military and paramilitary entities to spread their events across the country, not just in Delhi representative photo Event to be held under southern command Venue to be changed every year From next year, the Indian Army Day parade will be celebrated under the Southern Command area. The Indian Air Force had also recently moved out its annual fly-past and parade from the Hindon Air Base near Delhi to Chandigarh this year. The flypast on October 8 is expected over Sukhna Lake. Earlier, it used to be conducted at the Palam base in Delhi ■ ■ ■ Army officials said the parade would be held at different locations on a rotational basis and the venue would change every year Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been hosting foreign dignitaries in different cities. Events like Defexpo are being held outside Delhi The aim is to foster a deeper connect with people across India January 15 The Indian Army parade is celebrated on this day every year CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Poll panel plan to choke cash flow to parties Writes to law ministry suggesting cash component of donations be restricted to 20% of the overall funds, with annual cap at `20 crore S h a h i d F a r i d i @ New Delhi The Election Commission of India is reported to have sent a proposal to the Union law ministry seeking to cap cash donations to political parties at 20% of the total annual receipts with a maximum of `20 crore, and bringing down anonymous political donations from `20,000 to `2,000. The proposal sent by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju suggests a slew of amendments in the Representation of the People Act to check the flow of black money into the election process. As per the existing Section 29C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, political parties are required to give the EC details of donors contributing in excess of `20,000. If the government accepts the proposal, parties will have to provide the EC names and other details of all donors contributing in excess of `2,000. However, bringing down anonymous donations from `20,000 to `2,000 will not in any way check the flow of cash into political parties. It will at best add to the parties’ clerical work as they will have to issue more ‘coupons’ showing donations under `2,000. Political parties have developed a coupon system for collecting funds to evade the EC radar. They issue coupons to internally account for the cash donations they receive. Hence, the reduction of the limit of anonymous contribution will not hamper their cash collection. However, the proposal that has sent alarm bells ringing for the opposition parties is the capping of cash donation at `20 crore. Political parties have been showing cash receipts of hundreds of crores annually by issuing coupons. If the EC recommendations are accepted, their annual cash receipt will be capped at `20 crore. BSP MP Kunwar Danish Ali said the cap on cash donations would tilt the playing field in favour of large parties. “Our party — the BSP — runs on small donations from individuals. Large companies do not fund us. Capping cash contribution at `20 crore is clearly aimed at choking the flow of funds to the opposition, especially smaller parties like ours that run on crowd-funding. We will oppose this move.” He said companies and high net worth individuals are afraid of giving money to opposition parties as they fear government backlash. “Now, the government wants to stop small donors from funding us,” he said. Parties such as the BSP have been receiving over 75% of their contribution in cash, which runs into hundreds of crores. Transparancy activists have for long been demanding full accountability for all monetary contributions to parties, including via electoral bonds, to clean up the poll process. Bengal House resolution against ED, CBI PM isn’t involved, feels Didi “Businessmen are running away because of fear of the ED and the CBI. I believe Modi hasn’t done this. Many of you don’t know that the CBI doesn’t report to PMO; it reports to the home ministry,” Mamata said Royal Navy Sailors walk ahead and behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, as it travels from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch in London on Monday | AFP World bids adieu to Queen Elizabeth II Around 2,000 people, including world leaders, attended Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral service at Westminster Abbey on Monday morning After a 40-km journey, her coffin reached Windsor Castle and was lowered into the royal vault President Droupadi Murmu with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace at an official state event | PTI The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the British royal household, broke a rod known as the ‘wand of office’, while former MI5 chief Andrew Parker broke the white rod | P9 NMA gives NOC to reception centre of Srimandir Parikrama project D i a n a S a h u @ Bhubaneswar THE National Monument Authority (NMA) has granted no objection certificate (NOC) for construction of the Shree Jagannath Reception Centre - the most important component of the Shree Mandira Parikrama project. The facility will come up in the regulated zone of the shrine. It was initially proposed in the prohibited area of Srimandir. In a ‘special agenda’ meeting recently taken up by NMA Chairman Sachchidand Joshi in New Delhi, it was recommended that the reception centre may come up in the regulated area at a distance of 101.5 metre from the main temple within a height limit of 7.5 metre in G+1 plan. In the original plan, the centre was proposed over an area of Design of the Shree Jagannath reception centre 7,917 sq metre in a G+2 structure. The centre will manage a queue of 6,000 persons and provide facilities like a cloakroom, drinking water, toilets to the visitors. It will be built over half an acre of land available next to Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor on the Continued on p5 south-east side.  P r o n a b M o n d a l @ Kolkata West Bengal on Monday became the first state in the country to adopt an Assembly resolution criticising raids by Central law enforcement agencies, saying they were selectively targeting ruling party functionaries to create an atmosphere of fear, but tactically kept Prime Minister Narendra Modi out of the firing line. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused unnamed BJP politicians for misusing agen- No surprises as Amarinder party merges with BJP R a j es h K u m a r T h a k u r @ New Delhi Former chief minister Amarinder Singh on Monday merged his Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the BJP at an event at the latter’s national headquarters here. This newspaper was the first to break the merger story on June 30. “We have seen the Congress, which did nothing except caring for one family. Now, it is time to join a party like BJP, which doing so much for country Singh said ,” after the merger. Earlier in the day he met , BJP national president J P Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah. After being unceremoniously ejected from chief ministership, Singh had quit the Congress, floated the PLC and forged an electoral pact with the BJP and the SAD (Sanyukt) for the Punjab Assembly polls. Speaking on the occasion, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said, “When I was MoS, home affairs, he was Punjab CM. We never had differences on issues of national interest.” BJP leaders said the merger has given the party a credible Sikh face ahead of the 2024 elections. great loss BJP dy leader in Assembly Bishnu Sethi passes away E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar SENIOR BJP leader and party’s deputy leader in the Odisha Assembly Bishnu Charan Sethi passed away on Monday morning while undergoing treatment at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar. He was 62 and is survived by his wife, son and a daughter. The two-time legislator, a resident of Mangarajpur village under Tihidi block of Bhadrak district, was suffering from chronic renal disease. He was, however, hospitalised in the second week of August after a brain stroke. State BJP president Samir Mohanty said Sethi contracted Covid twice. He and then from Dhamnagar in 2019. was also undergoing dialysis for a long Known for his poetic talent and time. According to AIIMS sources, straightforward approach, Sethi had Sethi was suffering from mulqualified for the Odisha Public tiple ailments. He was kept in Service Commission twice. He, the ICU for nearly a month but however, chose politics over was shifted to the ward two State administrative service. days back after his condition Sethi dabbled in journalism improved. “We could not save for a brief period as a sub-editor Bishnu Sethi his life despite our best efforts. in a vernacular daily ‘Bishesh He died of cardiac arrest at Khabar’ published from about 7.45 am,” AIIMS Medical Su- Bhadrak. Highly appreciated for his perintendent Sachidananda Mohanty quality debates in the Assembly Sethi , told mediapersons. had endeared his opponents for his poActive in student politics, Sethi was etic expression and strong arguments Continued on p5 first elected from Chandbali in 2000 on public issues.  cies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI but said she does not believe the prime minister is responsible for their excesses. The resolution came at a time when Central agencies are probing major cases like the school jobs scam, cattle smuggling and coal pilferage in which powerful Trinamool Congress leaders figure as accused. The resolution said, “despite names of BJP leaders featuring in chit fund scams, the agencies are over- looking and probing just oneside of the matter.’’ It went on to allege that the Central agencies are part of a larger conspiracy to topple democratically elected governments. In past two months, the ED and the CBI have arrested former minister Partha Chatterjee and the party’s strongman Anubrata Mondal. On Monday the CBI arrested Subi, resh Bhattacharya, Vice Chancellor of North Bengal University and former head of the School Service Commission in connection with the recruitment scam in schools. It will be Gehlot versus Tharoor E x p r ess Ne ws S e r v i c e @ New Delhi Elections to the post of Congress president may see a contest between senior party leader Shashi Tharoor and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Tharoor, who met interim party chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Monday, has received the goahead to contest the polls, scheduled to be held on October 17, Ashok Gehlot said sources. “Anyone can contest the election. It will be fair and transparent,” Sonia reportedly told Tharoor, a memb e r o f G - 2 3 Shashi Tharoor g roup, which has been seeking internal reforms in the party . Earlier on Monday the Thiru, vananthapuram MP had also supported a petition by party members demanding ‘reforms’ in the Congress. The filing of the nominations for the post of president will begin in three days. Endorsing Sonia’s view, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the election is an open, democratic and transparent process.