Political parties spent Rs. 573.24 cr in 5 Assembly elections in 2016

Agencies
July 6, 2017

New Delhi, July 6: Political parties spent Rs. 573.24 crore in the five Assembly elections held in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in 2016, out of which the lion’s share was spent on publicity (Rs 256.79 crore) and paying lumpsum amount to candidates (Rs 212.54 crore), says an analysis by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-profit election watchdog.parties

Among national parties, BJP declared spending the highest (Rs 112.14 crore) in the five Assembly polls, followed by Congress at Rs. 41.49 crore, while among regional parties DMK in Tamil Nadu declared spending the highest (Rs 97.34 crore), followed by AIADMK at Rs. 64.72 crore. The State, which drew the highest poll spending by all parties is West Bengal, where state units spent Rs. 110.62 crore.

Overall, the funds collected by the six national parties at Rs. 287.89 crore were much lower than the amount spent during the five Assembly elections. Based on the details provided to the Election Commission, the regional parties said they collected only Rs. 67.22 crore during the elections, but spent Rs. 213.97 crore.

Interestingly, despite contesting four Assembly elections (Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal), Shiv Sena has declared that the party incurred no expenditure towards their election campaign in these States.

“The election expenditure reports of political parties contain information on the funds collected at the Central headquarters of the party as well as at the State level,” said an ADR release.

Among the state units, the political parties collected the maximum amount of Rs. 84.30 crore from West Bengal as a cheque payment.

Cheques were the most preferred mode of collection and expenditure by all parties, forming 55.57 per cent of the total funds collected, and 75.32 per cent of expenditure. Cash collections made up for 44.43 per cent of total collections.

Among various heads, national parties spent the most on publicity at Rs. 137.46 crore, with BJP spending the highest at Rs. 87.28 crore. Among regional parties, AIADMK spent the maximum on publicity at Rs. 55 crore.

The ADR analysis comes close on the heels of the outgoing Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi calling for more transparency in poll funding.

ADR, on its part, has demanded that it must be made mandatory for all political parties to submit their statements of expenditure in the format given by the ECI, within the prescribed timelimit. Also, details of all donors who contribute to national and regional parties exclusively for their election campaigns must be declared in the public domain.

Also, similar to the shadow observers of the ECI for monitoring the expenditure of candidates, there must also be observers for monitoring the expenditure of political parties, it added.

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News Network
March 9,2020

Kalaburagi, Mar 9: As the International Women's Day was celebrated all across the globe, the Department of Post inaugurated the first-ever all-women-employees operating post office here in Kalaburagi.

"Today, we have declared the Jagat Post Office under the Kalaburagi district as women's post office. From today onwards, women staff is going to work here exclusively," CG Kamble, Assistant Superintendent, Post Office, told media.

One of the employees of the post office inaugurated on Monday said: "We are happy that we can work freely as all the employees here are women. Similarly, the government must also take steps to identify one of the offices in the state as only women employees' office."

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Agencies
February 25,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 25: Opteamix LLC (Opteamix), a digital technology firm, announced today that they have been awarded as a 'Dream Company to Work For' by the World HRD Congress.

Opteamix was ranked 11th in this category which had companies from multiple industries across the globe vying for the title.

In addition to the Dream Company ranking, Opteamix was also recognized for its innovative HR practices and Corporate Social Responsibility practices. The event took place at Taj Land's End in Mumbai on February 16.

Opteamix presented their concept 'Happiness at Work - When Culture drives Performance' that elaborated upon the methodology behind the enhancement of employee happiness.

"We have taken a holistic approach to help our people stay happy at work. While we knew that EQ and IQ were critical to the growth of people, we also believed that it is the Spiritual Quotient (SQ) which our in-house NGO - Right To Live caters to, that helps our people experience next-level career growth," said Varsha Dubey, Lead - Happiness and Learning Activator, while explaining the theory behind the happiness at work during the 30-min presentation before delegates from 65 countries.

"We have empowered our people by equipping them with the right set of tools to help them excel in their performance based on OKR (Objectives and Key Results), CFR (Communication, Feedback, and Review) and Competency Mapping. The optimum blend of these performance management tools has resulted in making a significant impact on the careers of our people and therefore, happy people and 100 per cent innovation and efficiency at work," added Shalu Priya - Director, People Experience.

Now in its 28th year, the World HRD Congress presents awards to organizations that promote innovative human resources practices. The award categories include leadership, talent management, employer branding, training and development, employee engagement, and more.

In the recent past, Opteamix had been recognized for its commitment to employee excellence with numerous awards and recognitions including 'Dream Companies to Work for' in 2017 and 2018.

World HRD Congress is billed as South Asia's largest HR event, featuring an eminent panel on international and local speakers from across public and private sectors.

The conference serves as a platform for the HR fraternity to deliberate on the insights, initiatives and implications of people management practices. The theme this year 'Happiness at work', recognized individuals and companies for their exceptional people management practices.

"We strongly believe in creating a culture of happiness at Opteamix. To us, happiness is as important as revenue and profits. The culture of happiness has been the Opteamix way of life since inception, which has led us to achieve our ultimate goals - higher career growth for all members and richer customer experience," said Raghurama Kote - Founder and COO of Opteamix, on being asked what a happy organization meant to him.

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News Network
February 25,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 25: A smooth-talking ‘swamiji’ has come under police radar after a widow lodged a complaint stating he cheated her of over Rs 27 crore and three kgs of gold between 2016 and 2019.

The woman, Geetha of Ramamurthynagar, was staying with her three sons after her husband, a landlord, died in 2009. Her family owned several sites in Tavarekere and other parts of the city, apart from a farm near Bethamangala in Kolar district.

Geetha, who had got into property disputes with her relatives, said she was introduced to the accused, Nagaraj C of Bangarapet, who claimed to possess powers to ward off evil spirits, by one of her farm labourers. “I was assured that all my problems would be solved. He came to my house and claimed he had been sent by god and would find solutions to all my problems,” she stated.

Nagaraj allegedly pretended to be possessed by spirits and directed her to give him gold bars. Geetha ended up giving three kgs of gold in the process. Later, he began directing her to sell a few properties stating these were the root cause of her problems. “I sold many properties and pledged a few residential sites. He took Rs 22.5 crore that came from selling properties, apart from Rs 5 crore cash from my husband’s savings,” she stated.

She said Nagaraj took the money from her on the promise of buying alternative properties. “When I demanded he return all my money, he threatened to kill me and my kids using evil spirits,” she alleged.

Police have registered a case of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation under various IPC sections and Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill, 2017, against Nagaraj and others.

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