he Thinkers’ Club, in its 100th webinar discussed the electoral bond which is a burning issue in the country.
Senior journalist, columnist, economist Dr Santosh Kumar Mohapatra was the chief speaker of the meet who spoke elaborately about the electoral bonds, highlighting its history, present status and its impact on economy and the democracy.
According to him, any ‘bond’ is a financial instrument, usually issued by a Government or corporations. This is just an acknowledgement of a debt having an issued price, time and a maturity period with a fixed rate of interest. Considering this generalised definition, the present bond can be classified as a “Promissory Note” to some extent. In a strict sense, the word bond used here is misleading and inappropriate.
The main drawbacks of the bond were, there was a quid pro quo (give and take) relationship between the donor and the donee. A corporation is a business entity and it cannot spend in crores for no business purpose. The system breeds corruption on a larger scale.
Bhagawan Prasad, former advisor to the EC, joined as guest of honour. He said the electoral bonds lack transparency and in the interest of the nation, they need to be quashed. He also suggested that election expenses need to be funded by the State and the nexus between the corporate and political parties should be delinked.
The meeting was presided over by Barada Prasanna Das, the president of the club. Das in his presidential speech expressed his satisfaction over the discussions. He assured to devote more time on the subject in future. He also accepted the request of the members to send a report to the Prime Minister through Dr Nanda Nandan Das, an original thinker and a specially permitted person to interact with the office of the Prime Minister on the subject.
Ganeswar Nayak, Nimai Swain, Ashutosh Mishra, Abhay Das, Niranjan Panda, Jaykrushna Choudhury, Dr Nanda Nandan Das, Sudhakar Patri, Bibhudutta Mohanty, Subas Sahoo from Baharin and many dignitaries were present in the meet. Many more participated.
