Researched and collated by: Vagda Galhotra 

An important electoral bonds investigation

First, some context: Electoral bonds are bearer bonds that allow people to donate to a political party. They were introduced by the government in 2018 to make the system more “transparent.” Since then, a total of 12,924 electoral bonds worth Rs 65.34 billion (6,534.78 crore) have been sold in fifteen phases as of January 2021. The legality of the bonds, however, has been challenged—since they allow the donor to remain anonymous. So you never know who gave how much to whom. Before the bonds were introduced, political parties had to disclose details of all donors who gave more than Rs 20,000. Also this:

“Moreover, while electoral bonds provide no details to the citizens, the said anonymity does not apply to the government of the day, which can always access the donor details by demanding the data from the State Bank of India (SBI). This implies that the only people in the dark about the source of these donations are the taxpayers.”

Petitions were filed in the Supreme Court back in 2017 and 2018. The Court then asked the Election Commission (EC) to provide information on which parties received electoral bonds worth how much—and submit it in a sealed envelope. This Indian Express explainer has more on the bonds.

The investigation: The Reporters Collective has been able to figure out what was in those sealed envelopes by talking to 54 of 70 registered unrecognised parties that gave information to the Commission—and crunching data from the annual audit report filings of political parties. We encourage you to read the entire investigation over at Article 14, but here’s the gist of what the reporters found: 

• Of the 105 parties named by the EC in the sealed envelope, only 17 received any funds via electoral bonds. In other words, only a handful of parties benefit from this scheme.
• Of the money donated, almost 68% or Rs 42.15 billion (4,215.89 crore) went to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress trailed with 11.3% while Biju Janata Dal received 4.2%.
• 91% of all bonds cashed in the three years were worth Rs 1 crore—the highest available denomination—only 8% were worth Rs 10 lakhs. So ordinary citizens were not buying these bonds.

Key numbers of note

2.9%: That’s the new World Bank prediction for the rate at which the global economy will grow this year—down from the 4.1% forecast in January. The reasons include Ukraine, looming food shortages and fears of “stagflation”—a mix of high inflation and slow growth—which we have not witnessed for more than four decades. The GDP forecast for India has been revised downward to 7.5% from 8%. Associated Press has the global angle, while The Hindu has more on India.

$5 billion: That’s how much Sri Lanka will need over the next six months to ensure minimum living standards for its citizens. This includes $3.3 billion for fuel imports, $900 million for food, $250 million for cooking gas and $600 million more for fertiliser. (Reuters)

€205.6 million: is the transfer value of French star striker Kylian Mbappe—making him the most valuable player in the world. Vinicius Jr (€185.3 million) is at #2, followed by Erling Haaland (€152.6 million). Mbappe’s PSG teammate Neymar holds the current transfer record—set when PSG paid €222 million for him in 2017. (Reuters)

A big national security trial in HK

Forty seven pro-democracy activists will finally face trial—after spending 15 months in jail without bail. The defendants include elected lawmakers, academics and union leaders—all charged with a “conspiracy for subversion” under a draconian national security law introduced in 2020—which activists say has “decimated” Hong Kong’s freedoms. They could potentially be sentenced to life imprisonment. (Al Jazeera)

New rules for top military post

The post of Chief Of Defence Staff (CDS) was created to integrate the command of all the three forces: army, navy and air force. Until now, seniority restricted the choice to the chiefs of three armed forces. The Defence Ministry has issued new guidelines widening the eligibility to any serving or retired Lieutenant General, Air Marshal and Vice Admiral under the age of 62 years. What this means: “This essentially opens the doors for the second-highest active rank officers of the tri-services to possibly supersede their seniors.” This can be seen as a good thing—it creates a bigger pool of candidates—or a bad thing—it undermines the military’s strict rule of seniority. (NDTV)

Paramount sued over ‘Top Gun’

The original 1986 movie was inspired by an article by Ehud Yonay in California magazine. At the time, Paramount obtained exclusive movie rights to the article—and even gave credit. Now, the author’s widow and son are suing the studio for making the sequel ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ without reacquiring the rights—since the copyright reverted to the family in January, 2020. And it ignored cease-and-desist letters from the Yonay family—arguing the sequel was not inspired by the article, and was “sufficiently completed” by the time the copyright reverted. The pandemic delays, however, may be key to this lawsuit:

“‘Maverick’ was initially slated for release in 2019 but was delayed until the following year. It was then postponed multiple times due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is unclear when Paramount officially finished the film, but that timeline will likely be important as the copyright lawsuit plays out.”

What’s not clear is why Paramount didn’t just renew the rights before making the sequel. (Reuters)

The origins of the domestic chicken

Scientists have never been quite sure about when humans domesticated chickens. And until now, some theories traced them back to the Indus Valley civilisation. But researchers have now identified bones of a domestic chicken—dated between 1,650 BC and 1,250 BC—from Ban Non Wat, Thailand, as the oldest in the world. Turns out the bones from Harappa and Mohenjodaro had “either been misidentified or are too large to be confidently categorised as prehistoric domestic birds.” (The Telegraph)

Uber’s excellent India report

No, this one doesn’t have boring stats about customers, service etc. The annual ‘Lost and Found Index’ documents all the things we leave behind in cabs. Apart from the usual phones and wallets, the items also include a birthday cake, Aadhaar card, a five kg dumbbell, a cricket bat and a flute. The most forgetful city: Mumbai—followed by Delhi, Lucknow and Kolkata. Apparently, we’re especially careless around the end of the fiscal year—around March 30/31. (Quartz)

Two things to see

One: Two giant Galapagos tortoises were recently born at the Tropiquarium Zoo in Switzerland. What’s special is that while one is black like its parents, the other is a rare albino: “This is the first time in the world that an albino Galapagos tortoise has been born and kept in captivity. No albino individuals have ever been observed in the wild.” 

Two: This is a funny story that involves a small Australian town and comedian John Oliver. The city of Yarra recently unveiled a $22,000 artwork called ‘Fallen Fruit’—a 1.8 metre tall anthropomorphic fibreglass banana with a skull-face. Everyone hated it so much—that someone tried to decapitate it. Now, Oliver has offered to buy the demon fruit for $10—and swap it with a statue of an alligator raising its middle finger. Why he is so smitten: “It’s basically the Cate Blanchett of banana sculptures, in that it is a hauntingly pale Australian creature with a very striking bone structure.” (The Guardian)

Good ​stuff to check out

On the latest episode of the splainer podcast ‘Press Decode’, the splainer team looks at how easy it is to get a gun in India—and the meme-ification of the Depp/Heard trial. Be sure to head over to the IVM website, Spotify or Apple Podcasts to listen to it.