The Hindenburg report and its hurtling impact on Adani’s wealth quickly outshadowed the Bombay High Court’s judgement of January 20, 2023, setting aside the write-down of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds of Yes Bank Ltd for ₹ 8415 crores. This must have cheered the institutional and retail investors in this instrument of not only Yes Bank, but also in the erstwhile Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) which was merged with DBS Bank in December 2020, which also suffered similar write- downs. These capital ranking instruments have been introduced not in India alone. Reserve Bank of India has followed globally accepted Basel norms of Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in which it is a representative from India. These norms are to be followed while permitting banks to raise capital through such instruments. Therefore, has the High Court transgressed into the domain of a global standard setter by quashing the basic features of AT1 bonds? To our relief, a closer reading of the judgement gives “No” as the answer. The absence of specific clause in the Scheme of Reconstruction of Yes Bank that Administrator appointed for reconstruction can write down capital ranking loss absorption risk carrying instruments and consequent overreach of authority by the administrator, (Shri Prashant Kumar, who was appointed by RBI as the CEO to oversee the reconstruction) are the problems highlighted by the judgement of the two judges Acting Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice S.M. Modak. Flowing from this, it is a moot question whether the aggrieved investors in LVBs’ capital ranking bonds will get similar relief, as there appear to be similar procedural inconsistencies.A quick look at some of the characteristics of capital ranking instruments of banks. The characteristics of these instruments and permitted modes of issuance are delineated in RBI’s Master Circular RBI/2022-23/12 of 1st April 2022 (updated version of their 2015 Master Circular) on Basel 3 Capital Regulations. The AT1 Bonds in question are issued as Perpetual Debt Instruments (PDI). They have no defined maturity period. However, the issuing bank can call back the bonds after a minimum of five years after obtaining RBI’s permission. These bonds carry “loss absorption” features as a going concern concept. Tier 2 bonds carry loss absorption features under “gone concern” concept. Loss risk crystallizes under “gone concern” only when the entity is wound up, as in LVB’s case. When the entity continues to thrive on a reconstruction plan after triggering non-viability concerns as in the case of Yes Bank, loss risk in AT1 instruments crystallize, but the entity continues to exist as a “going concern”. Annexure 4 Para 1.10 carries these features. The higher risk in such instruments carrying loss absorption features is reflected by the higher return (interest rate) they carry vis-à-vis ordinary bonds or fixed deposits. Perhaps, the investors’ avarice has made them overlook these concerns or lower their guard on diligence and prudence.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/yes_bank_768x500_368ef61aa6.jpeg" alt="yes-bank-768x500.jpeg">Annexure 4 Para 1.14 (i) states that the claims of investors in AT1 instruments shall rank superior to the claims of equity investors. As such, should not the equity shares be written down before the investments of AT1 holders are written down? Annexure 16 of the same circular deals exclusively on the loss absorption triggers. Para 2.3 of this Annexure clearly states that the write-down of any Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) Capital shall not be required before a write-down of any AT1 capital instrument. Therefore, there is no inconsistency in writing down AT1 capital while equity share capital remains on the balance sheet. For clarity, the Basel Committee norms on Bank’s Capital Adequacy, which RBI has prescribed for all banks operating in India, mandates that all banks maintain a minimum capital under three heads, CET1, AT1 and T2 as a percentage of their risk-weighted assets, which together make up 9% as minimum regulatory capital.<figure class="table" style="width:770px;"><table style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-collapse:collapse;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:500;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:28px;margin:0px 0px 2rem;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><tbody style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><tr style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><td style="border:1px solid rgb(211, 219, 226);box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:10px 13px;">Description</td><td style="border:1px solid rgb(211, 219, 226);box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:10px 13px;">Limit</td></tr><tr style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><td style="border:1px solid rgb(211, 219, 226);box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:10px 13px;">Common Equity Tier 1</td><td style="border:1px solid rgb(211, 219, 226);box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:10px 13px;">Minimum 5.50%</td></tr><tr style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><td style="border:1px solid rgb(211, 219, 226);box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:10px 13px;">AT1 Capital</td><td style="border:1px solid rgb(211, 219, 226);box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:10px 13px;">Maximum 1.50%</td></tr><tr style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><td style="border:1px solid rgb(211, 219, 226);box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:10px 13px;">Tier 2 Capital</td><td style="border:1px solid rgb(211, 219, 226);box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:10px 13px;">Maximum 2.00%</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>A plea from the retail investors to the Court was that these instruments with higher inherent risks were only for institutional investors and not the uninformed ones like them. Annexure 4 Para 1.22 of the circular permits banks to issue such bonds to retail investors. The Court also did not find merit in the argument.A case of mis-selling was also attempted by the retail investors. Similar lines of defence were taken by many aggrieved constituents when they lost significantly through derivative trades whose cash flows and risk profiles had not been correctly understood by many of them. All cases emanating from derivative disasters, beginning from Orange County abroad to Wockhardt back home, have not succeeded on the grounds of mis-selling or ignorance of the contract.RBI and Yes Bank have stated that they would go on appeal to the Supreme Court. All parties concerned will watch whether the Supreme Court will revisit the issue of altering the basic characteristics of globally accepted norms on capital ranking instruments or confine its scrutiny to the issue of overreach emanating from a procedural lacuna. If the High Court’s decision is upheld, Yes Bank’s CET1 capital will take a hit by 3% of risk weighted assets while it could be fully offset up to 1.50% under AT1 capital and, if room exists, by another 1.50% under Tier 2 also, as explained in table above. Therefore, there could not be much financial impact on the business model of Yes Bank, which has made a turnaround.

yes-sc.png

The Hindenburg report and its hurtling impact on Adani’s wealth quickly outshadowed the Bombay High Court’s judgement of January 20, 2023, setting aside the write-down of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds of Yes Bank Ltd for ₹ 8415 crores. 

Yes and No in YES BANK Bonds

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The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has published data indicating that electoral bonds worth 114.5 Crore were purchased ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections. 

How Electoral Bonds Benefit The Ruling Party

<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Delivering a verdict with far reaching political implications, the Supreme Court of India struck down the electoral bonds system, asserting that anonymous electoral bonds are violative of the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. The judgement, pronounced by a constitution bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, has come as a body blow the Narendra Modi led union government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the ministry, since the party was the biggest beneficiary of the electoral bond system.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);display:block;font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;height:auto;letter-spacing:normal;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;vertical-align:middle;white-space:normal;widows:2;width:550px;word-spacing:0px;" id="attachment_26526" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26526"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/const_bench_3349046ac0.jpg" alt="const-bench.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_const_bench_3349046ac0.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_const_bench_3349046ac0.jpg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-26526">Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court during proceedings</figcaption></figure><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The judgement pointed out as follows. “At a primary level, political contributions give a seat at the table to contributors, i.e., it enhances access to legislators. This access also translates to influence over policy making. There is also a legitimate possibility that financial contributions to a political party would lead to quid pro quo arrangement because of the close nexus between money and politics. The electoral bond scheme and the impugned provisions to the extent that they infringe upon the right to information of the voter by anonymising contributions through electoral bonds are violative of Article 19(1)(a).” These observations of the court were all the more striking because the Government of India had argued in the court that “citizens do not have a general right to know regarding the funding of political parties.” It had also added that “Right to know is not a general right available to citizens”.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">In continuation, the constitution bench also ordered the following. First and foremost it asked the bank issuing electoral bonds (the State Bank of India-SBI) to stop the process immediately. It also directed the SBI to submit the details of electoral bonds purchased since the interim order of the Court dated April 12, 2019 till date to the Election Commission of India. (ECI) The details shall include the date of purchase of each electoral bond, the name of the purchaser of the bond and the denomination of the electoral bond purchased. The bank was also directed to submit the details of the political parties which have received contributions through electoral bonds since the interim order dated April 12, 2019 till date to the ECI. SBI must disclose details of each electoral bonds encashed by the political parties, which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of electoral bond. The court also fixed deadlines to the SBI and EC. SBI is to submit the information to the ECI by March and the ECI is to publish the information received from the SBI on its website by March 13, 2024.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);display:block;font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;height:auto;letter-spacing:normal;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;vertical-align:middle;white-space:normal;widows:2;width:640px;word-spacing:0px;" id="attachment_26530" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26530"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/IMG_20240215_WA_0001_e7d05b4426.jpg" alt="IMG-20240215-WA0001.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_IMG_20240215_WA_0001_e7d05b4426.jpg 108w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_IMG_20240215_WA_0001_e7d05b4426.jpg 346w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_IMG_20240215_WA_0001_e7d05b4426.jpg 519w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_IMG_20240215_WA_0001_e7d05b4426.jpg 691w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-26530">State Bank Headquarters (right) in Mumbai</figcaption></figure><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The manner in which the ruling party the centre (which is the BJP over the last ten years) has benefited from electoral bonds, which are anonymous, limitless and tax free, has been repeatedly highlighted. The following breakup of the bond donations to the BJP underscores how this benefit has worked.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">In 2018 it was ₹210 crore and 2019 it jumped to ₹1,450 crore and in 2020 it bounced again to ₹2,555 crore. Over the last two years, it has been ₹1,033 crore (2022) and ₹1,294 crore (2023). Cumulatively, these account for more than 70 percent of the total donations received by political parties as a whole through this scheme.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);display:block;font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;height:auto;letter-spacing:normal;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;vertical-align:middle;white-space:normal;widows:2;width:828px;word-spacing:0px;" id="attachment_19021" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-19021"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/SC_e1666260547336_b65a21f9fa.png" alt="SC-e1666260547336.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_SC_e1666260547336_b65a21f9fa.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_SC_e1666260547336_b65a21f9fa.png 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_SC_e1666260547336_b65a21f9fa.png 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-19021">Supreme Court of India</figcaption></figure><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The scheme was introduced in the 2017-18 central budget. It was originally touted as something that would increase transparency in political funding. Following were the broad provisions highlighted when the scheme was introduced.<ul style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:20px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:20px;orphans:2;padding:0px 0px 0px 20px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">&nbsp;An electoral bond is similar to a demand draft.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;">The sole purpose of an electoral bond is to fund political parties.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;">An electoral bond will have the name of the political party receiving donation on it.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">An electoral bond will not have the name of the donor on it.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">Any Indian citizen can buy electoral bonds.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">Any private, public, or one-person company based in India also can buy electoral bonds.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">No foreign company can buy electoral bonds.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies can buy electoral bonds.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">Any political party that scored more than 1% votes in the previous Lok Sabha or state assembly election can receive donations through electoral bonds.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">All political parties must specify one SBI account to receive money through electoral bonds.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">The parties should also notify the Election Commission about this SBI account.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">The electoral bonds can be purchased in the ten day period in the beginning of each quarter- that is, 1-10 January, 1-10 April, 1-10 July, and 1-10 October.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">Electoral bonds can be purchased at 29 authorised SBI branches across India.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">Account holders with SBI as well as non-account holders can purchase EBs on supplying KYC details.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">Electoral bonds are issued in multiples of Rs 1000/-, Rs 10000/-, Rs 1 lakh, and Rs 1 Crore.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">EBs cannot be purchased using cash.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">Cheque or Digital payment has to be the payment mode.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">The KYC details of the buyers collected by the bank remain confidential.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">The electoral bond is physically handed over to the political party.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">Electoral bonds must be encashed within 15 days of receipt.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">The political parties can redeem the bonds only in authorised SBI accounts that are notified to the Election Commission.</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:17px;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;list-style:disc;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">348 electoral bonds are valued at Rs 1 Crore.</li></ul><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Several organisations and political parties such as the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Congress leader Jaya Thakur, had challenged the provisions of the scheme right from the time it was introduced. The main argument of the petitions given by these organisations centered around the voters’ right to information and it is exactly this contention that was upheld by the Apex Court.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Evidently, the judgement signifies a major setback for the BJP and the ruling regime, especially in a context where it is ripping apart many opposition parties by luring a number of top leaders of these party to their side. It remains to be seen how the BJP and the Modi regime would react to the verdict and its aftermath.

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Written by Venkitesh Ramakrishnan and VM Deepa.

What Next After the Supreme Court Strike On Electoral Bonds?

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/19th_march_a_770x470_5fac8c6fc3.jpg" alt="19th-march-a-770x470.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_19th_march_a_770x470_5fac8c6fc3.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_19th_march_a_770x470_5fac8c6fc3.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_19th_march_a_770x470_5fac8c6fc3.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">The Reporters’ Collective is a group of like-minded journalists focused on reportage that keeps the powerful accountable. The collective has consistently produced pathbreaking reports on developments and issues that put the spotlight on those in power. The Reporters’ Collective has also shed light on how India’s political economy and governance functions. In recent times, this group of journalists has come out with a series of “deep-dive” stories on the Electoral Bond revelations. The AIDEM is reproducing some of these stories in different languages with due acknowledgment.<hr>The Union government gave lightning-quick sanction to break electoral bond rules to allow ruling party BJP to encash expired bonds, just before the 2018 Karnataka elections, show new disclosures by the Election Commission.&nbsp;The Union Finance Ministry headed by late BJP politician Arun Jaitely forced the State Bank of India to accept electoral bonds of Rs 10 crore after his partymen walked in to the bank to encash expired electoral bonds.The Reporters’ Collective reported in 2019, based on official records accessed by Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd.), that SBI had allowed an unknown political party to encash electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore even though it came two days after the legally mandated 15-day period to encash bonds had ended.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:743px;" id="attachment_27120" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27120"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Screengrab_of_the_BJ_Ps_bond_disclosures_showing_the_expired_bonds_were_deposited_768x111_9019291a9a.png" alt="Screengrab-of-the-BJPs-bond-disclosures-showing-the-expired-bonds-were-deposited-768x111.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Screengrab_of_the_BJ_Ps_bond_disclosures_showing_the_expired_bonds_were_deposited_768x111_9019291a9a.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Screengrab_of_the_BJ_Ps_bond_disclosures_showing_the_expired_bonds_were_deposited_768x111_9019291a9a.png 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Screengrab_of_the_BJ_Ps_bond_disclosures_showing_the_expired_bonds_were_deposited_768x111_9019291a9a.png 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-27120">Screengrab of the BJP’s bond disclosures showing the expired bonds were deposited.</figcaption></figure>In 2019, when The Collective reported it, we were unaware which political party had gained from the Union Finance Ministry’s generosity.&nbsp;But we knew this: “X” party brought expired bonds to the Delhi branch of SBI on May 23, 2018. After a series of superfast correspondence between the SBI Delhi branch, its corporate headquarters in Mumbai and the Union Finance Ministry mandarins, the expired bonds were encashed by “X” party on government’s orders.&nbsp;Now, BJP’s own disclosures made public by the Election Commission of India show that the Union Finance Ministry’s creative interpretation of rules and illegal orders to SBI were made to allow the party to encash Rs 10 crore worth of expired bonds.&nbsp;<h3 style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:20px;line-height:1.2;margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px;text-align:left;">The Bond Tale</h3>According to a report by SBI to the Union Finance Ministry, on May 23, 2018, “some EB holders” with bonds worth Rs 20 crore went to SBI’s main branch in New Delhi. EB or Electoral Bond holders refers to representatives of political parties holding the physical bond that must be deposited in a political party’s account.Half the bonds had been bought on May 3, 2018 and the other half on May 5, 2018. Both, SBI noted, had expired as their 15-day period of redemption had lapsed.But the bond holders requested that the 15 calendar-day rule be bent, and the bonds be redeemed anyway as they were being deposited within 15 working days, said the report.SBI’s New Delhi branch informed its Mumbai corporate headquarters on the same day, documents show. The next day, on May 24 2018, bank’s then deputy managing director Mrutyunjay Mahapatra wrote on behalf of SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar to the Union Finance Ministry asking whether they should allow holders to redeem expired bonds.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:597px;" id="attachment_27125" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27125"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Whats_App_Image_2024_03_19_at_13_31_28_3966090708.jpeg" alt="WhatsApp-Image-2024-03-19-at-13.31.28.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_19_at_13_31_28_3966090708.jpeg 233w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_19_at_13_31_28_3966090708.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-27125">Arun Jaitley</figcaption></figure>The ministry acted with alacrity. The same day, then deputy director in the economic affairs ministry Vijay Kumar, responded, “This is clarified that the stipulation means a total of 15 days, including non-working days in between…”Hence, the bonds had lapsed and as per the rules, the money was to be donated to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, an official, non-partisan fund used for charitable works, and to provide immediate relief to those affected by natural disasters.But Kumar wasn’t done.He added, “As some amount of lack of complete clarity may have been witnessed in the bonds issue in last windows, SBI may grant credit to such bond holders of bond purchased before 10th May, 2018 if the bonds were deposited in 15 working days.” He said, “No such accommodation will be available in future.”This letter, approved by the secretary of the department of economic affairs, S.C. Garg, the highest-ranking official in the department, was sent to the SBI chairman the same day.The SBI headquarters informed its New Delhi main branch, and before the day was over, the political party, or parties, involved were allowed to redeem the expired bonds worth Rs 10 crore, that were bought on 5 May 2018.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/sbi_1_768x432_1ecbebf016.jpg" alt="sbi-1-768x432.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_sbi_1_768x432_1ecbebf016.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_sbi_1_768x432_1ecbebf016.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_sbi_1_768x432_1ecbebf016.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">The other tranche, bonds worth Rs 10 crore bought on 3 May 2018, was sent to the PM’s Relief Fund, the documents show, as they were outside the Union Finance Ministry’s exceptional “accommodation.”While we now know the BJP was the beneficiary of these bonds, the donor’s identity still remains a mystery.The breach of electoral bond rules didn’t end here. Even the tranche in which the BJP got these bonds went against the scheme.&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:801px;" id="attachment_27123" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27123"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Whats_App_Image_2024_03_19_at_13_14_11_768x512_8351cd4876.jpeg" alt="WhatsApp-Image-2024-03-19-at-13.14.11-768x512.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_19_at_13_14_11_768x512_8351cd4876.jpeg 234w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_19_at_13_14_11_768x512_8351cd4876.jpeg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_19_at_13_14_11_768x512_8351cd4876.jpeg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-27123">BJP Office in Delhi</figcaption></figure>According to the rules notified in January 2018, there were to be four 10-day windows in January, April, July and October. The Prime Minister’s Office in 2018 ordered the Finance Ministry to break its rules and open an extra “special” 10-day window for bond sale before the Karnataka elections.The PMO’s request was first recorded in files by Union Finance Ministry officials in April 2018 – a mere three months after the rules were notified. This exception to rule became a practice. For example, a special 10-day window was opened in December 2022 before the Gujarat state elections.On 18 March, the Supreme Court directed the State Bank of India to disclose all available data on electoral bonds, including the unique alphanumeric identity encoded in each bond</div></div>

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Modi Government Allowed BJP to Illegally Encash Expired Electoral Bonds

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/11th_march_f_770x470_264069f4b6.jpg" alt="11th-march-f-770x470.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_11th_march_f_770x470_264069f4b6.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_11th_march_f_770x470_264069f4b6.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_11th_march_f_770x470_264069f4b6.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">In a stinging direct blow to the State Bank of India (SBI) and an indirect blow to the Narendra Modi led union government, the Supreme Court rejected the request of the bank for more time to disclose details of the electoral bonds scheme. The Apex Court stated categorically on Monday that the bank must share the details with the Election Commission of India (ECI) by Tuesday, March 12. The poll body has been asked to publish the details on its website by 5 pm on Friday, March 15.The court also warned that it will initiate contempt proceedings against the government-run bank if it does not provide the information by Tuesday. The Apex Court fielded tough questions and asked what the bank was doing for the past 26 days. The SBI had approached the court for an extension, seeking time till June 30, 2024 to furnish the details.&nbsp;<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_2023_08_31_151521466_768x456_a8aedc56d7.png" alt="image_2023-08-31_151521466-768x456.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_image_2023_08_31_151521466_768x456_a8aedc56d7.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_image_2023_08_31_151521466_768x456_a8aedc56d7.png 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_image_2023_08_31_151521466_768x456_a8aedc56d7.png 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">Despite the categorical dismissal of the SBI plea for time till the end of June, the question whether there would be full disclosure on electoral bonds remains. That is because the Apex Court has just asked for the list of donors, but has not specifically directed to match the list of donors with the beneficiary parties.&nbsp;In other words, the court directive on revealing information covers only two aspects. One: Name of the purchaser of electoral bonds and denomination of the bonds. Two: Bonds redeemed by the respective political parties. The two sets of details are not going to be matched and the SBI is not obligated to connect the purchaser of the bond to the political party, which is the beneficiary!In the opinion of Senior Economic Affairs journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurtha, it is now up to the world at large, including journalists, to try and match the names of buyers of electoral bonds with the political parties that received the bonds. He goes on to add that this is not going to be easy. Thakurtha cites several reasons why the process could get cumbersome.&nbsp;<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Whats_App_Image_2024_03_11_at_16_24_12_2777ca227e.jpeg" alt="WhatsApp-Image-2024-03-11-at-16.24.12.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_11_at_16_24_12_2777ca227e.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_11_at_16_24_12_2777ca227e.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">To start with, it is a big question whether the ECI would be able to disclose all the information given to it by the SBI on its website by Friday 15 March. As things stand on March 11, the ECI is a one-person commission, in the context of the mysterious resignation of Arun Goel as member on March 9. With that resignation the only member in the ECI is Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar (Refer <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/appoint-arun-goels-replacement-in-election-commission-only-as-per-sc-judgment-not-new-act-plea-in-supreme-court-251818">LiveLaw Report</a>).The big question is whether the ECI will cease to be a one-person commission by Friday 15 March, the deadline given by the SC. Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Minister appointed by him and the representative of the Opposition in Parliament decide the names of two new Election Commissioners? The answer to this question is certainly not clear at the moment. The sum total of this confusion is that the SC course correction initiatives on electoral bonds are moving ahead one painful step after another.&nbsp;On February 15, when a five judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds Scheme of 2017, and held the same to be unconstitutional, the expectations were indeed much higher (Refer <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-electoral-bonds-1scheme-249553">LiveLaw Report</a>). Indeed, the judgement had come after a gap of six years after filing the case, but Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had held, while pronouncing the unanimous verdict of the five-bench constitutional bench, that anonymous electoral bonds are violative of the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. The right of the voter to know who and what lies behind electoral finances was held to be above the right to privacy of powerful corporations and political parties.&nbsp;<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Whats_App_Image_2024_03_11_at_16_28_11_768x428_2019d57fa8.jpeg" alt="WhatsApp-Image-2024-03-11-at-16.28.11-768x428.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_11_at_16_28_11_768x428_2019d57fa8.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_11_at_16_28_11_768x428_2019d57fa8.jpeg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Whats_App_Image_2024_03_11_at_16_28_11_768x428_2019d57fa8.jpeg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">But the limitations and deficiencies in the implementation of the verdict as well as the parameters set for implementation underscore that the constitutional right to information is not going to be fully granted to the people of the country in this case. In that sense, the new ifs and buts are indeed daunting. It would be interesting to reconsider some of the things that the Supreme Court and especially the CJI DY Chandrachud stated in the court on February 15 while delivering the judgement on electoral bonds.&nbsp;Reading out parts of the 232-page judgement, CJI DY Chandrachud had held that the “Crucial aspect of expansion of right to information is that it is not confined to state affairs but also includes information necessary for participatory democracy. Infringement of the right to information is not justified by the purpose of curbing black money. He went on to add as follows.&nbsp;“In view of our discussion above, the following directions are issued:&nbsp;<ol style="box-sizing:border-box;font-size:17px;margin-bottom:20px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 20px;"><li style="box-sizing:border-box;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;" aria-level="1">The issuing bank shall herewith stop the issuance of Electoral Bonds;&nbsp;</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;" aria-level="1">SBI shall submit details of the Electoral Bonds purchased since the interim order of this Court dated 12 April 2019 till date to the ECI. The details shall include the date of purchase of each Electoral Bond, the name of the purchaser of the bond and the denomination of the Electoral Bond purchased;&nbsp;</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;" aria-level="1">SBI shall submit the details of political parties which have received contributions through Electoral Bonds since the interim order of this Court dated 12 April 2019 till date to the ECI. SBI must disclose details of each Electoral Bond encashed by political parties which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of the Electoral Bond;&nbsp;</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;" aria-level="1">SBI shall submit the above information to the ECI within three weeks from the date of this judgement, that is, by 6 March 2024;&nbsp;</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;" aria-level="1">The ECI shall publish the information shared by the SBI on its official website within one week of the receipt of the information, that is, by 13 March 2024; and&nbsp;</li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;font-weight:400;line-height:1.8;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;" aria-level="1">Electoral Bonds which are within the validity period of fifteen days but that which have not been encashed by the political party yet shall be returned by the political party or the purchaser depending on who is in possession of the bond to the issuing bank.”</li></ol>While the CJI stated the above in clear terms, Justice Sanjiv Khanna stated the following in a separate judgement running into 74 pages. He concurred with the majority view on the unconstitutionality of the Schemes on several crucial counts, and was even more specific and direct in its directions. In examining one accept that was argued but not pressed by the lead petitioner, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Justice Khanna outlined the coercive elements at the heart of the scheme that require further examination and study. This included the argument that there should be a cap on the quantum of donations and further, that the law should stipulate that the funds thus collected through electoral bonds should be utilised for political purposes alone given that the income of the political parties is exempt from income tax.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/eci_pti_768x432_273840078b.png" alt="eci-pti-768x432.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_eci_pti_768x432_273840078b.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_eci_pti_768x432_273840078b.png 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_eci_pti_768x432_273840078b.png 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">Citing these aspects, Justice Khanna further stated that “according to us, the just and proper interim direction would be to require all the political parties who have received donations through Electoral Bonds to submit to the Election Commission of India in sealed cover, detailed particulars of the donors as against the each Bond; the amount of each such bond and the full particulars of the credit received against each bond, namely, the particulars of the bank account to which the amount has been credited and the date of each such credit.” He also further directed the ECI to disclose the full particular details of the donor and the amount donated to the particular political party through Bonds.&nbsp;Clearly, the situation that prevails on March 11, in terms of implementation of the February 15 judgement, raises questions whether the spirit of the February 15 judgement would be upheld collectively by the SBI and ECI. Hopefully, the Apex Court itself would take steps to clear these doubts and apprehensions</div></div>

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Electoral Bonds: Stinging Blow by the SC to SBI and Modi Raj, But Ifs and Buts Remain..

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/7th_march_770x470_36992ea8b3.jpg" alt="7th-march-770x470.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_7th_march_770x470_36992ea8b3.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_7th_march_770x470_36992ea8b3.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_7th_march_770x470_36992ea8b3.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">State Bank of India (SBI) has hit news headlines repeatedly over the past few months. And every single time it has been for the wrong reasons. One of the major instances in this series of “headline-hitting-for-wrong reasons”- was through the downgrading of SBI’s Ratings by <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/banking/goldman-says-goldilocks-period-over-for-banks-downgrades-sbi-icici-yes-bank/107956463">Goldsman Sachs</a>. Before that the Economic Research Wing was questioned by renowned economists for defending the Government by saying poverty and unemployment have reduced drastically. Around the same time, the SBI had granted a new loan of Rs. 34000 crores to the Adani group and that action and its unethical nature were also questioned and criticised widely.Historically, the largest bank in the country had earned the trust of the people. That is why there are 48 crores accounts in the bank. But the present appeal by SBI to the supreme court to provide time till June 30th to provide the list of purchasers of electoral bonds and parties which encashed them has aggravated the bad image that SBI has acquired in recent times. In the digital era, the bank which is a pioneer in technology is saying that it could not reconcile the transactions and provide the list. And that too after 18 days of the supreme court order. This is completely unacceptable.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/sbi_768x432_e3fd603a77.jpg" alt="sbi-768x432.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_sbi_768x432_e3fd603a77.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_sbi_768x432_e3fd603a77.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_sbi_768x432_e3fd603a77.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">Now, the current state of affairs raises the natural question as to what the bank is covering up and who it is shielding? Other related questions that have come up are as follows. Why SBI is being coerced to take this stand ? Because of fear? Who is afraid and why? Why the Chairman, SBI has taken this decision? is it under threat or is it because of some offer? Already some people are saying that he got extension in service due to an influential businessman. He should care for the bank and not a businessman or politician. History should remember him for good things and not wrong things.&nbsp;Already political parties have launched agitation against SBI. This will affect the image of this prestigious Bank. The Supreme Court has termed the Electoral Bonds scheme unconstitutional. Several media outlets have done research and published list of companies which donated through electoral bonds after there was raid or investigation against these companies by agencies of the government. (Refer <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.newslaundry.com/2024/02/20/behind-the-bjps-rise-and-rise-bonds-trusts-and-raids-on-corporates">Newslaundry</a> Report)In a letter to The Director (Budget) Dept of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance dated 25/06/2018 SBI has stated that it has spent Rs. 60,43,005/- for IT system Development for Electoral Bonds. Now, how is the bank justified in saying that providing the records needs more time? If this is the situation what is the use of new age IT systems that have been acquired?<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/002_36f1a65987.jpg" alt="002.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_002_36f1a65987.jpg 118w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_002_36f1a65987.jpg 379w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_002_36f1a65987.jpg 568w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/003_085bb1663c.jpg" alt="003.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_003_085bb1663c.jpg 130w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_003_085bb1663c.jpg 417w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_003_085bb1663c.jpg 625w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">In an RTI reply to Shri. Sanjeev B. Ezhava, dated 22. 11.23, the SBI has provided details of electoral bonds for 6 years in just 6 days. Now why it requires months now ? (letter attached). It is surprising that a company ‘Future gaming’ has donated Rs. 100 crores to a trust named “Prudent Electoral Trust” a trust approved by CBDT under Electoral trust scheme 2013 (letter enclosed). Is this trust playing the role of a broker between political parties, Enforcement Directorate, CBI and companies which are doing illegal transactions.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/001_e3361b3971.jpg" alt="001.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_001_e3361b3971.jpg 122w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_001_e3361b3971.jpg 391w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_001_e3361b3971.jpg 586w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">The answer will be there in the list. Supreme Court must ask SBI to provide the list immediately. SBI should have a serious introspection. There should be the positions of Officer Director and Employee Director in the bank to question wrong decisions. To go down is easy. Climbing up again is difficult. The SBI top brass should remember this well known adage.</div></div>

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The Serial Mess-ups of the SBI Demand Major Course-correction

<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">As the State Bank of India’s request for an extension till June 30 to comply with the Supreme Court order to divulge the details of the Electoral Bond contributions is pending before Apex Court, the intrigue surrounding the scheme has risen to new levels. Initial public reactions evidently suggest that the premium public sector bank has further eroded its credibility. The requested extension goes against the very spirit of the February 15 landmark judgement of the Supreme Court, which struck down the Electoral Bond scheme as ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘arbitrary’. The developments have certainly deepened the shadows of doubt that have come to engulf the Indian democratic process as a whole in recent times.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, Managing Editor of The AIDEM and Thomas Franco, former General Secretary of the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) and founder of “People First” discuss the structural and political implications of the SBI manoeuvre in an interaction with Anand Haridas, senior journalist and multimedia professional.

What Next in the SBI Electoral Bonds Tangle?

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<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_9_45ef5452cd.jpeg" alt="images-9.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_9_45ef5452cd.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_9_45ef5452cd.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">The following article is part of the Trailblazing Women of India series. A series presented by The AIDEM, exploring the lives and ideas of women who played a decisive role in shaping India’s social, political, and intellectual history.The AIDEM underscores the enduring contemporary relevance of revisiting the lives of these women leaders and the ideas they championed. Click <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://youtu.be/G_sxvcXO0tg">here</a> to watch the video.<hr>Picture this: It’s 1930. A 27-year-old woman stands before Mahatma Gandhi, telling him he’s making a historic mistake.Gandhi is planning the Salt March. His vision? Men march and women stand on street corners selling salt and singing songs.Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay says: No.“Women have stood shoulder to shoulder with men, building the Congress party. They deserve to march,” she insists.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:654px;" id="attachment_42087" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42087"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Kamaladevi_Chattopadhyaya_Leading_a_Congress_march_in_the_early_1930s_a72f010da1.jpg" alt="Kamaladevi-Chattopadhyaya-Leading-a-Congress-march-in-the-early-1930s.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Kamaladevi_Chattopadhyaya_Leading_a_Congress_march_in_the_early_1930s_a72f010da1.jpg 102w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Kamaladevi_Chattopadhyaya_Leading_a_Congress_march_in_the_early_1930s_a72f010da1.jpg 327w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Kamaladevi_Chattopadhyaya_Leading_a_Congress_march_in_the_early_1930s_a72f010da1.jpg 491w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-42087">Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya leading a Congress march in the early 1930s</figcaption></figure>Gandhi concedes. But she’s not finished. “Issue a formal call to action.”“Why?” Gandhi asks. “Don’t you know your sisters?”Her response? Pure political genius: “Because history will record that YOU called them to participate.”&nbsp;History did record it. Women marched beside Gandhi, breaking salt laws. Kamaladevi became one of the first women arrested for civil disobedience. She auctioned “freedom salt” at the Bombay Stock Exchange for Rs. 501. On January 26, 1930, she clung to the Indian tricolour during a scuffle with authorities, refusing to let go.Who was this woman bold enough to challenge Gandhi?Born in 1903 in Mangalore, married at fourteen, widowed at sixteen. She remarried—scandalous. She divorced—one of India’s first civil divorces. In 1926, encouraged by Margaret Cousins, she became the first woman to contest a legislative office, losing by just 55 votes. In 1927, she founded the All India Women’s Conference as its organizing secretary.In 1936, she became a founding member of the Congress Socialist Party, working alongside Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia. Yet when we celebrate Indian socialism, we remember only the men.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:300px;" id="attachment_42084" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42084"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Kamaladevi_Chattopadhyay_aa0f5dde3b.jpg" alt="Kamaladevi-Chattopadhyay.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Kamaladevi_Chattopadhyay_aa0f5dde3b.jpg 113w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-42084">Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay</figcaption></figure>Her ideas were revolutionary. She connected capitalism, imperialism, and women’s subjection: “This imperial capitalist system encourages endless wars and expects women to produce children who become soldiers.” She challenged glorified motherhood itself.In the 1930s—decades before global women’s liberation—she championed bodily autonomy and birth control. Not for population control, but for women’s choice. She traveled to America, worked with Margaret Sanger, and in 1951 established India’s first family planning commission centered on women’s autonomy.She championed what we now refer as feminist economics, preceding the Feminist Care Ethics Debate by decades. She documented sexual division of labor, wage discrimination, and systematic underpayment of women workers in industrial and agricultural sectors—when labor movements barely acknowledged women as workers.Interestingly, she refused the label “feminist,” understanding that in her hostile patriarchal environment, strategic pragmatism mattered. But her ideas? Profoundly feminist.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Kamaladevi_4_58727afc75.jpg" alt="Kamaladevi-4.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Kamaladevi_4_58727afc75.jpg 216w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Kamaladevi_4_58727afc75.jpg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">After Partition, heartbroken, she resettled 50,000 refugees from the North-West Frontier Province, helping create Faridabad—independent India’s crucial early industrial township. In 1948, she founded and led the Indian Cooperative Union for the rehabilitation of the refugees.Her greatest legacy? Reviving India’s dying crafts as economic empowerment. As chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board for twenty years, she understood that handicrafts meant livelihoods for millions, grassroots democratic participation, and India’s answer to exploitative industrialization.Her institutions still stand: Indian National Theatre established in 1944, which later became National School of Drama, All India Handicrafts Board established in 1952, Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1953, Crafts Council of India in 1964, and Delhi’s Crafts Museum in 1967. She made Indian handicrafts a major export, serving as an Advisor to the World Craft Council and first President for the Asia-Pacific Region.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:555px;" id="attachment_42085" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42085"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Leading_Their_Imperial_Highnesses_to_the_dias_60795d4aa2.jpg" alt="Leading-Their-Imperial-Highnesses-to-the-dias.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Leading_Their_Imperial_Highnesses_to_the_dias_60795d4aa2.jpg 216w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Leading_Their_Imperial_Highnesses_to_the_dias_60795d4aa2.jpg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-42085">Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya leading their Imperial Highnesses to the dias</figcaption></figure>From UNESCO Awards to the Padma Vibhushan, her legacy endures in every artisan earning a dignified living today.Kamaladevi died in 1988, but her question echoes: What does freedom mean without bodily autonomy, economic independence, and cultural sovereignty?As you explore her work—and I hope you will—ask yourself: What would Kamaladevi be fighting for today?<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G_sxvcXO0tg" title="Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and the Idea of Cultural Sovereignty by Priyanka Jha | New Series | EP 02 " frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></div>

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Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay: The Woman who taught Gandhi a Lesson

<div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">Shuruart Foundation has been using art to make education more joyful and effective since 2017. Does your child often draw the same thing again and again? Should parents be worried if this happens? In this episode of Child and Art: Myths &amp; Facts, we talk about why children repeat drawings and what it really tells us about their confidence and emotional growth. Learn how your positive feedback and encouragement can help your child express freely, think creatively, and build genuine self-confidence. Watch the video to learn more.</div></div>

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Same drawing again? Is that good or bad for your child’s growth?

<div class="post-featured-image" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px 0px 50px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">&nbsp;</div><figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:undefined/undefined;" src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Wearing_My_Face_Before_a_Media_that_Has_the_Power_to_Make_and_Unmake_4_optimized_100_f65d7f55f3.png" alt="Wearing_My_Face_Before_a_Media_that_Has_the_Power_to_Make_and_Unmake_4_optimized_100.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Wearing_My_Face_Before_a_Media_that_Has_the_Power_to_Make_and_Unmake_4_optimized_100_f65d7f55f3.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Wearing_My_Face_Before_a_Media_that_Has_the_Power_to_Make_and_Unmake_4_optimized_100_f65d7f55f3.png 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure><div class="post-featured-image" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px 0px 50px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">As advocates, our lives are consumed by briefs and arguments, leaving little room for leisure. For me, the finest pastime is research and writing, a legacy I proudly inherit from my late grandfather, Shri S.A.A. Rizvi, IAS (Retd.). He was a gold medallist and a remarkable scholar of his times. His example instilled in me the conviction that the pursuit of knowledge is not merely an adornment, but a discipline that enriches both profession and personality.</div><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">It was in this spirit that a casual exchange with my colleague Nadeem Murtaza at the High Court rekindled this passion. His query, whether I had ever heard of “Douglas” or “Kinnaird Hospital” of Lucknow was not a passing remark, but a spark that illuminated a forgotten chapter of Lucknow’s medical heritage. His mother, Zahida Auntie, had often spoken of it, pointing to the site near today’s Lari Cardiology Centre, where the geriatric and mental health departments of KGMU (King George Medical University) now stand. That conversation became the bridge between my inherited love for inquiry and the living memory of our city, compelling me to delve into archives and dissertations, and to uncover the remarkable story of a hospital that once stood shoulder to shoulder with Queen Mary and Lady Dufferin Hospitals in Lucknow.&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:426px;" id="attachment_41918" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-41918"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Kinnaird_Memorial_Hospital_1_1_1024x666_2b0c4cee0d.png" alt="Kinnaird-Memorial-Hospital-1-1-1024x666.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Kinnaird_Memorial_Hospital_1_1_1024x666_2b0c4cee0d.png 240w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Kinnaird_Memorial_Hospital_1_1_1024x666_2b0c4cee0d.png 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Kinnaird_Memorial_Hospital_1_1_1024x666_2b0c4cee0d.png 750w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_Kinnaird_Memorial_Hospital_1_1_1024x666_2b0c4cee0d.png 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-41918">Lady Kinnaird Memorial Hospital</figcaption></figure>The story begins in 1875, when Elizabeth Bielby, a nurse sent by the Zenana Mission Society, began her medical mission near Lucknow. Though beset by tragedy, her sister Alice died soon after arrival, and Bielby herself fell gravely ill, the mission still endured. By 1891, through the efforts of Dr. Grace Mackinnon, the Lady Kinnaird Memorial Hospital was established on government-granted land, named after Lady Kinnaird. She was a devout Presbyterian philanthropist remembered for founding the YWCA.&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption alignnone" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;margin:15px auto 10px;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:416px;" id="attachment_41915" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-41915"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/CMS_CRL_IW_1899_08_0007_cropped1_7b434dba61.jpg" alt="CMS_CRL_IW_1899_08_0007-cropped1.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_CMS_CRL_IW_1899_08_0007_cropped1_7b434dba61.jpg 244w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-41915">England Zenana Missionary Society</figcaption></figure>In 1910, Dr. Ethel Douglas took charge, and for the next 36 years she transformed the institution, expanding facilities, raising standards, and establishing training protocols that led to the North India Board of Examiners and State Registration Councils. Her dedication earned her the Kaiser-i-Hind Medal in Gold in 1927, and government grants that enabled new wards and modern equipment. As Beth Bullock Spencer’s dissertation records, Douglas’s “extraordinary influence” kept the Lucknow hospital “overflowing,” even as she grappled with challenges ranging from reluctant purdah patients to the infamous monkey menace.“Even the veteran doctor Ethel Douglas struggled to find a solution to the monkey problem, for some of the local people regarded the monkeys as sacred; harming the monkeys was out of question. Douglas resorted to shouting and shaking her rifle at the monkeys, but with little effect.”Snakes, too, were a recurring hazard, and cultural beliefs often complicated medical practice. Patients observing purdah resisted operations, some postponed surgeries at the last minute deeming the hour “inauspicious,” while others consulted village elders who determinedhe hospital became a sanctuary for women’s health, normalizing dental extractions, eye surgeries, and maternity care in a city where traditional practices often prevailed.The British contribution to Lucknow’s health system was profound. Alongside Lady Kinnaird Memorial Hospital, the Lady Dufferin Hospital was established in 1889 under the Countess of Dufferin Fund to provide safe maternity care. Later, the Queen Mary’s Hospital arose in the early 20th century as a centre for women’s medical education. Together, these institutions marked the colonial effort to embed Western medicine into the city’s fabric, particularly for women and children. They were not merely hospitals but symbols of reform, philanthropy, and the gradual acceptance of modern medical practices in a society negotiating tradition and change.<figure class="wp-caption alignnone" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;margin:15px auto 10px;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:396px;" id="attachment_41916" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-41916"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Lady_Dufferin_Hospital_Virabijee_Katrak_Maternity_Wing_768x432_4cbd6e4487.jpg" alt="Lady_Dufferin_Hospital-_Virabijee_Katrak_Maternity_Wing-768x432.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Lady_Dufferin_Hospital_Virabijee_Katrak_Maternity_Wing_768x432_4cbd6e4487.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Lady_Dufferin_Hospital_Virabijee_Katrak_Maternity_Wing_768x432_4cbd6e4487.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Lady_Dufferin_Hospital_Virabijee_Katrak_Maternity_Wing_768x432_4cbd6e4487.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-41916">Lady Dufferin Hospital, Lucknow</figcaption></figure>By 1965, however, Lady Kinnaird Memorial Hospital succumbed to financial constraints and closed its doors. In 1971, the site was absorbed into King George Medical College, now popularly known as KGMU, housing its neurosurgical and mental health departments. Today, its memory lingers only in archives and recollections, overshadowed by its contemporaries. Yet, its legacy remains unique – a Christian missionary hospital that combined philanthropy, medical progress, and social reform. A place where doctors braved not only disease but monkeys, snakes, and cultural resistance to bring care to the women of Lucknow. An institution that has produced some of the world’s finest medical professionals, researchers and administrators. The pictures of these alumni are featured below.&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption alignnone" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;margin:15px auto 10px;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:276px;" id="attachment_41910" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-41910"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/download_4_26ce212e58.png" alt="download-4.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_download_4_26ce212e58.png 235w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-41910">Dr. BM Hedge – Alumni of KGMU</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption alignnone" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;margin:15px auto 10px;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:293px;" id="attachment_41911" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-41911"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/download_5_c239ac1c62.png" alt="download-5.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_download_5_c239ac1c62.png 245w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-41911">Dr. Sanduk Ruit – Alumni of KGMU</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption alignnone" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;margin:15px auto 10px;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:300px;" id="attachment_41912" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-41912"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_1_d076bb83d3.png" alt="images-1.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_1_d076bb83d3.png 245w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-41912">Dr. Naresh Trehan – Alumni of KGMU</figcaption></figure><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;margin:15px auto 10px;max-width:100%;padding:0px;width:211px;" id="attachment_41913" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-41913"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_1_1_300x300_b57c8c7015.png" alt="images-1-1-300x300.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_1_1_300x300_b57c8c7015.png 156w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-41913">Dr. Anil Kohli – Alumni of KGMU</figcaption></figure>As I reflect upon this heritage, I am convinced that Lucknow’s medical history is incomplete without acknowledging the forgotten jewel that was Lady Kinnaird Memorial Hospital. Its story is not merely of bricks and mortar, but of pioneering women doctors, missionary zeal, and the evolution of healthcare in colonial and post-colonial India. Remembering it is essential to preserving the dignity of our city’s cultural and medical legacy.</div></div>

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