Govt open to making public political donations: Goyal

Government is open to the idea of making public all kinds of donations to political parties across the country, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said today.
"It is a good suggestion. If there is broad consensus on it in the country then we can think over it," Goyal said at the 'Agenda Aaj Tak' here.
"On this the discussions are already underway with the Election Commission. Election Commission has sought suggestion of all parties," the minister said while replying to a question on making public all kind of donations to the political parties.
At present all the political parties have to make public the political donations above Rs 20,000.

He further said that "moving forward as the usage of currency in the economy will be minimised it is obvious that the political parties will also start getting maximum donations through cheques, credit cards and debit cards."
Demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, he said, will benefit the economy in the long term. Among various other benefits it will bring down inflation.
The government on November 8 demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in a step to curb black money.