A thumbs up for transparency

The Supreme Court's verdict on electoral bonds is very welcome, but corruption remains a huge challenge for India

The Supreme Court of India’s decision to rescind electoral bonds should be celebrated. Electoral bonds, introduced by the Narendra Modi government in 2018 just before the 2019 elections, made donations to political parties — earlier paid as bribes — legitimate and legal. Since the names of the donors or the recipient party were not disclosed, with only the State Bank of India (a government-owned bank) keeping the information, it was an opaque system that benefitted the party in power. These purchases were not even known to the Election Commission. The pay-for-play scheme essentially legislated what is known as Grand Corruption.