-The Times of India CHENNAI: Seeking and giving information under Right to Information Act has been a cat-and-mouse game for citizens and officials since the legislation came into effect in October, 2005. Now, senior bureaucrats are giving crash courses to public information officers (PIOs) on how to delay or deny information to applicants. At informal sessions, officers coach PIOs - responsible for giving information under the act - how to redirect queries...

-The Indian Express Raipur: In May 2010, Hindi TV channel Sahara Samay presented a five-point proposal to the public relations department of the Chhattisgarh government about covering government activities during 2010-11: 1. Two-minute special package: Sahara Samay will show the package 15 times a day during news bulletins. It will contain “CM’s speeches, government policies, and special news related to various departments.” Cost: Rs 3.28 crore per year at Rs 3,000 per...

-Outlook "It is a sorry state of affairs," the Supreme Court remarked today over failure of the project to clean Yamuna despite over Rs.12,000 crore being spent on it and suggested that the routing drainages of NCR region to a place outside Delhi be explored to stop release of waste in the river. Observing that Yamuna in Delhi carries not water but drains, a bench of justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B...

-The Economic Times What are the chances that a chicken infected with bird flu will land on your plate? Zero. What are the chances that a bird flu infection will increase the price you pay for chicken and eggs? 100%. A virulent and deadly infection called avian influenza or bird flu is present in our country. The virus usually affects wild fowl which then infect chickens. The virus can survive for...

-The Economic Times Something interesting happened in Mumbai last month. For the first time ever, Harvard Business School stepped out of its Boston campus to bring its leadership and corporate accountability programme for senior corporate executives to India. The programme focuses on promoting socially and financially responsible corporate conduct. In an environment where scams and business scandals are making headlines every day, the turnout for the four-day programme was expectedly impressive. "Corruption...