Several civil society organizations and citizens who believe that a section of government and bureaucracy should not be allowed to dilute the right to information (RTI), staged a daylong protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi today (November 14, 2009) against the attempts to dilute the historical Act. (See the press release below for details) The civil society organizations, led by the National Council for the Peoples’ Right to Information...
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Royalty and RTI by Deepa Kurup
IN the digital age, the implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005, is deeply linked to the technology that will be adopted to store public documents and information in digital formats. Thus, the National Policy on Open Standards in E-Governance is critical to “ensure reliable long-term accessibility to public information”, wrote RTI activists, under the aegis of the National Campaign for People’s Rights to Information (NCPRI), in a letter...
More »Needed: Tough person for CIC by Arvind Kejriwal
Civil society's demand to appoint Kiran Bedi as the next Chief Information Commissioner has started an interesting debate. It has several dimensions. One section of media, albeit very small, is projecting that there is intense lobbying going on for Bedi. The word "lobby" has unholy connotations and at times, implies vested interests. Is it that one day I, Aamir Khan, Anna Hazare, Subhash Chandra, Baba Ramdev, Madhu Trehan, Shabana Azmi,...
More »Strong campaign for Kiran Bedi may backfire by Rajeev Deshpande
A known enemy might be better than over-zealous friends. The high-pressure campaign by civil society activists for the candidature of former cop Kiran Bedi as chief information commissioner may hurt her prospects with government wary of the fierce lobbying. The aggressive campaign to rope in activists and celebrities to back Bedi is seen as a bid to force the government's hand over the appointment which is to be finalised through...
More »Two senior officers of the district administration in Bihar fined for contravening the RTI Act
RTI advocators in Bihar have succeeded in prevailing upon the State Information Commission to impose penalties under The Right to Information Act (RTI Act) on two senior officers of the Madhubani district administration. On 11th September, 2009 the Bihar Information Commission imposed the maximum penalty permissible under the RTI Act on the Additional District Collector (Apar-Samaharta) and the Circle Officer (Anchal Adhikari) for repeated contraventions of the RTI Act. The Commission...
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