-TheWire.in The Centre's decision to defer the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill 2018 – after protests from the public and the opposition – is temporary good news. Sub-section (5) of Section 13 of the Right to Information Act provided that the salaries and allowance and other terms and conditions of service of the chief information commissioner and information commissioners shall be same as that of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners,...
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Finance ministry refuses to share black money reports
-PTI NEW DELHI: The finance mnistry has refused to share copy of three reports on the quantum of black money held by Indians inside the country and abroad, saying its disclosure would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament. The then UPA government had in 2011 commissioned these studies by Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) as well as the National...
More »Finance ministry's own division shares EC's concerns on electoral bonds & transparency -Sanya Dhingra
-ThePrint.in The Financial Sector Reforms and Legislation Division has agreed with the EC’s view, which is that the new laws are ‘retrograde’ and need to be withdrawn. New Delhi: The Election Commission’s concerns over the transparency of electoral bonds, introduced via the Finance Act, 2017, have been supported by the Financial Sector Reforms and Legislation Division of the finance ministry. According to an RTI filed by activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), an official...
More »Dark clouds over the RTI -Aruna Roy & Nikhil Dey
-The Hindu Any move to amend the RTI Act must involve public consultation The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)government has struck another blow against transparency and accountability. Its already negative track record — that has been marked by an unwillingness to operationalise the Lok Pal, the Whistleblowers Act and the Grievance Redress law — has taken another step backwards if one is to go by a single line in item 14 in the...
More »Centre accused of 'illegally' denying details on RTI Act
-The Hindu Activist sought copy of proposed amendments An activist has accused the government of “illegally” withholding information about amendments proposed to the Right to Information Act, 2005, after her plea seeking details about the procedure followed was turned down. RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj wrote to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) last month demanding to know when were the amendments to the Act proposed and forwarded to the Union Cabinet. She...
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