-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today cited a possible dent in national security to dismiss a public interest plea that had sought a directive to ensure that the accounts of the country's premier intelligence agencies were audited to make them accountable to Parliament. "We feel a judicial order to audit the agencies will create a dent in our functioning and security. This would lead to a dangerous situation," a bench headed by...

-The Hindu Business Line The bureaucracy has been unable to take it forward, thanks to its reluctance to share information and ideas Having been a chief minister for long, Narendra Modi as Prime Minister has rightly put his weight behind cooperative and competitive federalism. In March last year, I had elaborated in this column the relationship between the two in the context of development and growth in India in an article ‘What sort...

-The Hindu Mumbai: Ex-Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi says a transparent procedure should be followed in the selection process. Alarmed at speculation that Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi could be appointed Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission, RTI activist and former CIC Shailesh Gandhi on Thursday shot off a letter to the Centre objecting to the appointment. In a letter to Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, Mr. Gandhi said: “There are news reports...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Nearly five dozen former parliamentarians owe close to Rs 1 crore as rental charges for overstaying in government accommodation long after leaving office, a Right to Information (RTI) reply has revealed. While former finance minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, one-time India cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin and actress Jaya Pradha are among the defaulters, former Rajya Sabha member Gireesh Kumar tops the list as he owes the...

-The Indian Express Processes of knowledge diffusion reinforce inequalities. We need explicit pro-poor targeting of efforts There is much enthusiasm today for efforts to improve access to information about poor people’s rights and entitlements. In a much-debated recent example, Facebook’s “Free Basics” platform aimed to provide free access to a selected slice of the internet (including, of course, Facebook). In arguing for Free Basics, Mark Zuckerberg said that “everyone… deserves access to...