-The Indian Express Bringing political parties under RTI is a bad, and anti-political, idea In a radical ruling, the chief information commissioner has decided that political parties should be open to scrutiny under the right to information. Six national parties have been asked to appoint officers to handle requests, and proactively share information about their finances and voluntary contributions, including donor information. The logic is that parties get public land and offices,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Lifting the cloak of secrecy from sources of funding of political parties and their expenditure the central information commission (CIC) has ruled that they are public authorities who now need to respond to RTI queries within six weeks. Political parties on Monday lost the battle to stay out of RTI purview and keep their donors secret after the commission in a 54-page order said six national...

-The Telegraph   Faraspal, Chhattisgarh: The Salwa Judum was a failure, both to its opponents and the man who was its face. "I shall repent the Salwa Judum's failure my entire life," Mahendra Karma had told a Dantewada journalist last year, months before being assassinated by the rebels last week. The 62-year-old tribal Congress leader wasn't referring to the extortion, murder and rape charges against the anti-Maoist militia - he considered them "collateral damage"...

-Outlook The Maoists want a military conflict as it brings more adivasis into their fold. The Indian state's best bet is in ensuring that it wins over the aam adivasis to its side.   May 25th's condemnable attack by the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, which ended up killing and injuring over 50 people from Congress politicians to migrant adivasi labourers, cannot be understood without recognising the Maoist party's explicit political aims. These...

-The Telegraph Imphal: A Manipuri widow's cry for justice rang out during the 23rd session of the UN Human Rights Council this morning, as she questioned gaps in UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns's report on the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. Neena Ningobam, who represented the Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families' Association, Manipur, of which she is the secretary, and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) at...