-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Recruitment of minorities in central government services fell from 11.56% of total hires in 2010-11 to just 6.89% in 2012-13, according to data collected from nearly 70 Union ministries and departments. The government, which released the data in reply to a Parliament question on Thursday, has blamed the falling recruitment levels of minority candidates, which depends on the number of applications received and percentage of qualifying...

-The Hoot The drafting of the application should be such that it points towards the specific documents required in relation to the information sought. An extract from the section for information seekers in the 2013 guide. FOR INFORMATION SEEKERS Method of Seeking Information A citizen, who desires to obtain any information under the Act, should make an application to the Public Information Officer of the concerned public authority in writing in...

-The Hindu     Governments have ritually abused the latitude granted by the Indian Penal Code and the Constitution to harass, intimidate and arrest scores of writers, journalists and artists It is common knowledge that Article 19 (1) (a) of the Indian Constitution lays down that "all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression"; it is also common knowledge that this fundamental right is not absolute, as the immediately following...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) launched its multi-lingual website to reach out to various sections of the society. "The website, www.uidai.gov.in, will now appear in five regional languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil in addition to Hindi and English," an official release said. UIDAI is planning to systematically add additional language microsites to facilitate ease of access to all sections of the society. The second phase of the...

-The Hindu The Marrakesh draft treaty, which will allow free distribution of books in disabled-friendly formats, is not enough by itself without a wider culture of providing for accessibility in learning Last month, delegates from around the world gathered in Marrakesh, Morocco, to sign a draft treaty of immense value to the visually handicapped and people with diverse difficulties in accessing print. The draft treaty signed at the World Intellectual Property Organisation...