-The Hindu The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the Centre’s reported plans of using psychiatrists to counsel activists protesting against the 1,000 MW Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. The NHRC termed it “a check on the freedom of speech/expression.” Asking the MHA to submit its report by July 25, the NHRC’s Law Division, acting on a complaint of...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today took cognisance of a public interest petition about alleged extra-judicial killings of unarmed nationals by the Border Security Force along the Bengal stretch of the border with Bangladesh. A two-judge bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Mishra issued notices to the Centre and the Bengal government after hearing short arguments from senior counsel Colin Gonsalves for the Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha, an NGO that filed...

-The Times of India The attack on three environment and RTI activists across the country in less than two weeks has brought to the fore how environmentalism is a dirty and sometimes violent game in the hinterland unlike the soft, candle-lighting tiger-loving green activism in big cities.  Akhil Gogoi in Assam, Bharat Jhunjhunwala in Uttarakhand and Ramesh Agrawal in Chhattisgarh - green activists who used RTI to their advantage - were attacked...

-The Hindu Attacked for taking on Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, claim supporters Ramesh Agrawal, an environmental activist who clashed with powerful steel and coal interests in Chhattisgarh’s coal-rich Raigarh district, was attacked by unidentified assailants and shot through the thigh on Saturday morning. Mr. Agrawal has been hospitalised. Sarita Rath, a member of the Jan Chetna Manch, Mr. Agrawal’s NGO, said he had been attacked at the behest of officials from Jindal...

The only RTI activist appointed in the Central Information Commission as an Information Commissioner, Shailesh Gandhi has set the bar high for the other Commissioners by clearing nearly 20,000 cases in four years. On Friday, July 6, as he demitted office at the end of his term, he spoke to Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar about how to improve the delivery of information through the Right to Information Act. Excerpts. How do you...