-The Hindustan Times Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): At a time when Right to Information Act has become an important tool to seek information, government departments have failed to implement section 4 of act that was aimed at providing suo moto information on websites. Section 4 of the RTI Act was a commitment to ensure that information is put before the public at regular intervals through various means of communications, including internet, so that...

-The Business Standard Says she considers political parties to be public authorities because they get substantive financial funding from the government of India While a parliamentary Standing committee today supported the move to keep political parties outside the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, committee member Anu Aga, (former chairperson of Thermax Ltd) was the lone voice of dissent on the 29 member panel. Aga who is a nominated member...

--Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) On Sunday (15th December) CHRI made a submission to the Independent People's Tribunal that was hearing people's perceptions about the working of the National Human Rights Commission on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Protection of Human Rights Act, which provides for the establishment of the NHRC to look into complaints of human rights violations suffered by people. Please click here to download the...

-NDTV A Parliamentary standing committee has agreed with the government that political parties do not come under the Right to Information or RTI Act. The landmark transparency law, passed by the UPA I government in 2005, is often flaunted by Congress Number 2 Rahul Gandhi as a precursor to the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, currently being pushed by the government in Parliament. All political parties barring Odisha-based Biju Janata Dal and the Communist Party...

-The Hindu The National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) has sought the simultaneous passage of the Lokpal Bill, the Grievance Redress Bill and the Whistleblower Protection Bill, contending that these laws formed a basket of inter-linked measures that constituted the much required accountability regime. Addressing a press conference, the NCPRI's Nikhil Dey, Anjali Bharadwaj and Shekhar Singh said that though the Lokpal Bill was not entirely to their satisfaction and...