-The Times of India The CBI is examining a complaint from the ministry of external affairs that gifts bought by the ministry to be given to foreign dignitaries were allegedly purchased at inflated costs by circumventing rules. Agency sources said they were examining the complaint. "We have not registered any preliminary enquiry (PE) or a regular case (RC) in the matter yet," a CBI officer said.  The MEA had sent the request...

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may claim that peace prevails everywhere in West Bengal since her party came to power in the state, but police records say a different story altogether. The state, according to the police records, has witnessed 642 political clashes, including those of student politics, across the districts in the first five months and eighteen days after Banerjee assumed power. A total of 926 political workers that include 128 students...

The worst fears of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), have come true with regard to the high per unit cost of power to be produced by the controversial privately-owned Maheshwar hydro project in Madhya Pradesh: Information revealed through an RTI application shows that the private company developing the dam has projected the average cost of electricity to be produced at a whopping Rs. 10 per...

The new RTI rules framed and implemented by the Chhattisgarh government is a clear attempt and snatching a citizen’s fundamental right of access to information and strangulating the RTI Act. Citizens are requested to sent protest letters in large numbers The Right to Information Act (RTI) is being clipped by several state governments in an attempt to discourage/refuse rightful information to the citizens. Instead of furthering transparency, which is the primary...

-The Deccan Herald The State government on Saturday said there will not be any delay in replying to RTI applications. In reply to a report in the Deccan Herald titled ‘Waiting for RTI replies just got longer’, which appeared on Saturday, the press secretary to the Chief Minister said the new rule of approaching the First Appellate Authority (FAA) and waiting for 45 days is meant only to prevent the influx of...