-Outlook New Delhi: The Centre today asked state governments to put all information related to implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Public Distribution System in public domain. It has also asked states to ensure proactive disclosure under Right to Information (RTI) Act of information on public works done by a department at block and panchayat levels. Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005 lays down that information should be...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In order to shield six national parties from the RTI Act, the government decided to extend the immunity to no less than 1,444 registered political parties as it felt excluding only "recognized" entities would create an anomalous situation. The benefits to 1,444 parties are set out in a note submitted to the Cabinet under the signature of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as in-charge of the department...

Research by the Asian Centre for Human Rights, released on 18 September 2013, provides renewed evidence of marginalisation of Scheduled Tribes (STs) or adivasis in government employment, and in fact suggests that such exclusion is growing in some areas despite policies of reservation. (The entire report can be accessed here). Until May 2013, the number of backlog adivasi vacancies with the Central Government was 12,195 posts. Breaking up these figures...

-MoneyLife.in After several weeks of disgust over political parties trying to slip out of the RTI Act, good news beckons for citizens in India and abroad who want to file RTI online Do you want to seek information under Right to Information (RTI) about public distribution of grains or demand a copy of your answer sheet in your Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination or seek details about a water conservation project...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At loggerheads with the Centre for wanting to probe top bureaucrats without prior approval in the court-monitored investigation into the coal scam, the CBI on Tuesday startled the Supreme Court by saying it was under the stranglehold of babus who frustrated its every proposal. During arguments on the necessity to adhere to Section 6A of Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act in court-monitored and court-directed investigations,...