Documents availed through Right to Information (RTI) Act are giving sleepless nights to former pradhans contesting the panchayat elections again. Armed with these papers — mostly related to utilisation of panchayat funds — the villagers are questioning candidates who come seeking votes. The authenticity of the information being guaranteed, the candidates have no chance to argue. In village Hamirpura in Jalaun, a candidate contesting for the the gram pradhan’s seat for the...

In a recent judgement, the State Information Commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar has said that Trusts  or institutions that are not directly substantially funded by the government, but still indirectly receive funds to run schools, courses, colleges, come under the Right to Information (RTI), Act. Kuvalekar, in his judgement said that indirectly, since the parent institute is getting the funds for institutes run by them, the RTI is applicable. The judgement came in the...

Investigation by government officials into Re 1 being paid as wages to NREGA workers at Gudaliya village in Tonk district have brought to the fore large-scale anomalies. The assistant engineer in his report has accepted the fact that though the total expense of the work done in the village is worth only Rs 60,810 but Rs 4,80,472 were paid. “This clearly exposes the fact that false ‘measuring’ Books were filed and...

Ten persons, including two Deputy Directors, have been arrested in connection with two scams in the Public Distribution Scheme in Kishtwar and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir, sources said on Tuesday. The Crime Branch of Police conducted raids at the premises of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) department in Srinagar, Anantnag and Jammu on Monday and arrested the four accused officials in connection with misappropriation of food grains...

India's hurried quest for development and its disregard for road safety have resulted in a major public health problem that demands serious thought and action. The high mortality and morbidity associated with road traffic injuries are a major public health challenge worldwide. Every year, road traffic crashes kill an estimated 1.2 million people. The figure for the injured is over 50 million. Significant increases in these estimates are projected over the...