To give information to an RTI activist on pending trial cases under labour Act The Central Information Commission has directed the Divisional Commissioner of the Revenue Department to furnish information to an RTI activist regarding prosecutions, if any, conducted for violation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, for which she had filed an application almost a year ago. Priyanka Sinha, a representative of non-government organisation Pratidhi, had moved an application in...

Mass leaders in India have a tradition of broaching BSP —bijli, sadak and pani — issues to strike a chord during election rallies. However, in almost each of her 150-plus rallies across the state in the election season, Mamata Banerjee deviated from the conventional mix and squeezed into her speech phrases like debt burden, public finance and economic recovery. Whether such esoteric terms found resonance or not, Mamata did get across the...

-The Hindu   Whatever the intention behind them, the new rules framed last month under the Information Technology Act, 2000 are likely to have a chilling effect on the development of the Internet as a medium of communication and information in India. Apart from the unreasonable restrictions on free speech they envisage, the rules raise serious concerns about the privacy of a citizen's personal information, including medical profile, financial position, and...

The Right to Information Act (RTI Act), barring certain exceptions, can be used to get information about decisions taken by public authorities, details of public expenditure, status of projects and many other administrative issues. RTI is also used as an effective tool to prevent corruption, and hence, it is essential that citizens use this Act regularly to keep a check on public authorities. In order to get accurate responses, citizens are...

In a significant order, the state Chief Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that the police department is liable to furnish such information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act which do not relate to state or national security or directly affect an ongoing investigation. The CIC said police agencies cannot deny information relating to general crimes to citizens under the RTI Act citing conditional exemption. The CIC order came on an RTI...