Fourteen national and international non-government organisations and academic centres have called for reforms in what they say are excessively-broad exemptions granted to the government on national security issues by the Right to Information (RTI) Act. To guide decision-making on information requests relating to national security, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), along with other groups, is in the process of formulating “guidelines” to bring about consensus on the extent of restrictions...

Eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar who headed the group of three Central interlocutors for Jammu and kashmir said on Thursday that the thrust of their report was to empower the people of Jammu and kashmir so that they were able to exercise their civil and political rights in full measure. The 176-page report of the group of Central interlocutors was uploaded on the website of Union Home Ministry on Thursday, seven months...

When the opinion of the unattractive sweaty Indian is less important than that of his better looking, English speaking, compatriot. Diesel prices had gone up, and the input desk at NDTV in New Delhi had dispatched me to get reactions from customers at a gas station. Vox pop, they call it in the business, the voice of the people. I was interning in reporting that very hot month of June, so...

-The Telegraph Several states today proposed user charges on rural households for the piped water provided to them but Bengal avoided taking a stand. The Centre supported the idea, proposed by states such as Gujarat, Odisha, Jammu and kashmir, Bihar and Haryana at a conference of ministers for water supply and sanitation. Most urban households in the country now pay water charges but water has always been a free commodity in the villages....

-The Economic Times   The Centre's interlocutors panel on Jammu and kashmir has recommended setting up of a constitutional committee to review all central Acts and Articles of the Constitution extended to Jammu and kashmir. The purpose is to determine how the application of these laws has dented the special status of J&K and curtailed the state government's powers to cater to welfare of its people.  The report of the interlocutors - Dileep...