--Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) On Sunday (15th December) CHRI made a submission to the Independent People's Tribunal that was hearing people's perceptions about the working of the National Human Rights Commission on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Protection of Human Rights Act, which provides for the establishment of the NHRC to look into complaints of human rights violations suffered by people. Please click here to download the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Has the government lost or misplaced former President APJ Abdul Kalam's letter asking for a review of mercy petition cases? The ministry of home affairs has summarily dismissed an RTI application saying it has "no information'' on the subject. Ironically, the former President has written about his reservations on death penalty in his book 'Turning Point: A Journey Through Challenges'. The home ministry's denial was in...

India's landmark Right to Information Legislation is called the biggest single step since independence to build transparency in governance. However, its remarkable success is owed only to just 0.3 per cent of Indians who file RTI applications. It's anybody's guess as to what would be the impact if even one or two per cent of Indians began to ask tough questions to hold their rulers accountable. It is noteworthy that...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: On the eighth anniversary of India's landmark transparency legislation today, data mined on the Right to Information (RTI) Act shows it is, indeed, India's sunshine law, with an estimated 40 lakh people using the Act during 2011-12, the latest year for which all-India data is available. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an independent organisation closely associated with the RTI legislation, data-mined annual reports filed by the...

-PTI New Delhi: Citizens will be able to file Right to Information (RTI) applications online from tomorrow in all central government ministries and departments in the national capital. Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanasamy will launch the portal - www.rtionline.gov.in - at a function in New Delhi on Wednesday. Moving further towards greater transparency in governance, the government has started as a pilot project the facility of filing...