-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The government’s move to introduce a new bill to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act in the monsoon session of Parliament has riled the Opposition parties and social rights activists. Opposition MPs are planning to raise the issue on the first day of the session. The government has not put the draft amendment bill in the public domain yet. In Parliament bulletin on “government business expected...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Cloak on RTI bill -Anita Joshua
-The Telegraph New Delhi: In the Lok Sabha bulletin for legislative business of the upcoming monsoon session, one bill stands out because it is the only one about which no details have been furnished. The bill seeks to amend the Right to Information Act of 2005, and the ironical opaqueness has alarmed transparency advocates who have mounted a pushback. As many as 18 bills are listed for introduction, consideration and passage in the...
More »SC lens on information vacuum
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, Bengal and seven other states on a petition seeking immediate filling up of the posts in the Central Information Commission and the state information commissions. A bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan sought responses within four weeks on the PIL filed jointly by three RTI activists - Anjali Bharadwaj, Amrita Jorhi and Lokesh K. Batra -...
More »Maternal mortality ratio is falling but more effort required to catch up with China
The country's maternal mortality ratio (MMRatio) exceeds that of China by a huge margin, which not only indicates the poor status of women in our society but also the miserable functioning of health system, among other things. However, there is some good news around the corner to cheer about. Recently released data by the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin indicates that for the country as a whole the MMRatio has...
More »90% of Information Commissioners are civil servants -Vinita Deshmukh
-MoneyLife.in Recently and at last, Maharashtra has appointed a Chief Information Commissioner under the Right to Informaation (RTI) Act, and it is no surprise that he happens to be a former bureaucrat. Sumit Mallik, who just retired as Chief Secretary, takes over the chair, which was lying vacant since the last several months. The trend of appointing civil servants for the posts of CICs and Informaction Commissioners (ICs) has continued ever since...
More »