-The Hindu Benefits elude minorities, says rti activist New Delhi: Inspired by Arvind Kejriwal's recent dharna outside the Rail Bhavan, Delhi resident Faheem Baig staged a dramatic protest, to catch the Prime Minister's attention, during the launch of the National Waqf Development Corporation here on Wednesday. Manmohan Singh had just finished his address when Mr. Baig got up and said government schemes for religious minorities had never reached the beneficiaries. The Unani practitioner and...

-The Hindustan Times Mumbai: Close to 74.2% seats meant to be set aside for students from the economically weaker sections (EWS) have not been filled up for the academic year 2013-14 in schools across the city, revealed a query sought under the Right to Information Act. Many of the schools were found not to have filled even a single seat under the EWS quota mandated by the Right to Education Act...

-The Indian Express Social audits should not be judged by state response alone. They create awareness about rights and create engaged citizens. This article is in response to Farzana Afridi's ‘Social audit isn't enough' (IE, January 22). Social audits have been enshrined as one of the transparency and accountability tools in the MGNREGA. Such accountability mechanisms aim to strengthen the otherwise weak institutions of delivery as they engage the beneficiaries in the...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Government departments should not insist on seeking address of an rti applicant if a post box number is being provided to them for communication, the Centre has said. The ministry of personnel has written to all central government ministries or departments, who act as public authorities mandated with providing information on rti applications made to them, citing a judgement by Calcutta high court in this regard. "When the legislature thought...

-The Times of India RAJKOT: Only one farmer committed suicide in Gujarat because of crop failure between 2003 and 2012! This is what the Gujarat government wants people to believe despite the furore over farmer suicides in the state. This came out in the form of a letter from Union agriculture ministry to rti activist Bharatsinh Zala on the direction from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Zala had sought Prime Minister Manmohan...