-Association for Democratic Reforms Press Release   New Delhi: The amendment made in the RTI Act by the Parliament that proposed to keep political parties outside its ambit has been approved by the Parliamentary Committee, entrusted with the task of reviewing it despite much opposition from civil society organizations and citizens. In a landmark decision on June 3, 2013, the Central Information Commission (CIC) pronounced that the political parties (INC, BJP, CPM,...

-Vikalp The recently concluded Bali Ministerial marks an important milestone in the WTO negotiations. The National Food Security Act, 2013 in India has brought the issue of food security and hunger within developing countries to the forefront of the negotiations in the WTO. In this context, the G-33 proposal addressing the issue of non-recognition of food security concerns of developing countries within the global trade rules reflected a meaningful unity within...

-PTI Taking cognisance of reports on destruction of files by officials, CIC today issued summons to Delhi Chief Secretary to present their inquiry report into the alleged incident before it and barred destruction of any record held by any GNCT department till further orders. Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu also directed the Chief Secretary D M Spolia to initiate criminal action against officials, who were found to be involved in the destructions...

-The Hindu Justice A.K. Ganguly's holding on to his position as the Chairperson of the West Bengal State Human Rights Commission after being accused by a law intern of improper sexual advances may indicate a justified concern about his hard-earned reputation. Yet, it is clear he has also displayed a petulant unwillingness to recognise that his continuance does great damage to the institutional integrity of his office. After a three-member...

-The Hindustan Times Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): At a time when Right to Information Act has become an important tool to seek information, government departments have failed to implement section 4 of act that was aimed at providing suo moto information on websites. Section 4 of the RTI Act was a commitment to ensure that information is put before the public at regular intervals through various means of communications, including internet, so that...