-The Indian Express RTI Act needs to be protected against attempts to dilute it. RTI activists must be made less vulnerable In April, the government of India proposed amendments to the RTI Act, one of the most empowering pieces of legislation inherited from the UPA era. The most controversial amendment pertained to Rule 12. It would allow the withdrawal of an application in case of the applicant’s death, making the job of...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 782
Supreme Court curbs on states' land largesse to politicians, Bureaucrats -Amit Anand Choudhary
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: State governments may not be able to allot residential plots in cities to serving and former MPs, MLAs, Bureaucrats, journalists and judges of their choice by exercising their discretionary power as the Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to frame guidelines for allotting public land at subsidised rates. Expressing concern over state governments' decision to allocate plots to well off people while lakhs of poor people do...
More »Veterans: dissent not treason -Anita Joshua
-The Telegraph New Delhi: Several military veterans have told the Prime Minister and chief ministers in an open letter that "dissent is not treason; in fact, it is the essence of democracy". "We can no longer look away. We would be doing a disservice to our country if we do not stand up and speak for the liberal and secular values that our Constitution espouses. Our diversity is our greatest strength," says...
More »Prof. Devesh Kapur, director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania, interviewed by Anuradha Raman (The Hindu)
-The Hindu The political scientist on the danger to India’s checks and balances, and the perils of the democratisation of mediocrity in universities Professor of political science and a holder of the Madan Lal Sobti Chair, Devesh Kapur has been director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary India at University of Pennsylvania since 2006. Mr. Kapur, who recently co-edited Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design, says our public universities...
More »Is the RTI law in danger of losing its might? -Poulomi Banerjee
-Hindustan Times The RTI Act of 2005 made the government more accountable. But a new set of proposed rules may weaken the law and make it difficult and risky for people to access information In 2015, activist Lokesh Batra filed a Right To Information (RTI) application with the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) seeking details about the appointment of the next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). But the DoPT refused to...
More »
