-The Telegraph Until now, Modi was the only one who represented the government in Niti Aayog Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved the reconstitution of the Niti Aayog, the policy think-tank created in January 2015 out of the remains of the outmoded Planning Commission, by inducting home minister Amit Shah as an ex-officio member along with three other ministers who have been similarly designated. The other ex-officio members of Niti Aayog are...

-The Hindu DoPT says search committee’s deliberations are exempted under the Act The Centre has refused to reveal details of the ongoing selection process for four new central information commissioners, despite a Supreme Court order directing it to do so. The only information disclosed is that 256 people have applied for the four vacant positions, which were advertised five months ago. In its reply to a Right to Information request, the Department of...

-The Hindu Information panel calls for time bound investigation The central information commission (CIC) has directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to disclose information on its investigation and recovery of money from the perpetrators of the Saradha Realty chit fund scam. Investigations must be time bound and transparent keeping in mind the interests of lakhs of affected investors, said CIC. The Rs.10,000 crore Saradha chit fund scam came to light...

-Deccan Chronicle The RTI Act provides for a two-stage dispute resolution process. Mumbai: The central information commission (CIC) has directed the RBI to disclose the list of big loan defaulters it had sent to various banks for resolution. The CIC's directive came while deciding on a plea by an RTI activist, who had based the Right to Information application on media reports that RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya in a lecture in 2017...

-The Hindu The merger of the NSSO into the Central Statistics Office is a cause for concern The announcement that the government has decided to merge the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) into and under the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has caused both surprise and concern. What exactly the ‘merger’ means remains unclear. Recent attempts to question the veracity of National Sample Survey (NSS) data and the way the issue has been...