The National Advisory Council is set to oppose the Centre’s proposal to dilute the Right to Information Act through a new set of rules.A meeting of the panel’s working group on transparency, accountability and governance — headed by RTI activist Aruna Roy — objected to the move to compress applications for information to only one matter at a time and set a word limit of 250.The sub-committee that recently consulted...
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National Advisory Council to examine new RTI draft rules by Nidhi Sharma
National Advisory Council (NAC) will examine threadbare the new draft rules framed for Right to Information Act , which make it mandatory for applicants to file questions in 250 words and pay for hiring photocopy machine used to provide information. NAC’s sub-group on transparency and accountability, headed by social activist Aruna Roy, would discuss the draft rules in its meeting on Monday. The draft rules for RTI Act have been framed...
More »Babus fined Rs 1 for blocking information by Sanjeev Devasia
What do you think should be the fine for information officers denying information to citizens? Re 1, nothing more or less, according to a state information commissioner.An RTI response sought by activist Vihar Durve in June 2010 revealed that Konkan Information Commissioner Navin Kumar imposed a penalty of Re 1 in two cases of appeals between 2005 and 2008 for stalling information.The first, imposed on July 5, 2008, was meant...
More »25 years of Save Narmada Movement
Has Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), one of India’s best-known peoples’ movements, run out of steam? Or is it still relevant in its new avatar as a force to reckon with? After all, the NBA has failed to achieve its primary goal of blocking big dams on Narmada, including the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat. The short answer to the question of NBA’s achievement is that it has forced a paradigm...
More »Centre to send monitors to MP to probe alleged graft in NREGA by Ashwini Shrivastava
The Centre will send "monitors" to Madhya Pradesh to look into alleged financial irregularities worth crores of rupees in several works done under its flagship rural employment guarantee scheme. Official sources said the action came after several non-government organisations and self-help groups approached Rural Development Ministry, nodal agency for executing work through under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA), regarding alleged corruption in the programme meant for people living...
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