-Hindustan Times Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday is addressing a convention on the 10th-anniversary celebrations of the Right to Information (RTI) Act which was brought in ‘to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority’. As the act completes a decade of existence, here is how (and why) it changed the way the government and public servants function: 1. What is RTI? A law that empowers every citizen to seek...

-Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Programmes proliferate but vast majority of rural poor remain uncovered by social protection Rome: Social protection is emerging as a critical tool in the drive to eradicate hunger, yet the vast majority of the world's rural poor are yet to be covered. The State of Food and Agriculture 2015 published by FAO today finds that in poor countries, social protection schemes - such as cash transfers, school feeding...

-Livemint.com India unlikely to secure credible gains for its millions of poor farmers unless the govt stands firm against the US over its opposition to New Delhi’s demands in agriculture Geneva: India is unlikely to secure credible gains for its millions of poor farmers as part of the proposed outcomes of the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s Nairobi ministerial meeting unless the Narendra Modi government stands firm against the US over its...

-The Times of India NOIDA: The National Cancer Institute (NCI), a unit of US Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS), has observed that India shares a large proportion of the global cancer burden, with rising mortality rates. The situation can improve with dissemination of scientific information among the general populace, claimed NCI officials. India has around 1.8 million people suffering from cancer, with patients of breast, cervical and oral cancers topping...

-The Indian Express A number of significant disclosures were forced by the RTI, including the information regarding 2G and Commonwealth Games and so on. The Right to Information Act is now 10 years old — long enough to give us a fair idea of how it has performed on the ground. Riding on a huge wave of civil society activism, it started on a positive note and made unexpected impact early...