Why are the erstwhile RTI campaigners so alarmed five years after it became law? Why so many dharnas, rallies, conventions and hunger-strikes all over again? Part of the reason is that the silent revolution that the RTI has spawned needs to be defended from surreptitious alterations and manipulations, and partly because the RTI activists are being threatened, harassed and assaulted by the corrupt and the powerful, often with the connivance...

The quashing of the appointment of P.J. Thomas as the CVC shows the judiciary can go beyond the express provisions of law to render justice. THE Indian Constitution does not envisage strict separation of powers among the three branches of the government – the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. This flexibility permits marginal incursions though one branch cannot usurp the essential functions of the other. One of the essential functions...

Information on allegations of corruption is not excluded from disclosure under the Right to Information Act, the central information commission (CIC) has held. The information could be furnished by applying the severability clause under Section 10, Information Commissioner Sushma Singh said in an order passed on an appeal filed by Vishwanath Swami, a social activist of Chennai. Seeking information on every purchase made by the Narcotic Control Bureau for office modernisation...

An inter-ministerial group set up by the government to keep a watch on inflation and suggest measures has reiterated the need to revise the mandi law that prevents competition among buyers for farm produce. The group headed by chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu said the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act needed to be revised to encourage competition among traders and promote efficiency in retailing. Kishore Biyani , Chairman, Future Group...

There are about 20,000 Right To Information (RTI) applications pending before the central information commission, former chief information commissioner of India Wajahat Habibullah said here Friday. If people have to wait for long for the information they seek, then there is no justice and the act becomes useless, added Habibullah. The CIC ex-chief was attending a three-day national campaign for people's right to information on the theme 'Reclaiming Democracy', which began here...