-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The National Food Security Bill, which seeks to provide heavily-subsidized food to two-thirds of India's 1.23 billion people, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Monday. Much like what happened in the Lok Sabha last week, there was a scramble among political parties to garner populist brownie points even as they differed fiercely on certain provisions of the bill and their implementation. With the Congress all...
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PMO reveals graft complaints against CJI, AG -Manoj Mitta
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a remarkable instance of transparency, the Prime Minister's Office made public under RTI a complaint which had been given to it leveling allegations of corruption against, among others, chief justice of India P Sathasivam, his predecessor Altamas Kabir and attorney general G E Vahanvati. The PMO's disclosure on August 23 of these as-yet unverified allegations complied with a statutory safeguard. The RTI reply specifically said...
More »Manish Tewari's suggestion of licensing journalists undemocratic, Editors Guild says
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Editors Guild of India described I&B minister Manish Tewari's suggestion of licensing journalists as an "undemocratic" practice and a tool of totalitarian states to control the media. "The reporting of facts and the expression of ideas is the right of every citizen and to require the passing of a test and the possession of a licence issued by the government would be a violation of the...
More »Fleeing the light -Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey
-The Hindu Political parties have acted as judge, jury, supplicant and advocate in their move to amend the RTI Act and exempt themselves from its purview. Their rhetoric on transparency is more hollow than ever A friend called the other day, and said: "I want to congratulate all of you in the RTI community, because you have managed to do what no one, and nothing else has managed to for a long...
More »Cultivable land continues to shrink -Vishwa Mohan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Cultivable land in India continues to shrink. It may not pose an immediate problem for the nation's food security but its long-term effect could be disastrous with the country needing more and more foodgrains to support its growing population. Latest data from the agriculture ministry shows that as many as 20 states reported decrease in cultivable land to the extent of 790,000 hectares in four years...
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