-Outlook The NDA seems bent on subverting the RTI Act. Is the slow dismembering of the CIC part of the plan? We Have No Recall For the first time since its inception, CIC's functions expropriated by the govt A search committee set up to appoint a new CIC chief says meeting details cannot be revealed; "highly confidential" RTI appeals pertaining to prime depts...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Four days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first public statement surprisingly backing the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani met with the PM and finance minister Arun Jaitley and persuaded the new regime to persist with Aadhaar numbers and the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme. This meeting - a life-saver for the Aadhaar programme - happened on the first...

-The Hindu Business Line Farmers in Maharashtra are struggling to cope with losses from last month's hailstorm. Satyanarayan Iyer, who travelled extensively through the affected areas, chronicles the region's woe. Shanta Jadhav will never forget that day. It was March 8, a Saturday. The 70-year-old and her husband were in their small hut in Balamthakli village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra. At 6.30 in the evening, they were startled by a loud thud,...

-Outlook The faecal matter hits the rotary blades, politically-but we're still staring at a sanitation disaster "Indians defecate everywhere. They defecate mostly besides the railway tracks. But they also defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the river banks; they defecate on the streets; they never look for cover." -V.S. Naipaul An Area of Darkness, 1964 Not...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Political leaders of different ideologies and hues whether S M Krishna, L K Advani, Sharad Yadav, Pawan Kumar Bansal or Dayanidhi Maran have one thing in common. They are all unauthorized occupants of ministerial bungalows, according to the urban development ministry. The data given by the ministry under the RTI shows that there are 36 former Union ministers who continue to squat on ministerial accommodation...