-Outlook The Maoists want a military conflict as it brings more adivasis into their fold. The Indian state's best bet is in ensuring that it wins over the aam adivasis to its side.   May 25th's condemnable attack by the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, which ended up killing and injuring over 50 people from Congress politicians to migrant adivasi labourers, cannot be understood without recognising the Maoist party's explicit political aims. These...

-The Indian Express Recently, the prime minister raised concerns about RTI applications encroaching on the right to privacy. At this juncture, it may be worth remembering the case of “Auto Shankar” and his diary. About 20 years ago, an auto driver called Gauri Shankar, who had murdered more than six teenage girls, was convicted and sentenced to death. Before the appeals process was exhausted, he started writing a diary, which was...

-The Pioneer Plans to gag babus in amended Bill The UPA Government is mulling on bringing amendments to the Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, which is pending in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha in the last Winter Session without any debate. According to sources, the amendments will dilute the spirit of the Bill by stripping the status of whistleblowers to officials who tried to use Government documents like Cabinet...

Reluctance to make reports public could erode public confidence in government’s decisions, says CIC The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed India’s nuclear power plant operator to publicize safety analysis reports of the Kudankulam atomic power plant within a month. In a contentious two-year dispute between environmentalists and the nuclear power establishment, the apex information commission, in an order on its website, has said that the reluctance to make the reports public...

-The Economic Times   What's common between foggy movements of two army battalions, the government auditor's assessments of large notional losses to the exchequer and a letter from the army chief to the PM on his unit's preparedness for war?  The information in each of these instances in the past six months was marked 'secret' in official files, but screamed its way to the public, forcing the government into damage-control mode.  Information leaks in...