-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: India is readying a raft of far-reaching reforms in the neglected agriculture sector, often seen as a politically sensitive subject, by trying to pitch the Niti Aayog’s blueprint directly with the states. Liberal contract farming, direct purchase from farmers by private players, direct sale by farmers to consumers, single trader licence, single point levy of taxes and taking fruits and vegetables out of the mandi laws are...
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Death toll of RTI activists goes up to 56 -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: With the recent murder of RTI activist Bhupendra Vira's, the death toll of those using the transparency law to target corruption and malpractices has gone up to 56. In fact, there has been more than 311 instances of harassment of citizens including murder, attacks and intimidation from the time the law came into force in 2005, according to an analysis by Delhi-based advocacy group CHRI. Reports...
More »Unclog the RTI process by making basic information public
-Hindustan Times The first decadal study conducted after the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that over 1.75 crore applications have been filed with one-fourth being requests to the Centre. The study, conducted by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, reveals that 27.2% (47.66 lakh) of the total RTIs filed between 2005 and 2015 were to the different ministries and departments under the Centre. This is a conservative estimate because many departments...
More »PMO received 10 lakh RTI queries in 20 months -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister's Office has received over 1,500 petitions a day for the last 20 months. In response to a RTI query PMO revealed that it had received 10 lakh petitions — that is RTI applications, grievances, complaints — between June 1, 2014 to January 31, 2016. Gurgaon based Aseem Takyar had sought to know how many complaints and grievances were received in the PM's...
More »HRD ministry tweaks norms to push world-class institutions plan -Ritika Chopra
-The Indian Express The committee is meant to screen applications and shortlist institutions that deserve the world-class status. New Delhi: The Human Resource Development Ministry has tweaked the UGC regulations for setting up 20 world-class institutions, just weeks after the proposal hit a roadblock with the Solicitor General of India objecting to the unlimited powers of the proposed empowered experts committee. The committee is meant to screen applications and shortlist institutions that...
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