-The Times of India Union law minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday fiercely quarreled with reporters of a TV channel, disputing their claim that his NGO Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust had embezzled public funds meant for the disabled. The minister countered the allegation that his trust made fake claims of having organized camps for distribution of equipment among the differently abled. A spirited Khurshid, with wife Louise by his side, attributed motives to...

-The Economic Times The RTI Act is undoubtedly a historic landmark and has energised sections of our population like nothing else before. But despite its careful crafting and a well-defined machinery to back it, getting those bits of information, which vested interests within the government wish to hide, are an extremely arduous task. Therefore, I was not surprised when my RTI, seeking simple information regarding the number of foreign trips undertaken...

-The Indian Express Ahmedabad : One of the goriest reports that emerged from Naroda Patiya after the riots was of a young nine-month pregnant woman’s stomach being slit open, the foetus pulled out, and the woman set on fire. Kausar Bano was found lying half-burnt and naked outside her house. As 32 were convicted for the Naroda Patiya killings today, her husband Firoz broke his silence of 10 years. “My wife who...

Two sets of government data on UPA government's most famous flagship programme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), for which Rs. 33000 crore was earmarked in 2012-13 budget, provide widely different figures for several states, a feature which experts say is indicative of the corruption in the scheme and weakness of social audit or accountability. The government has increasingly relied on Management Information System (MIS) for monitoring NREGA at...

-The Hindu Newspaper establishments in insurgency-afflicted Manipur resemble war offices, with heavily armed police guarding them. In addition to the State forces, the managements have engaged on a permanent basis private security men to guard the main gates and the offices. Editors and high profile journalists are avoiding public appearances and almost all of them have changed their mobile numbers clandestinely. They talk over telephone only when the caller’s identity is...