While BJP MP Tarun Vijay appeared on TV on Thursday to say that RTI activist Shehla Masood and her event management firm worked closely with the party's affiliated organizations, and that her killing was being politicized, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said his government will write a second letter to the Centre demanding a CBI probe into the murder. Vijay, who is also a BJP spokesperson, said he was...

RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal today dubbed as “baseless” the questions being raised about interests of US bankrolling the nation-wide anti-corruption agitation under his Gandhian leader Anna Hazare. In a talk with Business Standard, the Ramon Magsaysay awardee said the NGO, Kabir, he runs along with social activist Manish Sisodia, did receive funding from the New York-based Ford Foundation, but pointed out that it had stopped about two years ago. “How can...

From 50 in 2005, the number of applications is expected to touch 15,000 this year The Karnataka Information Commission has received, in recent weeks, a flood of applications for information under the Right to Information Act at public information offices (PIOs) across the State. Factors It would appear that the heightening of the anti-corruption mood in the country following the Anna Hazare movement, the report of the State Lokayukta against illegal mining that...

-The Times of India   Central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi on Sunday faulted the process of selection of information commissioners. "My selection is a flawed process. The process of selection of information commissioner is faulty," Gandhi told reporters here. Stating that the biggest threat to right to information was from the central and state commissions, Gandhi said prolonged pendency of cases with the commissions and faulty selection process of commissioners would defeat the...

As the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement moves to the legislative phase it has to rid itself of the panacea model. The Hazare group has to realise that it has no monopoly on diagnosis or the cure for corruption. The Lokpal is no magic bullet which will solve the problem of corruption. Corruption needs a more cautious and nuanced problematic and a wider set of solutions. To put it facetiously, Hazare’s...