-The Times of India   In a brutal attack on Right to Information Act (RTI) activists, village elders of Gollalamamida in Pedapudi mandal in East Godavari district have imposed a 'social boycott' on three students, one of them visually challenged, for complaining against the local officers on their irregularities. The students ran away from the village and met police commissioner of Vijayawada N Madhusudan Reddy here on Wednesday seeking protection. He assured...

-DNA   At the Right to Information (RTI) activists’ meet on Sunday, discussions were held for forming taluka-level committees to be governed by a state-level association. Also, in the meeting, inclusion of government officials to support and strengthen the committees was considered. Around 50 RTI activists participated in the meet and discussed various problems faced by them. RTI activist, Vinod Pandya said that all the activists worked independently without any association’s support till...

-The Hoot   Scores of journalists and non-journalists, governed by the respective statutory Wage Boards, are up in arms against the alleged ‘malicious campaign’ unleashed through the Indian Newspapers Society (INS) by a few Media Houses opposing the recommendations of the latest Justice G.R.Majithia Wage Board constituted by the Centre.   They are awaiting with bated breath the verdict of the Supreme Court bench that had, on July 18, 2011, informally directed the...

Central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has put forth a compelling argument for placing public-private partnerships (PPPs) under the ambit of the Right to information (RTI) Act in an order passed earlier this week. Though the order pertains to a specific case in Delhi, it will have far reaching implications for the rest of the country. The Central Information Commission (CIC) recognizes PPPs as public bodies that must provide information under the...

-The Times of India   BERHAMPUR: While there is a nation-wide debate on the Central government's proposal to exempt the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the state anti-corruption agency urged the government to keep it out of the purview of RTI too. "We have written to the government urging to exempt the vigilance department from the RTI Act," said the state director of vigilance Anup...