-The Hindu ‘This will ensure greater Transparency in decision-making' In a significant ruling, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has said reports of all expert committees and commissions, constituted by the government, should be made public to ensure greater Transparency in decision-making. Allowing a petition seeking a copy of a report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), the Commission has rejected the contention of the Public Information Officer (PIO) that the disclosure...

Civil society pressure may have forced the government to keep proposed changes in the Right To Information (RTI) Act in abeyance but the information officers are quietly implementing them.   The government has proposed restrictions on RTI applications that only one issue can be raised in one application and it should not be more than 250 words. But, it had to withdraw amendments following objection by RTI proponents such as National Advisory...

-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...

-The Hindustan Times Civil society pressure may have forced the government to keep proposed changes in the Right To Information (RTI) Act in abeyance but the information officers are quietly implementing them.  The government has proposed restrictions on RTI applications that only one issue can be raised in one application and it should not be more than 250 words. But, it had to withdraw amendments following objection by RTI proponents such as...

-The Pioneer   Alleging large scale irregularities in the implementation of the Union Government’s flagship programme, Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the State, the opposition on Wednesday demanded that the Odisha Government should extend the ongoing CBI probe to all the remaining 26 districts. However, Panchayati Raj Minister Maheswar Mohanty rejected the allegation. Since the charges of large scale corruption as levelled by the Center for Environmental Studies and...