-Association for Democratic Reforms Press Release New Delhi: The amendment made in the RTI Act by the Parliament that proposed to keep political parties outside its ambit has been approved by the Parliamentary Committee, entrusted with the task of reviewing it despite much opposition from civil society organizations and citizens. In a landmark decision on June 3, 2013, the Central Information Commission (CIC) pronounced that the political parties (INC, BJP, CPM,...
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Activists for special Parliament session to pass bills dealing with graft
-PTI NEW DELHI: A day after Rahul Gandhi made a strong pitch for more legislations to weed out corruption, activists on Sunday demanded convening of a special session of Parliament to pass bills dealing with graft at the grass-roots level. "Just a Lokpal Bill is not enough. It is actually one part of many that have to come together. To our mind, the Grievance Redress Bill is 'Aam Aadmi Ka Lokpal'," said...
More »West Bengal transport minister calls cycle ban in Kolkata illegal -Sayantan Bera
-Down to Earth State government yet to revoke ban on non-motorised transport despite repeated protests, calls from civil society and advisory from Union Ministry of Urban Development "I have been fined three times this month while delivering milk," says an angry Omkar Mandal. For over two decades now, Mandal has been cycling about 10 km every day to pick up and deliver milk. "Each time I have to pay Rs 120. How...
More »Anu Aga's lone dissent note on excluding political parties from RTI-Kavita Chowdhury
-The Business Standard Says she considers political parties to be public authorities because they get substantive financial funding from the government of India While a parliamentary Standing committee today supported the move to keep political parties outside the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, committee member Anu Aga, (former chairperson of Thermax Ltd) was the lone voice of dissent on the 29 member panel. Aga who is a nominated member...
More »A question of accountability -S Narayan
-The Hindu While it is apparent that due process has been subverted to the advantage of a few by the political executive, it is equally true that there has been some politicisation of the civil service Two recent events have focussed attention on the relationship between the political executive and public servants. At the international conference on corruption organised by the Central Bureau of Investigation on November 11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...
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