-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In order to shield six national parties from the RTI Act, the government decided to extend the Immunity to no less than 1,444 registered political parties as it felt excluding only "recognized" entities would create an anomalous situation. The benefits to 1,444 parties are set out in a note submitted to the Cabinet under the signature of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as in-charge of the department...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi on Friday announced his emergence as the new Congress boss rejecting as "complete nonsense" the ordinance to save convicted legislators from disqualification. In a powerful intervention he sealed the fate of the contentious legislation, embarrassed PM Manmohan Singh hours before his meeting with Barack Obama in Washington DC and publicly rebuked the party old guard. "I'll tell you what my opinion on the ordinance...

-The Hindu The United Progressive Alliance has brazened it out on another piece of legislation aimed at cosseting and mollycoddling the political class. The Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2013, which overturns a Supreme Court order mandating the disqualification of lawmakers immediately upon their conviction, offends for two reasons. First, the ordinance marks the backdoor entry of a bill that faced opposition in the monsoon session of Parliament....

-The Hindustan Times Investigating agencies may soon be required to seek the Centre's permission to question even senior retired officials in a corruption case, a move that is likely to pit it against the Supreme Court. No corruption investigation or inquiry can be opened against a senior serving government official - of the rank of joint secretary and above - without the government's nod, which often slows down the probe and also...

-PTI New Delhi: A bill seeking to amend the Right To Information (RTI) Act to shield political parties from providing information under the transparency law is scheduled to come up for discussion in Lok Sabha on Monday. The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill 2013 was introduced on August 12 in the Lower House by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanasamy but could not be discussed amid repeated...