-The Deccan Herald The officialdom’s reluctance to part with public information sought under the Right to Information Act (rti) is by now a well known fact. When nodal officers concerned disclose information, they hide more than they reveal, and often end up being penalised by appellate authorities.  However, an rti reply furnished to an applicant in Devanahalli Taluk near Bangalore is simply shocking as it exposes the utter callousness of the nodal...

-PTI Over 300 tigers lost their lives in and outside various reserves in the country in the last decade, an rti query has revealed. Out of a total of 337 big cats, which died due to poaching, infighting, accidents and old age among others, a highest of 58 were found dead in 2009, followed by 56 in 2011, 36 in 2008 and 28 each in 2007 and 2002, the rti reply said. A...

The Union environment and forests ministry (MoEF) has taken a position countering the Union government's department of personnel and training (DoPT) and stuck to its demand for a CBI inquiry in the forestry scam cases in Haryana. In a letter written to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the environment ministry has reiterated its view that severe violations of forests and wildlife laws were committed in the three cases - digging a...

Appointments to India's secretive external intelligence arm, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), could come under public scrutiny, with the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) upholding an order that the administrative process of an appointment is not exempted from the rti.  Although the agency is likely to further challenge the order, the CIC ruling does throw open RAW's functioning and officials to rti applications.  Passing an order on an rti query seeking information...

-The Hindustan Times The anticipatory bail petition of rti activist Manoj Kumar Karwasra was dismissed on Friday by additional sessions judge, Hisar, Sant Parkash. Karwasra had been booked under IPC sections 419, 420 and 120-B on the complaint of BS Rana, president, St Sophia School Education Society. Karwasra allegedly misused BPL card of Jeet Ram to seek information under the rti Act, as BPL card-holders can seek information free of cost. Police...