-Live Mint All file notings can be made public now except those explicitly exempted  The Union cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw controversial draft amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act that sought to restrict disclosure of government file notings. The move allayed the concerns of rights activists. The draft amendments would have restricted disclosure of file notings only to social and developmental issues. The government had to drop the move following...

-The Hindu Farmers’ protest against the proposed 1,980-MW power plant in the trans-Yamuna Karchhna tehsil of Allahabad district entered its 777th day on Tuesday. While the district administration recently served a month’s ultimatum on the farmers to return the compensation they had received for land acquisition, the farmers told The Hindu that they would not be able to repay the amount, regardless of the ultimatum. Meanwhile, they say they will continue agitating at...

-Outlook The venom and aggression with which Congress leaders are responding to a simple question first regarding Mrs Sonia Gandhi and now regarding Mr Robert Vadra proves yet again, if any proof were required, that Congressmen and women are convinced there is a lot to hide  The venom and aggression with which Congress leaders are responding to a simple question being asked first regarding the foreign travels of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and...

-The Times of India BANGALORE: Competitive parenting has reached a new level, with parents taking the RTI route to lay their hands on the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (Class 10th) answer scripts of their kid's classmates. The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board, which conducts the exam for over eight lakh students every year, is in a fix. Following a spike in such applications, it has written to the Karnataka government seeking...

-The Hindustan Times The bureaucracy is determined to make you pay for your right to information (RTI), literally. Documents released under the transparency law reveal that the government has been planning to make people pay to file appeals since 2009. So far, RTI applicants only have to pay a fee of Rs. 10 for filing applications. If the information request is denied, they are entitled to appeal against the decision, initially to the...