-PTI The government on Thursday gave its nod to a bill aimed at providing time-bound delivery of services like passports, pensions and birth and death certificates, among others, to citizens. The Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011, was approved by Union Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The bill envisages penalty of up to Rs. 50,000 against a...
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No solace in this quantum of accountability-Samir Saran and Abhijit Iyer-Mitra
-The Hindu On February 11, the Supreme Court issued notice to the government, seeking its response on making intelligence agencies accountable to Parliament. This question is pertinent and in some ways captures the sentiments expressed by many and best vocalised by two leaders in recent times. Vice-President Hamid Ansari had said in his 2010 speech on this subject “....responsibility to the legislature, and eventually to the electorate, is an essential element...
More »Food for granted-Sebastian PT, N Madhavan and E Kumar Sharma
-Business Today What does the proposed food security law mean for the government's finances? Most days, around half a dozen middleaged men in Tamil Nadu's Nemam village head for a slushy pond. They are farm labourers who have had little work for the past few months because of a drought in their Tiruvarur district. As an alternative they catch fish, but the income from it is not enough to survive on. "But...
More »Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: the Verma Committee and After-Ayesha Kidwai
-Economic and Political Weekly The committee of inquiry headed by justice Verma is a landmark for the way in which it has inscribed into the very foundations of law, the equality and liberty of India’s women citizens. To uphold the constitutional guarantees afforded to women, it is essential that the rights given to working women in the Vishaka judgment (also delivered by justice Verma) are not elided or compromised, either by...
More »Rajasthan’s Rajsamand shows the way with Right to Hearing Act -Anindo Dey
-The Times of India TOGI (RAJSAMAND): For once the crowd no longer mobs the district collector; not even in a surging camp of redressal seekers. Instead a nearby counter is mobbed. Up for grabs is a pink slip - the guarantee for an official hearing to all complaints. By the end of the day, grievances ranging from faulty electricity connections, non payment of wages, old age pension, a simple request for work...
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