After Haryana ban, illegal mining shifts to Sikar’s hills Who’s The Quarry? More than 400 active leases in the Sikar belt 1,200 trucks move out of Rajasthan Aravallis daily In Dabla alone, 50 ha of land mined Area has five small rivers, three clogged with sludge. *** The ceiling of her house has some long cracks, the roof has become unstable, the floor in some parts has caved in. When Reshmi built her house in the Dabla...

-The Deccan Herald The Central Information Commission (CIC) has warned government officials against denying information to an Right to Information (rti) applicant on the ground that the fee has been wrongly deposited in the name of an officer or has been forwarded through a particular mode. Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra said the officials could not make these excuses in dealing with rti applications. “We would only like to place it on record...

-The Times of India The 38-year-old rti activist who had gone missing from Ghazipur on Thursday resurfaced on Saturday quite mysteriously. Shiv Kumar Tiwary, who had helped expose the MCD ghost employee scam, was traced in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, police said. "He was traced in Muzaffarnagar and brought to Delhi. He claimed that he wasn't hurt and didn't suspect anyone who could be behind the incident. He told us that...

-The Hindustan Times MPs, who already get R5 crore each to develop their constituencies, suddenly have more funds to dip into. The government has made available to them money under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), its flagship livelihood programme. The statistics and programme implementation ministry, which monitors the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), has decided to converge the fund with MGNREGA after representations from MPs,...

-The Economic Times The attempt of Central Information Commission (CIC), the final appellate authority for implementation of Right to Information (rti) Act, to bring transparency in the functioning of ministries and autonomous bodies has come a cropper with the government refusing information to the panel itself. CIC has been facing a problem making public authorities (government departments, apex bodies, autonomous organisations and ministries) divulge details on how they are implementing rti...