-PTI NEW DELHI: The government today launched three agri-portals to make the process of organic farming certification, fertilisers' quality checking and issuance of soil health cards, more transparent and accountable. These portals, launched only in English, will be made available in regional languages also in the next phase for the benefit of farmers. "The three agricultural portals will bring more transparency and accountability. This will help the farming community," Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan...

-Hindustan Times When right to information activist Guru Prasad Shukla was beaten to death by fellow villagers last month, he became the 39th person to lay down his life for exercising the transparency law in its first decade. Another 275 people have reportedly been assaulted or harassed for invoking the law to raise uncomfortable questions before those in power. The 50-year-old Shukla had sought information about development work in his village and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government, after verbally backing the concept of net neutrality for some months, is all set to put it in writing. It is likely to make public this week the telecom department's report on the subject, which sources say will back the Centre's stance that the internet should be completely free with equitable access and without any obstruction or prioritization. The Department of Telecom report -...

-Economic and Political Weekly The RTI is virtually being strangled to death by deliberate delays in appointments. If you find a law uncomfortable, even one that you supported and passed, what should you do? Repealing it would not be politically smart; amending or diluting it will give ammunition to your critics. So the best strategy is to strangulate it, softly and steadily, until it is rendered lifeless and ineffectual. Something like this...

-The Hindu The State’s recent experience shows that even the worst-governed States can reform their public distribution system and make good use of the National Food Security Act. “In Lalu’s days we had a lal card [BPL card], with Nitish we got coupons, and when Manjhi came we got this new ration card”. This is how Anuj Paswan, a Dalit resident of Tetar village in Gaya district, sees recent changes in Bihar’s...