The popular outrage over the official definition of poverty at abysmally low levels of daily income, of Rs 26 in rural areas and Rs 32 in urban areas, assumes the state will deny basic services to a household whose income is above the figure. This is totally erroneous. There is no mechanism in the hands of the government to ascertain income or expenditure to identify the 'poor' on the ground. The...

Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra demanded on Friday that the Central Information Commission be upgraded to the status of a Constitutional authority along the lines of the Election Commission of India and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. RTI circles interpreted Mr. Mishra's intervention, coming after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's call for a critical look at the Right to Information Act, as an effort to safeguard the Act and the...

-The Hindu   It should not hit deliberative processes and thwart honest officials from airing views Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for a ‘critical look' at the Right to Information (RTI) Act to ensure that it does not adversely affect the ‘deliberative processes' of the government and discourage honest officials from articulating their views. Addressing the 6th Annual Convention of Information Commissioners here on Friday, Dr. Singh hoped that the deliberations would also...

The media imagery of a “liberated” Red corridor extending from Andhra Pradesh, cutting across the heart of India, all the way to Nepal is the most vivid representation of the threat that Maoists pose to our country. The Prime Minister describes the Maoists as India's most serious internal security challenge and the Home Minister rates it as a “problem graver than terrorism.” In search of an effective response, official committees have,...

-The Times of India   Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday endorsed the concerns of his ministerial colleagues over Right To Information (RTI), saying the transparency enabler should not adversely affect deliberations in the government and deter honest officials from expressing their views on file. While hailing RTI's extensive use and underlining his government's intent to strengthen the law, the PM said there was a need to strike a fine balance between the...