-The Telegraph Bhagalpur: An unusual demand of Rs 2 lakh by an insurance company in lieu of providing information to one Right to Information (RTI) activist from Bhagalpur has left the crusader in the lurch. Ajit Kumar Singh, the RTI activist, had sought information from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India about the details of implementation of a scheme, mainly aimed at the economically weaker sections and also about the works...

-The Hindu The appointments of Vijai Sharma as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and K.V. Chowdary as Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), which have been a long time coming, also raise some concerns about the Narendra Modi government’s level of engagement with institutions that form the life breath of Indian democracy. The CIC presides over the Right to Information, crucial to a participatory democracy in making institutions accountable, while the CVC is tasked...

Due to delay in the appointment of Chief Information Commissioner, the number of pending cases at the Central Information Commission (CIC) have gone up by nearly 1/3rd during the last 9 months. As per information furnished by the website of CIC (accessed on 29 May, 2015), the number of pending cases for disposal was 29,937 as on 22 August 2014, which after 9 months increased to 39,464 as on 22 May,...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The PMO not disclosing information about expenses incurred on foreign visits of the Prime Minister notwithstanding, a CIC-constituted committee has recommended not only putting out such details proactively by all ministries but regular updating as well. The committee of former Chief Information Commissioner A N Tiwari and Information Commissioner M M Ansari, constituted by the CIC gave its report on "Transparency Audit: Towards An Open and Accountable Government". It referred...

-PTI The Prime Minister-led selection committees could not arrive at a decision on the appointment of chiefs of Central Information Commission (CIC) and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) at a meeting held on Saturday. There will be another meeting on the issue shortly, official sources said. The meeting was convened at the Prime Minister’s residence and was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha...