When National Highways Authority of India engineer Satyendra Dubey was killed in 2003 after he wrote a letter to then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was killed for his disclosure, despite the explicit appeal that his identity be kept secret. His death strengthened the growing sense across the world that such truth-tellers needed legislation to keep them safe (Time magazine declared “2002” the year of the whistleblower, after giant corporate...

A proposed legislation to protect Whistleblowers and provide for severe punishment to those exposing the identity of people disclosing information was approved by the government on Monday. The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosure Bill, 2010 provides the Central Vigilance Commission powers of a civil court to hand down harsh penalty to people revealing the identity of Whistleblowers, official sources said. The bill was approved at...

Opposing the current practice of appointing retired bureaucrats as information commissioners, RTI activists on Thursday demanded that future appointments take place through open advertisement with applicants giving a detailed application form and a presentation to be screened by a high level committee. Advocating an open and transparent process for appointment of information commissioners, RTI activists said persons of eminence in public life should be selected. MKSS leader and social activist...

After a long wait, a legislation aimed at protecting Whistleblowers will be taken up by the Cabinet on Thursday. The bill has provisions to prevent victimization or disciplinary action against those who expose corruption in government. The proposed law is expected to encourage disclosure of information in public interest and will cover central, state and public sector employees. According to the bill, if a person making a disclosure is victimized...

The government on Thursday said a Bill to protect Whistleblowers is in the final stage of formulation. “A Bill to protect the persons who make public interest disclosures is nearing finalisation,” Minister of State for Public Grievances Prithviraj Chavan said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. “There have been reports in the media and government has been informed about the increased threat to RTI (Right to Information) activists. Such incidents...