Posco’s proposed $12 billion steel plant in India is in doubt after a government panel recommended scrapping environment clearances given to the world’s third largest steelmaker. Three of the four members of the panel suggested that approvals should be canceled because of “flaws in the studies, and shortcomings in the clearances granted” to the project in the eastern state of Orissa, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters yesterday in New Delhi....

Nikhil Dey, convener of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, has been in the forefront of the RTI movement. He speaks to  Bharat Dogra  about the achievements of the RTI and the challenges ahead: How do you assess the overall impact of the RTI? Sceptics say corruption is increasing more than even before. What I can assure them is corruption would have been much higher without the RTI. In schemes...

RTI activists from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad  have urged state governor K Sankaranarayanan to issue directions to the state information commission to update information on its official website. In a letter to the governor, the activists have pointed out that it is mandatory for all government and semi-government offices to voluntarily provide information of the office under section 4 of the RTI Act. "However, information about the commission's address, telephone numbers and...

The youth will not take no for an answer. Five years on, the RTI comes of age. At four feet something, Santosh’s energy belies her petite frame. The school dropout was introduced to RTI through activist Arvind Kejriwal, and now, at Parivartan’s Sundar Nagri office, she holds fort, helping others acquire everything from BPL and ration cards to school admissions through RTI. Threats and attacks by local authorities who dubbed her...

A landmark ruling by the Central Information Commission raises hopes that government functioning will become more transparent. ON August 30, a three-member Bench of the Central Information Commission (CIC), New Delhi, gave a ruling that has the potential to bring under public scrutiny crucial aspects of the functioning of the Central and State governments that have remained hidden from the public glare all these years. The Bench, comprising Chief Information...