The Information Commission is planning to set up Division Benches in the State for quick disposal of cases under the Right to Information Act 2005, State Information Commissioner Shekar D. Sajjan Rao told presspersons here on Tuesday. He said a proposal in this regard is already before the commission, and strategies are being chalked out for the systematic setting up of these benches. These Division Benches would function like that of...
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Ombudsmen of states on NREGA failed, need central body: Jairam
It was in 2009, the Central Government directed the state governments to set up offices of Ombudsman to ensure transparency and accountability in implementation of the NREGA Act. Ramesh said he wanted to "build a system for a tighter financial accountability" in implementation of all the flagship programmes of the Ministry including NREGA, PMGSY, NRLM etc and would consult Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai in this regard on...
More »PPP projects out of RTI, CIC knocks on PM door
With the government serving a severe blow to transparency in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects worth one trillion rupees the Central Information Commission has decided to seek Prime Minister’s Manmohan Singh’s intervention. “We will be writing to the Prime Minister that there should not be a blanket ban on making RTI applicable to PPP projects,” said an Information Commissioner, following a decision at the commission’s last meeting. The CIC wanted the...
More »Five States to initiate review of protection of Dalit rights
A recent study on the role of statutory institutions in protection of Dalit rights in Rajasthan, which prompted the State Government to take action in 31 cases of atrocities against members of Scheduled Castes, is proposed to be replicated in five other States in the country. Civil rights activists and Dalit victims of violence and discrimination highlighted the study's findings and deliberated on the specific instances investigated by it at an...
More »For better laws, debate and discuss bills first by Vipul Mudgal
Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption has a curious side-effect. It has turned the spotlight on India's lack of pre-legislative transparency. We may accept or dismiss team Anna's Jan Lokpal draft but his movement — and the subsequent build-up of hope and betrayal — has unwittingly exposed the systemic opaqueness in which our laws are conceived, written, debated and passed. The Lokpal Bill 2011 is one among 67-odd bills listed as...
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