A steady rise in the awareness levels about the Right to Information Act (RTI) among the general public has forced babus to adopt the use of multi-coloured stick-notes (small glued sheets or post-its) on all files and petitions processed at the state secretariat. This way, there will neither be any record of favouritism shown to any issue nor evidence of any irregularity in the speedy clearance of a certain file...

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Ajit Singh's draft for amendment in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 proposes a complete ban on acquisition of land for profit-making and commercial purposes. The acquisition rights for industry should be allowed only if necessary for national security. Besides redefining `public purpose' for which land is acquired, the draft wants the government to be advocate of farmers' right and not a real estate agent. The...

The method of selection of Information Commissioners cries out for reform. FOR the Right to Information (RTI) Act to be successful, it is not enough if it has provisions that encourage information-sharing and punish those Information Officers who deny requests for information on specious grounds. Activists have found that while deciding appeal cases the degree of commitment of Information Commissioners to the Act's objectives matters more than the supportive provisions of...

In the five years of the Right to Information Act, activists who use it have faced reprisal across the country. OCTOBER 2010 marks the fifth anniversary of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Act and its implementation have been described in both administrative circles and civil society as “revolutionary” , “a blow for transparency”, “a check on corrupt practices” and “a people's intervention tool with tremendous impact”. Social activists and...

Despite growing threat to food security from global warming, India is busy acq-uiring fertile lands for industries and infrastructure. Something terrible is happening to the weather. And it is happening right across our home. From the cold desert of Ladakh to the plains of Bihar and Jharkhand, extreme weather conditions have played havoc. In neighbouring Pakistan, unprecedented floods, and that too in the arid region of Sindh, have hit more than...