-PTI Mahatma Gandhi cannot be accorded the 'Father of the Nation' title by government as the Constitution does not permit any titles except educational and military ones, the home ministry has said. In an RTI response to Lucknow-based student Aishwarya Parashar, the home ministry has told her that no action was taken on her plea to the President to declare Mahatma Gandhi as 'Father of the Nation' because Article 18 (1) of...

-Outlook Having noticed instances where objectionable and vulgar content was being broadcast on private FM Radio channels, the Information and Broadcasting ministry has asked them to ensure that the programmes were clean and the language of jockeys decent. In an advisory to these channels, the ministry said it has come to its notice that "vulgar and objectionable content is very often being broadcast on several FM Radio channels." "It has also been noticed...

-Pratirodh.com Biometric data based 12 digit Unique Identification (UID)-Aadhaar Number linked welfare schemes is being bulldozed with 2014 elections in mind with the ulterior motive of altering voting behavior of the citizens by creating a ‘universal identity infrastructure’ linked to ‘unified payment infrastructure’.   Ahead of next parliamentary elections, with the launch of 21st crore UID-Aadhaar Number and Aadhaar Enabled Service Delivery (AESD) on October 20, 2012 contemptuously ignores Parliament, Parliamentary Committee,...

-Outlook The Union Cabinet has approved Constitution of the 14th Finance Commission to suggest formula for sharing of tax proceeds between Centre and states. The government has cleared setting up of 14th Finance Commission, a senior minister said after meeting of the Cabinet here. Former Reserve Bank Governor Y V Reddy is tipped to be the chairman of the Finance Commission, a Constitutional body which is set up every five years. Besides other things,...

-The Indian Express Recently, the prime minister raised concerns about RTI applications encroaching on the right to privacy. At this juncture, it may be worth remembering the case of “Auto Shankar” and his diary. About 20 years ago, an auto driver called Gauri Shankar, who had murdered more than six teenage girls, was convicted and sentenced to death. Before the appeals process was exhausted, he started writing a diary, which was...