Infant deaths resulting from a recent clinical trial in India have led to a media outcry. But few have considered how explosive these revelations actually are, or the problematic use and application of the Right to Information Act. When India’s Right to Information Act came into force in 2005, the legislation’s text acknowledged the conflict that could arise from revealing certain information, pointing out that there was a need to ‘harmonise’...

-IANS   The task of ensuring transparency and evolving a mechanism to check corrupt practices had acquired urgency like never before, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday while stressing that the Lokpal bill was at the top of his government's agenda. The Prime Minister, addressing the biennial conference of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and state anti-corruption bureaus, added that the government welcomed inputs from civil society and NGOs on how...

-The Hindustan Times   At a time when it's reeling under allegations of scams and scandals, official documents show that the government gave the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) more immunity from the Right to Information (rti) Act than what the agency had originally sought. The issue of how much immunity the CBI should get was bounced between several government departments, committees and officials that questioned the agency's demand of partial immunity, all...

-The Times of India   Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday said Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) projects should be covered under Right to Information (rti) Act, but government agencies involved in the projects should be asked to provide information under the law. Ahluwalia was in favour of full disclosure by public authorities of all relevant aspects of PPPs and performance under them. "PPP should be covered under rti Act, but government agency...

-The Times of India   Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and newly-formed NATGRID have joined the exclusive list of organizations that are exempted from sharing information under the rti Act except for the matters pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights violations. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved in June that these three organizations would be spared from sharing information under the second schedule of the rti Act....