-PTI The Government on Wednesday said it has "no" plans to conduct a detailed evaluation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanasamy said that a study was conducted in 2008-09 to assess the key issues and constraints in implementation of the RTI Act. Based on the report, the minister said, "The Government has taken initiatives...
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Media cannot reject regulation-Markandey Katju
I have not read the Private Member's Bill on media regulation that Meenakshi Natarajan was scheduled to move in Parliament last week so I am not in a position to comment upon it, but I am certainly of the opinion that the media (both print and electronic) needs to be regulated. Since my ideas on this issue have generated some controversy they need to be clarified. I want regulation of the...
More »Media Follies and Supreme Infallibility by Sukumar Muralidharan
The Supreme Court has taken steps to lay down a code for media reporting. This attempt at prior restraint on the media is a dangerous move with precedent from authoritarian polities. In a context where the judiciary has been lax in defending the media from attacks which seek to curb its freedom, such unilateral moves will not remedy bad reporting but rather make conditions worse for the media to play...
More »Ban & seize: Congress MP Bill out to gag media by Maneesh Chhibber
The private member’s Bill that Rahul Gandhi’s close aide and Congress MP Meenakshi Natarajan was scheduled to introduce in Parliament last week lays down a draconian set of rules clearly aimed to gag and threaten the media in the name of “protecting national interest”. Called the Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation Bill, 2012, it provides for a media regulatory authority — part selected by the I&B minister and three...
More »Study Shows Unique ID’s Reach to India’s Poor-Amol Sharma
When India embarked on its “unique ID” project in the fall of 2010, pledging to distribute unique 12-digit numbers to 1.2 billion people, the hope was that hundreds of millions of Indians who don’t have a passport, driver’s license or other credible identity document would get one – and with it, a ticket to essential government and private sector services. A new survey led by Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New...
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