Today is 20th March and it was this day in 2009 when the new form of Right to Information Act (RTI Act) was enacted in J&K by Omar Abdullah led Government soon after coming to power. Prior to 2009 we had an RTI law passed by PDP Congress coalition Government headed by Mufti Mohammad Syeed in 2004 (J&K RTI Act 2004). The 2004 version of RTI Act was much weaker...

-The Times of India  Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal has been slapped with a privilege notice for calling legislators ``rapists, murderers and looters'' during an election rally in Uttar Pradesh on February 25. The notice has been served by Congress MP Sajjan Singh Verma from Madhya Pradesh.  The Lok Sabha secretariat has sought reply from Kejriwal. This will be the second time Kejriwal has been served a privilege notice in the past...

-The Hindu ‘But cumbersome anti-graft apparatus can delay decisions'   With a slew of scams vitiating the government's policy-making environment and holding up reforms, the Economic Survey 2011-12 on Thursday advocated need for a ruthless crackdown on Corruption, but cautioned that a large and cumbersome anti-Corruption bureaucracy could impact decision-making. “While we need to ruthlessly crack down on Corruption, it must, at the same time, be recognised that the fear of a large and...

-The Telegraph The Economic Survey — prepared by Kaushik Basu, chief economic adviser to the finance ministry — has some gratuitous advice for politicians like Mamata Banerjee who announced earlier this week plans to amend state legislation that will require co-operative banks to take government permission before seizing mortgaged property while trying to foreclose loans given to defaulting farmers. “The state provides the laws and enforcement to enable people to sign contracts,”...

-The Hindu The State Information Commission agreed to consider some of the demands of the RTI Kerala Federation and other organisations that staged a dharna before the commission here on Tuesday. In talks with leaders of the organisations, Chief Information Commissioner Siby Mathews said the commission would consider their representation against delegation of its powers regarding disposal of petitions to officials. The commission had been returning complaints recently, on grounds that first appeals...