-Outlook India RTI remains the only credible means left in our polity today to access the facts within government functioning, and therefore, come closer to the truth, write Aruna Roy and Rakshita Swamy. “We the people of India….adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution”. The Preamble of the Indian Constitution articulated the intent of sovereignty and the status of all of us, as equal citizens. The Right to Information (RTI) Act...

  A recent press release by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) shows that the declared minimum support price (MSP) for most kharif crops to be marketed in 2019-20 is at least 50 percent above the cost of production. The official information related to the newly declared MSP, which came two days ahead of the Union Budget presentation, gives the impression that the newly re-elected NDA government has kept its promise...

-Hindustan Times The retrograde amendment would amount to creating an RTI ministry under the government Fifteen years is a good time for appraisal of an institution. The Right to Information (RTI) Act, called the sunshine legislation and promulgated in 2005, certainly deserves an in-depth study and assessment for accelerating the flow of information to the public. This calls for upgrading skills, infrastructure, processes and alacrity of response from public authorities. A decadal...

-The Hindu Of 1.25 crore votes counted, 51 did not match, says panel New Delhi: After reports of mismatches between the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips and the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) count in eight cases during the Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission has set up teams to probe seven of the cases. Of the 1.25 crore VVPAT slips counted, 51 or 0.0004% of the total saw a mismatch, according...

-The Indian Express The Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) was signed between India and Mauritius in 1982. Under this, any entity could apply for tax residency and pay zero capital gains tax. This became the principal reason why Mauritius emerged as a top channel for investments being routed into India. After Swiss Leaks, Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, come documents from Mauritius — over 200,000 emails, contracts and bank statements that...