Proposed changes to the Right to Information (RTI) Act threaten to render it ineffective to a large extent. The amendments include restricting questions per RTI query to one and word count to 250 per query, and levying a higher charge. If the Department of Personnel and Training proposed draft comes into effect it would be applicable to all Central government agencies and respective state commissions can follow suit. RTI Activists...

In an effort to stem the tide of corruption and keep the builder lobby "on a tight leash", a number of checks and guards have been introduced in the new coastal zone regulations. But the one that is likely to cause much consternation among developers is the Centre's insistence that private companies undertaking any redevelopment of koliwadas (fishing villages) within 100 m of the coastline will come under the purview...

So why is the UPA hell-bent on killing its unique success story: the NREGA? Here's the inside narrative of the conspiracy. It took 47 days of a protest sit-in at Jaipur to make the state budge(1). It's notable that the objective of this protracted protest was not to coerce the Rajasthan government for an extra share of the state's resources, but to hold the government accountable to the Constitution and its...

The National Advisory Council has suggested amendments to the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, and to the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules. It is also awaiting the comments of the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) to its suggestions on the new Right to Information Rules. Finally, in a bid to strengthen the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS),...

The Central Information Commission (CIC), the final appellate authority for the Right to Information (RTI) Act, has asked the Planning Commission to include disclosure norms in all future public-private-partnership (PPP) projects undertaken by the Centre and the state governments. Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra has written to Planning Commission deputy-chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to incorporate disclosure norms, so that any project which has the participation of private firms and concessionaires come...