Five years after Right to Information (RTI) Act came into existence, Information Commissioners feel that there should be more transparency in their appointments. A survey conducted by Parivartan , an NGO, among state and central Information Commissioners , the final appellate authorities for RTI Act grievances and complaints, has found that 66% of commissioners surveyed want a transparent selection process. The survey found that Information Commissioners had reservations about the...

The Aadhaar or UID project has grave implications for every Indian. It will enable the government to profile every citizen and track their movements and transactions. There is no guarantee that intimate personal information -- pre-existing illnesses, romantic relationships etc -- won't be shared with other agencies, warns Praful Bidwai. An elaborate charade has begun with the rolling out of the first Aadhaar unique identity numbers in a tribal district of Maharashtra by...

In a first step of its kind, nine private companies have been shortlisted by the Union rural development ministry to develop infrastructure in the rural areas and maintain it for a period of 10 years. The project, envisioned as part of former President A P J Abdul Kalam’s pet scheme, Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), will see these nine private players undertaking pilot projects in January next year...

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government believed in inclusive growth and wanted to ensure that the benefits of growth reached every individual across the country, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said here on Saturday. Over the past six-and-a-half years, the UPA government had strived to ensure economic growth, provide employment to people and raise the resources required for implementing poverty alleviation programmes. “We recognise that growth is necessary for sustaining our programmes. At...

Given the scale of UPA-II's proposed food security programme, getting the recipe right was never going to be easy. But even accounting for their differences, the National Advisory Council (NAC) and the government are having more problems than expected pushing the right to food legislation. Two NAC proposals have been rejected by the ministry for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, with the result that a fresh draft may need...