-Hindustan Times Hamirpur/ Jalaun/ Banda: The dangerous sand mafia stops at nothing. It kills, runs over men in uniform, kidnaps and, in Uttar Pradesh, even molests and rapes. Its impunity stems from the fact, as an HT investigation found, that complaints lodged with police often remain confined to files. Shivpal Singh, gram pradhan of Bansariya village, testifies to the mafia’s dominance. “In March 2014, the musclemen of a kingpin sexually assaulted two women...

-The Hindu 11 out of 25 have never reported any RTI information to the CIC India's top security and intelligence agencies consistently refuse to give out any information about the Right to Information requests they receive, and those that do, reject the bulk of queries they receive, new data shows. Twenty-five of India's top security agencies are exempt from most of the requirements of the RTI Act, but are required to provide access...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Security and intelligence organizations continue to work under the veil of secrecy with minimal scrutiny from Parliament and judiciary. Nearly half of them have not bothered to disclose the number of RTI applications received in the last seven years. About 11 or 44% of the 25 security agencies including Intelligence Bureau, RAW, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Aviation Research Centre among others have not reported the...

-The Indian Express Raipur: The Chhattisgarh anti-corruption bureau (ACB), which is probing irregularities in supply of rice for the public distribution system (PDS) in the state, is scrutinising an alleged balance sheet which lists, among others, senior IAS officers and personal assistants to the food minister and chief secretary as beneficiaries of illegal commissions. The five-page balance sheet, recovered by the ACB from the office of Girish Sharma, personal assistant to...

-Hindustan Times Karnal: A day after a 35-year-old man, Satpal Kashyap, died after being hit by a police vehicle in the convoy of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the deceased's family claimed that timely medical aid could have saved his life. The deceased, a daily wage earner from Pakhana village, was the sole breadwinner of the family and is survived by his wife and four school-going children. Karnal superintendent of police Abhishek Garg...