-The Hindu Ahmedabad: The Election Commission (EC) has directed the Gujarat government to set up a Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) to check the menace of paid news during the build-up to December’s State Assembly election. The EC identified paid news masquerading as news as a major problem during elections. It has also issued guidelines to the MCMC to not only monitor all the political advertisements to be aired on television...
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Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, RTI activists interviewed by Vidya Subrahmaniam
-The Hindu A recent Supreme Court judgment and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s openly expressed views in favour of privacy have raised concerns that attempts are being made to dilute the spirit of the RTI Act and limit its use. Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, the RTI’s movement’s leading lights, share their worries with Vidya Subrahmaniam. * Seven years after its enactment, has the RTI Act even partially fulfilled its objectives? Has it...
More »In the public interest-Apar Gupta
-The Indian Express Recently, the prime minister raised concerns about RTI applications encroaching on the right to privacy. At this juncture, it may be worth remembering the case of “Auto Shankar” and his diary. About 20 years ago, an auto driver called Gauri Shankar, who had murdered more than six teenage girls, was convicted and sentenced to death. Before the appeals process was exhausted, he started writing a diary, which was...
More »EC for Probe into Donations by Vedanta to Cong, BJP
-Outlook The Election Commission has come across instances of suspected violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act by Congress and the BJP in their acceptance of donations from subsidiaries of multi-national firm Vedanta group. An investigation by the EC, carried out with the help of the I-T department, has found that both the parties had received about Rs 5 crore each from two subsidiaries of the Vedanta group -- Sterlite Industries and...
More »Election Commission seeks probe into FCRA 'violation' by Congress, BJP
-The Times of India The Election Commission (EC) has asked the Union home ministry to probe the alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) by both the Congress and the BJP by receiving donations of about Rs 5 crore each from Vedanta Group subsidiaries — Sterlite Industries and Sesa Goa. Nirvachan Sadan sources told TOI that the Representation of People Act (RPA) debarred political parties from receiving contribution for a...
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