THE MERE suggestion of any Amendment to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, sends civil society into a tizzy. Perhaps this level of anxiety is necessary to protect the common man’s most important tool to hold the government accountable. But what if the RTI is dying, not because of government intervention but negligence? The pendency of complaints and appeals in several states is on the rise, while the number of...
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CIC Shailesh Gandhi interviewed by Shonali Ghosal
Is the shortage of information commissioners responsible for killing RTI? That’s not the only thing responsible. The bigger issue is that commissioners need to dispose of far more cases than they have been. Three years ago, they were disposing of not more than 2,000-2,500 cases in a year. Even now, there are lots who do not manage even 1,000 per year. If we continue like this, then no number of commissioners...
More »Lokpal Bill may be tabled in Lok Sabha on Tuesday
-The Hindu The Union Cabinet is likely to meet either on December 18 or 19 after the return of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from Russia to take a call on the contentious issues related to the Lokpal Bill on the basis of inputs given by the Parliamentary Standing Committee and the all-party meet on Wednesday night. According to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, the government intends to move the Bill in...
More »Letters to the editor-from Jayanthi Natarajan
I write to you in connection with the editorial “India lost the plot at Durban” in The Hindu of 13th December 2011. What prompted me to write to you was the inaccurate assessment of the deliberations in Conference of Parties at Durban and the lack of appreciation in the editorial of India's important contribution towards a possible future arrangement on Climate Change. At the outset, allow me to mention that to...
More »HC acquits 4 in ’07 carnage by Chandrajit Mukherjee
Citing lack of evidence, Jharkhand High Court today acquitted four alleged Maoists, sentenced to death for opening fire on spectators of a football match in Giridih in October 2007 and killing Babulal Marandi’s son and 18 others. A division bench of Justices R.K. Merathia and P.P. Bhatt heard the appeals filed by accused Jeetan Marandi, Manoj Rajwar, Anil Ram and Chhatrapti Mandal and gave them the “benefit of doubt” after citing...
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