The former Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, who is currently the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission has objected to disclosing his income in the past five years as sought by an applicant under the Right to Information Act. Following his objection, the Income Tax Department has rejected the application made by T. Balachandran of Kochi. Dr. Balachandran had sought from the department certified copies of the income returns...
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Two Orissa villages oppose Posco by Nitin Sethi
The Orissa government bats for it, the PMO is in favour and environment minister Jairam Ramesh has obliged, but the Rs 54,000-crore Posco project has found two difficult adversaries —the villages of Dhinkia and Gobindpur. The two villages have written to Ramesh, saying they have not agreed to the takeover of forest land for the integrated steel plant under the Forest Rights Act and complained the Act has not been implemented...
More »Netas burden schools as they cope with RTE by Anahita Mukherji
The ongoing pre-school admissions have forced many a city school into a tight corner. Institutions are being driven to do a tightrope walk between the demands of the Right to Education (RTE) Act and the unending pressure from political parties to admit students of their choice. The RTE aims at creating a level playing field for all children by making it mandatory for schools to admit a percentage of underprivileged...
More »New draft rules for RTI draws flak by Ankur Paliwal
Activists say the rules undermine the spirit of the law The proposed draft Right to Information (RTI) rules, prepared by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India, have invited more criticism than praise. RTI activists say the rules dilute the very spirit of the RTI Act 2005, instead of strengthening it. The new rules aim to amend the existing ones. DoPT uploaded the rules on its website inviting comments...
More »India angry, blames govt for corruption, inflation
Inflation is beginning to hurt seriously, corruption is at an all-time high and the government is not doing enough to tackle either problem. That is the way India's big cities feel on the two big issues dominating headlines in recent months, according to an 8-city survey done exclusively for TOI. Asked what impact rising prices have had on their household budgets, only 3% said it has had a small impact. About...
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