The Centre plans to manacle the RTI Act When the UPA passed the landmark Right to Information Act in 2005, it was meant to empower citizens. The law promised transparency, accountability, and the end of corruption in governance. But in under five years, the government is planning to push through amendments that will dilute the law. Ironically, the amendments are being pushed through in a totally opaque manner. There has been...
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Smart fertiliser subsidy signals bold farm reform by Swaraj Thapa, Ravish Tiwari
In a bold move that will not just prune the humongous fertiliser subsidy bill but also change the face of agriculture, Prime Minister manmohan singh, aided by several Cabinet colleagues, today brought in a nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) regime. This will incentivise companies to innovate beyond a handful of products sold in the market presently and offer farmers choice based on soil needs. This is expected to trim the subsidy bill...
More »Food security bill back on Centre table
The draft Food Security Bill, which has returned to the negotiating table of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) after a gap, is, among other things, expected to witness discussions on the number of people to be covered by the scheme across the country, whether the other vulnerable sections of the society are to brought within its ambit, whether it should be confined to the distribution of either rice or...
More »Advertising, Bollywood, Corporate power by P Sainath
Issues today have to be dressed up in ways certified by the corporate media. They have to be justified not by their importance to the public but by their acceptability to the media, their owners and sponsors. That the terrible tragedy in Pune demands serious, sober coverage is a truism. One of the side-effects of the ghastly blast has been unintended, though. The orgy of self-congratulation that marked the media...
More »Manmohan’s photo cannot be used without PMO’s approval by Sandeep Joshi
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has thrown a spanner in the works of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which planned to put up huge hoardings of Prime Minister manmohan singh’s photographs along all national highways. Going a step further, it directed all Central ministries and departments not use the Prime Minister’s photographs without prior approval. “Photograph of the Prime Minister cannot be used by any Ministry /Department without...
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