-ThePrint.in Modi government’s proposed amendments to one of India’s most powerful laws will reduce autonomous information commissions to 'caged parrots'. India’s Right to Information Act is under attack. Surreptitiously, and without any public consultation, the Narendra Modi government introduced a bill in Parliament that aims to undermine the independence of information commissions – the final adjudicators under the RTI law. The bill was passed on 22 July by the Lok Sabha, where...
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Lok Sabha passes Bill amending RTI Act amidst strong objection from Opposition
-The Hindu Opposition accuses the government of trying to dilute the effectiveness of the law New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 three days after it was introduced. It seeks to amend the landmark transparency law and bring in changes involving the salaries and tenures of Information Commissioners (ICs) at the States and Centre. As per the amendment ICs — who currently have five-year tenures...
More »Explained: What changes in RTI Act mean -Shyamlal Yadav
--The Indian Express Government has introduced amendments giving itself powers to set salaries and service conditions for Information Commissioners. How does it change the existing Act, and why is the Opposition protesting? New Delhi: ON FRIDAY, the government introduced in Lok Sabha the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which proposes to give the Centre the powers to set the salaries and service conditions of Information Commissioners at central as well...
More »The tremor of unwelcome amendments to the RTI Act -Aruna Roy & Nikhil Dey
-The Hindu The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill is a twin attack on accountability and the idea of federalism “Amendments” have haunted the Right to Information (RTI) community ever since the RTI Act came into effect almost 14 years ago. Rarely has a law been so stoutly defended by activists. It is not possible to pass a perfect law. But it was a popular opinion strongly held by most RTI activists that...
More »Aruna Roy, well-known social and political activist, interviewed by Jipson John and Jitheesh PM (Frontline.in)
-Frontline.in Interview with Aruna Roy. ARUNA ROY is a well-known social and political activist. A former Indian Administrative Service officer, she resigned from the IAS in 1975 and has since worked with the most oppressed in society. Aruna Roy’s observation on government service is indicative of her future concerns: “Everyone calls it an elite service; I always felt the discourse should be a bit better than what it was. I was shocked...
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