-Newsclick.in With the increasing political climate of stifled dialogue and dissent, a denial of information sought in the legitimate interest of the public, imposing fines, and subsequent ambiguity in the face of procedural safeguards is not just disheartening, but also dangerous. It is the year 2022, almost 17 years since the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) has been passed. Albeit, in a functional democracy, the emerging field realities would have...

-Newsclick.in The SC has issued notice to the Centre over public authorities failing to disclose information under the central RTI Act, which applies to the region since 2019. Despite the rhetorical emphasis on e-governance, public authorities have failed to make suo moto information disclosures on their official websites in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country. In 2013, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) directed all public authorities to...

-TheWire.in Despite clear instructions from the courts to provide foodgrains to migrant workers and economically vulnerable families, none of the 62 distribution centres checked were found to be distributing rations. New Delhi: The Delhi government’s claims to have adopted a scheme to provide rations to poor and marginalised communities – even if they do not possess ration cards – appears to be proving hollow as no distribution of rations is taking place,...

-TheWire.in "Constitutional and legal mandates are not sufficient to protect the rights of the marginalised group including Dalit and tribals," he said at a lecture. New Delhi: Tribals are subject to oppression and cruelty even after independence and still picked up by the investigating officers to cover up shoddy investigations, Supreme Court Judge Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said on Monday. Justice Chandrachud was speaking at the 13th B R Ambedkar Memorial Lecture on the...

-TheWire.in In high courts across the country and in the Supreme Court, a number of cases are pending relating to basic rights India's citizens are supposed to enjoy. New Delhi: Seventy-two years ago on this day, the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution of India. Two months after that, on January 26, 1950, the country’s Constitution came into effect. But how has the implementation of our constitutional rights and safeguards been going? In high...