-PTI Bhopal: As many as 11,441 appeals and complaints under Right to Information Act are pending with the Madhya Pradesh Information Commission which is currently functioning without chief and other commissioners. A total of 9,946 appeals and 1,495 complaints are pending against various state government departments for failing to give desired information sought by applicants under the transparency legislation, according to documents, updated till September 2012, accessed under RTI by an activist,...

The total expenditure on central schemes for the poor and on the major subsidies exceeds the states' share of central taxes. These schemes are chronic bad performers due to a culture of immunity in public administration and weakened local governments. Arguing that the poor should be trusted to use these resources better than the state, a radical redirection with substantial direct transfers to individuals and complementary decentralisation to local governments...

-The Economic Times The government has decided to conduct a study on the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act to know the cost to the government in providing information to citizens under the UPA's showpiece initiative and whether it has helped improve its "public perception about the extent of reduction in corruption". As per the RTI Act of 2005, only Rs 10 fee is required to seek information from any...

-Outlook Rejecting contentions that government is implementing the Aadhar enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (cash transfer) system in a hurry, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told Rajya Sabha today that the measure being implemented step by step will eliminate leakages, delays, duplicacies and falsification. "It will lead to seamless transition. We believe that the new system, which we will introduce, will be more transparent. It will eliminate leakages, delays, duplicacies and falsification. Government firmly...

-The Hindu Convinced that the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) installation is safe, the French government recently granted the fusion project the necessary permission to start construction in Cadarache. There are many firsts to the project. Maintaining transparency has been one of ITER’s most significant features and organising an enquiry to give the public an opportunity to formulate its opinion has set a new benchmark for openness. Independent experts assessed the...