The success of the institution of Lokpal will depend on limiting its scope to the very top of the hierarchy. That will make it manageable and lead to accountability down the line. The drafting of the Lokpal bill is back in the news after the round of Assembly elections. The co-chairperson of the high-power committee involved in the drafting has said that progress is slow and that the June 30 deadline...

-The Hindustan Times   Unidentified men assaulted a Right to Information (RTI) activist from Bharatnagar, Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) on Friday. The police said he suffered injuries to his head, knee and hands. Senior inspector UK Rathod, from Kherwadi police station said: “Ismail Patwari approached us on Sunday after he was attacked by three men with iron rods. Patwari, a resident of Bharat Nagar, was outside a photocopy store near Chetna College when...

-PTI   Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of Jammu and Kashmir GR Sofi has said all the government institutions and organisations which have public dealing including NGOs come under the purview of the Right To Information Act. "Not only government institutions are accountable under RTI Act but those dealing with public like NGOs and charity trusts are also covered under the Act," Sofi said addressing a workshop on RTI awareness in Budgam district...

Cash transfers are now suggested by many as a silver bullet for addressing the problems that plague India’s anti-poverty programmes. This article argues instead for evidence-based policy and informed public debate to clarify the place, prospects and problems of cash transfers in India. By drawing on key empirical findings from academic and grey literature across the world an attempt is made to draw attention to three aspects of cash transfers...

After a government report confirmed major ethical violations in trials of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccines on Indian schoolgirls, senior doctors are calling for transparency in clinical trials conducted under private-public partnerships. The report is yet to be placed in the public domain, but its contents were revealed early May by senior doctors who assisted in its preparation, sparking outrage among public health advocates and women’s rights groups. HPV is an umbrella...