-The Times of India MUMBAI: You can now request for a copy of a government employee's service book under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to examine his or her track record in discharging duties in the public service. In a first, Central Information Commissioner Annapurna Dixit last month directed the railways to supply a copy of the service book of a ticket examiner (TE) to RTI activist Chetan Kothari, saying...

-The Telegraph Right to Information activists have accused political parties of making a mountain out of a molehill in their opposition to the Central Information Commission order bringing six parties under the RTI Act's ambit. They say the act has enough provisions to block queries on sensitive subjects such as campaign strategy or political discussions at meetings. "We moved the plea (before the CIC) to bring political parties under the RTI Act mainly...

-The Hindu Violence against the state is tragic but it contains the seeds of rejection. Only an inclusive approach that respects human rights can eliminate extremism Perhaps no other chain of events in the recent past has had a more direct and substantial impact on the life of human beings across the world than acts of terror. Terrorism has not only affected our lives directly, but has also allowed the state to...

-The Times of India BANGALORE: safe drinking water for all is a common promise in the manifestos of all political parties. Yet, villagers in North Karnataka are drinking water with high arsenic content, said a Comptroller and Auditor General report released on Thursday. Though the National Rural Drinking Water Mission looked into the issue, it made a conscious effort to keep itself away from the high-cost treatment technologies to deal with arsenic...

-The Hindu Of the 112 projects approved between 2008-12, none were completed Bangalore: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said there is "no indication of that all habitations would have access to safe drinking water anytime in the near future" given the pace of coverage and competition of projects under National Rural Drinking Water Programme is very slow. The CAG report on Local Bodies for the period 2007-12, which was...