-Hindustan Times Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday is addressing a convention on the 10th-anniversary celebrations of the Right to Information (RTI) Act which was brought in ‘to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority’. As the act completes a decade of existence, here is how (and why) it changed the way the government and public servants function: 1. What is RTI? A law that empowers every citizen to seek...
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CIC sees 95% drop in cases in last two months -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The central information commission (CIC) has registered a 94.61% drop in the number of cases in the last two months with an average daily number plummeting from 223 cases in January-July to 12 cases in August-September 2015. There are eight information commissioners including Chief Information Commission (CIC) Vijai Sharma. Disposal of cases has also come down by 11% from an average of 99 cases a day...
More »RTI activists to boycott PM’s CIC meet speech -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: RTI activists led by Aruna Roy will boycott PM Narendra Modi's inaugural speech at the central information commission's annual convention on Friday to protest against the exclusion of several RTI users and activists from the event citing security concerns. Only a handful of activists including Nikhil Dey, Lokesh Batra, Venkatesh Nayak, Anjali Bhardwaj and Shekhar Singh have been invited for the convention. Traditionally, civil society representatives...
More »Our RTI Experiences: 10 Years On, A Flawed Process Mars Powerful Act -Ujjainee Sharma and Trishna Senapaty
-The Huffington Post The Right to Information Act 2005 has opened up a space where people are able to ask questions of their government and bring the focus on cases of serious lapses in governance. Back in 2010 when we filed our RTI one had to go to the concerned department, find the Public Information officer (PIO) and then complete the necessary paperwork with them. At that time, we remember waiting around...
More »States delay notifying drought even as farm distress peaks -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com Drought declaration can provide farmers relief through compensation for crop damage and restructuring of loans New Delhi: Even though the monsoon ended with a 14% rainfall deficit, with nearly half the country’s districts facing a shortage of over 20%, states are delaying declaring a drought that could provide immediate relief to farmers by compensating for crop damage and restructuring farm loans. The June-September monsoon, which irrigates over half the country’s farm...
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