-PTI The government on Wednesday said it has put in place a contingency plan for 580 districts to tackle any situation arising out of below-normal monsoon. As per the weather department forecast, monsoon would be below normal this year due to an impact of El Nino. Monsoon rains are expected to arrive on time this year, hitting Kerala on June 1. Last year, the country had received 12 per cent less rains, affecting production...

-FirstPost.com Former Central Information Commissioner (CIC) Shailesh Gandhi on Monday lashed out at the Centre for allegedly rendering the Right to Information (RTI) Act "dysfunctional" by taking retrogressive steps. In an open letter written to a section of the media, Gandhi said, "the present Prime Minister has taken preemptive action by not appointing a Chief Information Commissioner at all to render it dysfunctional." Gandhi, a noted RTI activist from Mumbai, was appointed to...

-PTI India, along with three neighbouring countries is among worst offenders in protecting journalists according to IFJ reports. India along with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan is among the “worst offenders” in the region in protecting journalists in 2014-15, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in its latest report. The report ‘The Freedom Frontier- Press Freedom in South Asia’, which was released here today, advocated a strong need for a campaign to end...

-NDTV Mumbai: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today sharply attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government in Parliament and outside. In a statement in the Lok Sabha, Mrs Gandhi criticized what she called the "deplorable lapse" in not filling key posts, including that of the Chief Information Commissioner, which has been vacant for eight months. Stating that over 39,000 appeals under the RTI or Right to Information Act, remain pending, she also used...

-PTI On the controversial land Bill, Kasturirangan told reporters on the sidelines of an International Conference on Innovative Research here that the Centre was going all out to explain the proposed legislation to the people at the grassroots. Former ISRO chairman Dr K Kasturirangan on Thursday said that development requires resources like water, power and land for manufacturing and creating jobs. On the controversial land Bill, Kasturirangan told reporters on the sidelines...