The Central Information Commission has ordered the Command Hospital to allow RTI applicant Kannan Nambiar to inspect certain records for as many as six hours. Chief Election Commissioner M L Sharma, who issued the directive last week, rejected the contentions of the Command Hospital for denying information to Nambiar under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Nambiar, a medical vendor, had shot in to limelight in December 2010 when on his...

A study questions the efficacy of conditional cash transfer schemes in promoting the girl child. IN an attempt to address some of the serious imbalances in society, specifically the gender imbalance, the Central and State governments have embarked on several short-term conditional cash transfer (CCT) schemes in the past decade and a half. While the Central government is convinced about the efficacy of the schemes aimed at arresting the distorted sex...

-The Hindustan Times   Reacting to complaints of schools flouting Right to Education (RTE) norms, the education department has served a showcause notice to four Delhi schools, which are run by the armed forces. Replying to a question raised in the assembly, Delhi education minister Arvinder Singh said the four schools — Army Public School, Delhi Cantonment and at Shankar Vihar, Air Force Gyanjyoti School, Palam and Naval Children Academy, Chanakyapuri —...

PRASHANT BHUSHAN, a member of Team Anna and a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, has been a vociferous critic of the government's Lokpal Bill at every stage. He answers, in an interview to Frontline, questions raised by Members of Parliament during the recent debate on the Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and enunciates the challenges ahead of the movement for an effective Lokpal. Excerpts: The government's...

He was killed on Sunday for not returning Rs. 5,000 at his residence A day after 32-year-old Dalit sugarcane labourer Shahadev Tayad succumbed to burns, the accused Vashisht Dhake who allegedly burnt him was caught by the police on Monday, but the Tayad's family's efforts to come to terms with the loss have just begun. According to the police, Dhake burnt Tayad on January 8 for not returning Rs. 5,000 at his...