-PTI The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the authorities for taking advantage of the "colonial law" on land acquisition to divest farmers of their prime agricultural land benefitting the rich and paying "pittiance" to common men. The apex court said a "sinister campaign" has been launched by various state governments to take adavantage of the law against the poor people for taking away the land and giving it to builders where...
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DoPT to train over 100 officials on handling RTI pleas
-PTI In order to deal better with growing intra-departmental RTI queries, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has decided to train its over 100 officials on different matters related to Right to Information Act. DoPT, which acts as a nodal agency to oversee implementation of the transparency law, has decided to train a total of 104 Central Public Information Officers and Appellate Authorities. The decision was taken after some of...
More »Why civil society is right to up the ante on corruption by Mythili Bhusnurmath
Has civil society gone beyond its remit by refusing to back down on the issue of tackling corruption? The answer to that depends on which side of the on-going debate on the Lokpal Bill you are on. If you are with the civil society activists, then the question just does not arise. For too long has the government dragged its feet on the Lokpal Bill and civil society is entirely...
More »Effective Lokpal Not In Sight by Rajindar Sachar
As expected, the government and the Anna Team have disagreed on vital points. The question of inclusion of the Prime Minister within the ambit of the Lokpal is being falsely blown out of proportions by the government’s apologists. The Prime Minister, though the head of government, is only first amongst equals. In a democratic country, political vacuum does not arise as the Cabinet has a collective responsibility. Also, our past...
More »Govt to adopt NAC food security target by Rajeev Deshpande
-The Times of India The government is set to accept the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council's recommendation to cover 75% rural and 50% urban population under a food security law, but wants to keep the percentages outside the language of the Act itself. UPA-2 is inclined to set the percentage of population covered in a notification or schedule accompanying the Act so that it can be revised by executive order...
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