-The Hindu Ten years of implementation of the Right to Information Act has spawned a new breed of activism and citizenship The Right to Information (RTI) Act has completed 10 years of implementation. According to a conservative estimate based on the Information Commission’s annual reports, there are at least 50 lakh RTI applications filed in India every year. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative used the data to estimate that just under 1...
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Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report
As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the public domain recently. The CAG report discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers...
More »Govt gives clean chit to former CJI in ‘benami’ case -Krishnadas Rajagopal
-The Hindu The government on Tuesday gave a clean chit to former Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan in a case connected to ‘benami’ property transactions involving his relatives. Appearing in the Supreme Court, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said enquiries against former CJI sets a dangerous precedent. The court however remained skeptical of the government’s stand. A bench led by Justice Dipak Misra said if “persons earning Rs. 100 buy properties worth Rs. 10 lakh,...
More »Will the JAM Trinity Dismantle the PDS? -Silvia Masiero
-Economic and Political Weekly The platform known as the JAM Trinity (an acronym for Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobile numbers) may enable a shift from the current Public Distribution System, based on price subsidies, to the direct transfer of benefits. However, it is incorrect to argue that JAM technologies will necessarily lead to the demise of the PDS. State-level experiences of computerisation, recounted here, reveal that the same technologies can...
More »Punjab needs law, awareness to contain air pollution caused by paddy straw burning -Khushboo Sandhu
-The Indian Express It is said the pollution from burning paddy straw is a factor in Delhi's poor air quality. Chandigarh: The burning of paddy straw continues unabated in both Punjab and Haryana with authorities in both the states unable to check the menace. With the harvesting season at the fag end, the farmers are now clearing their fields by burning the paddy straw causing air pollution. It is said the pollution from burning...
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