-Live Mint The Sonia Gandhi -led National Advisory Council (NAC) may be moving closer to formulating a pre-legislative process that will involve a thorough, time-bound discussion of Bills before they become law. “The need for such a policy of consultation is necessary to evolve from a representative democracy to a participatory, deliberative democracy, particularly for accountability to the people in the formulation of law and policy,” said the draft recommendation of NAC’s working...

-PTI In a move aimed at increasing transparency, the Centre on Tuesday asked all its ministries to make public details of official foreign and domestic tours undertaken by ministers and senior officers. The details will include nature of the official tour, places visited, the period, number of people included in the official delegation and total cost of such travel undertaken by a minister or senior officers. The "suo motu" decision was taken after...

-Frontline The Central government notifies new RTI rules, which effectively curb citizens’ right to obtain information.  ON July 31, the Central government notified new rules to implement the Right to Information Act, 2005. The rules will come into force once the Central government tables the notification in Parliament and both Houses of Parliament agree to it. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has not published these rules on its website as...

-The Times of India In a major embarrassment, the Centre on Thursday admitted to have inaccurately informed the Rajya Sabha on August 9 that it had accepted Ashok Chawla Committee's recommendation to take the auction route for allocation of natural resources. The government told the Supreme Court that the finance ministry was taking steps to correct the information given to Rajya Sabha on Chawla Committee recommendations, which were still under consideration and...

-PTI The crucial service records of Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai are not traceable with the Personnel ministry, an RTI reply has revealed. A Lucknow-based journalist had sought from the Department of Personnel and Training the service records of Rai which included certificate of selection in the Indian Administrative Service, appointment letter among other details. Responding to the queries, the Department of Personnel and Training said the files sought were not traceable. The...