-Outlook Is the devolution of national funds to states really worth the praise? * Share of the states in the divisible pool of central taxes has risen from 32% to 42% for five years till 2019-20 * Rise in untied funds transferred is accompanied by cut in Central assistance for state plan spending * Limited ability of the poorer states to expand their fiscal space with own revenue collection * Funds for rural development...
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In FY15, banks with high NPAs rejected more RTI requests -Surabhi
-The Hindu Business Line IOB, BoB and Canara Bank lead, finds study by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiatives New Delhi: As the Finance Ministry and the central bank try to clean up the balance sheets of troubled public sector lenders, a new study has found that banks that saw a sharp rise in bad loans in 2014-15 were not very forthcoming with information requests by the public. While noting that there was “no positive...
More »Public sector banks turned down 30% of RTI pleas last year -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: One third of the requests for information filed with public sector banks were turned down last year. Of the 79,148 applications filed in 2014-2015, 30.5% were rejected. About 24 banks dealt with 79,148 RTI applications which amounts to 56.4% of the total volume of RTI applications received by the ministry of finance. Incidentally, finance ministry received the highest number of RTIs (1.4 lakh) among all public...
More »Freedom in peril -R Ramakumar
-Frontline The government’s passage of the Aadhaar Bill in complete disregard of even basic parliamentary procedures and in subversion of an ongoing judicial process puts at risk a number of constitutional rights and liberties of citizens. The benefits cited are just ploys to realise a neoliberal dream. “Congressmen are dancing as if [Aadhaar] was a herb for all cures. With the Supreme Court pulling up the Centre, people are now seeking...
More »The Basis Of Privacy -Apar Gupta
-The Indian Express Aadhaar legislation points to the need for a comprehensive privacy law. Most of the debate on the Aadhaar bill has centred on the right to privacy. All five amendments suggested by the Rajya Sabha, subsequently rejected by the Lok Sabha, had an element of this right within them. But the core deficiency rested not in the lack of protections in the Aadhaar bill but in the absence of a...
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