The daughter-in-law of a Right to Information (RTI) activist who exposed a pension scam in Haryana was allegedly murdered by the village council head involved in the scam. Sonu was killed when she tried to rescue her father-in-law, Jagdish Sharma, after the village head, Dharambir Malik, crushed Sharma’s legs under the wheels of his car near Bhuna in fatehabad district, around 50 km from here. A murder case has been registered against...

An RTI activist, Mahabir Singh, paid a heavy price for exposing a racket at Chandrawal Village of fatehabad district in Haryana. Mahabir and some of his friends had filed RTIs to find out more about the Sarpanch and others usurping pension money. They then complained to the district officers, but when nothing happened, they approached the court, that registered a case against the Sarpanch, district social-welfare officer and 14 others. In retaliation, the...

Activists hope that a popular agitation against the setting up of a factory to manufacture asbestos products in the eastern Bihar state will result in a nationwide ban on the large-scale import into this country of the deadly mineral fibre. Following six months of agitation against the setting up of the factory in the Chainpur-Bishunpur area of Bihar’s Muzzaffarpur district, state chief minister Nitish Kumar sought to lay blame on the...

At least 10 RTI applicants have been killed over the past two years, with many others facing threats in their bid to expose corruption On a Republic Day when India celebrated 61 years of justice, equality and liberty, Amar Nath Pandey says he encountered the darkest moment of his life. In late evening on 26 January, a lone assailant leaped from the folds of darkness in the street outside his house in...

What the state government could not do, a group of rural educationists have done. The Sikhiya Vikas Manch, an association of teachers, mainly from Patiala, fatehgarh Sahib and Sangrur, have got the Right to Education (RTE) Act translated into Punjabi to create awareness about the new law. At the centre of the exercise was Jagjit Singh Nouhra, 35-year-old head teacher of Government Elementary School, Mandour, in Patiala district who has been...