-IANS The service records of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai "are not traceable", the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has revealed in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application. Lucknow activist Arvind Shukla had filed the RTI application last month, seeking details about the most powerful accountant of the country, who has gained renown as a vigilant anti-corruption watchdog and who is once again in the spotlight after...

-PTI The government has put a word limit of 500 words for filing an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Besides this, a new format has been devised for filing an appeal to the Central Information Commission under the transparency law. The government has also made it mandatory for an appellant or his authorised representative to appear before the CIC either in person or through video-conferencing, according to new rules notified...

-Outlook Kejriwal’s original experiment in Sundar Nagri lies in tatters It was the summer of 2002. An IRS officer on study leave from the Income Tax department would travel daily to the slums of Sundar Nagri, in the north-east district of Delhi, close to the Uttar Pradesh border. Working with friends, he aimed to make the locality a powerful example of people’s empowerment. He was then an unknown; now, everyone knows...

-The Hindu Political mobilisation along ethnic lines has played a dominant role in reinforcing group differences in Assam, with blatant disregard for the present realities of its demography For the people of Assam, the last few weeks have brought misery upon misery. No sooner had they begun to recover from the floods, than came the riots that have rendered thousands homeless in the Boro Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD). The violence has not...

-CNN-IBN The Central Government on Thursday accepted before the Supreme Court the auction route for allocating 2G spectrum. Attorney General G E Vahanvati told the Supreme Court that the Centre favoured auction for future sale of spectrum.   But the government is yet to decide on whether it favours auction for sale of all scarce natural resources to commercial parties. The apex court had on Wednesday said that it cannot reject the presidential reference...