-The Indian Express Mumbai: In a move that has Right To Information activists up in arms, the administration of Governor-ruled Maharashtra has issued a directive to all departments and Offices, asking them not to provide any information under the RTI Act if it "does not constitute any public interest". While government officials say the objective of the directive is to merely restrict those misusing RTI, activists describe it as a move to...

-The Hindu On most days, Central government staff work for eight hours The occasional surprise checks by Union Ministers to see if government employees are reporting to work on time may not have brought in 100 per cent compliance, but employees aren't as late to office as widely perceived. The Hindu got exclusive access to one week of Central government attendance data, thanks to the first publicly available database of employees, and found...

-Outlook New Delhi: 700 slum clusters will be provided toilet facilities by Delhi government as part of the 'Swachh Bharat' campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The decision was taken in view of shortage of toilet blocks in jhuggi jhopri (JJ) colonies, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board's (DUSIB) Chief Executive Officer, Amar Nath, said today. DUSIB has already prepared a data base of toilet blocks available in JJ clusters as well as...

-Outlook   New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches the country-wide cleanliness drive Swacch Bharat Abhiyan on October 2, Delhi government officials will be spotted with brooms, cleaning the city's streets. Sources said the Centre has asked the government to motivate its officials to dedicate 100 hours every year to keep the city clean. Delhi's Chief Secretary has asked every public employee to identify dirty areas and clean them as part of...

-The Hindu Business Line   Opening bank accounts in rural areas is all very well, but biometric frauds are a serious possibility The ambitious Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) aims at bringing millions of rural Indians within the financial mainstream by opening bank accounts. In 2006, the Reserve of India, recognising that a majority of rural Indians had little or no access to banking services, allowed banks to use third-party, non-bank agents...