-The Hindu Although the SECC’s objectives are not likely to be met, it is a big step towards providing accurate information on the well-being of the people. The release of data for rural households from the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) is only the latest step in India’s tortured history of trying to count its poor. The idea behind the SECC was technocratic. Commissioned by the United Progressive Alliance in 2011,...

-PTI Medical expenses incurred on judges and their family members cannot be disclosed or made public under the Right to Information Act, the Supreme Court held on Thursday. A bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy refused to interfere with a Delhi High Court verdict dismissing a plea seeking details of medical reimbursements of Supreme Court judges, saying it had personal information and providing it would...

  Despite the provision of free school uniforms to be given to school children aged 6-14 years under the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, when it comes to education department of Uttar Pradesh things are happening in the wrong way. Officials working in UP's education department demand for commissions from uniform suppliers, reveals a Cobra Post sting. In order to know more, please read the press release from Cobra...

-The Telegraph Bhagalpur: An unusual demand of Rs 2 lakh by an insurance company in lieu of providing information to one Right to Information (RTI) activist from Bhagalpur has left the crusader in the lurch. Ajit Kumar Singh, the RTI activist, had sought information from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India about the details of implementation of a scheme, mainly aimed at the economically weaker sections and also about the works...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Retired bureaucrats never retire. Stumped? A look at the information commissions, the transparency watchdogs, all over India reveals that they have become a re-employment arena for bureaucrats. Even though the Supreme Court has advised looking beyond retired civil servants for posts of information commissioners and chief information commissioners, governments prefer retired bureaucrats over candidates with specialisations in other fields. An annual study by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative,...