While the police force has for long been promising transparency in its working without doing much about it, the common man has taken it upon himself to "expose cases of police highhandedness and excesses". A video of a family being roughed up by cops 19 days ago - recorded by a bystander - has helped mobilize massive support for the victims, and on Monday 17 associations and 15 village panchayats...
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Home ministry wants agencies to be kept out of privacy law by Sahil Makkar
Indian citizens won’t be shielded from prying by government agencies if the Union home ministry gets its way with the proposed privacy law. The ministry is insisting that intelligence and law enforcement agencies be kept out of the purview of the proposed Act, and allowed to continue monitoring the activities and carry out electronic surveillance of citizens, officials familiar with the situation said. The department of personnel and training (DoPT), which is...
More »BJP offers hand on pension bill
-The Telegraph The Centre has reached an agreement with the BJP to pass a bill on pension reforms in the next “two or three” days, according to a cabinet minister. It has also been working on UPA partner Trinamul Congress, which is opposed to the bill. The BJP agreed after the government gave in on two of its demands related to the legislation, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011. One was...
More »Maharashtra launches health scheme for poor by Amruta Byatnal
The Maharashtra government launched the Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayi Arogya Yojana here on Sunday, enabling families with annual income of less than Rs. 1 lakh to avail free medical facilities worth Rs. 1.5 lakh. Health Minister Suresh Shetty announced that this scheme, when fully implemented, would benefit close to 2.5 crore families. However, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, while praising the scheme, lamented the rising rate of population in the State. Mr....
More »What’s Ailing RTI? by Shonali Ghosal
THE MerE suggestion of any amendment to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, sends civil society into a tizzy. Perhaps this level of anxiety is necessary to protect the common man’s most important tool to hold the government accountable. But what if the RTI is dying, not because of government intervention but negligence? The pendency of complaints and appeals in several states is on the rise, while the number of...
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