Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has appointed 14 members to the  National Advisory Council in consultation with its chair Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announced on Tuesday. The members of the high-profile NAC include eminent scientists, academics, intellectuals and civil society activists. While four members of the previous NAC -- Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze, N C Saxena and A K Shiva Kumar - have been renominated to the panel,...

UPA's 'Planning Commission' for its development agenda - the National Advisory Council - is in place. The Congress high command has chosen a constellation of individuals with formidable reputations to steer the social agenda in UPA's second term. The watchdog, to be headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, will include Madhab Gadgil, Harsh Mander, M S Swaminathan, Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze, N C Saxena, Farha Naqvi, Anu Aga, Narendra Jadhav,...

In a bid to curb the misuse of free information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, the state information commissioner has recommended that not more than 100 page-photocopies should be given free of cost to those below the poverty line. Chief information commissioner Suresh Joshi said the clause under which information is given free of cost to below poverty line persons, was being misused. He cited a case where...

THE MURDER of Right to Information ( RTI) activist Dattatray Patil at Ichalkaranji in Maharashtra has left the community worried, which wants the state government to take some firm action. This is the third such incident in the state where RTI activists were either killed or threatened with dire consequences after their exposes made local politicians uncomfortable. Unidentified assailants threw chilli powder on Patils face before stabbing him to death last week....

Various ways and means of checking irregularities in the implementation of rural employment guarantee scheme have been discussed. One suggestion is that workers employed under this scheme ought to be organised. The first step in this direction was the formation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Workers' Union - Gujarat (NREGWUG), which was followed by other similar efforts in Rajasthan, parts of Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere. Paulomee Mistry , general secretary...