To give information to an RTI activist on pending trial cases under labour Act The Central Information Commission has directed the Divisional Commissioner of the Revenue Department to furnish information to an RTI activist regarding prosecutions, if any, conducted for violation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, for which she had filed an application almost a year ago. Priyanka Sinha, a representative of non-government organisation Pratidhi, had moved an application in...

The Right to Information Act (RTI Act), barring certain exceptions, can be used to get information about decisions taken by public authorities, details of public expenditure, status of projects and many other administrative issues. RTI is also used as an effective tool to prevent corruption, and hence, it is essential that citizens use this Act regularly to keep a check on public authorities. In order to get accurate responses, citizens are...

I am not unduly worried by the muck being hurled at non-government members of the government-notified drafting panel for the Lokpal Bill and recall the beginning of the village-based RTI movement in 1996 in Rajasthan. One of the ridiculous allegations against the agitation leaders was that they had received a hefty commission from a Japanese manufacturer of photocopiers who would profit hugely from the demand for photocopied panchayat documents if...

The National Litigation Policy (NLP) aimed at reducing the cases pending in various courts in India is nine months old, but the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which is supposed to implement the pro-citizen policy in the banking sector is unaware of it. The Department of Banking Operations and Development in the RBI's central office in Mumbai has told a Right to Information (RTI) activist that it does not have any...

WHILE maintaining her support for a Lokpal institution, Aruna Roy, a prominent civil rights activist and a member of the National Advisory Council, took a critical position in respect of the Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by the activists of the India Against Corruption campaign. A recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2000, she heads the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (a trade union of workers and peasants)...