-The Hindu Rajya Sabha MP and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi chaired the 30-member parliamentary panel that presented its voluminous report earlier this month on the Lokpal Bill 2011. The report has points of divergence with both the official Lokpal Bill draft and the Team Anna version. (The Union Cabinet on Tuesday night approved a Bill for the creation of the Lokpal with constitutional status that will have no control over the...
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How to use the existing RTI Act of India to query the private sector by Veeresh Malik
Chances of a single answer to two opposing questions on the RTI Act means there is something to it which the rule-books don’t tell you about—but you can bowl googlies to them, too, when the system expects you to hold a straight bat to their bouncers Here is a single answer to two diametrically opposite questions—“Yes, you can file an application under the Right to Information Act of India 2005 (RTI...
More »CIC Shailesh Gandhi interviewed by Shonali Ghosal
Is the shortage of information commissioners responsible for killing RTI? That’s not the only thing responsible. The bigger issue is that commissioners need to dispose of far more cases than they have been. Three years ago, they were disposing of not more than 2,000-2,500 cases in a year. Even now, there are lots who do not manage even 1,000 per year. If we continue like this, then no number of commissioners...
More »Death as a way out by Jayati Ghosh
It is clearly the absence of political will rather than a paucity of ideas that is responsible for the country's agrarian crisis. EXACTLY seven years ago this month, the Commission on Farmers' Welfare, appointed by the government of Andhra Pradesh, submitted its report to the then Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. His Congress government assumed office earlier that year replacing the Telegu Desam Party regime led by N. Chandrababu Naidu, which...
More »RBI wants stay on CIC order on Panipat resident's RTI plea by Anita Singh
Reluctant to reveal the names of top 100 bank loan defaulter businessmen of the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, seeking a stay on the orders passed by the Central Information Commission (CIC). On November 15, CIC, while deciding a petition filed by local RTI activist P P Kapoor, had directed the RBI to provide him the names of defaulters by...
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