Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Prithviraj Chavan, is understood to have assured the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) that no changes would be made in the RTI Act without wider consultations. According to an NCPRI release, the Minister assured their delegation that the government would not take a final decision on the proposed changes in the RTI Act before “consulting the people.”...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 2829
Public debate to precede amendments to RTI: Chavan by Krishnadas Rajagopal
The Department of Personnel and Training Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday assured RTI activists of initiating a public debate before going ahead with amendments to the Right To Information Act. Allaying widespread fears among the public, the minister at a late evening meeting with a delegation of RTI activists said the amendments would not be used to emasculate the transparency law which has since its inception in 2005 given citizens...
More »It ain't broken
After strong protest from civil society organisations, the government has admitted that it is considering amending the Right to Information (RTI) Act. It has, however, assured activists that a transparent and consultative process will be adopted before any action is taken, and the amendments will not be persevered with if activist groups are able to convince the government that they are either unnecessary or counterproductive. These assurances notwithstanding, it is...
More »Rural poverty and India's Maoist revolt by Mark Tully
The Indian government has ordered hundreds of paramilitary troops into eastern parts of the country where Maoist rebels have increasingly been taking control. This year, 669 people have died in violent incidents involving the Maoists. October was a particularly humiliating month for the Indian police. First, members of the Communist Party of India [Maoist] captured an Inspector and beheaded him. Then, a police station was attacked and two policemen killed....
More »Villagers, activists up in arms over proposed RTI changes
Kheema Ram, a 40-year-old farmer from Rajasthan who exposed a number of corrupt practices through his more than 350 RTI applications is against any amendments in the Act. Ram, hailing from Rajsamund district, travelled all the way to Delhi along with fellow villagers on Saturday to protest against the proposed amendments in the RTI Act which may take out some categories of information from the Act's ambit. "The discussed amendments...
More »
