-DNA Say pictures of PM and other leaders on homepage shows officials' 'indebtedness and gratitude' to political bosses The new Central Information Commission (CIC) website has come under the criticism of the Right to Information (RTI) applicants and activists. Calling it a bowing down of sorts, activists said it was a way of showing "indebtedness" to political masters. The homepage of new website, which has been launched just days ahead of the...

-The Hindu The Central Information Commission has admitted fewer and fewer cases every month this year, under the Right to Information Act, data show, and RTI activists have asked for greater transparency in the process of turning down requests. Cases come before the CIC in two ways: if an applicant is not satisfied with the response to his or her request for information from a Central government authority, and with the verdict...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: RTI activists led by Aruna Roy will boycott PM Narendra Modi's inaugural speech at the Central Information Commission's annual convention on Friday to protest against the exclusion of several RTI users and activists from the event citing security concerns. Only a handful of activists including Nikhil Dey, Lokesh Batra, Venkatesh Nayak, Anjali Bhardwaj and Shekhar Singh have been invited for the convention. Traditionally, civil society representatives...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has registered a 94.61% drop in the number of cases in the last two months with an average daily number plummeting from 223 cases in January-July to 12 cases in August-September 2015. There are eight information commissioners including Chief Information Commission (CIC) Vijai Sharma. Disposal of cases has also come down by 11% from an average of 99 cases a day...

-The Hindu Last week, a Delhi-based Right To Information (RTI) activist, Lokesh Batra, finally got responses to his request for information on the public funds spent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official foreign trips between June 2014 and June 2015. Mr. Batra was forced to write separately to every Embassy and High Commission in each of the countries the Mr. Modi visited, and yet some denied him the information on the...