A 68-year-old Right to Information activist in Kancheepuram was found dead on the side of a road in Velathottam in Kancheepuram district on Thursday evening. V Balasubrmanian had filed a number of applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking information about alleged irregularities in several handloom weavers' cooperative societies in Kancheepuram district, it was learnt. Federation of Anti-Corruption Teams-India general secretary T Retnapandian of Chennai told TOI that...

Gujarat Police are close to solving the murder of well-known Right to Information (RTI) activist Amit Jethwa, a killing that has caused widespread outrage. Investigation into the brutal killing of the RTI activist in July has zeroed in on the family of BJP strongman and MP Dinu Bogha Solanki. The Ahmedabad Crime Branch says that arrested constable Bahadur Singh Vadher has confessed that Shiva Solanki, who is Dinu Solanki's nephew, allegedly...

‘Ek Cup Chya’, India’s first and only movie on the Right to Information Act, was screened by PCGT, an NGO working with RTI on Friday at the Indian Merchant Chambers. The film, which is in Marathi with English sub-titles, was made in 2009 by national award-winning directors Sumithra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar and produced by Dr Yashwant Oak. It features well-known Marathi actors like Kishore Kadam, Sunil Sukhthankar, Devika Daftardar, Ashwini Giri...

Three tea shops in Subbaiahpuram near Alangkulam in Tirunelveli district were sealed by police on Friday for discriminating against dalits by using the 'double tumbler' system. The tea shop owners have also been arrested. Tirunelveli SP Asra Garg said he got information that the teashops were serving dalits with a different set of tumblers and decided to visit the village on Friday morning. "I was ashamed to see the dalits...

Over the past three years, the number of attacks on schools has seen a steep rise. The argument advanced by the Naxals is that schools have become police stations and security forces take cover here. To substantiate their claim they have never attacked a school when children were in it and attacks have always taken place when the school premises were closed. Security personnel who battle the Naxals however claim that...