In a bid to curb the misuse of free information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the state information commissioner has recommended that not more than 100 page-photocopies should be given free of cost to those below the poverty line. Chief information commissioner Suresh Joshi said the clause under which information is given free of cost to below poverty line persons, was being misused. He cited a case where...

THE MURDER of Right to Information ( RTI) activist Dattatray Patil at Ichalkaranji in Maharashtra has left the community worried, which wants the state government to take some firm action. This is the third such incident in the state where RTI activists were either killed or threatened with dire consequences after their exposes made local politicians uncomfortable. Unidentified assailants threw chilli powder on Patils face before stabbing him to death last week....

Various ways and means of checking irregularities in the implementation of rural employment guarantee scheme have been discussed. One suggestion is that workers employed under this scheme ought to be organised. The first step in this direction was the formation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Workers' Union - Gujarat (NREGWUG), which was followed by other similar efforts in Rajasthan, parts of Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere. Paulomee Mistry , general secretary...

Union minister for social justice and empowerment Mukul Wasnik today indicated a huge gap between figures of atrocities provided by the Orissa government and those available with the National Crime Records Bureau. “The state government’s information needs to be furnished afresh,” Wasnik said after a review meeting of the committee constituted to curb offences of untouchability and atrocities against Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) here today. According to the state...

The Board of Secondary Education, Assam, will move Gauhati High Court to scrap the State Information Commission’s order that allows students to see their answer scripts under the Right to Information Act. The state information commissioner, B.K. Gohain, issued an order on July 4 last year which said in any public examination, whether conducted by the universities, SEBA, Assam Higher Secondary Education Council or Assam Public Service Commission, the candidates...