-Greater Kashmir   RTI Activists from north Kashmir's Singhpora village on Thursday alleged Sarpanchs and Panchs were harassing them for seeking information about the public works carried out in the area.  “There have been a very few works carried out by the concerned Panchs and Sarpanchs in the area. In Harinara village very few works were carried out. They either divert works or cancel them as per their own wishes,” a delegation...

-The Times of India   Struggling to stay relevant amid signs of growing popular indifference, Team Anna chose Republic Day to advocate radical ideas like putting gram sabhas above the Lok Sabha and establishing a referendum commission along the lines of Election Commission.  In a video message, Activist Anna Hazare also praised the Lokayukta bill of Uttarakhand, in what may be seen as a surrogate campaign for the BJP in the state. He...

-The Hindu   At a time when Karnataka is in the news for increase in the number of malnourished children, the Jana Arogya Andolana Karnataka (JAAK), an NGO working in the field of health, has come out with a portal on hunger The portal, www.republicofhunger.org, is aimed at conveying to people the depth of the problem and will serve as a watchdog, and examine the claims of the State Government regarding the issue...

-The Hindu   By filing a Special Leave Petition against the Karnataka High Court order directing payment of statutory minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the United Progressive Alliance government has betrayed its insensitivity to the rights of the poor. The courts have ruled that payment below minimum wage amounts to “forced labour”, which is constitutionally prohibited. The Centre's implacable stand that workers employed...

-The Times of India   The National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) expressed "dismay" over the Chhattisgarh assembly's decision to increase RTI application fees by 900% from Rs 50 to Rs 500. Fees per copy has been increased to Rs 15 and the inspection of documents to Rs 50.  In a statement signed by Venkatesh Nayak, Nikhil Dey, Angela Rangad and Ramakrishna Raju, NCPRI said, "A move of this nature can...