-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government is slated to introduce a bill to amend the RTI Act excluding political parties from the ambit of the law in LokSabha on Monday. The bill will be introduced by minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions V Narayanasamy. The bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet on August 1 and has been under fire from eminent citizens and RTI activists. The...
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High stakes, mega bucks fuel illegal ‘dig-load-sell’ sand business -Surojit Gupta
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Humble sand is today big business. The boom in the construction industry in the last decade has triggered a huge demand for sand, to meet which contractors, with the help of pliant state officials, have begun a dig-load-sell exercise at a frantic pace. The story of illegal loot of sand in this high-stake business is repeated in state after state. TOI spoke to several officials, activists,...
More »Bid to amend RP Act to set aside SC ruling on tainted elected netas -Rajeev Deshpande
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government will amend the Representation of the People Act (RPA) to set aside the Supreme Court's ruling on disqualifying legislators immediately on conviction for an offence attracting a jail term of more than two years. The government feels changing the law through a constitutional amendment is preferable to seeking a review in the apex court as the prospects of the latter course of action are...
More »Panel finds rampant mining
-The Telegraph New Delhi: A Union government panel has found evidence of rampant illegal mining along the Yamuna in Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh where the suspension of an IAS officer who had cracked down on the sand mafia has snowballed into a political controversy. A three-member panel set up by the environment ministry said there has been "rampant, unscientific and illegal mining" at several sites along the river in violation...
More »Centre tweaks norms to fund aided schools-Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has modified the norms of an education scheme to allow partial funding of state government-aided secondary schools in a move that could benefit Bengal the most. Funds under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) have so far been limited solely to government-run institutions. The four-year-old scheme provides grants to set up schools, improve facilities in existing ones and recruit teachers. Most secondary schools in Bengal are aided institutions,...
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