The lone Indian activist on the 2011 TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Aruna Roy has been more successful than most,  when it comes to getting the government’s attention. The Chennai-born former bureaucrat who was an instrumental force behind the revolutionary Right to Information Act has also been credited by the government for “incorporating strong citizen entitlements” in the ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). A constant...

Supreme Court's CPIO asked to give information to RTI activist Subash Chandra Aggarwal in 10 days The Central Information Commission (CIC) has held that all information in possession of the office of the Chief Justice of India is not completely exempt from disclosure under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. “While we concede that due to the stay granted by the Supreme Court [in the assets case], all information relating to the...

Despite its introduction with much fanfare three years ago, Jammu and Kashmir government has abruptly slowed down on the implementation of Right to Information (RTI) Act, which was designed to bring transparency and accountability to public offices. According to the Act enacted in March 2009, it is incumbent upon the state government to launch major awareness campaign for general public through various mediums of communication and languages, especially for disadvantaged communities...

-The Hindustan Times   Different Central government departments have different interpretations of the transparency law, Right To Information, when it came to disclosing information. While some government departments have proactively disclosed the information, others have denied similar information citing prohibitory clauses of the RTI law. This reporter had filed a RTI application with the Cabinet Secretariat seeking copies of the minutes of the Group of Ministers and Empowered Group of Ministers constituted since June...

-The Times of India   The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC), which is under a cloud over irregularities in recruitments over the past couple of months, has now extended its dubious streak of not being transparent enough. It has reportedly denied information to an RTI petition on the recruitment of assistant directors of the Town and Country Planning department despite two orders from the high court and two directions from the...