-The Hindustan Times A civil society group on Friday demanded key changes in the bill to protect whistleblowers, including widening its scope to bring all categories of public servants and private sector employees under its purview. The National Campaign for People's Right to Information, after day-long consultations with the families of some of the whistleblowers, asked the government to make the definition of victimisation clear in the bill. The Whistleblowers Protection Bill was...

-The Times of India With over 16 activists killed and thousands under attack or threatened, RTI activists have demanded a stronger whistleblower law, including provisions for accountability and compensation for victims. The Whistleblowers Protection Bill is likely to come up in Parliament in the budget session starting next week. But activists feel that the Bill in its present form is not strong enough to prevent deaths. National Campaign for People's Right to...

-The Hindu   SHO suspended for "negligence" on the basis of complainants' statements Patna: The family of whistle-blower Ram Thakur, an advocate who was shot dead in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district on Saturday, has alleged that the police was complicit in his murder. Based on the statements of the complainants, Shafir Alam, Station House Officer (SHO) of the Manihari police station, has been suspended for "negligence." The police have registered an FIR against six persons...

-PTI Panaji: Goa RTI Forum today claimed in a police complaint that the nephew of a BJP MLA was among those who masterminded the alleged Attack on RTI activists by a mob 10 days ago. “From the photographs put up on various Goa Forums, on the social networking site as also from reports in the local newspapers, the agitation seemed to be led by the nephew of sitting MLA Subhash Faldesai, who...

-The Times of India Government cited the Constitution to deny information on the Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab's mercy petition. The ministry of home affairs rejected an RTI application filed by activist Venkatesh Nayak saying it was "privileged information" under article 74(2) of the Constitution. The Rashtrapati Bhawan went a step further to say that the information is not held in a "subject-wise manner." Nayak had in January sought information for...