-One World South Asia A peoples’ assembly held in New Delhi, became a forum for voicing concern of people attached to movements, for accountability in public life. The five day people’s assembly (Jan Sansad) entered its second day at Jantar Mantar, with over 700 people from all over the country assembling in New Delhi. The day coincided with the ninth death anniversary of Satyendra Dubey, the former Project Director of the National Highway...

-The Hindu Students’ reports on worksites detail violation of basic rights Bangalore: Who exactly owns responsibility for the safety of workers at Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) sites, where there have been several incidents of accidents leading to grievous injuries and deaths? This query raised by a group of students — who did a detailed study of the condition of workers at BMRCL sites in 2009 and a follow-up study earlier this...

-The Times of India The government has admitted in response to an RTI that it has destroyed the files of nine of the 22 secretaries/principal secretaries to the Prime Minister. This was disclosed in response to an innocuous query regarding the pay given to the secretary or principal secretary to the premier. In its reply, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said that it did not have information on nine officials, including H...

-The Hindustan Times Bhopal: The state assembly secretariat has framed new rules for implementation of Right to Information Act in the secretariat, replacing controversial rules that it framed in 2010. The new rules were notified on November 8 just at the time when a deadline of six weeks given by Supreme Court to file a reply to a petition challenging the 2010 rules was about to elapse. It might be mentioned that the...

-The Hindustan Times A right to information (RTI) activists has filed a police complaint against the wife of revenue minister Raman Bhalla, alleging that she has threatened him against pursuing the case of multi-crore land transfer to hoteliers in Gulmarg. RTI activist SK Bhalla has been fighting the case of alleged illegal transfer of land earmarked for the development of tourist infrastructure under the masterplan of Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA) by...