Marked by distrust and, on the government's part an element of coercion as well, the civil society-UPA exercise to jointly draft a Lokpal bill formally ended in failure on Tuesday with the two sides exchanging conflicting drafts. The government is unable to accept civil society's version of an anti-corruption authority with sweeping jurisdiction over the Prime Minister's Office, top judiciary and actions of MPs in Parliament along with merging entities like...
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Unsung, this baba starvesto death to save the Ganga by CK Chandramohan
He was on fast for 114 days seeking ban on quarrying They may worship the same gods and cite the same scripture but all babas — and their fasts — are clearly not equal. Lionised by politicians and the media, Baba Ramdev fasted for a few days before he ended his protest. At the first sign of weakness, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj rushed to pay him a visit. However, Swami Nigamanand, who...
More »'Let PM be probed by independent agency' by Arvind Kejriwal
Dr Manmohan Singh is one of the most honest Prime Ministers that the country has had. It is ironical that his own government should seek to take the Prime Minister out of the purview of Lokpal's investigations. As of today, the Prime Minister is covered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Under that law, any allegation of corruption against a Prime Minister can be investigated. No exception has been made...
More »CBI exempted from RTI Act by Neeraj Chauhan
In a decision which might irk RTI activists, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been exempted from giving information under Right to Information Act. The decision was taken by the Cabinet on Thursday following repeated requests by the agency on the grounds that it probed sensitive cases, and in doing so, it "becomes difficult for it to share information and also in accessing the information'. The Cabinet took note of CBI's...
More »Govt decides to keep CBI outside RTI purview by Devesh Kumar
In a decision that is certain to generate a lot of heat, the Manmohan Singh government has exempted the CBI, the country's premier investigating agency, from providing information under the Right to Information Act . A notification to this effect was issued by the government on Thursday after the proposal got the Union Cabinet's green signal, placing the agency among a select category of institutions that have been kept outside...
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