35 members to include Azad, Krishna Tirath The first meeting of reconstituted Board likely to be held in May last week The Board advises Centre on steps to prevent misuse of sex-selection techniques Concerned over the sharp decline in the child sex ratio as reflected in the provisional Census figures, the Centre has reconstituted the Central Supervisory Board set up under the Pre-conception & Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 (PC & PNDT Act). Chaired...

Peasant leader and RTI activist Akhil Gogoi’s long drawn campaign against corruption reached a crescendo today with police detaining him for violating Section 144 while taking out a procession in support of Anna Hazare’s movement for the new Lok Pal Bill. He was later released. Hundreds of people spilled onto the streets of Assam, particularly in Upper Assam, today after police detained the RTI activist. Akhil was first stopped in the middle...

Anna Hazare trusts Narendra Modi on “development” but not the maturity of the Indian voter. Fresh from the Lok Pal “victory”, the social activist has said he will never contest an election as most Indian voters do not value their vote and sell it for money and liquor. “I will lose my deposit if I stand for elections.… The voter is not aware. Many of them cast their votes for a 100-rupee...

That accountability is vital in a democracy was reinforced at a National Convention of the National Campaign for the People's Right to Information held in Shillong recently… If governments do not investigate corruption, people should have the right and power to do so themselves. When the idea of a people's legal right to information took initial shape in the dusty villages of Rajasthan nearly two decades ago amidst people's struggles for...

Anna Hazare, the 72-year-old social activist and Gandhian, on Monday slammed Union Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal for reportedly saying that the Lokpal Bill will not eradicate corruption from India. Hazare said that if Sibal has no faith in the proposed Lokpal then he should resign from the committee that has been formed to draft a stronger anti-corruption law. "If Kapil Sibal feels that nothing will happen from Lokpal Bill, he should...