Activists say the rules undermine the spirit of the law The proposed draft Right to Information (RTI) rules, prepared by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India, have invited more criticism than praise. RTI activists say the rules dilute the very spirit of the RTI Act 2005, instead of strengthening it. The new rules aim to amend the existing ones. DoPT uploaded the rules on its website inviting comments...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Threats shadow activists by Pallavi Singh & Maitreyee Handique
At least 10 RTI applicants have been killed over the past two years, with many others facing threats in their bid to expose corruption On a Republic Day when India celebrated 61 years of justice, equality and liberty, Amar Nath Pandey says he encountered the darkest moment of his life. In late evening on 26 January, a lone assailant leaped from the folds of darkness in the street outside his house in...
More »Rs 2 lakh bonanza for RTI applicant by Sunchika B Pandey
The wait has been long, but Prakash Sheth, 45, can now say it has been worth the wait. In a rare judgment, the chief information commissioner (CIC) awarded Rs2 lakh as compensation to Sheth, who was made to run from pillar to post to get a reply to his RTI query. He had submitted an application to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), Hyderabad, on September 29, 2009. He had sought...
More »Govt prod to ‘drop’ Ilina case
The Centre has asked Maharashtra to “drop” its case against Ilina Sen, the wife of jailed rights activist Binayak Sen, a central government official said today. Ilina was booked for allegedly not informing police about foreign delegates’ participation at a conference organised by the Indian Association for Women’s Studies (IAWS) and the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Vishwavidyalaya (MGAV) at Wardha in January. The ATS Nagpur unit had noted in an FIR that Form...
More »Going against the grain by Reetika Khera
The National Advisory Council (NAC) had been widely credited with framing three pro-people legislations — the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Right to Information (RTI) and the Forest Rights Act — under the UPA 1 government. So when NAC 2 began discussions on the Food Security Act in mid-2010, expectations were high. The initial vision of an act with a universal public distribution system (PDS), extensive children's entitlements...
More »