Almost a week after RTI activist Amit Jethava was shot dead near the Gujarat High Court, the minister-in-charge of RTI Act on Thursday denied any move to frame a law to protect RTI activists while the Central Information Commissioner said it was the “job of the police” to protect them. “There is no proposal before the government to frame a specific law to protect RTI activists,” Minister of State for Public...
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Slain activist’s dad points finger at MP
The father of slain RTI activist Amit Jethwa, who was shot dead by two motorcyclists near Gujarat High Court last night, has accused Junagadh MP Dinu Solanki of plotting his son’s murder and demanded a CBI inquiry. Amit, 33, had been running a campaign against illegal mining in the Gir forest that his father claims was controlled by Solanki. “Two years ago, Solanki threatened me on the phone, telling me that he...
More »Children fuel Bt cotton boom by Urvashi Dev Rawal
In this land of rolling hills, made lush by the monsoon, traffic ceases after dusk. So it is unusual to hear jeeps running through the night on the winding roads of tribal south Rajasthan. Through the day, the local police, villagers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are out in force, trying to stop what they can only slow—the mass trafficking of children across the border into Gujarat from the Rajasthan districts that...
More »RTI activist shot dead in Gujarat
Leading Right to Information (RTI) activist Amit Jethwa was shot dead opposite the high court building in Ahmedabad Tuesday night, police said. Jethwa had just come out after meeting his lawyer and was getting into his vehicle parked near the office of the state bar council, opposite the Gujarat High Court, when two unidentified people on a motor cycle fired a single shot at him. According to eyewitnesses, Jethwa, who...
More »Why you must read this censored chapter by Raman Kirpal
A RESEARCHER WORKING on the State of Panchayats Report (SOPR) 2008-09 met Mahangu Madiya in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, a dangerous place for gathering data. Madiya’s story was startling. In January, he was given Rs 55 lakh compensation for his land, but the amount is sitting in his bank account. He does not even own a mobile phone. “I am concerned with farming. My land is important to me. What will I...
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