-The Hoot A decade of RTI, Part II---How many Indians are using their right to information? Studies suggest that the figure of users has yet to cross one per cent of the population in a given year, but there could be substantial under-reporting. More than eight million Right to Information applications are being made now, 10 years after the law was introduced. That’s the figure that was given by Aruna Roy of...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: Scientists and academics have joined the chorus of protest against what they say is the systematic spread of intolerance and communal hatred in the country. They have expressed their concern in a petition addressed to the President, which they plan to post to his office in a day or two. About 135 scientists from leading academic and research institutions across the country and abroad have signed the...

-The Hindu The Central Information Commission has admitted fewer and fewer cases every month this year, under the Right to Information Act, data show, and RTI Activists have asked for greater transparency in the process of turning down requests. Cases come before the CIC in two ways: if an applicant is not satisfied with the response to his or her request for information from a Central government authority, and with the verdict...

-The Indian Express There are certain issues, however, which need be addressed, to make sure that the information commission becomes fully autonomous and thus becomes a constitutional body. Celebrations for 10 years of democratic transparency, in the form of the Right to Information Act, are going on. What we have achieved as yet and what is still someway to go needs to be found out. The many scams, which have successfully helped...

-The Hindu Central Information Commission’s to launch Appcoms Locator in March Soon, Right to Information users can register and track the status of their complaints and appeals online with the launch of Appcoms Locator, a web portal of the Central Information Commission, in March. Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a seminar, organised by the Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited, on the Right to Information Act, 2005, here on Saturday, Yashovardhan Azad, Information...