Child malnutrition in Gulbarga and Bijapur districts is a blot on Karnataka's image. Ba Ba Basavanna Anganwadi Hogona Avarekaalu Tinnona Ah, Aaa, Ee, Eee, Bariyona Mane Kadege Hogona (Come, Come, Basavanna Let's go to the anganwadi Let us eat beans And write A, B, C, D, And head towards home.) As Savitri Nimbad sings this ditty, the more than 20 children seated in a circle around her repeat each line in shrill voices. Almost all of them are between three and...

-The Deccan Herald   The governor is a public authority and cannot claim immunity from the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005, the Bombay High Court ruled on Monday. The judgment pronounced via video-conferencing between Justice D G Karnik sitting in Mumbai and Justice F M Reis in Panaji brings to an end a year-long stand-off between an activist lawyer and the Goa Raj Bhavan over his application for documents under RTI. In December...

Wajahat Habibullah, chairperson, National Commission for Minorities, speaks to Kavita Chowdhury on reservation for Muslims, the RTI Act and the controversy over withdrawal of AFSPA in Kashmir. You had recently visited Rajasthan. In Bharatpur district’s Gopalgarh village, some members of the minority community, Mev Muslims, were killed and the state administration was accused of mishandling the matter. What is your view? A communal riot is an unpardonable crime. The state government has taken...

Many people including members of Team Anna have expressed reservations about the way in which their campaign has been developing, and some have even resigned. This raises questions about the real aim of the leadership around Anna. Is it really what it is proclaimed to be? Is the aim to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed by parliament? Team Anna has repeatedly stated that they have just a one-point agenda: to get...

He says the Commission can only order supply of information A statement made by State Information Commissioner T. Srinivasan on October 21 that the Commission has no jurisdiction to inquire into allegations levelled against public information officers (PIO) for having provided misleading or false information, has come as a rude shock to RTI (Right to Information Act, 2005) activists here. The commissioner had made the statement while disposing of an RTI application...