Chanchala Devi always wanted a house. Not a mud-and-stick hut, like her current home in this desolate village in the mineral-rich, corruption-corroded state of Jharkhand, but a proper brick-and-mortar house. When she heard that a government program for the poor would give her about $700 to build that house, she applied immediately. As an impoverished day labourer from a downtrodden caste, she was an ideal candidate for the grant. Yet she...
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Prying Open India’s Vast Bureaucracy by Akash Kapur
PONDICHERRY, India — P.M.L. Kalayansundaram calls himself a human rights worker. He runs an organization that provides a variety of services to villagers in this area — legal aid, financial assistance to help them organize marriage and death ceremonies, and free refrigerated coffin boxes that they would otherwise have to procure at exorbitant rates from private merchants. On a recent afternoon, he told me that he had been determined from...
More »Hospital turns Bhopal victims into guinea pigs by Hemender Sharma
Some Bhopal gas leak victims who survived the tragedy were used by Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) for four years to carry out drug trails. The number of such people who were subjected to drug trials is 151. Ramadhar Shrivastva is one such gas victim. In 2007 when he had chest pain, he was referred to BMHRC, the multi-specialty hospital set up for gas victims from the money given...
More »Judicial hurdles by V Venkatesan
The Central Information Commission decides to appeal against a judgment of the Delhi High Court that threatens to disrupt its smooth functioning. SHAILESH GANDHI, a Central Information Commissioner, recently said the Right to Information (RTI) Act faced a serious threat from the government and the judiciary. His warning came in the context of the woefully inadequate government-sanctioned resources and the number of stay orders issued by High Courts on the...
More »RTI activist's name falsely used to file applications
Right to Information (RTI) activist S. C. Agrawal was recently involved in a case of stolen identity. He received a response from Air India and Central Vigilance Commission for RTI petitions he says he never filed. On May 10, he received a letter from Air India in response to an RTI petition regarding Air India's then General Manager (Vigilance). Upon checking his records, Mr. Agrawal said he had filed no such petition....
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