-PTI NEW DELHI: Government departments should not insist on seeking address of an RTI applicant if a post box number is being provided to them for communication, the Centre has said. The ministry of personnel has written to all central government ministries or departments, who act as public authorities mandated with providing information on RTI applications made to them, citing a judgement by Calcutta High Court in this regard. "When the legislature thought...

-The Hindustan Times Kolkata: In a move to protect whistle-blowers in the country, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday ruled that a petition under the Right to Information (RTI) Act can be made by using only a post box number without giving the name and address. The ruling was aimed at protecting applicants or RTI activists from attack or harassment by persons who do not want information about...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government should have calculated the costs of possible retaliation by other states before banning potato export from Bengal, agriculture experts have said. For now, no state has threatened a payback for the ban, clamped despite pleas from the chief ministers of Odisha and Assam after a shortage pushed up potato prices in Bengal. As the Bengal administration grapples with the problem, importers of essential foodstuff have sounded...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court's award of a record compensation of Rs.5.9 crore in a case of medical negligence is in continuation of its well-considered stance of balancing the rights of patients with the legitimate protection of doctors when they are on call. The significance of such an approach cannot be overstated in the specific context of India, where the health care system - in the public and the private...

-Down to Earth Disabled youth on wheelchair severely thrashed in Kolkata; police arrest over 1,600 people for violating noise rules, unruly behaviour Pintu Biswas is the seventh person to die in West Bengal since 1997 for protesting against noisy firecrackers Last Saturday, the night of Kali Puja, was witness to the gruesome murder of a 40-year-old trader, Pintu Biswas, as he protested the bursting of noisy chocolate bombs outside his house. The incident...