The Right to Information Act 2005 is likely to figure prominently on the agenda of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council when it meets on March 24. Discussion will centre on the two amendments to its rules that have been proposed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). One, to restrict each application to 250 words. And two, to confine one application to one subject. The Right to Information Rules,...

There is a fundamental inequality in the governance arrangement in New Delhi that continues to plague the United Progressive Alliance. Members of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council feel they have the right to criticise the government and its functionaries all the time, while no one in government is willing to return the compliment. In an interview to this newspaper, (March 13) the self-proclaimed father of India’s green...

Social activist Aruna Roy Thursday said India's second war of independence has to be fought with the right to information (RTI) law, to free the nation from poverty and corruption. 'The next battle is ready with information and understanding of issues through the RTI and it is the ideal tool to help eradicate poverty and corruption,' the Magsaysay awardee said. Roy is in Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya, to attend a...

A few helpless spectators of injustice dived into past pain and picked out poignant personal tales at a national convention to understand if the Right to Information Act can help them turn back and undo a few wrongs. V. Narzary was one such youth who came all the way from the Bodo belt in Assam to ask experts whether he could revisit, through the RTI Act, a case where the army...

India’s Supreme Court has questioned clearances to industries on the basis of environment impact assessments (EIAs) carried out by private consultants in the pay of project proponents. A special bench of the court led by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, that is hearing a petition challenging approvals granted to the French company Lafarge to mine limestone, likened the practice to "paying the piper to call the tune." Kapadia’s bench noted that every report...