-The Hindu Shobhu Ram, a prominent activist from H.P., uses the Act to empower others of his ilk in his State Shobhu Ram can be mistaken for just another visually challenged person, who also works as an announcer in the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation, but beneath the veneer lies a strong fighter for the rights of the disabled in general and for the rights of the visually challenged in particular. Mr....

-The Hindu In an agreement with Jan Satyagraha, Centre promises to initiate land reforms Thousands of landless poor aborted their march to Delhi on Thursday, accepting the government's promises to initiate land reform and the possibility of statutory backing for the right to shelter, homestead and agricultural land. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh signed a 10-point agreement in Agra — barely 10 days after refusing to sign a similar deal at the march’s...

-The Hindu On the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the Right to Information Act, 2005, RTI activists from 16 States came together on Thursday at a public hearing on the Act and appealed to the Union government and Parliament to review the Supreme Court judgment on appointment of Information Commissioners. They called for the review as the judgment “fails” to deal with several important aspects of implementation of the Act....

-The HIndustan Times There is concern again about missing persons and bodies found in canals in Haryana. Surfacing of such bodies in Punjab’s canals has figured in media reports for years. But neither Punjab nor Haryana police take interest in retrieving the bodies, as the recovery involves reporting it, then attempting to identify it and locating the kin, cremation and maintenance of a record. Pushing bodies downstream eliminates all this bother. But...

-The Hindustan Times The Haryana government has notified a policy to provide security to whistleblowers and Right to Information (RTI) activists. An official spokesman said on Tuesday that a whistleblower could be a person who made a complaint or exposed any government office or undertaking or company about an attempt to commit or commission of an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. He said an RTI activist was a person...