The Right to Information (RTI) Act will be amended to avoid frivolous or vexatious requests and prevent the Centre from disclosing information relating to the Cabinet papers so as to ensure the smooth functioning of the government. The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions gave this information to RTI Activist Subash Chandra Agrawal, who wanted to know whether there was a proposal to introduce amendments in the Act. The government also...

While the Jagatsinghpur district administration is preparing to take up survey in Govindpur village, considered a bastion of anti-Posco plant agitation, around 50 people of the same village today extended their support to the $12 billion project. “Some villagers of Govindpur met me, expressed their support to the Posco project and requested me in writing to start survey in the village,” Jagatsinghpur district collector Narayan Chandra Jena told The Telegraph. They claimed...

The Bhopal judgment suggests that were a nuclear disaster to be caused by an operator's negligence, they might be held criminally liable for little more than a traffic accident. The world was watching a trial court in Bhopal on Monday, as the Chief Judicial Magistrate ruled on the criminal responsibility for the gas leak at the Union Carbide factory in 1984. Twenty six years after the event, 178 prosecution witnesses...

The US on Tuesday rejected taking any action against the Union Carbide company for the world's worst industrial disaster that had left over 15,000 people dead and hoped the Indian court verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy case would bring "closure to the victims". "With respect to Bhopal, obviously that was one of the greatest industrial tragedies and industrial accidents in human history. And let me just say that we...

Two events triggered widespread condemnation and protests  Satish Shetty, who was murdered, had targeted the land mafia Dattatray Patil's targets were the powers that be in Kolhapur While Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is proud that the State has an impressive 98.69 per cent disposal rate of requests under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the murder of two campaigners who used the law to good effect is a blot. First, it was...