CITIZEN DIRECT

Another muster roll fraud exposed
On 17 October 2005, five days after the Right to Information Act came into force, a public hearing in Lakshmangarh village (Surguja District, Chhattisgarh) showed how the Act can empower ordinary people and enable them to fight corruption. The(..)
3 December 2005

Under pressure, Delhi rethinks water loan
The Delhi Right to Water Campaign received a letter last week from the National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi saying that the Delhi state government is yet to take a decision on seeking a World Bank loan for(...)
1 November 2005

Book on openwell recharging released
The Karnataka based Centre for Alternative Agricultural Media (CAAM) has released 'Teredabaavi Marupoorana - Kakolada Yashogathe' (Openwell Recharging - Kakol's Success Story), a 24-page booklet in Kannada. Development journalist Poornaprajna Belur has authored the publication. The book has in(...)
24 October 2005

Panel assessing Orissa mining impacts
An eight member panel of the Indian People’s Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights (IPT) held a public hearing at Kucheapadar in Kashipur block of Orissa's Rayagada district on 2 October 2005. The panel assessed the environmental and human(...)
11 October 2005

SC committee says no to Vedanta refinery
The Supreme Court's Central Empowered Committee on Forests issued a report on 21 September 2005 recommending the revocation of environmental clearances given to Vedanta Alumina Ltd's 1 million tonne aluminium refinery in the Niyamgiri forests in Lanjigarh, Orissa. The(...)
6 October 2005

Cancer crisis, Punjab officials fiddling
A high powered committee constituted by Punjab Government on the issue of pesticides and health was scheduled to meet on 19 September at Chandigarh. The committee was to meet to take a decision regarding the high incidence of cancer(...)
23 September 2005

Karnataka's transparency rules opposed
The Government of Karnataka's (GoK) appointment of a respected former bureaucrat K K Misra as the State Chief Information Commissioner on July 31 this year was seen as commendable step forward in implementing the recently passed national Right to(...)
9 September 2005

Public audit unearths fraud, stayed
The Solapur (Maharashtra) District Collector Manisha Verma discovered a fraud of over Rs 9 crores through public readings of the state's Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) muster rolls. The rolls were made accessible under the Maharashtra Right to Information Act(...)
6 September 2005

Meet on Punjab enviro-health crisis
A two-day workshop -- "Peoples' Dialogue on Environmental Health Crisis in Malwa Belt of Punjab" -- was organized by Kheti Virasat Mission at Badal village in Muktsar district on 20-21 August, 2005. Participants felt that agriculture in Malwa in(...)
26 August 2005

EGA bill in Parliament
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill was tabled in Parliament on 18 August. The amended bill meets some (not all) of the main demands of people’s organisations and Left parties, as expressed for instance in the Rozgar Adhikar Yatra(...)
20 August 2005

Blueprint for Bangalore
Bangalore is struggling with its identity as the country’s IT capital, epitomizing the promise of prosperity but paying the price with chaotic growth and an increasingly poor quality-of–life for its residents. Ask yourself these questions: why have 68% of(...)
4 August 2005

Lawmakers push for work entitlements
The report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill was tabled in Parliament on 27 July. The proposed legislation provides that anyone who is willing to do manual work in rural areas at the(...)
28 July 2005

Karnataka preparing for national RTI
On 4 July, R. Suresh, the officer in charge of the Karnataka Right to Information Act (KRIA) admitted that the Act had failed in achieving its goals and it would be replaced with the new Central Act recently passed(...)
27 July 2005

RTI diary : Checking police transfers
It is now emerging that the Mahrashtra Right to Information (MRTI) law will be repealed in October 2005 to make way for the new national sunshine law that applies to all States. This article records one successful case where(...)
25 July 2005

Maharashtra sunshine law to go?
The Maharashtra Chief Secretary has reportedly declared that the Maharashtra Right to Information (MRTI) Act will be repealed in the current session of the state legislature or an ordinance will be issued to repeal it. The Times of India(...)
14 July 2005

About Citizen Direct

Citizen Direct brings reports of information on development and public affairs from citizens to India Together's readers.   More

powered by Movable Type 2.64