Dear all, The Hon'ble Supreme Court has withdrawn its 15th September, 2014 order (2nd attachment) demanding that the Petitioners in a matter relating to the corruption scandals being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) disclose the name of the whistleblower who supplied the contents of the guest entry register maintained at the residence of the CBI Director. Readers may remember my email alert of16th September critically examining the Supreme Court's order demanding disclosure of the name of the whistleblower in light of the Apex Court's earlier pronouncements with regard to whistleblower protection. You may access this email alert at: http://sartian.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=751:protect-whistleblowers-coming-up-for-air-do-not-drown-them-beca

Dear all, The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has invited comments on amendments to the Maternity Rules relating to women workers in mines and circuses. These Draft Rules seek to amend the Maternity Benefit (Mines and Circus), Rules 1963 notified under the Maternity benefit Act, 1961.   The interesting point about the Draft Rules is that, if approved in the current form, every employer in every mine and circus across the country, will be required to publish annual returns of the maternity benefits he/she/it provides to its women workers, on the Web Portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. This will be an interesting case of compelling private entities to disclose information publicly. If this kind of proactive disclosure is not complied with, an RTI applicant could dema

      Mumbai: Recently, the Central Information Commission (CIC) gave a miss to the Right to Information (RTI) Act’s 10th anniversary celebrations. The reason: The Modi government forgot to app-oint a Chief Information Commissioner. So even as the government promises good governance, transparency is given the go-by. And this is not just at the Centre, but in states too, where efforts are being made to weaken the law.   The RTI was the strongest weapon available to the people to make the bureaucracy and politicians accountable. But, the attitude of governments and bureaucrats towards those seeking information has made these individuals prone to several risks.   EMPTY WORDS? Anupama Jha, regional consultant of Trace International, and former executive director, Transparency I

The publication of links between government ministries and outside companies and organizations is a necessary measure for a transparent and cleaner governmental culture. Since a democracy needs transparency to function properly, this crack in the wall of concealment – which was started by the Movement for Freedom of Information – is to be welcomed. The Movement began its fight to obtain and publish the list of various government ministries’ outside suppliers several months ago, when it submitted a request for information to government ministries. The response was divided. Some ministries, such as the finance and education ministries, provided the data, while others, like the Social Affairs Ministry, avoided doing so, claiming it took too much effort. Still others, like the Prime Min

      ISLAMABAD:  Strong legislation and its implementation is required to help persons with disabilities (PWDs) to gain access to information and knowledge. This was stated by Senator Dr Saeeda Iqbal while speaking at a media sensitisation workshop titled “Enabling universal access to information and knowledge platform for PWDs”, organised by Unesco in collaboration with the Special Talent Exchange Programme (STEP) on Friday. “Like others, it is their (PWDs) basic right to have easy access to information and media outlets should play their role to not only highlight their issues but also help enable them to follow the news,” she said. Other speakers at the workshop said in Pakistan, almost every day people fall victim to terrorist attacks or children are paralysed b