Ten years of RTI: what do we know?

Right To Information cannot be the panacea to our problems if we do not re-evaluate our relationship with the state

Only 2 passengers aboard Odisha’s new Balangir-Bichhupali train: RTI

Balangir-Bichhupali track is part of Khurda-Balangir line and was inaugurated in January 2019

Karnataka forest department has filed just 130 chargesheets on forest encroachment since 1980: RTI

The RTI inquiry reveals that 204,229 acres were lost to encroachment while another 104,065 acres of land were illegally granted by the state …

Court Digest: Major environment hearings of the week (September 16-20)

Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal through the week&…

RTI amendment: Usurping powers from Legislature and States

The National Democratic Alliance government's move is an assault on the independence of information commissioners, writes former …

How the ‘strict’ Data Act is diluting RTI

The government made many provisions to insulate itself from most of the data protection, making it less transparent and accountable

State information commissions inactive during COVID-19: Survey

A telephone survey, conducted by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, found that this was in contrast to the Central Information Commission

RTI amendment: Centre has no authority to make law on states

The amendment to the RTI Act does not deserve the assent of the President, writes former Central Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu in …

'State govts acquire land by subverting rights and bending the law’

The Centre for Science and Environment filed RTI queries to 28 states to understand how states are circumventing the land acquisition law. The …

There's an unhealthy alliance between doctors and pharma firms

The government has shown little interest to penalise pharma companies that offer sops to doctors to push their drugs

Not one dam in Kerala was inspected before monsoon, reveals RTI

The state received 42% above normal rainfall but the Central Water Commission didn’t have any information of the criticality of dams

From RTI to dam safety, highly contested Bills to be tabled in Parliament’s monsoon session

A slew of crucial Bills are likely to be tabled in the session, which will have only 18 working days

Amicus curiae flags sudden discharge from dams, lack of forecasting for Kerala floods

All 79 Kerala dams were geared up for power generation, irrigation; not controlling flood: report

Sailesh Nayak Committee report on coastal zone regulations released 18 months after submission

The report recommends several relaxations in a previous notification, aimed at boosting tourism and real estate

Time to reveal

Cabinet clears policy that makes it mandatory for departments to share data; civil society sceptical

Futile deadlines: Afforestation drive in 5 states along Ganga is over with just 22% of target being met

Experts have questioned as to whether the Ganga catchment area is really available for afforestation

Panna’s poaching nexus exposed

Staff of the tiger reserve worked hand in glove with poachers, while the state government kept its eyes tightly shut

Ready for only tourists

Uttarakhand government has carried out rehabilitation projects only in tourist circles and ignored other areas that were hit by floods last year

Maya of Indian Science

Lies, denial and outright fraud have become the hallmark of Indian agricultural research because there is no accountability

Exclusive: Did a minister cite a non-existent study in her Parliament reply

Renuka Singh Saruta had attributed a study to IIT-Delhi on COVID-19 in tribal areas; but the institution does not have it

LIC’s unhealthy choice

Life Insurance Corporation invested more than Rs 3,500 crore last year in the tobacco industry 

SC extends endosulfan ban

Pesticide makers claim inbreeding, not endosulfan, causing health problems in Kasaragod  

Victims of vaccination

Vaccine trials in a Madhya Pradesh government hospital are making children sick. Culprit: harmful chemicals in high amounts

Environment ministry’s desperate attempts to suppress expert panel report on Western Ghats

Defies Information Commission’s order and obtains stay from Delhi High Court to keep the report out of public domain

Our daily dose of antibiotics

As dairy farmers inject antibiotics in their livestock, chances are high that these are passed on to humans through milk, finds Delhi-based non-…