Jethava was India’s sixth RTI activist murdered

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Jethava was India’s sixth RTI activist murdered


Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat, 21 July, 2010


“Amit Jethwa was a true fighter, and an aggressive RTI user. His mission would not remain in unfinished mode after his death,” said Harinesh Pandya who runs an RTI(Right to information) NGO in Gujarat.

Pandya said, Amit’s working style was to seek information first, and then on the bases of that information he would put the government machinery under pressure. If government would not work, Amit would challenge the government in court.

Pandya said, ff governments start working well effectively and efficiently on its own, the activists can rest and enjoy their life, but because the government doesn’t work enough, the activists have to fight for justice, and even have to sacrifice their life. So far in India total five RTI activists, fighting for public cause were murdered. Amit was sixth.

FULL ARTICLE: http://deshgujarat.com/2010/07/21/jethava-was-indias-sixth-rti-activist-murdered/

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Government retreats on judges’ assets disclosure bill

August 3rd, 2009 - 4:23 pm ICT by IANS

New Delhi, Aug 3 (IANS) The government Monday deferred the introduction of a bill on the declaration of judges’ assets after members across the spectrum said in the Rajya Sabha that it violated the Constitution and the Right to Information Act.

“In view of the sentiments expressed by the members and to build consensus on the issue, I am deferring the introduction of the bill,” Law Minister Veerappa Moily said, as member after member, including Jayanti Natarajan of the ruling Congress, objected to clause six of the Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill 2009 under which the assets of judges could not be made public.

Opposing the introduction of the bill after Moily sought permission to do so, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley (Bharatiya Janata Party) said: “Under clause six, a judge has to declare his assets to a competent authority and this cannot be made public.

“If I want to contest an election, I have to first declare my assets and these are made public. Thus, clause six seeks to give a different interpretation to article 19 of the constitution. We can’t have two interpretations of the same article.”

“We can’t have dual interpretations of the law for people seeking to hold public office and those already occupying public office,” he added.

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Governments in Canada playing games with public’s right to know

Image by myrcell via FlickrFreedom of information
Governments in Canada playing games with public’s right to know
By FRED VALLANCE-JONES
Thu. Jan 22 - 6:25 AM

Canadians looking for a thrill have a new game to play. It’s called freedom of information roulette and it’s playing at a government near you.

Depending on which government you ask, you can get information on police use of Tasers, what bureaucrats are telling ministers about a carbon tax, and how much your city pays to different vendors for goods and services.

Or you can’t.

The latest Canadian Newspaper Association audit of government openness found that access to important information varies dramatically across Canada. When we sent identical requests for the same information, the responses ranged from quick release outside formal channels all the way to enormous fee demands nobody could reasonably be expected to pay.

And that’s a problem for us all because when the door to basic information is locked, we’re on the way to closing the door on democracy.

FULL ARTICLE