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The number of people who took benefits under the Laadli Yojana in Delhi has decreased by about 60 per cent in the last 15 years, information shared by the government under the Right to Information Act has revealed. Laadli Yojana was started in the national capital on January 1, 2008, with the aim to empower young women and reduce gender inequality. According to the data provided to PTI-Bhasha by the government, the number of beneficiaries of the scheme was about 1.25 lakh in 2008-2009, which reduced to 53,000 in 2024-25. The Women and Child Development Department of the Delhi government, in response to an RTI application, said that since the launch of the scheme, till 2025, 13,52,564 girls have been registered. According to the information, while the number of beneficiaries was 1,26,965 in 2008-2009, in 2024-25, their number had fallen by almost 50 per cent to 53,001 a decrease by 58 per cent and the second lowest in the last five years. In 2019-2020, only 30,192 girls benefited
The Supreme Court administration has rejected a plea seeking a report of the apex court-appointed committee, which indicted Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma in the cash discovery row, under the Right to Information Act. The RTI application had also sought the communication of the then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the matter. The apex court administration apparently referred to the confidentiality of the communication and rejected the RTI application on grounds that it may violate parliamentary privilege also. Earlier this month, the then CJI Khanna had wrote to the President and the Prime Minister besides sharing the report of the committee along with the response received from Justice Varma. Now, it is up to the executive and Parliament to decide the future course of action. The in-house procedure entails that the CJI writes to President and the Prime Minister for impeachment after the advice
The Supreme Court has sought responses from 11 states, including Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand, on a plea alleging that they are yet to set up Right to Information (RTI) portals under the transparency law in pursuance of a 2023 judgment. In the landmark judgment, the top court had on March 20 last year directed all states, Union territories and high courts to set up RTI websites within three months, saying the online facilities would considerably facilitate the fulfilment of the objects of the Right to Information Act, 2005. On Monday, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala took note of the submissions of a lawyer, representing petitioner Anuj Nakade, that as many as 11 states have not set up their RTI websites. "Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner states that the following states and Union territories have yet to comply with the judgment of this court dated 20 March 2023 requiring the setting up of online RTI portals: Andhra Pradesh, ...
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act over the collapse of an illegal under-construction building in Kolkata's western fringes, which claimed at least nine lives and injured several others. The five-storey building in the Garden Reach area collapsed early on Monday. Adhikari, also the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal assembly, alleged, "In the aftermath of the Garden Reach tragedy, the unpreparedness of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has been totally exposed." "As a responsible leader of the opposition, I have initiated the process of data compilation regarding the process of sanctioning building plans, rejection of the same, issuing of completion certificates, identification and demolition of illegal buildings, etc," he posted on X on Wednesday. Adhikari also said this data would certainly help in "assessing the risk posed by the illegal buildings, which have been built without valid permission". The RTI petiti
The Delhi High Court has set aside an order upholding the Central Information Commission's (CIC) direction to telecom regulator TRAI to collect and furnish information under RTI proceedings about the alleged tapping of a mobile user's phone. A bench headed by Justice Vibhu Bakhru allowed an appeal filed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) against a single-judge bench order and said an act of surveillance is carried out under the government's directions and in the interest of the country's sovereignty and integrity, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states or public order, or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offence, and is exempted under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. "Any orders passed by the government concerned in relation to interception or tapping or tracking of a phone is passed when the authorised officer is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient to do so in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of ...
India's external intelligence agency RAW is an exempted organisation under the Right to Information Act and unless the information sought by an RTI applicant relates to human rights or corruption issues, it is not liable to be disclosed, the Delhi High Court has said. The court's order came on a petition by an RTI applicant for disclosure of information on the residences of a former RAW chief during a certain period. The court refused to interfere with the CIC order refusing to supply the information to the petitioner and observed that Section 24 of the Right to Information Act provides that it does not apply to the security and intelligence organisations specified in its Second Schedule and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was one of them. "RAW is an organisation which is specifically mentioned in the Schedule to the RTI Act. It is an exempt organisation. Unless the nature of information sought relates to human rights or corruption related issues, information is not liable to be ..
Former West Bengal DGP Virendra was on Wednesday appointed as the State Information Commissioner(SIC), state Parliamentary Affairs minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said. The meeting to select the new SIC was held at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's chamber at the state assembly. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP skipped the meeting citing violation of the "advertising guidelines for inviting applications". Banerjee chaired the meeting. "There were 15 applications for the post of which 10 were found valid. The CM proposed Virendra's name and we supported it. Virendra has been appointed as the new state information commissioner," Chattopadhyay said after the meeting. Later speaking to reporters on the appointment of Virendra as the new State Information Commissioner, Adhikari said, "The meeting is illegal, it has met twice before. The Governor did not sign. I hope the Governor will not sign the appointment of Information Commissioner this time as well. All India level
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has claimed that records pertaining to a Right to Information (RTI) Act query by a player were destroyed by pests at its headquarters here, leading to a rebuke from the Central Information Commission. Responding to a query under the RTI Act seeking information on various issues by FIDE Master (FM) Gurpreet Pal Singh, the AICF claimed the records had been destroyed by pests. "Initially, they denied information stating that the case is pending in Madras High Court. Then they said records have been destroyed by pests and finally they denied it under section 8 (1)(d), (e), (j) of the act," Singh told PTI. "The commission did not agree with this and ordered them to provide information and admonished them for trying to misguide the commission and changing their stand," he added. He further said that "the AICF had earlier told the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that its records were destroyed by the floods in Chennai in 2015". At a hearing at