Whispers Forum

TMC and Samajwadi Party(SP) have joined hands and both Mamata and Akhilesh have indicated that more regional parties could join the coalition but they emphatically said Congress would have no place in the alliance. Jairam Ramesh has rightly said that an opposition coalition without Congress cannot take on BJP and I fully agree with it. It appears regional parties want to form a coalition without Congress. Such a coalition will cause no harm to BJP. As an indication of growing distance from Congress, SP has said it would contest even from Raebareli and Amethi. So far they never contested from these traditional seats of Gandhi family.
Yogita Saxena

The appellant sought to know as to when his application will be placed for consideration before the Rajya Sabha. The CIC observed that The RTI Act does not cast any obligation on the PIO to answer queries, in which the seeker of information attempts to elicit answer to the questions with prefixes, such as, why, what, when and whether. The CIC directed the PIO to forward the letter petition of the appellant dated 28.11.2019 to the Chief Secretary, Bihar under intimation to the appellant within 3 days of the receipt of the order.
Comments
The case shows how the drafting of the RTI applications affects eliciting proper response from the public authority. The applicant could have asked whether there are any norms for putting up a letter to the Rajya Sabha and for the body to consider it.
Citation: Santosh Kumar Pandit v. Parliament of India Rajya Sabha Secretariat, File no.: - CIC/PAROI/A/2022/137994, Date of Decision: 08/02/2023
Dr Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is a RTI Consultant currently working with IIM Visakhapatnam. She has co-authored the books, RTI Right to Information - Law and Practice and PIO’s Guide to RTI. She offers consultancy on RTI matters and Third party audit. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link www.rtifoundationofindia.com

American rating agency Moody's has warned that the US banking system may face more problems in the future after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. There are reports that another bank in America has collapsed and some other banks are also in trouble. Switzerland’s Credit Suisse Bank is also in trouble. Whatever happens in America and other countries is bound to have some impact on India also. Because as we see when the share markets of US and Europe collapse then India’s Sensex is also impacted. Economists say that compared to America, India has more strict and transparent laws regarding banks. Because of this, Indian banks cannot invest more than a fixed limit anywhere. For this reason, the chances of money sinking in Indian banks are less. But we will have to act immediately to ensure the smaller regional banks in India remain safe.
Arunima Khare

Yes, I agree with the thoughts of Saxena Sahab. If you feed milk to a snake, you increase its capacity to produce venom, not nectar. Same is the case with Turkey. Instead of praising India for extending immense help to thousands of earthquake victims in their country, they have betrayed India. Turkey should learn to respect sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its own policies more deeply. India should learn a lesson from this betrayal.
H S Chauhan
Behaviour of Turkey is lesson for all Indians and Non Resident Indians
Rightly said. Food for Thought for all Indians and Non-Resident Indians. What India did at that time on humanitarian grounds was correct and set the world thinking on our gesture. Citing this return gesture by Turkey, we can move forward to our national interest with supporting documents.
S Meenakshi Sundaram

Copies of CIRP forms of an Insolvency Professional submitted during the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process were denied by the PIO claiming that the said form and the accompanying documents were held by the respondent authority in its fiduciary capacity. The appellant contended that the information was related to public function and alleged that the Insolvency Professional was involved in committing serious financial frauds. The CIC ruled that the disclosure of sought for forms and documents is unwarranted and undesirable in view of the bar imposed under Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act. Further, the CIC assessed the institutional impact of disclosure of information and opined that the possibility of harm/injury emanating from disclosure outweighed the public interest.
Comments
The Central Information Commission is a creature of the RTI Act, 2005 which describes its powers and functions. The role of Information Commission is limited to providing information and for challenging the procedural rules, an appellant should approach the appropriate judicial forum.
Citation: Anil Kumar Ojha v. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, File no.: CIC/IBBIN/A/2022/640485, Date of Decision: 09/02/2023
Dr Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is a RTI Consultant currently working with IIM Visakhapatnam. She has co-authored the books, RTI Right to Information - Law and Practice and PIO’s Guide to RTI. She offers consultancy on RTI matters and Third party audit. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link www.rtifoundationofindia.com

Despite supplying emergency relief to Turkey after successive earthquakes, Turkey chose to condemn India at the UN for human rights violation in Jammu & Kashmir. Oh, what a return gift !
This might have pleased Pakistan, but, India surely got a taste of the doctrine of "Nishkaam Karma".
Instead of expressing gratitude to India, Erdogan, President of Turkey is always keen to project himself as leader of the Islamic world .An absolutely, un-islamic, inhuman, selfish creature.
While India was badly humiliated, the sadistic Pakistan must be feeling hugely emboldened and elated.
Lessons for India?
Should India continue to help for charity and get backstabbed? Never, ever ! National interest is supreme.
India must revisit its foreign policy and supply additional military aid to Greece and Armenia.
Both Turkey and Greece are historical rivals and members of NATO.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)