Whispers Forum

The film industry in India is known to have produced some of the finest talents but the arrest of businessman Raj Kundra in a case relating to the alleged production of adult films, has come as a shock. While Kundra has denied any wrongdoing, a thorough investigation is required. Several controversies like the drug pedalling and the charge of the casting couch in the film industry have come to fore quite often, Of late, Bollywood has seen a spate of suicides, the most notable among them being of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The probe should not only determine culpability in all the cases but also suggest reforms, before it is too late, to keep the glory of the cineworld intact.
Anil Khanna

In a lighter vein - While transparency is certainly good for the country, it produces interesting situations as illustrated in the case cited. A husband - wife relation, held pious, is now bound by the Act where officially, one cannot ask for information about the spouse, as they are "third party" to each other. Who says there cannot be someone in between husband and wife? Each of them have information which is "private" to other person. In summary, the Act which brings about openness in the society adds to privacy between the couple.
Swati

Such annual yatras take place in other States also during the month of Shravan. In West Bengal, Kanwar Yatra to the temple of Tarakeshwar, a Shiva temple, is very popular. Devotees collect Gangajal from river Ganges at a place called Sheoraphuli and then walk a distance of 26 km to the temple. In normal time, daily more than a lakh of people, may be more, visit the temple in this month of Shravan. News Channels should cover all such places so that either such yatras are cancelled or restricted to minimum number of devotees.
Kumar
Revised HRA rates
Revised HRA rates should be 27%, 18% and 9% for X, Y and Z class cities respectively. Not the other way round.
K Prakash

The RTI Act has not been able to fulfill the role it was expected to play in a democracy and the case cited by you is a real testimony to it. It is usually the judiciary which delays the implementation of the different orders or take a surpentious interpretation of the RTI act as in the Girish Deshpande Judgment by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. But here it the INFORMATION COMMISSION which has failed grossly. Unfortunately, the information commission has been relegated to a post retirement vacancy by the government and when something like this happens, it is the quality of orders which is the first casuality. If real good quality orders are needed, the post of information commissioner needs to be given respect. Very few Information Commissioners across the country have any idea about the Act. This is one of the factors which is leading to the failure of the RTI Act to bring about transparency.
Puneet
Nice write-up in WIC
He is the man who handles Herculean challenges in UP. What a great personality Prashant Kumar indeed. Very nice write-up.
Atul