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Anna
Hazare calls off fast on RTI
Alandi
(Maharashtra): Following the Government's announcement
that the amendment proposals of Right to Information Act would
not be tabled during the current session of Parliament, the
noted social activist Anna Hazare on Saturday called off his
11-day-old fast-unto-death. Hazare, 68, was offered a glass
of juice by Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's
Office Prithviraj Chavan. He had started the hunger strike
on August 9 to oppose proposed amendments that would have
diluted the law and suppressed the rights of the common citizen
by denying access to file notings. Hazare on Thursday demanding
deferment of the proposed Bill to amend the Right to Information
Act to the next session had said that this move would give
four months time to undertake a country-wide campaign against
the Bill. The 66-year-old reformer and recipient of Ramon
Magsaysay award on Wednesday turned down the PMO's request
to first call off the stir and then meet the Prime Minister
in New Delhi for a discussion.
Centre shelves RTI amendments
New
Delhi: The UPA Government is trying to go slow on putting
the 'file notings' outside the purview of the Right to Information
Act as the proposed RTI amendments are unlikely to be brought
in during the current session of Parliament. Minister of State
for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri said that since
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi
have received several representations over the issue, the
amendments are not likely to be brought in this session and
a decision would be taken only after discussing it with all
stake-holders. The news has brought relief to many people
who had been opposing the recent proposed amendments, as it
would make the entire RTI "void". Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Priyaranjan Das Munshi was not available for comment. On July
20, the Cabinet gave clearance to the RTI amendments that
exempted secretary level file notings from its ambit. The
Cabinet had then said that the proposed amendments would "remove
ambiguities and make the RTI act more effective". But there
has been a lot of protests over the amendments with social
activists alleging that the amendments which had been brought
under the due pressure from the bureaucrats would 'destroy
the soul and character of the Act', labelled as a progressive
one. Anna Hazare had been fasting to protest against the proposed
RTI amendments and had demanded that until the Centre would
not give a written assurance of not legislating the amendments
he would not give up his fast.
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