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The purpose of this paper is to analyze and assess the efficacy of one of India's path‐breaking and trendsetting enactments of recent origin, namely, the Right to Information Act, 2005 in promoting transparency, accountability and probity in governance process at the national and sub‐national level and how it is useful as a potent legal tool in fighting against and preventing maladministration, bad governance and venality in the governance process at different levels of administration in India.

The paper focuses purely on the doctrine study by tracing out the historical background of the Citizens' Right to Information and an overview of the Right to Information Act, 2005. It also comprehensively discusses the meaning of information and right to know under the Indian constitutional framework and how its boundaries have been further widened with the enactment and enforcement of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Further, the paper also deliberates on how the citizens are empowered to enjoy and exercise unhindered right to information under the Act on a par with the legislators.

The paper discloses that the Right to Information Act, 2005 has undoubtedly immense benefits for the Indian polity in the form of strengthening of democratic process and promoting good governance practices.

The study throws ample light on how the informed and empowered citizenry is imperative for a meaningful democracy and also in promoting good governance and further in exposing maladministration.

The study on the path‐breaking enactment of recent origin in a young democracy like India has paramount contemporary significance for young and transitional democracies across the world for strengthening democratic systems and promoting good governance.

Right to Information (RTI) is a formidable tool in the hands of responsible citizens to fight corruption and ensure transparency and accountability within a participatory democracy. The RTI Act was promulgated in India in October 2005, and has fundamentally changed the power equation between the government and citizens. T.his chapter examines the contribution of the Act, in particular playing a significant role by providing information necessary to combat corruption in India. It is also noted, however, that RTI is not an unmixed-blessing as it is seen how costly it has been for zealous investigative journalists.

The purpose of this study was to investigate a framework for the implementation of freedom of information (FOI) legislation in South Africa, against Article 19’s nine principles of FOI legislation.

This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to collect data from six experts selected by means of the snowball sampling technique and content analysis. The study used a modified Delphi design consisting of two rounds of interviews.

The results showed that little effort is made by government officials to demonstrate commitment to the implementation of FOI legislation.

The passing of FOI is expected to reduce corruption, increase public participation, reduce the level of secrecy and increase transparency and openness. This is not the case as the implementation of this socioeconomic right in South Africa is faced by numerous challenges, such as a lack of political will, secrecy laws providing for the opposite of what the FOI legislation seeks to achieve, poor legislative interpretation and a lack of clear policies. The study proposes a framework aimed at addressing these challenges.

The study provides a framework for the implementation of FOI legislation. The framework was developed under the guidance of Article 19 principles of freedom of information legislation.

New Zealand postgraduate library and information studies qualifications have undergone a process of continual revision since the first training school for librarians was established in 1946. This chapter begins with an overview of the history of postgraduate library studies qualifications in New Zealand. It continues with a discussion of the establishment of qualifications for record keepers (archivists and records managers), followed by a description of the most recent developments, which established a generic Master of Information Studies qualification, and the associated Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma of Information Studies. It concludes with a discussion of the various drivers for these changes, and the ways in which the relationships between the various professional associations and interest groups and the education providers have evolved.

The purpose of this paper is to show how, in planning and building a new library at a US‐style higher education institution in the Middle East, special attention was paid to the need to encourage and enhance student information literacy competencies. This was a core purpose behind the building design, activity zones and Information Commons layout.

Librarians visited a wide range of academic libraries in the USA and Canada as a means of benchmarking best practice in space and building design. Extensive feedback was also gathered from the campus community and their desires reflected in the final design.

The library classrooms and adjacent Information Commons are key components in facilitating student information literacy skills.

Student attainment of core information literacy skills can be facilitated and enhanced through library facility design, particularly through the careful placement of instruction classrooms and a central computing or information commons area.

The paper shows how planning a new library at a US‐style higher education institution in the Middle East incorporated the need to encourage and enhance student information literacy competencies

The marketing of food products to children through online media has grown rapidly in recent years, particularly in high‐income countries, where children spend considerable amounts of time on computers. Most food products marketed to children online are obesity‐causing, and childhood obesity has grown to epidemic proportions, with harmful effects on society. Marketers use creative methods to engage children online, entertaining them, offering rewards and promoting products through interactive activities. Online media is monitored much less than conventional media and little is known about online marketing of food to children. This study seeks to examine policies related to food marketing in three high‐income countries, France, Spain, and the USA, and their impact on the methods marketers use to engage children.

The paper presents a conceptual framework linking several aspects of the policies and the socio‐cultural environments in these countries with the design of the food companies' web sites. Six hypotheses are advanced based on this framework and tested using content analysis.

The findings of this study indicate that there are significant differences in online marketing of food products to children in the three countries studied in the authors' research, France, Spain, and the USA, and these differences are largely attributable to these countries' policies. The web sites of French food companies placed greater emphasis on nutrition‐related and interactions‐related features compared to the web sites of US and Spanish food companies. On the other hand, the web sites of US and Spanish food companies placed greater emphasis on games‐related, rewards‐related, attributes‐related, and brand‐related features compared to the web sites of French food companies. These differences in the web sites were conceptualized to result from the differences in the socio‐cultural and policy/regulatory environments of the three countries.

The study provides several useful insights related to understanding of consumer behavior, consumer policy, and design of food companies' web sites in the three countries. The design of food companies' web sites in terms of their emphasis on different categories of features reflects the companies' understanding of consumers in the respective country and government policy and enforcement of online communications. The article provides a conceptual framework that identifies six factors hypothesized to influence the design of food companies' web sites, three related to the socio‐cultural environment, namely attitudes toward health and nutrition, food and nutrition communication, and brand building, and three related to the policy/regulatory environment, namely, government regulatory agencies, self‐regulation by companies, and enforcement and compliance.

The study of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)11BHEL was founded in 1950s. It has emerged as the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise of its kind in India. Power equipment major BHEL has approached the government for the grant of coveted Maharatna status, which will give the company greater financial autonomy. At present, BHEL is a Navratna company. A company qualifying for the Maharatna status should have an average annual turnover of more than Rs 20,000 crores in the last three years, according to the new guidelines. Once a company gets the Maharatna status, its board would not be required to take the government’s permission for investments up to Rs 5,000 crores in a joint venture project or wholly owned subsidiary. For the Navratna companies, the limit is Rs 1,000 crores. was undertaken to understand the quality of corporate governance in public sector and to gain insight into the major infirmities in internal and external conditions that impinge on the quality of corporate governance in the public enterprises. In India, to bring in more transparency and accountability in the functioning of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), the government of India in June 2007 introduced the Guidelines on Corporate Governance. These Guidelines were originally of voluntary nature. The government has acknowledged the need for continuing the adoption of good Corporate Governance Guidelines for ensuring robust public sector with high level of transparency and decided to make these Guidelines mandatory and applicable to all CPSEs. Thereby, government in March 2010 asked all the 246 CPSEs to mandatorily follow corporate governance norms and business ethics, a step to ensure more transparency in their functioning.

This study aims to explore the weightage rendered to corporate social responsibility (CSR) keywords in mission and vision (M&V) statements of public sector enterprises (PSEs) in India.

Analysing the contents of M&V statements of 230 PSEs, this study has the twin research objectives of seeking to illuminate the current use of CSR-related keywords in PSEs’ M&V statements that reflect organisational strategy and provide an understanding for how firm age, industry and firm size variables serve to influence CSR keyword reporting in these statements.

The findings of this study provide evidence that half of the Indian PSEs reported at least one CSR-related keyword in their M&V statements. These public enterprises predominantly use 38 different categories of CSR keywords in their M&V statements. Furthermore, the authors find that environment-related keywords were predominantly used by PSEs in their M&V statements. The results indicate that PSEs’ size and industries are significantly associated with the use of CSR-related keywords in M&V statements, suggesting that bigger PSEs and PSEs in extractive industries (e.g. mining, coal and petroleum) tend to report more CSR-related keywords in their M&V statements.

Findings imply that small public enterprises (those having a low annual turnover) lack CSR focus in their M&V statements. The authors argue that, irrespective of the size of the enterprise, CSR should be an integral part of these PSEs in framing their M&V statements.

This study systematically analyses CSR-related keywords in the M&V statements of all PSEs in India.

A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that contract. When such a repudiation has been accepted by the innocent party then a termination of employment takes place. Such termination does not constitute dismissal (see London v. James Laidlaw & Sons Ltd (1974) IRLR 136 and Gannon v. J. C. Firth (1976) IRLR 415 EAT).

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides: