THE DRAFT RULE COMES AT A TIME WHEN NEW DATA CONFIRMS THAT 65 RTI APPLICANTS HAVE BEEN KILLED SINCE 2005, WHEN THE LAW CAME INTO FORCE The government will soon notify new Right to Information (RTI) rules, which can put a whistleblower's life in danger and allow appeals to be withdrawn, as per its commitment in the Supreme Court. Activists say this will weaken the only law that empowers citizens to question the government. The Centre told the Supreme Court earlier this year that it was in the process of framing new rules for regulating the transparency law in an appeal filed by information watchdog Central Information Commission (CIC) with the apex court. The CIC had challenged the Delhi high court order nullifying its 2007 regulation, saying they were in violation of the RTI Act. In absence of any regulation, the CIC was finding regulating appeals difficult and approached the Supreme Court for redress. During hearing, the Centre gave an undertaking that new rule