Section 7 of the Right to Information Act of 2005 gives a public information officer thirty days to decide on a request. If the officer “fails to give decision on the request for information within the period specified,” the officer “shall be deemed to have refused the request.”
The Pocket Veto
In 1986 Parliament passed the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill. President Zail Singh neither signed it nor sent it back to Parliament. The bill remained in limbo. His silence became known as a pocket veto.
In 1990 the government of V.P. Singh withdrew the bill.
Sitting on Bills
The governor of Tamil Nadu, R.N. Ravi, held back ten bills that the state assembly had passed a second time. On April 8, 2025, two judges of the Supreme Court found his delay illegal. They set time limits for governors and the President and declared the bills assented to.
On November 20, 2025, answering a reference from the President, a Constitution Bench held that courts cannot fix such timelines and that deemed assent is not consistent with the Constitution. It added that governors “cannot sit on Bills indefinitely.”
Putting Off
Taal-matol: putting off. The Rekhta dictionary defines it as postponing a task instead of completing it, and also as the excuse made in order to postpone.
Aaj kal karna: to say today, tomorrow. Rekhta gives the same meaning, to put off, and adds a second one: to put someone off with a false promise.
The Path of Diplomacy
On February 25, 2022, the UN Security Council voted on a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. India abstained, together with China and the United Arab Emirates.
India’s ambassador, T.S. Tirumurti, explained: “It is a matter of regret that the path of diplomacy was given up. We must return to it.” He added: “For all these reasons, India has chosen to abstain on this resolution.”
The Head Bobble
In India a side-to-side movement of the head often answers a question. Wikipedia’s article on the head bobble says that “most frequently it means yes, or is used to indicate understanding.” It can also take the place of a thank-you.
The meaning depends on context. “An unenthusiastic head bobble can be a polite way of declining something without saying no directly.”
Sochte Hain
In his book The Power of Saying No, the author Ashutosh Garg writes that in India subordinates “may find it particularly difficult to say no to superiors.” In collectivist cultures, he adds, “saying no directly is often avoided to preserve harmony and maintain relationships.”
Instead of refusing, he writes, an Indian may say sochte hain, “we will think about it.” Governance Now published an excerpt in February 2026.
Under Consideration
On February 2, 2021, a member of Parliament asked about revising the income limit for the “creamy layer” among the Other Backward Classes. The Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment replied in the Lok Sabha.
The “proposal for revision of creamy layer limit for OBCs is under consideration of the Government,” he said. The answer gave no date and no decision.
The Horoscopes Did Not Match
In February 2026 the Delhi High Court refused bail to a man accused of breaking a promise of marriage. After a relationship, he allegedly refused to marry the woman because their horoscopes, or kundalis, did not match.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma held that “the subsequent refusal to marry on the ground of non-matching kundalis” raised doubts, at first sight, about whether the promise had been genuine.
Accha
In December 2020 the Hindi word accha entered the Cambridge Dictionary. It can signal agreement or surprise. Its meaning depends “on the tone of the speaker,” and it is often used sarcastically.