RTI use: Blame it on the common man

Vinita Deshmukh 12 November 2016

Public Interest

Senior activists, including former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, who attended the 11th National RTI convention held in Delhi last week are disturbed at the growing trend of questioning the motives of Right to Information (RTI) activists and accusing them of having ulterior motives. This, they pointed out, defeats the basic tenets of the Right to Information (RTI) act.

Section 6 (2) of the RTI Act clearly states that: ``An applicant making request for information shall not be required to give any reason for requesting the information’. And yet, Mr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, PMO & Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, who was one of the chief guests stated, `` we must ask ourselves three questions that must pass the litmus test when we are filing a RTI application – is it a genuine cause? Whether the motive is public or personal and whether `this RTI being filed with honesty or with professionalism? Or is it a retirement activity?’’ He wanted that RTI must not be used with an ``extraneous objective.’’ This reveals a flawed understanding of the very purpose of the act. The right to information about issues that affect us personally (often this included information on our tax returns, refunds, transfers, appointments, litigation, legal filings, processing of official documents and applications etc) ought to be available to every individual as a right in a democracy; people need to file applications for information only because this information is not available to them and not provided by the government machinery. Activists, including this writer, who attended the convention were disturbed at the lack of understanding on the part of officials and that a union minister, literally cast aspersions on activists from the convention’s platform.

A similar drama played out last year, again demonstrating how RTI activists are held in such suspicion. The 10th National convention last year saw only seven activists getting an official invitation to participate, that too after being cleared by the intelligence bureau. This had led to angry protests, but again, the insinuation was that activists had ulterior motives for filing RTI.

Fortunately, Home Minister Rajnath Singh who inaugurated the Convention struck the right note in his inaugural address. He said that, ``Right to Information (RTI) Act is a powerful medium of two-way communication between the citizens and the Government. On the one hand, the citizens get information through this act and on the other hand, the Government gets new ideas for formulating people-friendly policy and to reform the governance system, when people ask such information. The Government system should use it effectively’’ and that, RTI Act provides a strong foundation to the feeling of trust and cooperation which is important for the governance based upon trust.

Chief information commissioner, RK Mathur made the point that there should be more awareness about RTI in rural areas and maybe less of it in urban India. An issue that was debated again this year was the large pendency of appeals under RTI. Mr Mathur said, Out of the 35,000 pendency, 4000 of them are about one single case. Is it right? What can we do about it?’’. Elementary, Mr Mathur. Please ask public authorities to adhere start making proactive disclosures under Section 4 of the RTI Act on their website. This will automatically reduce the need to ask for information by filing RTI applications.

One would have expected that a national convention would discuss serious issues that affect the proper implementation of the act, as well as attacks on RTI activists. Instead, three public authorities were given the opportunity to blow their own trumpet. Worse, a representatives of the railways made a presented a survey, which ostensibly found that 71% of the employees said that they were overworked due to RTI queries. Once again, this writer pointed out that proactive disclosure would reduce their burden.

The conventions saw the launch of a specialised software to enable speedy disposal of appeals and complaints by using digital technology. A coffee table book `Trust through Transparency’ comprising 50 success stories of ordinary citizens using RTI was also released at the convention. This book has been produced by YASHADA of Pune, with the help of several activists.

Comments

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Gopalakrishnan T V

10 years ago

Demonetisation is an excellent move from the Government side and people have wholeheartedly welcomed it. But the way the implementation is taking place , it looks the preparations made have not been adequate and the practical difficulties the average people can face have not been properly assesed. The introduction of Rs 2000 could have been either avoided or delayed and instead supply of small denimination notes could have been augmented to meet the demands of lower and middle class people in the rural and semi urban centres in particular. New Five hundred rupee could have been thought of and introduced to avoid the chaotic conditions. The concerned authorities should have ensured to get the 100 Rs notes at all ATM counters and the normal banking activities involving two way transactions of deposits and withdrawals perhaps limiting the withdrawals of small denomination notes depending on the supply should have been ensured.. The authorities could have ordered all temples and religious establishments where lots of accummulation of small denomination notes and coins is a regular feature, to deposit all their collections in banks which would have improved supply of small denomination notes.The supply to ATMs has been outsourced and manty such ATMs have not been opened almost since the announcement of withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. This has added to the problems. The PSBs seem to have failed to act proactively unlike the Private sector banks and this has created a wrong impression among the public as to the efficacy of the authorities to mange the present crisis. The general reluctance to accept the plastic cards by the traders both in retail and whole sale segments and the well established habit of dealings only in cash to evade tax and trail of transactions continue expecting some favourable move from the Government either to withdraw the demonetisation move or relax it drastically. All said, the crisis is really manageable and the authorities have to improve the logistics of the distribution of small denomination notes . People have the patience but unfortunately who are opposed to the move are the stumbling blocks on the smooth implementation of the scheme. .

GLN Prasad

10 years ago

What the lessons DOPT or CIC are learning out of this conventions ? Are these mere rituals ? There should be some purpose and the discussions should serve as a feed back to bring atleast one development. Tired of hearing the same again and again, without any sincerity and commitment from any of the stake holders.