From: b sabha <[email protected]>
http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31821&articlexml=BY-INVITATION-Weve-got-to-fight-for-our-13032016014013 BY INVITATION - We've got to fight, for our right to information <http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31821&articlexml=BY-INVITATION-Weve-got-to-fight-for-our-13032016014013> epaperbeta.timesofindia.com The Times Of India daily ePaper - Watch digital ePaper of India from around the world. Mar 13 2016 : Mirror (Mumbai) BY INVITATION - We've got to fight, for our right to information SHAILESH GANDHI An act that has empowered millions is slowly being leached of its force majeure In the last week of April 2005, as news headlines were dominated by citizens agitating against police con stable Sunil More, infamous for the Marine Drive rape case, there was a small inside page report about a police inspector Prakash Aware who had raped a minor in September 2004.The medical report and evidence were conclusive and Prakash Aware was suspended from service. In December 2004, the case came up in court and he was acquitted. By March 2005, his suspension was revoked, and he was back in service. Agitated by this report, I decided to act. Under the Maharashtra act, I sent an RTI application to the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Police Commissioner on May 2 2005 asking for a copy of the letter revoking his suspension.This information would reveal the name of the police officer responsible for revoking the suspension.They refused to give the information on frivolous grounds, and I filed an appeal. In August 2005, the police sent me a letter instead that they had dismissed police inspector Prakash Aware from service in July 2005! While the RTI isn't intended to address grievances, it can bring transparency and accountability into governance. DEMOCRACY AT STAKE The biggest strength of the RTI is that citizens use it, spread the good words and teach others how to use it. It becomes more powerful by the day, deepening our democracy. When a slum dweller -an RTI-empowered citizen -applied for a new ration card, he was told he would have to give a bribe of Rs 2,000 to officials to obtain it. Our friend smiled and just went ahead and applied. No bribes, no grovelling for pity. He had found out that all the bribegivers got their ration cards in about six weeks. He waited eight weeks, and then submitted an RTI asking up to which date applications for ration cards had been cleared, and the action taken on his. His tools were the simple RTI form and a fee of Rs 10. He then delivered this to the PIO of the Food and Supply office. The corrupt officials were shaken, since the information would reveal that they had given ration cards to others who had applied after him, and there was no justification for delaying his card. Net conclusion, he obtained his ration card immediately. This story repeats thousands and thousands of times, with different particulars. Citizens have gotten pensions, passports, tax refunds, electricity connections, birth certificates and so on. Citizens had an active role in drafting the RTI act, rated among the top three in the world. The creation of an Information Commission, and the provision for a penalty of Rs 250 per day of delay on the responsible officer in case of delay or refusal without reasonable cause, have been the major reasons for its success. The law is simple and over-rides all earlier laws. No information can be denied by claiming confidentiality, aside from the 10 provisos under Section 8 (1) of the RTI law.A nominal fee of Rs 10 for the application and Rs 2 per page for the information given, empowered the citizen. It is estimated that in the ten years of its existence, over 30 million applications have been made, and about six to eight million are likely to be made this year. THE TRIPLE THREAT But there are those who resent the changing paradigm of power, and there are three major ways that the RTI is being subverted. First, the bureaucracy is developing techniques to wear out those seeking information that could expose arbitrariness and corruption. After getting power, people's mindsets undergo a transformation. It is a matter of deep distress that even the present CM of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, who become nationally famous for his work on the RTI campaign, has not brought about any significant change in his government towards transparency. Even when Information Commissions give specific orders, governments defy them with arrogance. Currently, the Maharashtra Chief Secretary is defying the commission's order to appoint PIOs in the offices of ministers and provide information. Ministers are scared of being transparent about their actions, and are thus illegally defying a statutory order. This is lawlessness. The Maharashtra Commission has been delivering decisions at a comparatively fast pace but is handicapped by the fact that the State government has been very laggard in filling the vacancies. Second, many information commissioners are selected as an act of political patronage, and many have no predilection for transparency. Even retired heads of the Intelligence Bureau, steeped in secrecy, are appointed heads of information commissions. The lack of effective working, accountability and transparency at most of the commissions is becoming a major obstacle. Many commissioners do not understand the law, nor the basic rationale for transparency or democracy. The commissions are becoming senior citizen's clubs. The lazy way in which many work has built up mounting pendency. Third, the law mandates that the PIO must deliver information within 30 days or pay a penalty, but many commissions are taking over a year to give a decision.What moral authority can they then have to penalise a PIO for delay? Hence, the penalty provision is used stingily, as if it was the death penalty. THE INTERNET IS THE SAFETY NET The push for transparency is the failure of most governments to follow the mandate of the act and disclose most information which citizens want suo motu. This section also required all government work to be done on networked computer systems. If this was done, all paper files could be banished and at the end of each day all records -except what is exempt in the RTI Act -could be displayed on the internet. This would save crores in terms of cost of paper, files, printing inks, space for keeping the files, besides building transparency into the system by design. It would also result in all records becoming accessible easily. I had instituted a paperless electronic working as a Central Information Commissioner. This is a mandate and promise to the nation made in the RTI Act which has not been fulfilled. Even where citizens cannot access the net, PIOs would find it very easy to provide information. Also public servants need to realise that they are public servants for only about 50 of the 168 hours in a week. Their stake in the nation as citizens is far greater.The simple talisman is greater transparency for our democracy. Citizens should hasten this process toward greater adherence to the RTI Act by the public authorities. And public servants should look at this law from the perspective of working for a better nation with a government which citizens trust. That would be true nationalism. Shailesh Gandhi is an RTI activist and former Central Information Commissioner [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/NasData//PUBLICATIONS/MIRROR/MUMBAI/2016/03/13/Photographs/014/13_03_2016_014_013_003.jpg]<http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31821&articlexml=BY-INVITATION-Weve-got-to-fight-for-our-13032016014013#> [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/NasData//PUBLICATIONS/MIRROR/MUMBAI/2016/03/13/Photographs/014/13_03_2016_014_013_005.jpg]<http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31821&articlexml=BY-INVITATION-Weve-got-to-fight-for-our-13032016014013#>
