In the first five months of power, Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa made eight visits to temples which cost the government a whopping Rs11 lakh.This was revealed in an Right to Information (RTI) application by a journalism student at the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media, Bangalore. It was under the guidance of visiting professor Ralph Frammolino, a former reporter with Los Angeles Times that the students of the journalism college filed several RTI applications to get information from various government offices.
According to Professor Frammolino, India has a powerful tool like RTI which is far ahead of the provisions in other countries like the US and Canada. Sudipa Chakraborty spoke to the professor on the issue. What is your opinion about the Right to Information (RTI) Act in India? RTI is an incredibly powerful tool available to the people of India. In fact, India has one of the best RTI acts in the world. By virtue of this act, people have the law by their side. It has the power to change the relationship between the government and the citizens. If more and more people file RTIs, the hidden facts behind government files will be out in the public. It will bring transparency in the system. Is India's RTI Act better than the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the US? Under the RTI act, if a government officer withholds, destroys or refuses to give information, he/she can be punished. There can be a fine amount of Rs. 25, 000 levied against the concerned officer. That empowers the citizen. Under FOIA, no such penalties can be levied against the government officer. Besides, unlike the FOIA, there is a fixed term for procuring information under the RTI act. That makes it better than many other such acts in the world. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was made into a law in 1966 in the US. But, it is not as widely used as the RTI. Your comments. The FOIA has no fixed term for procuring the information. It has no penalties. Besides, if the concerned officer refuses to give away information, one is required to file a civil law suit in the court. If it prevails, the applicant can ask for the damage. But, not many people have the money and time to file a law suit. That is why it has become ineffective. What were the difficulties that you faced while filing the RTI applications in Bangalore? The bureaucrats are reluctant to give away the information. They are non-responsive to the requests of common citizens. My students had to make several rounds of the government offices for months together. My students had moved around 72 times at 18 different tables over two months at the CM's office to get the information. The Public Information officers are the stumbling blocks to the successful implementation of RTI in India. The system is designed to discourage people. In the US, it is much easier to get such normal information. [email protected] http://epaper.dnaindia.com/dnabangalore/newsview.aspx?eddate=5/2/2009&pageno=2&edition=9&prntid=4559&bxid=27952876&pgno=2 ----------------------------- Men can acquire knowledge, but not wisdom. Some of the greatest fools ever known were learned men. http://www.saveindianfamily.org/ http://www.societymirror.info/ http://www.crisp-india.org/ http://www.antidowry.org/ http://www.wethemen.us/ I also blog at: http://legalterror.wordpress.com Keep Fighting Legal Terrorism Keep Fighting Inequality in Justice http://www.pollsb.com/webdigr http://www.myntra.com/affiliate/329 If "con" is the opposite of "pro", then what is the opposite of progress? [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rti_india/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rti_india/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
