No right This

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2009/11/3344

No right This

Information officers are using a ploy to deter RTI applicants from
seeking details that may embarrass the government. To discourage, they
demand exorbitant amount of money ostensibly as an expense for
ferreting out the information. And, it's all official
Sadiq Naqvi Delhi

It is a travesty of citizen's rights. For a piece of information that
they have every right to access, citizens are asked to shell out a
lakh of rupees. It has been four years since the Right to Information
(RTI) was made into a law. But bureaucratic unease at sharing
information is making a nonsense of it. Public information officers
have flourished by keeping information under wraps. This is proving to
be a major obstacle in the speedy implementation of this law that
gives greater meaning to our democracy.

The ugly truth after four years of RTI's existence: there is just 27
per cent chance of getting information even after approaching
government-appointed commissions following an appeal or complaint
under RTI. This was revealed in a report released by RTI Awards
Secretariat recently. A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers reveals that
more than 75 per cent of the applicants were dissatisfied with the
quality of information received.

The situation is getting worse as there are reports of government
mulling over amendment of the RTI Act that could actually make it
weaker. Sources reveal that the department of personnel and training
(DoPT) is opposed to greater transparency, which it considers
subversive. Noted activist, Aruna Roy, said, "How can DoPT, which
deals with career interests of bureaucrats, be the parent department
for disclosing information? The government wants to exempt file
notings from being disclosed. This will destroy the very essence of
RTI."

Activists feel that instead of amending the act, the government should
first implement the present act fully. The government's plan to reject
frivolous petitions, activists alleged, is a ruse to reject any
application that they consider inconvenient. A Central Information
Commission (CIC) official denied that there is any such plan. "The
government has time and again made it clear that the act will be made
stronger. There is nothing to worry," he told Hardnews.

The Supreme Court has made it clear that the fundamental right to
freedom of speech guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the
Constitution was based on the foundation of the right to know about
the activities of the State. The effect was seen in the 2002 ruling of
the SC, which made it mandatory for aspiring MPs and MLAs to declare
their assets and criminal record before contesting. Thus, the Right to
Information was seen as a weapon to weed out corruption and bring in
more accountability in the functioning of the State.

RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal said, "The culture of secrecy which we
inherited from our colonial rulers is proving to be an incentive for
government officers." RTI is perceived as an encroachment on their
power and style of functioning where no questions were asked and no
action taken.

A recent report released by the RTI Assessment and Analysis Group
(RaaG) and the National Campaign for People's Right to Information
(NCPRI) reveals that in about 55 to 60 per cent cases, information was
provided under the RTI Act from various government departments. Rest
of the time, petitioners were even threatened, chased out and ignored.

Assam is at the bottom of the table with 23 per cent and Meghalaya
tops the list with information being provided in 83 per cent of the
cases. According to the report, information was given on time only in
40 out of 100 cases. Even the different bodies constituted by the
government, like the information commissions, do not fare any better.

"I filed an RTI application in the Bihar state information commission
(SIC) to know how many appeals and complaints they had received in
December 2008. I had to make a second appeal and, finally, the
information was given after a good eight months," said Afroz Alam, a
student of Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi.

Jaankari, a call centre set up in Bihar to assist in filing RTI
applications, refused to provide information about how many requests
it has processed. And, in this case too, second appeal had to be made.

The report released by RaaG and NCPRI shows that 40 per cent of rural
and 15 per cent of urban respondents cited harassment and threats by
officials as reasons for not filing RTI applications. Another 30 per
cent of rural respondents said that they were discouraged by the
public information officer (PIO) responsible for providing the
information. "I received threats on phone after I had filed an RTI
asking how much money the local MP had spent for his constituency," a
student from Bihar told Hardnews on condition of anonymity.

Since RTI applicants must reveal their identity, they are threatened
and at times forced to withdraw applications. There have also been
cases where people were victimised for using the RTI as a tool to
fight corruption. In Bihar, a petitioner was jailed for "daring" to
ask information from a district collector. The collector slapped a
charge of extortion and blackmail on the hapless RTI applicant.
According to a senior CIC official, having a Protection of
Whistleblowers Act could solve this problem.

Meanwhile, information officers are using another ploy to deter RTI
applicants from seeking details that may embarrass the government. To
discourage, they demand exorbitant amount of money ostensibly as an
expense for ferreting out the information. And, it's all official.

Recently, when the Delhi Police was asked details about the number of
children who have disappeared or stolen, the applicant was asked to
shell out a huge sum. In another instance, when an employee approached
the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for internal audit reports, the chief
public relations officer told him, "The information is not readily
available and will require deployment of one non-supervisor, one
supervisor and one assistant manager on overtime basis..." The
applicant was asked to deposit Rs 17,608 for the information. The
applicant withdrew his application.

Hardnews was told by the CIC official that demanding money is patently
illegal. "Nobody is allowed to charge excess money. Had the applicant
approached the commission, he would have got the information for a
nominal charge." Kejriwal said he was asked to pay Rs 10 per order by
the SIC in UP when he had asked them for orders passed by them for his
study.

In the absence of training, most PIOs are clueless about what is
expected of them under the RTI. According to a RaaG-NCPRI report,
nearly 70 per cent of the rural PIOs spend less than one hour per week
on RTI-related work. Another 30 per cent of them are not aware of the
provisions of the RTI Act. Around 60 per cent of urban and rural PIOs
have not been trained. Interestingly, 50 per cent of the rural PIOs do
not have a copy of the RTI Act with them. Many of the PIOs cited lack
of financial incentives as the reason for their disinterest.

Often, information is withheld on the pretext that it is confidential.
"An RTI petition with several queries on recent controversial
recommendations by the Supreme Court collegiums on appointments of its
judges was not entertained by the apex court for being confidential
without citing any exemption clause from the RTI Act," said Subhash
Aggarwal, an RTI activist. However, another RTI petition filed at the
President's secretariat with exactly the same set of questions
received a good response with detailed documents, he added.

According to the RaaG-NCPRI report, 80 per cent of first appeals
received no response from the first appellate authorities. Another 11
per cent were rejected and in only nine per cent cases they were
partially or wholly heard.

The RTI Act is also bearing the brunt of State apathy. The government
does not advertise about this so that more people get to know about
it. In 2008-09, the DoPT spent Rs 7.29 crore for advertising about
RTI. It had been allocated Rs 10 crore in the budget. For the year
2009-10, Rs 14.16 crore has been allocated. Till October 2009, Rs 3.55
crore has been spent.

The RaaG-NCPRI organised focal group discussions (FGD) across the
country. In 20 per cent of the rural FGDs, there was only one person
who knew about the RTI Act.

According to the RaaG-NCPRI report, most people got to know about RTI
through newspapers, televisions or NGOs. Unfortunately, the government
did not play a major role in raising awareness about RTI. Social
activist, Medha Patkar, said, "There is a need to take the campaign in
villages. The local officers should devise ways to inform citizens
living in rural areas."

Sources in the CIC said, "Money is being spent on areas where people
are already aware. Officials at the block and district levels should
be engaged to raise awareness about RTI." Nearly 20 lakh RTI
applications were filed in the first two-and-a-half years of RTI.

Out of 20 lakh RTI applications, nearly 16 lakh were filed by urban
applicants and only four lakh applicants were from rural areas, said
the RaaG-NCPRI report. Of the urban participants surveyed, only 15 per
cent belonged to the economically weaker section.

If government agencies declare information as per Section 4 of the RTI
Act, the burden of filing an application will be reduced. "The
government has to disclose information suo moto. RTI is not succeeding
because government is not implementing Section 4. It is for the
government to practise what it preaches. We have time and again
approached DoPT with draft rules for suo moto disclosure of
information. Can you imagine what would happen if the government
disclosed all information?" Aruna Roy told Hardnews.

Kejriwal said, "The government has failed to disclose information
about its day-to-day dealings. The people are also at fault as they
have not been able to mount pressure on the government." Also,
information officers who delay in passing on information are mostly
not penalised. Only 2 per cent of the PIOs have been penalised till
now. "Systems are built on encouragement and not punishment. We have
to be practical," said ML Sharma, information commissioner, CIC.

Whatever information disclosed by the government on its own remains
restricted to websites of respective departments. According to the
RaaG-NCPRI report, only 5 per cent of urban public authorities had
disclosed information pertaining to their functions on notice boards.
Even websites don't provide up-to-date information.

Hardnews found that the website of SIC of Madhya Pradesh has not been
updated since October 7, 2008. The Gujarat SIC's website had data till
March 2008. Patkar said, "RTI is a way forward in inculcating the
culture of transparency and accountability which implies changing the
mindset of government officials. Under Section 4 of the RTI Act,
information should be given by the gram sabha and notice boards should
be put in place. There should be sections in public libraries where
officials of different departments can sit so that people can have
easy access."

NOVEMBER 2009

--
Sign n Circulate given online petitions
(1) petition to demand fair n transparent selection of central CIC link
http://www.petitiononline.com/aishu/petition.html
(2) petition to stop amendments and implement rti act in letter n spirit
http://www.petitiononline.com/urvashi/petition.html

AISHWARYAJ4U

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