Since 2015 Govt of India didn't allocate single rupee to Gujarat for RTI training, awareness

By Pankti Jog*
The Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India (GoI) has allocated Rs 8.7 crore to Maharashtra for conducting Right to Information (RTI) training and awareness between 2015 to 2022. Of this, Rs 5.9 crore has gone to the Maharashtra State Training Institute, YASHADA, and Rs 3.01 crore have gone to the State Information Commission, Maharashtra.
Gujarat, on the other hand, has not received even a single rupee over the last seven years for RTI programmes. Even Gujarat’s State Information Commission too has not not received any funds since 2005.
RTI is one of the effective tools to bring transparency and accountability in the administration, thus improve governance. If citizens are aware, they would participate in a more meaningful manner in governance. They would effectively monitor planning and expenses of public programmes. Indeed, it is necessary that RTI is taken to every citizen, for which the government needs to conduct awareness drives and training programmes, both for officers as well as for citizens.
The Gujarat government is quite at ease in announcing about its commitment to good governance and transparency from time to time. However, if one looks at statistics, they reveal a few stark realities.
It is not only unfortunate that the GoI has not allocated any grant to the Gujarat Government since 2015 for RTI-related training and awareness activities. The data received under the RTI Act 2005 in an application filed by me as representative of the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel show that before 2015, Gujarat had received grant of Rs 50.55 lakh for RTI training and awareness programmes.

In fact, Gujarat is one of the four states which has not received any grant for RTI training and awareness. Other states are Odisha, Karnataka and Aruanchal Pradesh. Maharashtra, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu received maximum grant.
In Gujarat, the implementation of RTI is becoming weaker day by day. The Sardar Patel Institute for Public Administration (SPIPA), a Gujarat government institute, has closed down the RTI training programme for citizens, which it use to conduct earlier.
In fact, in Gujarat, the public information officers (PIOs), who are supposed to part with information under the RTI Act, interpret the law as per their convenience. They frequently cite Sections 8 and 10 of the Act, denying crucial information on contracts and payments to outsourcing agencies, citing “third party” interests.
This is enabling an environment of corrupt practices. Citizens are being pushed to the wall. There is great demand from RTI activists that there should be awareness programmes on proactive disclosures, and training workshops for citizens on RTI should be conducted as part of concrete efforts to promote transparency.

---
*Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel

Comments

Manmade disaster? Infrastructure projects in, around Vadodara caused 'devastating' floods

Counterview Desk In a letter to local, Gujarat, and Indian authorities, several concerned citizens* have said that there has been devastating flood and waterlogging situation in Vadodara region since Monday 26th August 2024 which was "avoidable", stating, this has happened because of "multiple follies, flaws and fallacies across all levels of governance."

Everyone we meet is a teacher – if we only know how to connect the dots

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD* We observe Teacher's Day on 05 September every year. In my journey from being a student and later a teacher which of course involves being a life-long student, I have come across many teachers who have never entered the portals of a educational institution, in addition to those to whom we pay our respects on Teachers Day.

Labeled as social lending, peer-to-peer system is fundamentally profit-driven

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak The Sumerian civilisation, one of the earliest known societies, had sophisticated systems of lending, borrowing, credit, and debt. These systems were based on mutual trust and social currency, allowing individuals to engage in economic transactions without the need for physical money or barter. Instead, social bonds and communal trust underpinned these interactions, facilitating trade and the distribution of resources.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Shared culture 'makes it easy' to talk about Indo-Pak friendship across the border in Punjab

By Sandeep Pandey* The Socialist Party (India) recently organized a India Pakistan Peace and Friendship March during 9 to 14 August, 2024 from Mansa to Atari-Wagha border in Amritsar District. Since the Modi government has come to power it has become difficult to cross the border otherwise it would have been a march going inside Pakistan as one was organized in 2005 between Delhi and Multan.

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad* The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.

Teachers in conflict zones displaying 'extraordinary commitment, courage' in the face of adversity

By Bharat Dogra* While the devastation of conflict and war zones often draws attention to the tragic loss of life, a less visible yet equally alarming crisis unfolds over time: the disruption of education. This turmoil poses a significant threat to the future prospects of children and their opportunities for growth.

'Historic': Battling jellyfish stings, fierce tides, Tanvi, mother of two, swam across English channel

By Harsh Thakor* On June 30, 2024, Tanvi Chavan Deore, a 33-year-old swimmer and mother of two from Nashik, Maharashtra, made headlines by becoming the first Indian mother to successfully swim across the English Channel. This grueling 42-kilometer stretch of water between the UK and France is widely regarded as one of the most challenging swimming feats in the world.

Search This Blog