Right to Information

The right to information is a fundamental right flowing from

freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article-
19(a) of the constitution. The Parliament has passed the Right
to Information Act-2005. The failure in improving the rural
scenario is attributed less to the formulation of appropriate
policies, and more to their implementation. The problem lien
in ignorance on the part of people about the details of the
programmes and prevalence of wide-spread corruption during
their execution. It is in these areas that the tool of right to
information act’ can make a pathbreaking impact.

The instrument of right to information can be used to get hold of the official records.
 Right to information is a basic
democratic right existing in almost all
functional democracies, through mostly at
conceptual level and less so in practice. The
concept has caught the limelight because of
its inclusion as an aspect of good
governance popularized by the World Bank.
The highest judiciary in many judgments
has ruled that the right to information is a
fundamental right flowing from freedom of
speech and expression guaranteed under
Article-19 (a) of the Constitution. The
Parliament has passed the Right to
Information Act-2005 in its budget session
to give effect to the concept.
Rural development is probably the
biggest challenge before the planners and
policy makers of India. Despite launching
numerous schemes and programmes, and
pumping corners of rupees in RD, the
overall picture of rural India continues to be
grim. Today, rural India is marked by high
incidence of poverty and illiteracy,
widespread disease, considerable
unemployment, prevalent malnutrition
among children, women and masses at
large, existence of miserable rural
infrastructure like roads, electricity, primary
health, drinking water, etc. lack of irrigation
facilities and many other socio-political
problems. The failure in improving the rural
scenario is attributed less to the formulation
of appropriate policies, and more to their
implementation. The problem lies in
ignorance on the part of people about the
details of the programmes and prevalence of
wide-spread corruption during this
execution. It is in these areas that the tool of
‘right to information act’ can make path
breaking impact. The use of right to
information can spread awareness among
the masses about various ingredients of
developmental and welfare schemes and
bring about openness and
transparency in their implementation,
thereby facilitating the process of people’s
participation in both policy formulation and
implementation. Let us discuss how.
It is pertinent to point out here that the
government statistics on the achievements
of the rural development programmes look
quite satisfactory but things are different on
the ground. The instrument of right to
information can be used to get hold of the
official records and then catch the
discrepancy by comparing them with
ground realities.
(a) RTI and Public Distribution System.
Hunger, malnutrition and occasional
cases of starvation deaths in rural areas are
causes of grave concern to any sensible
individual. In order to ensure food security
and to maintain the appropriate nutritional
level among the populace, the Government
has put in place the Public distribution
System (PDS) which is supposed to make
available the monthly rations to the people
below poverty line (BPL) at subsidized
rate. As much as 26,000 crores of rupees
are spent per year by way of food subsidy
in the process. However, due to the
existence of unholy nexus between the
licensees of the fair price shops (FPS) and
the officers of food supply department,
substantial portion of this money is
siphoned off through black marketing; as a
result the whole PDS system is in shambles.
But, the fact that the use of RTI can change
the whole PDS system was approved by the
people of Sunder Nagri area of Delhi. The
case study as follows :-
With the active help of Parivartan-a
citizens’ initiative on RTI in Delhi, the
people of Sunder Nagri area of Delhi got
hold of the records of the FPSs by making
wide use of the Delhi RTI Act. While the
records were cross-verified by way of mentioned rule.
asking the ration card holders in that area, 5. What action can be taken against
numerous discrepancies were found these officials for violating the
between reality and what the records had to above rules and for causing mental
show. Following the discrepancies, agony to the public? By when this
complaints were made near the Food and action would be taken?
Supply Officer demanding the cancellation 6. By when will you act on my
of the licenses of the erring FPSs. The complaints made?
authorities however preferred non-action.
The people then filed another set of Under the Delhi RTI Act, the
application, this time under RTI Act, near authorities are duty bound to furnish
the same authorities seeking the information information within thirty days after the
regarding the progress made on the receipt of the application; if they fail in
application seeking action against the errantadhering to the time limit, then their salary
FPSs. As a result, the authorities promptly would be deducted. Since it was difficult to
woke up to the act. It may be pertinent to answer the above questions, the authorities
describe the nature of questions asked under preferred to answer the above questions, the
RTI act seeking information non the authorities preferred redressing the
progress made on the previous application : grievances of the person(s) and requesting
the withdrawal of such applications. This
Please provide the following whole movement of Parivartan was borne
information with respect to the same : fruit and the Delhi Government has
accepted the following suggestions in the
1. Please provide the daily progress PDS.
made on my application.
2. Please give the names and 1. The Govt. has agreed to throw open
designations of the officials with the records of all shops in Delhi for
whom my application was lying public inspection every Saturday.
during this period. Please intimate The people, without paying any fee
the periods when it was lying with and without giving any prior
which officer and what was the intimation, can go to the nearest
action taken by the official during Good Office and inspect the
that period. records.
3. According to your rules of citizens’ 2. If any discrepancy were found in the
charter or any other order, in how records during public inspection, the
many days should such a matter be shop would be placed under
dealt with or resolved. Please suspension immediately on the spot
provide a copy of these rules. and criminal proceedings will be
4. The above officials have not initiated subsequently.
adhered to the time limit mentioned
in these rules and hence guilty of Now the FPSs are seen always open
misconduct under their conduct in the area discussed. The authorities are
rules. Please give a copy of their ensuring that the ration is arriving near the
conduct rule, which they have FPSs on the 1st of the month. This is how
violated by violating the above systematic changes could be brought about
in the complex system like PDS by the
people through the use of RTI Act. This is
in fact a landmark achievement for the
people. If similar exercises are carried out
in all rural areas of the country, the
starvation deaths and widespread
malnutrition would be things of the past.
(b) RTI and the Poverty Alleviation and
Employment Generation Schemes.
Two national programmes, specifically
aiming at ensuring food security and
improving nutritional levels in rural areas
by way of providing additional wage
employment to the people who are
unskilled, are in operation. They are SGRY
(Sampoorn Gramin Rojgar Yojna) and
NFFW (National Food For Work)
Programme. Crores of rupees and lakhs of
tones of food grains are supplied to villagers
to achieve the said objectives, but with little
gain. The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)
in case of SGRY and the Dist .Collectors in
case of NFFW are the implementation
authorities. It is an open fact that
widespread embezzlement and irregularities
take place during the implementation of
such programmes. In order to check these,
information about the list of beneficiaries of
these programmes, the muster rolls, etc.,
may be sought by any individual or a group
of people or any civil society organization
under RTI Act. Having got the list, the
mentioned beneficiaries may be touched
upon and enquired for cross verification if
(a) They have really been given the work,
and
(b) If given, whether they were paid
according to the figures shown in the
records.
After the cross verification, if any
discrepancy is found between the records
and what the beneficiaries said, the facts
may be put before the appropriate authority
for action against those who are parties to
the fraud. These can also be discussed in
the public platform like “jan sunwai”
where the people are the participating and
jury both. Discussion in such forums takes
place in an open environment and the
versions of the beneficiaries are testified in
a transparent manner. Even after these
exercises, if action is not taken against the
guilty persons, then another application
may be filed, this time under the RTI Act,
similar to the ones done in PDS system
seeking information on the progress of the
complaints made. This time, the authorities
will be compelled to listen to the grievances
of the complaint(s) and may offer to
compensate all the damages done to the
victims and persuade for the withdrawal of
the application filed under RTI. In the
ultimate analysis, the courts are there to be
approached in the authorities still continue
to be stubborn. It is appropriate to cite the
example of the achievement of MKSS in
this area.
“In a small village of Rajasthan in
1990, the workers demanded the minimum
wages (under the Minimum Wages Act) for
the work they were doing. They were told
that they had not done the work, as proved
in the records. When the Mazdoor Kisan
Shakti Sanghathan (MKSS) made a demand
to see the records, they were told that these
records are government accounts and
therefore secret. Struggle followed and
ultimately people were given the records.
Cross examination revealed that in records
all the workers were given the minimum
wages, which was denied to them in reality.
It is from here the group came to know the
importance of access to government
records. It became evident that it was
necessary to access records in order to
prevent corruption and to obtain the
minimum wage.” It may be noted here that
it is through this struggle of MKSS in
1990s that the seeds of RTI movement
were implanted in India leading to the
maturing of fruit in terms of passage of RTI The central government schemes like
Acts as both State and Central levels. PMGY, IAS, and PMGSY etc. are in
The National Employment Guarantee operation for catering to the rural
Bill that promises to provide at least 100 infrastructure like roads, drinking water,
days of guaranteed wage employment to electrification, housing etc. In order to
every household, proposes to converge all make the system work effectively, the
wage employment schemes into one. The records of the public works done in a
success of this scheme, once the bill is village or an area for one or more financial
passed, would require wide use RTI acts as year may be sought under the RTI for
Mr. Jean Dreze, the NAC member named conducting social audit. Inspection may be
the architect of Bill, himself agrees. done by physically going to the work sites
Another similar issue of concern is the in order to see if
flawful implementation and prevalence of (a) The works exist or not,
widespread nepotism, favoritism and and
slippage in the self employment (b) It exist, then whether
programmes like SGSY (Swarna jayanti the work done were of
Gramin Swarojgar Yojna), PMGY ( Prime satisfactory quality or
Minister Gramodaya Yojna) etc. Some case not.
studies suggest that full GramSabha This kind of activity is presently going
meeting are not summoned while choosing on with ‘Parivartan’ in Delhi. The
the beneficiaries of poverty alleviation and volunteers and the people of various areas
employment generation programmes; in of Delhi are asking for the records of public
many cases the Self Help Groups (SHGs) works done in their areas. Verification done
simply do not exist. In the name of SHGs, in some areas reveals that in many
some influential persons in the village, who instances, works exist only on paper, not in
are close to the Pradhan or the Panchayat reality. In some other cases, the work done
members, enjoy the fruits of all the is of poor quality. Apprehending the fact
schemes. The people either do not know that corruption would come to limelight (as
about the schemes, or if they know, are it has come on some cases) once the people
getting the subsidized loans under these start verifying the records, the authorities
schemes only after paying bribes. In are approaching the applicants for
Rajasthan, there is a popular saying: “Ya compromise. The people however feel that
tho jack ho, ya cheque ho” (You must have they would have control over the
contacts to use, or money for bribes).” Fits government expenditure and want the
very much here. The use of RTI, if done following demands to be accepted.
appropriately, would prove to be very 1. Before spending any money in any
effective in eliminating nepotism and area, the local people should be
favoritism and bring about transparency in consulted. Not a single penny
the process of selection of beneficiaries and should be spent in any area without
delivering the desired results. the approval from the local people.
2. when the work is in progress, the
(c) RTI and Rural Infrastructure. people should have the right to
inspect the same, and after the work
The next major issue of concern is the is done, the recor5ds of such works
development of infrastructure in rural areas. should be thrown open for scrutiny.
work, satisfaction of the people should be 3. Before making any payment for any
 ascertained. No payment should be made
without the approval of the people.
Once these demands are accepted by the
government, the people can supervise the
developmental process in their areas. And if enable the people to be in a position to
similar exercised can be carried out in all
the rural areas, proper execution of the
infrastructure projects can be ensured.
Similarly, imaginative and innovative development of rural areas.
use of RTI can address problems of
illiteracy, poor health and sanitary
conditions under-performance of
Anganwadis and underdevelopment of
agriculture and irrigation in rural areas by
ensure meaningful expenditure of public
money allocated for the purpose.
(d) RTI Facilitates the Involvement
and participation of people in the
development process.
During the process of ascertaining the
information on various fields discussed
above, the members of public are likely to
suggest remedial measures and alternative
policy proposals on those issues. Apart from
this, under the RTI laws, the authorities are
supposed to make some suo moto publicity
of information about various issues of
public concern. Once this is properly done,
it would provide ample opportunities to the
intellectuals, civil societies and common
people to contribute rich inputs to the
process of policy formulation, decision
making and their execution. For instance, in
Rajasthan the suggestions of MKKS
removed serious anomalies existing in
policies of rural development and the
Panchayati Raj Act was amended giving the Some Prerequisites
Ward Sabha (a group of 50 to 80 homes)
legal status and the right to conduct social
audits of works carried out in its area.
(e) RTI and the Panchayati Raj
Institutions
Similarly, continuous RTI movement
in the rural areas of different states may
pressurize the governments of various
states to incorporate some of the following
suggestions for the effective functioning of
the PRIs that hold the key to the
1. It should be mandatory for the
Pradhanas to properly inform the
members of Grama Sabha about the
timing and the purpose of the
meeting.
2. The provision of quorum of the
meeting is made mandatory before
finalizing the names of
beneficiaries of the Poverty
alleviation and Employment
Generation programmes. The
minimum presence of the women
and SC/ST members should also
constitute part of the quorum.
3. The plans of the development of
rural infrastructure should be
compulsorily approved, by way of
signatures, by the Gramsabha
before the funds are released for
their implementation.
4. All the necessary information
should be suo moto displayed on
the Panchayat office notice board,
and all the records of expenditure
like bills, vouchers and muster rolls
etc. should be thrown open for
public audit.
However, there are some pre-requisites
for the above discussed exercise to succeed.
The first necessity is to have an effective
RTI Act both at the central and the state
level, (which we will fortunately have once
the RTI Bill passed by Parliament, gets the
Presidential assent). In such acts, at least
four essential provisions should be present.
They are :
message to every rural household. Last, but
not the least, a good number of Fast Track
Courts should be constituted for the speedy
disposal of corruption cases caught as a
result of use of RTI.

(a) Access to information should be Conclusion

the rule, denial to it be the
exception. The grounds of denial to
information be clearly and
specifically mentioned.
(b) There should be a fixed time limit
within which the sought
information is to be provided,
failing which the Information
Officer would be penalized.
(c) Penalty provision for non-
compliance to the demand of
information or for furnishing false
information by the officials.
(d) Provision for an independent
mechanism to address to the
complaints of public denied
information or provided with false
information.
The success of the RTI movement
depends on the will of the politicians
bureaucrats will to change their mindset
and adapt it to the concepts of good
governance, on civil society to maintain
constant pressure on the Government apart
from popularizing the concept and giving
direction to the populace. Then only it will
be possible to empower the poorest
individual of the remotest rural area of the
country and usher in the era of democracy
at work at the grass root level.

The second one is popularizing the use

of RTI Acts. For this, the Government
should be made responsible to publicize the
various provisions of the act. However, for
effective publicity, the civil society
organizations, intellectuals, experts have to
give leadership to masses as Ms Aruna Roy
and MKSS in Rajasthan. Mr. Anna Hazare Developed by – Mousham
in Maharastra, Mr. Arvind Kejerwal and Email – yuvabpl1@yahoo.com
Parivartan in Delhi are giving. The masses
should be made to realize the potential of
such concept in redressing individual and
public grievances and be encouraged to
practice the same. The role of mass media is
very important in high lightening the
achievements of the use of RTI. Apart from
the mainstream media, the help of
traditional medias like nukkad nataks,
puppet dances, community radios, local
newspapers etc. may be taken to spread the