Now, match-maker RTI

Source:Yahoo India News:Sun, May 23

New Delhi, May 23 -- The days of parents of eligible girls visiting a prospective groom's office to find out about his salary and job profile are over. 'Informed' parents have now befriended the Right to Information Act to seek such details.

The RTI cell of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) recently received some queries seeking details about the job profiles and salaries of its bachelor employees' for matrimonial purposes.

Another RTI application received by the DMRC a few days ago sought information about the salary of the employee that is reflected in the pay slip, his security deposit, provident fund details, job profile, service record, etc.

"Some applicants also ask whether the employee has shown himself as married or single," said a DMRC official adding that such queries are apparently for matrimonial purposes.

DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said, "We provide personal details such as an employee's salary but with the consent of the employee concerned."

Delhi Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, however, said that pay details of a government employee cannot be treated as personal information and should be made available in the public domain. "Sometimes pay details may be sought for matrimonial purposes or for other purpose. Whatever be the reason, Public Information Officers (PIO) should provide such details to the applicants," he added.

A few months ago Shivkumari Kashyap, a Chhattisgarh resident, had sought pay particulars of her husband Baldev Singh, an employee of South East Central (SEC) Railway, who got married for the second time. She suspected that Singh had entered the name of his second wife in his service book and used the RTI route to gather details

Urban development dept tops RTI query chart

Souce:Tanaji Khot,pune Mirror,  Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 11:55:17 PM

A fine of Rs 26,57651 was imposed last year on government officials by  Maharashtra State Information Commission (SIC) for their failure to provide satisfactory  responses  and even any reply to RTI applications. 

However, the use of RTI Act is gaining ground rapidly in Maharashtra, and the state is in the forefront of sourcing information by availing of the provisions of the transparency act.

In 2009 alone 4,40,728 RTI queries  were received by various authorities in the state. This is more than the number of RTI applications received by various bodies under the central government.

Last year the central government bodies received about 350,000 lakh applications. The SIC had revealed the data about RTI in its annual report recently. 

As per this  report, the Urban Development department has received the highest number of RTI applications. It received 1,25,418  RTI applications. Of these 1,20,832 applications received a response and 855 were rejected. The department has 13,965 applications pending.

As Maharashtra is the top-ranking state in terms of urbanisation in the country, it boasts of high urban-related activities,  investments and development work. This partly explains why the Urban Development department has attracted the largest share of RTI queries in the state.

Other departments that received a high number of RTI queries were the Revenue Department, the Home Department and the Rural Development Department. They received 72,393, 45,000 and 43,000 applications respectively.

TOPS NATIONAL CHARTS
The SIC report indicates that Maharashtra leads other states in the country in the number of RTI applications.
About  90% of the RTI applications received in the state were cleared, as per the report.  Information was provided to  4,39,061 applicants in 2009.
Hearing through Videoconferencing
To ensure that applications and appeals are resolved without any delay, the SIC has introduced videoconferencing. In Pune region SIC has cleared 274 cases through videoconferencing. 

While 390 cases were resolved in Aurangabad region through this facility, 173 and  76 cases cases were settled by way of videoconferencing in Nagpur and Amravati regions respectively

RTI activist killed in group clash in Beed

Source:Syed Rizwanullah, TNN, Apr 22, 2010, 08.06am IST


AURANGABAD: An RTI activist who had exposed irregularities in a village school in Beed was killed following a clash between two groups on Sunday. The rival group, which inflicted serious injuries on the activist, was led by the son of the president of the educational society that runs the school, Sainath Vidyalaya, the police said.

The activist, Vitthal Gite (39), was a farmer and a flour-mill owner in the village, Waghbet. He, along with another activist, Brijmohan Mishra, had sought information under the RTI Act and exposed irregularities in the functioning of a few other schools in the village as well.

The alleged irregularities in Sainath Vidyalaya were published in a local newspaper, which led to the clash between the two groups in which Gite was killed, Mishra told TOI on Wednesday.

The police, however, said “old enmity” between the two groups had triggered the clash. “We cannot compare this case with the murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty of Talegaon. However, information sought by Gite under the RTI Act was one of the reasons behind the group clash,” police inspector Vidyanand Kale of the Parli-Vaijnath police station told TOI.

Kale said a majority of the villagers were related and went by the name Gite. “Sunday’s clash was between two groups of the Gite family. Gite sustained serious injuries in the clash and was taken to a private hospital in Parli. He was later shifted to a hospital in Latur, where he died on Tuesday morning. We have booked around 35 people from both groups and have arrested eight people following complaints lodged by both sides. A murder charge will be slapped on the group led by Amarnath Gite,” he added.

Get BCCI under RTI too

Source:Hindustan Times:Sat,03 Apr 2010
           
       
Amidst the euphoria of the IPL competing strongly with the weepy prime time serials, the hysterical media has almost ignored a very significant move towards forcing our sports federations to become accountable and transparent in their functioning, especially in matters financial.

Sports Minister MS Gill needs to be complimented for bringing all the federations into the ambit of the Right To Information (RTI) Act, which in turn means the public will now have the right to know how and where the money given to them by the government (tax-payer) goes.

Is the money being spent for the purpose it is meant for or does most of it get siphoned off, as is alleged by many?

However, the sports body which generates enormous revenues and profits that could be the envy of any rich corporate body, unfortunately, does not fall under the gambit of this Act.

The reason for the exepmtion presumably being it is a private body which does not take a single pie from the government and hence cannot come under government or public scrutiny.

This is a false presumption, if one goes by the 2004 High Court ruling in the PIL filed against the Board by Rahul Mehra, a lawyer by profession, but an inveterate sports fan by nature. By admitting the PIL, the Court had in its judgment clearly said that the BCCI may be a private body, but it performs a public function and therefore comes under Article 226 of the Constitution (public scrutiny).

The BCCI, which for reasons beyond comprehension, is loathe to subject itself to public scrutiny (unless it has something to hide) shields itself behind the argument that it is a private body and cannot be questioned by the state.

BCCI conveniently forgets that not only does it get tax benefits, it also gets other largesse from the state, like stadias at throwaway rates and, most importantly, is allowed to use the name India for the team which represents it. It gets these concessions because it is deemed a charitable organisation which performs a public function.

Ever since the economic liberalisation in the nineties coincided with private television channels being allowed to enter the Indian market, the BCCI has been getting richer by the day.

Without doubt this has had a huge positive effect on the game with greater funding at the grass root level and the players themselves reaping the enormous benefits of the economic boom, fuelled by the multiplying popularity of the game in the country.

Post IPL, the money which the Board is handling has gone into billions of dollars and, as the custodian of the game whose main stakeholders are its fans, shouldn’t it be mandatory for them to come under greater public scrutiny?

By their own admission, all the members of the board and its office-bearers are performing an honorary job and take no salaries for services they render.

The Indian public should salute them for this selfless attitude, which presumably stems from their great “love” for the game. If that be the case then what stops them from willingly coming under the RTI Act, even if the government for some legal reasons is “unable” to do so.

They should remember that the money, which is coming into their coffers is because of the millions of die-hard fans who support the game and spend their money, time and energy in cheering their team and their players.

The reason fans support the Board is because they believe it is “building” India and not “selling” brand India to the highest bidder. That is why it is important that the Board’s accounts should come under public scrutiny.

'RTI brings accountability in administration'

Source:TNN, Apr 8, 2010, 10.30pm IST



VARANASI: "Information is power and right to information (RTI) brings accountability and transparency in administration," said Prof TM Mohapatra, director, Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS), Banaras Hindu University while inaugurating the two-day training-cum-workshop on RTI Act, 2005 at UGC Academic Staff College, BHU on Thursday.

Stressing that the RTI Act could go a long way in empowering people to have access to vital informations, Prof Mohapatra said: "Positive initiatives taken by Goa and Tamil Nadu in 1997 for providing information to people paved the way for RTI Act in 2005." In his presidential remarks, BHU rector Prof BD Singh said RTI should not be used as a means of exploitation but as a tool to bring transparency and accountability for good governance.

Earlier, while tracing the history of RTI Act, joint director Institute of Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM), New Delhi MS Kasana said: "Sweden was the first country to introduce the concept of RTI even though it had monarchy in 1766." He also raised hope that the act could help eradicate corruption in the society.

It is to be mentioned here that ISTM, New Delhi under the department of Personnel and Training, Government of India had organised the programme.

A number of senior university officials including Dr KP Upadhyaya, registrar and other members of Academic Staff College were also present.

Admission cancelled: The admissions of as many as three students including Gopalji, Shubham Mishra and Shivakant Pathak were cancelled on Thursday. The trio were granted temporary admission in the first year of Shastri (honours), equivalent to graduation in the faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vignana, Banaras Hindu University.

As per Prof Chandrama Pandey, head, faculty admission committee, the three students were not found fit for admission, as they could not meet the eligibility criteria of securing 50 percent marks in Uttar Madhyama (Intermediate) examinations.

Course on martial arts: The University Mountaineering Centre, BHU is going to start a certificate course on Martial Arts from April 22.

As per reports of the Centre, the course for self-protection is open for all school students in the city. The centre would also conduct test on April 18 in order to admit students.