RTI revelation: govt has no data on Little Rann of Kutch

KAMRAN SULAIMANI

Posted: Feb 03, 2009 at 0212 hrs IST

No survey has been carried out in the 5,000 sq km area, accepts revenue dept

The state government has no data about the Little Rann of Kutch. It took about two years for the government to accept that it has no data regarding the survey of the 5,000 square kilometre area, which is famous for the Asiatic Wild Ass. There is no survey number as well.
The revelations were made by the public information officers (PIOs) of the Revenue Department, Office of the Settlement Commissioner & Director of Land Records, and the office of the District Inspector of Land Records (DILR), in a reply to an RTI application filed by one Harinesh Pandya. The applicationi sought information on the land survey number, jurisdiction of the district collector, rights of the traditional community and the like. The three offices, however, could not give a definite answer.
Earlier, the office of the DILR had provided the information through a letter dated July 20, 2007. It categorically mentioned that "no survey had been made by this office of the area known as Little Rann of Kutch. As no survey was made, there is no survey number".
According to the DILR, the area known as Little Rann of Kutch falls under the jurisdiction of collectors of Kutch, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Patan, Jamnagar and Banaskantha.
The DILR further mentioned that the area was notified as Ghudkhar protected forest. The additional collector had undertaken the work relating to this. But the PIO and the deputy conservator of forests, Ghudkhar, had no information on the issue. At the same time, the PIOs of Banaskantha and Rajkot refused to provide information saying that it does not pertain to their jurisdiction and that no such area is part of their districts.
After multiple transfers of the RTI application, Pandya moved the Gujarat Information Commission. "I took this step, as the area is of strategic and ecological importance, apart from the fact that a large number of people, particularly the salt workers, are dependent on the area for their livelihood," said Pandya. He further said, "Every inch of land in India has been surveyed. It is strange that there is no information about such a huge area."
The survey is also important, as the nomadic tribes as well as other tribes and salt pan workers staying in this area have no rights. "They cannot claim their rights because the land they are living in has not been surveyed," Pandya added.
The state information commission, in its order dated January 29, 2009, has directed the Revenue Department, Office of the Settlement Commissioner & Director of Land Records, and Office of the DILR, to submit complete and correct information to the complainant within three weeks from the receipt of the order. They have also been told to bring this order to the attention of the settlement commissioner and director of land records.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/rti-revelation-govt-has-no-data-on-little-rann-of-kutch/418466/

Bureaucrats thrive in opaque world

Chitrangada Choudhury, Hindustan Times
Email Author
Mumbai, January 31, 2009
First Published: 23:46 IST(31/1/2009)
Last Updated: 01:30 IST(1/2/2009)
Bureaucrats thrive in opaque world
Transparency is a bureaucrat’s worst nightmare. That is what Pune-based financial consultant Vihar Durve (49), and many thousands of other across the country, has discovered to his disgust.
Durve has filed more than 15 right to information (RTI) requests and appeals over the last year, but he still hasn’t received information on the annual property return statements filed by Maharashtra government officials and the state’s information commissioners.
Under service and conduct rules, “all officials are supposed to submit these declarations detailing their property ownership as well as financial investments to the General Administrative Department of their government”.
In March 2008, the Central Information Commission (CIC) ruled that central and state governments could not keep such documents confidential, and that making them public could help “contain corruption”.
But government departments in Mumbai have consistently stonewalled Durve’s requests. Their reasons range from “the information is in sealed envelopes which the information officer cannot open” to “the information has been destroyed”, to “the information is personal, and disclosing it has no relation to public interest”.
Durve is now waiting for the state’s information commission to decide his appeal. “This is like saying a drawer cannot be opened since it was closed until now. Why do officials hide the fact that RTI supercedes all prior laws?”
Former Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad professor Jagdeep Chokkar, co-founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms, which moved the Supreme Court in 2003 to mandate that all electoral candidates should declare their assets and criminal records, explains why you should be interested in these returns.
“All corruption in India flows from the government. If citizens can get politicians, judges and officials to be transparent, it will have a snowballing (clean-up) effect on all areas of our life,” he said.
In UP, information commissioner Gyanendra Sharma took the CIC’s March 2008 order a step further last November and ruled that bureaucrats should make public these statements under the law’s suo moto disclosure clause. Two months later, he concedes: “There has not been any compliance from the government yet.”
In Ahmedabad, community organiser Harinesh Pandya battled two levels of bureaucrats through all of 2008 after finally getting the Gujarat information commission to order a disclosure of an IAS officer’s annual returns last month.
“Officials argued that the information was exempted from the RTI law. But we think making such documents public will act as a check on officers owning disproportionate assets, or at least raise questions about the issue. The commission agreed with us,” Pandya said.
The unfortunate fact of life remains that a majority of bureaucrats still don’t.
http://origin-beta.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=b123f69d-8fab-4bb8-a4cd-9cbb4aa3f376
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times

RTI on Wheels to reach India’s financial capital

12 September 2008

Having spread the message of right to information to thousands of people in remote parts of Gujarat, the ‘RTI-on-Wheels’ is all set to roll into Mumbai. Equipped with a variety of electronic gadgets and manned by two volunteers, this vehicle goes about educating people on their rights under the Act.

Gujarat’s unique ‘RTI-on-Wheels’ is all set to roll into Mumbai on September 26, after having taken the message of the Right to Information (RTI) Act to around 80,000 people across Gujarat in the past five months since it was flagged off.

An initiative of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP), ‘RTI-on-Wheels’ is a vehicle exclusively designed to create awareness as well as help the common man understand and effectively make use of his right to information.
The vehicle is equipped with an LCD projector, screen, computer with an Internet connection, scanner, printer, copier and a small library. It is manned by two volunteers who screen films on RTI, distribute pamphlets, hold public discussions on the Act, and help people file applications seeking information.
This is the first time ‘RTI-on-Wheels’ is moving outside the state on its outreach programme. Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT), a Mumbai-based NGO, will host the vehicle in the country’s commercial capital.
PCGT has eminent citizens like former police officer Julio Ribeiro and former cabinet secretary B.G. Deshmukh as its trustees, besides members committed to working for transparency and accountability in governance through RTI.
‘RTI-on-Wheels’ was flagged off on March 17, this year in Ahmedabad by Usha Dhavan, a physically challenged woman who won back her STD-PCO booth, using RTI, after a two-year-long struggle.
Since then, the vehicle has travelled across the districts of Rajkot, Surendranagar, Banaskantha, Baroda, Surat, Vapi and Valsad in Gujarat.
“The idea of launching ‘RTI-on-Wheels’ came from the RTI helpline we have been running for the last couple of years,” said Pankti Jog of MAGP. The NGO bought a Tata Sumo and modified it to allow a solar panel to be fixed over it to generate enough power to operate even in Gujarat’s rural areas.
“The challenge was to have a lot of things in a small vehicle,” said Amit Paul who designed the vehicle. Paul designed three flaps on the vehicle – two on the sides and one at the back – to enable the distribution of leaflets, filing of applications, multimedia presentations, and screening of films.
“The vehicle opens up completely and can be converted into a moving theatre. It also has illuminated screens on the sides with punchy slogans scrolling down,” Jog said.
The RTI Act was introduced in Maharashtra in 2005. Last year Maharashtra received 318,000 RTI applications, the highest in the country, higher even than the Central Information Commission that received 140,000 applications, said State Information Commissioner Suresh Joshi.
However, a lot needs to be done to popularise RTI amongst the common man, say RTI activists in Maharashtra. “Most applicants still don’t know the process of filing an RTI application,” points out Mohammed Afzal, an RTI activist.
It was for this very reason that the Public Concern for Governance Trust decided to invite ‘RTI-on-Wheels’ to Mumbai.

http://southasia.oneworld.net/fromthegrassroots/rti-on-wheels-to-reach-india2019s-financial-capital/