Ranchi Express: Ranchi: Wednesday,
April 23, 2014.
The Right to
Information (RTI) Act is often recognised for its failure to bring changes in
the system. However, there are few exceptions that shows the path to those
willing to bring positive changes in the system and in the lives of common
people.
The only
thing needed is the will to change, realising the power, the Act bestows on a
common man and above all invoking the act. The Act has been used in a much
effective manner for exposing discrepancies in MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Act) schemes and bringing the wrongdoers to their knees.
In 2011, an
RTI activist Md Saadiq Ansari, exposed the alleged wrongdoings of Panchayati
Raj Institutions in Bariyarpur village under Madhwadih panchayat in Giridih. To
the dismay of Ansari, people were made to shell out 30 per cent of their total
MNREGA payments as ‘personal commission’ (PC) to get their payments released
thus forcing the activist to shoot a letter to officials at block level to the
Chief Secretary of Jharkhand. However, things did not move as wished and it compelled
Ansari to invoke RTI to ascertain official position on PC for getting payments
released.
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