Economic
Times: New Delhi: Friday, 29 August 2014.
The Centre
has announced that it would provide financial aid to states to set up
facilities for online filing of applications under the Right to Information
(RTI) Act and others initiatives aimed at simplification and promotion of the
transparency law.
A fund of up
to Rs 3lakh for celebration of RTI Week (October 5-12) and Rs four lakh for
innovative awareness generation programme through street plays, folk troupes
etc has been earmarked by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
An amount of
Rs four lakh per year has been earmarked for the states to set up helpline for
answering queries of the general public regarding the RTI Act in their
respective regional language.
"Funds
would be granted to Administrative Training Institutes (ATIs) based on their
respective proposal subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs 4 lakh per annum in the
first year which would include rental charges for a telephone line, computer
system for data storage, salary for the person manning the helpline and
stationery, etc.
"The
grants for the subsequent years would be restricted to Rs 2 lakh per annum.
Such helplines could be set up in collaboration with NGOs working in the field
of RTI," the DoPT said in its detailed guidelines for the grant.
The DoPT has
also decided to give grant to states for simplifying the process of filing of
RTI applications through an online system.
"The
facility of filing RTI applications and appeals online through RTI online web
portal has been launched and is being implemented in all the ministries or
departments of Government of India situated in New Delhi.
"The
same facility can be extended to the state government offices by sharing with
them the software developed by NIC (Headquarters), New Delhi," it said.
The
Administrative Training Institutes may play the role of catalyst in the
implementation of the facility in the public authorities located in the state.
"Proposals
in this regard are invited from ATIs and funds would be granted on the basis of
such proposal," the DoPT said.
The state
governments are also being encouraged to improve record management and suo motu
disclosure of information related to their working through financial grants
proposed by it.
Besides, Rs 5
lakh (per case basis) will be given to states for carrying out field-based
research on RTI and Rs 1 lakh for organising workshops and seminars on
promotion of the transparency law.
The RTI Act,
2005, empowers the citizen to seek time bound response from a government
department on governance matters.