DNA; Charul Shah; Monday, June 27, 2011,
The campaign launched in Panchamahal district by the state information commission (SIC), Gujarat, for the proactive disclosure by the government of information about various schemes, will be presented as a model project before the Special Task Force (STF) on RTI constituted by the Centre. The central government has set up the task force to check and improve the implementation of the RTI Act.
The SIC had initiated the campaign with the help of local NGOs, including MAGP (Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel), Anandi, Aman Samuday, Chaitanya Trust, Panam Mahila Sangathan, Sarthi and Lok Adhikar Kendra. The campaign was aimed at implementing proactive disclosure of information by govt departments and officials.
As part of the project, the commission, in coordination with the NGOs, had prepared formats for officials of the district administration and the gram panchayat who were asked to provide information about schemes in the formats provided.
"The Act has a specific provision making it mandatory for the government to provide all information about policy decisions and various government schemes to the people. But this has been done nowhere, and because of this people are not aware of their rights and the benefits they can get," said KS Diwan, dy secretary, GIC. Diwan said it was for this reason that these formats were prepared and distributed across the state for government offices.
Pankti Jog, executive secretary of MAGP, told DNA that Gujarat is the only state where the information commission had taken steps to compel the government to make information available to public. "Hence the results of the project need to be taken forward for mass implementation. This will give people easy access toinformation and make the system more accountable and transparent," Jog said.
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