The Times of India: Patna: Thursday, March 01, 2012.
A two-day international conference will be organized here on March 2 and 3 on 'Six Years of Right To Information Act (2005)- Road Ahead' under the aegis of State Information Commission (SIC).
Information commissioners from different countries and RTI activists will interact with their counterparts in India and the World Bank officials from different countries active in supporting the RTI. The objective of the first international conference on RTI in India is to create mass awareness about the role of RTI in getting vital information, said chief information commissioner, Bihar, A K Chaudhary while talking to newsmen here.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar, who will be the chief guest, will release on March 2 the RTI Act, 2005, and RTI Rules in Urdu language and in Braille script for the visually challenged people, who account for 1% of the population in Bihar, he said. The CM will also release a compilation in English of RTI-related case laws ruled by the Supreme Court and different high courts, he said. Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi will chair the inaugural session.
The international conference will be attended by dignitaries from within the country and abroad.
State information commissioner Farzand Ahmad said the Urdu version of compilation of RTI case laws of the Supreme Court and different high courts will be ready in next 2-3 months and the CM will release it then. He said the Bihar SIC has reached the number one status in the country through innovations and creative measures. Chaudhary said that the SIC has disposed of 65,455 RTI applications out of 70,353 received.
The SIC's latest move is to hear the RTI cases virtually at the doorstep of rural people through video conferencing facility to be provided at the block headquarters in near future under a direct-to-home concept. State Information Commissioner S Vijayraghvan said technology has made the hearing and disposal of RTI appeals easier.
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