Economic
Times: Kohima: Saturday, 18 October 2014.
The Right to
Information (RTI) mechanism should not be used to take vengeance against any
individual, Former Information Commissioner of the Central Information
Commission, Shailesh Gandhi, said here today.
RTI enables
the citizens to get the information they want, but it should not be used to
take vengeance against any individual but for improvement of governance and
delivery system, he said.
Gandhi was
delivering the keynote address at a seminar on 'RTI and Role of Media',
organised by the Nagaland Information Commission as part of the RTI Week.
People in
general were not happy with the system of governance in the country and the RTI
acts as a tool to streamline and check such problems, he said.
Stating that
50 to 60 percent of the citizens were not aware of the 'Appeal' that they could
make if they did not get a satisfactory reply after applying for the RTI, he
urged the civil societies and the media to create awareness on this.
Assistant
Editor of Indian Express Guwahati, Samudra Gupta Kashyap, said majority of the
people have learnt to use RTI Act because of the media.
He said RTI
has made investigative journalism easier and less risky as a journalist can
acquire documentary evidences by using the Act.
Pointing that
RTI is yet to become part of journalism curriculum in the country, he said very
little effort has been put in by the authorities to take media on board the
RTI.
"Once
more journalists and media houses start using the RTI, things will be much
better," he added.
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