Counterview:
By Arvinda: Friday, 06 March 2015.
After the
disastrous floods and landslides in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) in September
2014, who was eligible for relief and compensation from the government? How would people apply for it, and what were
the details of the relief packages? And
who actually obtained these benefits?
People of
Bandipora district decided to find out.
And the district collector complied, posting the information on the
notice board and on the official website.
So
simple? Not quite. Since the flood relief phase of
October-December, people had asked several times for information on the surveys,
criteria for selection of beneficiaries and reasons for discrimination in
compensation. Some sustained severe
damages and got Rs 3,000 compensation while people with pakka houses and little
damage got Rs. 73,000. What was the
rhyme or reason for this? After
volunteers of the J&K Right to Information (RTI) movement organized the
flood-affected people and oriented them in the use of the RTI Act, the citizens
got together and on February 24, filed 200 applications for information. On the very next day, the information came
into the public domain.
Big
deal? Certainly. Though it should not be. The Collector was only doing his job, after
all. As per section 4(1) b of the
J&K RTI Act 2009, this information falls into “proactive disclosure
category.”
This RTI
success story has a background of village-to-village grassroots level work by
people of Jammu and Kashmir over the past year, building on similar efforts
throughout the country, particularly in Gujarat, the base of Mahiti Adhikar
Gujarat Pahel (MAGP). Initiated in 2002
and associated with the National Campaign for People’s Right to
Information, MAGP is a program of
Janpath, a network of voluntary organizations in Gujarat working on issues of
strengthening people’s voices in natural resource management, organizing of
nomadic and primitive communities, and supporting human rights defenders.
With the
support of Janpath and the Association for India’s Development (AID), MAGP
outfitted a bus to serve as an RTI-on-wheels training and resource center that
travelled first throughout Gujarat starting in 2007, then gradually to
neighboring districts and states and then flagged off an RTI Bharat Yatra
throughout India in 2014.
Reaching
urban and rural areas and remote villages the RTI van serves a site for
volunteers to talk to people about their right to information and their right
to a government that works for them.
In June 2014,
the RTI-on-Wheels bus yatra reached J&K and inspired young and old alike to
take to heart the message of participatory democracy and accountable
governance. Consider Nisar Ahmad from
Thathari. People in his village had not
been paid for their work in the Mahatma Ganchi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) programme and he suspected corruption. He asked the block development officer for
copies of the muster rolls and expenses and was charged Rs 5,000 for the
photocopy charges.
Four months
later, still waiting for the Public Information Officer (PIO) at the Block
Development Office (BDO) to send him the information, he heard about the RTI
Bharat Yatra reaching the Chenab region.
Travelling 23 kilometres to Doda he attended the RTI users’ meet on June
17. There the trainer, Sadhanaben guided
him in filing a complaint with state information commission under section 15 of
JK RTI Act (2009). The Commission
ordered the PIO to furnish all the requested information and refund the Rs 5000
that Ahmad had paid.
Cross-checking
the government records with the villagers at the grassroots, he found that
there were fake names and other irregularities.
The people then collected evidence to file complaints with the
government and recover their lost wages.
In June and
July, the RTI-on-Wheels Bharat Yatra visited Jammu, Doda, Kishtawar, Anantnag,
Srinagar, Kupwara, Pulwama, Shopian, and Badgam. Pankti Jog, coordinator of MAGP, explained
how they approached people during the yatra:
“In public markets, bus stands, schools and colleges and outside of
masjids just after Namaz, the team held outreach and awareness programmes about
the RTI Act and how people could use it to solve their problems.”
“In large
public meetings, we screened RTI films and stories. With youth groups, we conducted short RTI
drafting exercises. Those who approached
with their issues got a chance to write an application with our guidance in the
“office area” of the RTI-on-Wheels bus.
We also trained local RTI activists and volunteers, sharing of
techniques and strategies of using the RTI Act”, she added.
Harinesh
Pandya, an RTI trainer on the bus said, “We found that the intellectual class
and academicians were not very well connected with grassroots movements and we
tried to help bridge that gap in our meetings.”
As a
follow-up of the campaign, the JK RTI team started an activity center in the
flood-affected areas of Nowgam and Bandipora.
As their efforts in the flood and landslide-affected districts
throughout the monsoon and winter shows, neither rain nor snow nor gloom of
night keeps the RTI bus from rolling and delivering information into the hands
of people who can use it to make the government work. And the first success to come out of
Bandipora is the release of the flood relief records.
Information
is just the beginning. Now armed with the names and figures, the people of
Bandipora will be invited to a public hearing to cross-check the lists and
ensure that the benefits have actually reached the people, and bring any
discrepancies to the notice of the government for further action.
When asked
about the impact of the RTI-on-Wheels Bharat yatra, J&K RTI movement
convener Dr Shaikh Ghulam Rasool said that because the bus visited far flung
villages it was able to expand their grassroots reach. “After the yatra visited J&K, we are
receiving a greater volume of phone calls and most are on grassroots issues
such as ration card, housing and other government schemes, pensions and
identity certificates”, he said.
Trained and
supported by Janpath and its pathbreaking team of RTI activists, the local
organization JK Rural Voice has been steadfastly working in villages and
districts throughout the state and teaching people how to obtain information on
government policies, processes, approvals and expenditures in order to solve
their problems at the individual and social level. Harinesh Pandya and the RTIon-Wheels team
are planning to return to Jammu and Kashmir at the end of March.
AID has
supported Janpath’s work, including the RTI-on-Wheels bus and yatra in Gujarat,
J&K, and throughout India since 2007.
The bus most recently halted at the Gir Lion Sanctuary, interacting with
the Siddi Badshah community.
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