KanglaOnline:
Imphal: Tuesday, 06 October 2015.
The decadal
Right to Information Week Celebration 2015 was launched today at the MFDC hall
with the Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam as
the chief guest and the president of the function.
The programme
was organized by the Manipur Information Commission under the leadership of its
new Commissioner Th Ibobi Singh. This is the first instance for the Manipur
Information Commission to partake in the annual weeklong celebration since its
inception in 2006 September.
The event was
hosted with sponsorship from Department of Personnel & Training Ministry of
Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension, GoI.
Despite the
long list of invitees read out by the host inclusive of both Governmental and
Civil bodies the response was very poor clearly indicating the discomfort of
the SPIOs in supporting such a radical shift towards transparency and
accountability in governance.
The Deputy
Chief Minister in his speech talk about the lack of seriousness for such an
important learning session and said, `We might be speaking to empty chairs
while the stakeholders missed the chance of getting more knowledge through the
learned resource persons`
Nevertheless
the Chief Minister enthusiastically supported the initiative of the Information
Commission office and appeal to all departments and officials to extend support
in pursuance of bringing a better more transparent and accountable governance
in the State.
It was
followed by two technical sessions with eminent resource person Dr Ch Narendra
Singh, Advocate whose expertise on the subject flowed as a lively education to
the audience on two themes namely `The Historical perspective of RTI` and
`Right to Information and the Right to be informed`
He narrates
the epistemology of the Act, especially the pressure build by campaigns of
civil society organizations and landmark judgments which ultimately resulted in
the passing of the RTI Act in 2005. `Such Act was already in place in
Scandinavian Countries since 1776` he said.
He said,
unfortunately there are very few who dares to ask questions and information
since we are still wrapped in the mindset of bureaucrats ruling in secrecy. And
even the few attempts are equally responded with a reluctance to share
information by the authorities even if they are not sheltered by the erstwhile
Official Secret Act anymore.
He defines
information in RTI as, `Information is any material in any form. It includes
records, documents, memos, emails, opinions advices, press releases, circulars,
orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material
held in any electronic form.
It also
includes information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a
public authority under any other law for the time being in force`
He explains
and interprets the legality of the RTI Act further in terms of accessibility,
`A citizen has the right to obtain material which also includes inspection of
work, documents, records, taking notes, extracts or certified copies of
documents or records, taking certified samples of materials, taking information
in the form of diskettes, tapes video cassettes or in any other electronic mode
or through print outs`
He inform the
audience that RTI Act is applicable to seek information related to status of
applications, evaluated answer sheets and marks besides governmental
programmes, beneficiary list, budget, orders etc.
The
interactive session stretch on the need to pursue for pro active disclosure
(suo moto) towards fulfilling the core objective of the Act as specified in
Section 4 of the Act which was meant to be complied within 120 days since its
inception in 2005.
These
includes procedures followed in decision making, details of consultative
committees and other bodies, budgets and list of beneficiaries among others
with regular updates to encourage sharing of information to the public towards
transparency and accountability in governance.
According to
a presentation of the department by S Inao Singh, Dy Registrar, 1408 RTI
applications were received and 1297 cases disposed as on 23 of September 2015
with a pending case of 113 at present.
In his paper
titled `A case study of the implementation of RTI Act in Manipur`™ he quotes
cases where dept action against erring officials including service termination
was evoked along with compensation to the applicants.
TH Ibobi
Singh, SCIC,MIC who took charge this May after the commission remain defunct
for more than two years responded to a concern raised by a RTI Activist about
threats in the aftermath of seeking crucial information involving Ministers,
`The SPIOs are not supposed to disclosed the name of the applicants. They could
have responded to the information sought without disclosing the particulars
which can lead to various form of harassing and discouraging this transparency
practice`. He also shared about the role of the State Information Commission
in facilitating the RTI applicants.
As part of
the decadal celebration of this landmark RTI Act 2005, the Manipur Information
Commission has scheduled a line of educative interactive programmes for the
next few days with a culmination on 12 of October at the State Guest House,
Imphal.
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