Activists for law to fix accountability for govt services

Business Standard: New Delhi: Tuesday, 08 December 2015.

A group of activists led by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey have sought a law aimed at fixing accountability for non-delivery of government services, on the lines of RTI where penalties are stipulated for an official in case of service delay.

Roy and Dey are currently spearheading a 100-day 'yatra' across Rajashthan, during which several activists are also holding 'accountability fairs' and registering grievances along the way.

Also protesting against "spending cuts" in the social sector, they started the march on December 1 from Jaipur, organised under the aegis of Soochana Evam Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan. The 'Yatra' will cover all the districts of the state.

"We are demanding a law aimed at fixing accountability, looking through the social sector lens. It should be on the lines of RTI where penalties are stipulated for an official in case of service delay. And also an independent framework for sorting out grievances should be set up," Dey told PTI today.

The participants are performing street plays, using puppets and songs and have so far travelled through Jaipur, Ajmer and Rajsamand districts. They are also taking down complaints and helping people draft right to information applications.

Once these complaints are registered, they are submitted to the local administrative offices to upload them on the Rajasthan government's online portal - 'Rajasthan Sampark'. The group is also tracking the complaints on a digital platform to evaluate the efficiency of the government in resolving these complaints.

"This 100-day yatra aims to build a legal and practical regime of government's accountability to the people, particularly the social sector," Roy said.

A penalty system is demanded to be put in place to penalise officials in case of delayed entitlements, she said.

The volunteers are registering grievances under every scheme and tracking their status, Dey said, claiming, the 'Jan Dhan Yojana' "despite its success on paper" has a "completely different picture on ground."

The complaint desks are being thronged by ration card-holders who were being "denied ration" on account of their names having been struck off from the food security list, Dey said.

"There is great confusion about whose names are on the list, and what the basis for removal was. To make matters worse, dealers are using lower quotas as an excuse to give rations once in two or three months even to those who remain in the entitled persons list," he said.