Deccan
Herald: Mysore: Friday, 11 December 2015.
Central
Information Commissioner (CIC) Prof Madabhushi Sridhar, on Thursday, appealed
to the University of Mysore (UoM) to start a course in Right To Information
(RTI), to ensure good governance in the society.
Delivering
keynote address during a one-day national seminar on ‘Democratic Governance in
India: Problems and Prospects,’ organised by Department of Studies in Political
Science, UoM, at Rani Bahadur auditorium, he urged the UoM Vice Chancellor
K S Rangappa to start a course in the RTI to expand students’ knowledge of the
RTI and Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
“These
are the powerful tools to bring out informations hidden in government files.
The democratic governance is not complete without sufficient information and
people’s participation in the governance,” he said, adding, the course should
be taken up by every student irrespective of streams, he appealed.
Further,
emphasising on ‘patent’ and ‘Human Rights’, he said, “Though the medicines are
available for cancer, poor are losing lives unable to afford them. The patent,
also Intellectual Property Rights, should not come in the way of human rights,”
he felt.
Pointing
at the recent natural calamity in Tamil Nadu that was caused due to heavy
rains, Sridhar said, “It was a classic example of lack of good governance by
failing to protect water bodies. Lack of efficiency in managing water tanks had
a direct impact on human lives and human rights,” he said.
Expressing
regret over large scale violation of human rights, Sridhar said, a majority of the
offenders are those who are tasked to protect others rights.
Earlier,
Vice Chancellor Prof K S Rangappa released a book, ‘Human Rights Issues and
Dimensions’ authored by Prof Midatala Rani from the Department of Studies in
Political Science in the varsity.
Following
Sridhar’s advise, the VC also assured to start a course in the RTI. He also
urged Rani and Political Science Department Head Prof Muzaffar Assadi to work
on the proposal.
.JPG)
.JPG)
