University to offer certificate course on RTI from January

Mumbai Mirror: Mumbai: Tuesday, 08 December 2015.

In a move that might be probably the first of its kind in the country, Mumbai University's department of civics and politics is going to start a full time certificate course on Right to Information. Starting this January, the course aims to train and educate people on the act, which came into effect from 2005 and has just completed ten years.

The classes for the course will be conducted on weekends. The only criterion for enrolment is a graduation in any subject. The course promises to offer theoretical basis for the act itself and the legalities aroundthe same while also offering a praxis based training about filing an RTI, asking the right questions, understanding the exemptions under the act.

"At a time when people are becoming increasingly aware of the act, we need to take one step forward and facilitate the best possible participation of people to ensure transparency in the working of governmental, semi governmental and autonomous organisations," said Dr Surendra Jondhale, head of department of civics and politics.

The course is open to anyone who is interested. "The law is a breakthrough revolution for ensuring people's participation in the democracy. While we want to encourage more and more people to be actively involved in the process, we also want to warn and educate them about the whole historical and theoretical context of such a provision in a democracy like ours. We have also kept it open to bureaucrats to train them more effectively in giving the information," said Dr Mrudul Nile, associate professor of politics at the department and the course coordinator.

The department plans to invite several activists from the city working in varied fields like education, health, transport, governance, environment etc as guest lecturers who will also share their experiences as case studies with the students. Right to Information activist and former Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said that this is a laudable initiative by the university. "I am hoping that the course not only educates and trains people, but also empowers them by telling them what they can do as citizens by filing a simple application".