E-Pao.net: Manipur: Friday,
September 23, 2016.
We in the
Imphal Times felt that the decision by the centre to conduct a study on the
Right to Information Act (RTI Act) that was enacted In 2005 as a tool to
further the objective of bringing more transparency and accountability to the
public offices and the governance is indeed a timely and much needed step in
the right direction.
Various
issues relating to the use of RTI has been in the news- main issues being their
misuse and also the use of force to curb the activists from using the act to
reveal public ills, influential persons and departments trying to shy away from
being included in it’s ambit.
The purpose
of the proposed study- to gauge the public perception and determine the level
of satisfaction or otherwise, the extent of reduction in corruption as a result
of it’s functioning and to calculate cost to the government in providing
information under the act- is a wake up call to all and sundry to make use of
perhaps one of the most liberating and powerful act specially brought in to
make, rather force governance to work in a fair manner for the welfare of the
public.
Unfortunately
the monitoring mechanism has been dismal and unexplained or incidental deaths
and threats to those who used the act to unearth various discrepancies still
practicing in the public offices have proved to be a deterrent for the common
man ,as also the slow and deliberate delays in responding to the queries.
The incident
of an RTI activist being manhandled and assaulted by security of the
Agricultural Department of the State government which made news is a case in
point.”
RTI
activists”- persons who sought to made information public about various
irregularities, are often being targeted and harassed-the bitter truth in an
otherwise welcome and useful set-up.
What needs to
be done from the perception of the general public is a more fair and
expeditious handling of the requests and appeals with an increased awareness
about the processes and formalities for filing of information- an overall
improvement in the delivery system.
The Public
Information Officers handling such requests should be trained to be courteous
and helpful to the applicants, be more informative and have a friendly attitude
which will go a long way making the applicants and seekers of information feel
positive and reassured of the efforts the government is making towards their
end goal of better transparency and accountability that will, if not totally
abolish, mitigate the scourge of corruption being faced by the general public
in every walk of life and give them the power to claim their rights, for
knowledge is power.
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