Indian Express: New Delhi: Saturday,
October 08, 2016.
Indian
Express: New Delhi: Saturday, October 08, 2016.
In a bid to
improve transparency and accountability in the government, the government is looking to make effective use
of the Right of Information (RTI) Act and for this purpose, representatives
from civil society and journalists will be roped in.
The
government, through the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), has
decided to offer short-term fellowship to researchers from the field of media,
journalism and civil society organisations associated with the transparency law
to assess voluntary disclosures by Central government ministries. The DoPT is
the nodal agency for the RTI Act.
According to
sources, attempts are being to with an objective to contribute towards better
understanding of the success of RTI and constraints in its implementation. A
DoPT order said, “The primary goal of the scheme is to contribute towards more
accountable and transparent government and it has several components, including
programmes for awareness generation, training and e-governance initiatives for
RTI to achieve the purpose.”
An official
said that it could be in the nature of a monograph of about 10,000 words which
is ready for publication or features, news or investigative stories that could
be printed or published as a journalistic piece in national and international
media or in the case of professionals from the field of audio-video media, it
could even be short video films or stories.
According to
the order, issued by the DoPT on Friday, the copyright of the research output
will vest in the government of India which may publish and use it in any other
way for strengthening the working of the RTI regime in the country. Each
selected fellow will receive a stipend of `2 lakh, including a grant of up to
`50,000 for books, research material, travel, printing, production of creatives
etc.
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