NDTV: New Delhi: Saturday, October 08, 2016.
Civil society
activists and journalists will be roped in to suggest ways for improving
transparency and accountability in governance through effective implementation
of the Right to Information Act.
The
Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), nodal authority for implementation
of the RTI Act, has decided to give short-term fellowship to researchers from
the field of media, journalism and civil society organisations to assess
voluntary disclosures by various central government ministries.
The objective
is to contribute towards better understanding of the success of RTI and
constraints in its implementation.
"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," the department said in an order.
Participants
in the fellowship will submit a report at the end of the program which could be
in the nature of a written report of 10,000 words which must be ready for
publication or features, news or investigative stories that could be printed or
published as a journalistic piece in national and international media.
In the case
of professionals from the field of audio-video media it could even be short
video films or stories.
The copyright
of the research output will vest in the Government of India which may publish
the research output and may use it in any other way for the purpose of
strengthening the working of the RTI regime in the country.
Each selected
fellow will receive a stipend of Rs. 2 lakh including a grant of upto Rs.
50,000 for books, research material, travel, printing, production of creatives
etc.
The RTI Act,
2005, which was enacted by the UPA government, empowers a citizen to seek a
time-bound reply on information related to governance.
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