NetIndian: New Delhi: Tuesday,
November 08, 2016.
Stating that
the need of the hour for the Government is to be transparent, answerable and
smart, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today underlined the importance of
providing information to citizens along with its performance.
Inaugurating
the 11th Annual Convention of Central Information Commission (CIC), the
Minister said the Central and State Information Commissions were acting as a
catalyst and bridge between the Government and the citizens.
The Right to
Information (RTI) has become a peoples’ revolution after the enactment of the
RTI Act, he added.
On the
occasion, Mr Rajnath Singh also launched ‘e-Court Software’ for speedy disposal of appeals and complaints by
using digital technology. The system will allow online filing of
appeals/complaints and case disposals using latest technology.
The system
will generate a unique number which can be used by the applicant for tracking
the status of a case filed with the Commission. As soon as a case is filed
online or offline, the system will generate SMS/email alert to the applicant.
Alerts will
also be generated to inform the applicant at the stage of registration, issue
of facilitation memo, scheduling of the case hearing and also at the stage of
decision uploading. The system will offer an online search facility which
allows a user to search for Dak, File, Hearing Notice and Decision, among other
things.
Mr Rajnath
Singh released a book on RTI success stories. The book has been prepared for
the Commission by Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration.
RTI Act is a
powerful medium of two-way communication between the citizens and the Government.
On the one hand, the citizens get information through this act and on the
other, the Government gets new ideas for formulating people-friendly policy and
to reform the governance system, when people ask such information, the Minister
said.
The Government
system should use it effectively. “Our system needs to be corruption-free,
smart, sensitive, transparent and answerable for making all the programmes of
the Government a success and RTI can play an important role in it,” he added.
RTI Act provides
a strong foundation to the feeling of trust and cooperation which is important
for the governance based upon trust, he said.
Mr Rajnath
Singh said websites like ‘My Gov.in’ provide a platform for two-way
communication between the Government and the citizens. This benefits both.
The
‘Top-down’ approach was now getting converted into ‘Bottom-up’ approach. The
Home Minister said now the maximum possible information is being made available
on the websites of Government departments and agencies.
This
transformation has gained momentum after the advent of RTI Act. The Prime
Minister had said last year that the dream of ‘Digital India’ was closely
linked with transparent government.
This means
that the maximum information the Government makes available online, the
transparency of the Government increases to that extent.
The Minister
also emphasised on the need of an ‘Integrated Response System’, where every
citizen has a Single Window to reach the Government for fulfilment of his
needs.
Speaking on
the occasion, Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and
Pensions Jitendra Singh said the government is already virtually present in
public domain.
In the case
of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), every decision taken by the
Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) is uploaded on the real time basis.
The
department has recently launched a Mobile App - Employees Online (EO) for this
purpose, which aims at Government being more transparent and citizen-centric.
In his
address, Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) R. K. Mathur said that this
annual convention aims at taking stock of the successes and shortcomings of the
previous year. The CIC has digitised about 1.5 lakh files. He also emphasised
that RTI should be strengthened in some areas such as women and
underprivileged.
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