The News International: Islamabad: Thursday, November 23,
2017.
In April
2007, the editor of India Today circulated an email to his reporters. He wanted
each of them to submit at least three story ideas that could be investigated by
using Right toInformation law. Shyamlal Yadav was among the recipients.
Little he
knew about the India’s RTI law which was only two-year old then. Nevertheless,
he filed three story proposals to the much liking of his editor. “You should
focus on those stories that can be explored through RTI,” the editor commented
after reading his proposals.
This is how
he started using RTI law. Shyamlal changed the newspaper switching from India
Today to The Indian Express but his routine remains the same. He files the
information requests to various departments as he comes to office, gathers
update on the pending applications and follows up the received information
through filed visits. There are more than 7,000 RTI requests on his credit by
now.
I had a
chance to meet him last week at Global Investigative Journalism Conference held
in Johannesburg (South Africa). There he showed me the book documenting his
work: Journalism through RTI. In it, he chronicles the history of this
transparency law in India, the big stories he did using this legislation and
the impact which was subsequently generated.
Reading his
book is a fascinating experience. It inspires journalists into using this law
if they are interested in agenda-free journalism. That RTI law rid the
reporters of unnecessary exploitation of sources is another point worth
pondering. It generally happens that those sharing the information tend to have
their own interests in highlighting it. Anything beyond that is concealed.
Discrimination
is also noted in the dissemination of information. Senior journalists working
with big media houses are the most likely recipients. The RTI law democratises
the flow of information. Any citizen of a country, no matter journalist or not,
can apply for the details which he is entitled to request under this
legislation.
Another
highlight of Shyamlal’s experience is that there is no easy way of information
gathering. One has to struggle hard even if the RTI law is used. The details
collected through official channels make them more credible than the leaked
information. Denying its own documents isn’t an option for the government.
He is a
practical example of what a journalist has to do during the course of digging
through the RTI law. Collecting information about the foreign visits of federal
ministers was one of the three proposals he had submitted when the editor of
India Today had sought the story ideas in 2007.
It took him
to file 59 RTI applications for gathering the travel details of top politicians
and government officers. He wrote to the prime minister office, the cabinet
secretariat and various ministries. The story produced on the basis of this
information was headlined: ‘Frequent Fliers.’ Other newspapers and channels
picked it up within no time forcing the prime minister to direct his ministers
to curtail their foreign visits. This was his first-ever story done through the
RTI law. From then on, he built up his career as a journalist relentlessly
using this law for investigative reporting.
His curiosity
to inquire about the quality of water flowing through Indian rivers took him to
file 39 applications with different departments and more than one year wait. He
did several stories about corruption in bureaucracy and bad governance at the
expense of public.
In 2016,
Shyamlal, came to know about the problems in Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s flagship Jan-Dhan scheme which was aimed at ensuring access to financial
services like bank accounts. This scheme didn’t turn out to be successful. Many
Indians who opened accounts had zero balance. The bankers were instructed to
deposit a rupee each in such accounts. The intended objective was to bring down
the number of accounts with zero balance.
Shyamlal
filed a score of applications with different banks to obtain break-up of the
accounts with balance ranging from zero to less than one rupee to ten rupee and
above. As the information started pouring in, he thought to opt for the field
visits in order to check with the account holders. Many of them whose balance
was one rupee told him they had never deposited a penny. In September 2016, he
did an elaborate story on how banks were under instruction to fudge the figures
by making small deposits into the accounts opened under the prime minister scheme.
He doesn’t
keep anybody in illusion about the reporting through the RTI law as doing so
requires time, energy and patience. “RTI has taken me through a protracted,
time-consuming and often frustrating journey, which after all makes for
interesting reading,” he explains in the book.
Shyamlal has
been known to me since 2011 when we met in Kiev (Ukraine). Even then, Global
Investigative Journalism Conference had brought us together. He has a
pioneering role in making the RTI law effective. Practicing it means enforcing
this law. Also, credit goes to his newspaper management for promoting the
RTI-backed reporting.
Let me admit:
If Shyamlal came to know about RTI law through his editor, I first heard about
RTI from my publisher/editor-in-chief who is very passionate about it. Any
story done using this law or an issue relating to RTI gets better coverage in
Jang Group than in any other media house. Many journalists from this group have
won the RTI Champion Award.
The reason is
obvious: Journalists of this organisation are encouraged to exercise this law
and they do it quite often.
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