Govt recently printed 10k electoral bonds worth Rs 1 cr each, shows RTI reply: By Damini Nath

The Indian Express: New Delhi: Monday, 31 October 2022.
The Union government printed 10,000 electoral bonds worth Rs 1 crore each sometime between August 1 and October 29, according to two Right to Information replies from State Bank of India (SBI) on those dates.
The most recent tranche of electoral bonds went on sale from October 1 to October 10, in the run-up to the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat elections.
The last time the government printed electoral bonds was in 2019, when bonds worth Rs 11,400 crore in different denominations were printed at the India Security Press in Nashik, according to the October 29 reply by SBI to RTI activist Kanhaiya Kumar.
SBI, the only bank authorised by the government to sell electoral bonds, said in the same reply that 10,000 electoral bonds worth Rs 1 crore were printed in the calendar year 2022. In reply to Kumar’s earlier RTI query with the same question, SBI had on August 1 provided details of the printing of electoral bonds in 2018 and 2019 as the only instances of the same.
Asked whether the expenditure incurred on printing of the electoral bonds was borne by the exchequer or the purchaser of the bond, SBI in its October 29 reply stated: “The stationary is acquired from GoI [Government of India] by SBI for Sale at its Authorised Branches (sic).”
Citing data provided by SBI in its recent reply, Kumar said the government had printed 10,000 of the new Rs 1 crore-denomination electoral bonds even when 5,068 of the bonds with the same denomination were lying unsold after the sale of a tranche in July. Since the start of the scheme in 2018, the government has printed 24,650 Rs 1 crore-denomination bonds so far, selling 10,108 of them.
Over the years, the electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination, which are the highest denomination available in the scheme, have been the most popular choice for corporates and individuals who buy the bonds to give to political parties. According to SBI’s reply, about 94 per cent of the value of total electoral bonds sold so far have been in the form of bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination. The scheme also includes bonds with denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. These, however, find few takers.
Asked for the phase-wise and denomination-wise details of unsold electoral bonds since 2018, SBI said the information was not available centrally as the authorised branches were the ones selling the bonds.
On August 19, India Security Press said in its reply to RTI activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired) that the government had spent Rs 1.85 crore on the printing of electoral bonds so far. The number of electoral bonds printed till then 6,64,250 did not include the recently printed 10,000 Rs 1-crore denomination bonds as mentioned in SBI’s RTI reply to Kumar.
On June 16, the Central Information Commission had ordered India Security Press to provide the details of the cost and associated costs of printing of electoral bonds to Batra. The government press had earlier declined to give the information to Batra saying that its disclosure would adversely affect the economic interests of the country.

Banking secrecy at the cost of right to privacy?: S Murlidharan

Free Press Journal: National: Monday, 31 October 2022.
RTI and right to privacy are antithetical to each other but in a country where banks are grappling with the vexing problem of non-performing assets (NPAs), naming and shaming may be required
The Supreme Court on September 30, 2022 expressed reservations with its own judgment of 2015 in re Jayantilal N Mistry, asking banks to make public under the Right to Information Act (RTI) the details of bank borrowers’ defaults and the inspection reports on such cases. The Apex court came to this conclusion in favour of reappraisal in the light of the right to privacy carved out as a fundamental right by a nine-judge bench in the K S Puttaswamy case, popularly known as the Aadhaar case subsequently, in 2017. The top court accordingly decided to examine the plea by banks against RBI circulars issued for disclosure of details, under the RTI Act, in accordance with the 2015 judgement as they were in hindsight at loggerheads with the right to privacy.
"The only remedy available to the petitioners (a clutch of banks) would be to approach this court by way of writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution for protection of the fundamental rights of their customers, who are citizens of India", the Apex Court went on to observe. Banks are likely to lap this up with alacrity.
The private banks led by HDFC further argued that the RTI Act does not apply to private entities like them as they are not public authorities under the Act and therefore, information pertaining to such banks/FIs and their customers and employees cannot be sought/provided under the RTI Act, let alone confidential/sensitive information of such banks/FIs.
RTI and right to privacy are antithetical to each other but in a country where banks are grappling with the vexing problem of non-performing assets (NPAs), naming and shaming may be required. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation not long ago claimed remarkable success with its prescription consisting in going to town with loud announcement of names of defaulters of municipal tax to the accompaniment of drumbeats to draw the attention of neighbours to defaulters.
It is estimated that as much as 13% of the loan amounts of public sector banks are locked up in NPAs, an euphemism for bad debts. The late Arun Jaitley, former Finance Minister, once quipped that tax avoidance cannot be anybody’s birthright. The same applies to bank loans, with borrowers quite often intent on non-repayment but keen on diversion of funds through the labyrinthine money-laundering practice of multi-layering that ultimately results in funds vanishing into distant tax havens with banking secrecy laws thrown in and where the writ of the Indian government doesn’t run.
It is not only naming and shaming but that enormous stakes that taxpayers of this country have in PSBs especially given the periodic fresh infusion of capital by the government with taxpayers’ money after chopping off the deadwood i.e., capital wiped out by write-offs done to clean up their balance sheets that gives legitimacy to heightened public interest in bank affairs. So, banks owe taxpayers an explanation as to what brought them to this sorry pass, who took them for a ride and for how much. That defaulters are repeat offenders, often in cahoots with bank officials through the despicable evergreening route, makes a very strong case for not glorifying them with a touch-me-not status.
The Supreme Court it is respectfully submitted has opened the proverbial Pandora’s box of not can of worms by taking up cudgels for the defaulters. And how? By asking banks to take up cudgels on behalf of defaulters. This is strange to say the least. Can banks who have vital stakes in recovery of loans be seen pleading for the rights of defaulters who have shortchanged them? Doesn’t it boil down to worst conflict of interest, nay abdication of duties?
India after all does not have an explicit banking secrecy law a la Switzerland. Right to privacy like right to freedom, of which it is a subset, is available to law-abiding citizens. Can a convict sentenced to life cite right to freedom and clamour for immediate release without serving his term? Likewise, the right to privacy and banking secrecy is available only for those who operate within the four corners of law. Do the likes of Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi have the right to be left alone and smirk at the banks and taxpayers, their brazen defaults brushed under the carpet?
The Government in September 2017 froze some 2 lakh banks accounts of suspected shell companies harbouring loot from money-laundering. Surely the nation has the right to know who are the people holding the nation’s progress to ransom. India, it bears repetition, is not Switzerland with constitutional guarantee of banking secrecy, and pride in numbered accounts that give anonymity to sundry crooks and despots who have bilked their nations of their resources through devious means and deposited the ill-gotten money in its banks.
Private banks may not be exactly bankrolled by taxpayers’ money but they should be answerable to their public shareholders. It is disingenuous for the private sector to claim greater immunity from disclosure on the ground that they do not depend on Government handouts as in the case of PSBs. Private banks may claim immunity from RTI but cannot fob off its own shareholders.
To be sure, fiduciary relationship underpins bank-customer dealings, but that argument cannot be stretched to put a lid on financial or white-collar crimes. Not in a nation which has been in the receiving end of Swiss intransigence in not exposing crooks hiding behind its fabled banking secrecy laws. The Supreme Court did well to carve out the fundamental right to privacy from the broader fundamental right to freedom. It is respectfully urged and prayed that it not carve out yet another right this one being right to banking secrecy.
The writer is a freelance columnist for various publications and writes on economics, business, legal, and taxation issues

Cost of credit: RTI reveals truth of government claim on farm credit: By Vivek Mishra

Down To Earth: National: Monday, 31 October 2022.
Information accessed by Down To Earth under the Right To Information Act belies the government's claim that banks give farm loans without any service charge or mortgaging farmer's land

All kinds of service charges like processing fee, inspection, ledger folio charges for loans up to Rs 3 lakh has been waived off. Collateral free loan limit for short term agri-credit has been raised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.60 lakh.”
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said this in the Lok Sabha in answer to a question on improving farmers’ access to agricultural loans on December 14, 2021.
“Both the claims are hollow. Allahabad Bank made me pay Rs 1,700 for my Kisan Credit Card (KCC) this May,” says Hirawan, a farmer from Khargaura village in Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh.
“I also had to mortgage my 0.5 hectare (ha) farmland as collateral to avail a loan of Rs 65,000. They have given me a cheque of only Rs 60,000, saying that Rs 5,000 will remain in the KCC account from which interest will be deducted,” he adds.
India has several Central and state-level schemes offering farm loans, but almost all agricultural loans for day-to-day crop culti-vation are disbursed through KCCs. To understand the guidelines banks follow while issuing KCCs and the fee they charge, Down To Earth (DTE), between March and August, filed multiple queries under the Right To Information Act 2005 to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and two of the country's largest public sector banks the State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB).
The responses also contradict the minister’s statement in the Lok Sabha. RBI’s reply clearly says that “processing fee, inspection charges and other charges are decided by banks as per their guidelines”. SBI even gives a break-up of the fee, which is charged on all loans above Rs 25,000 and can go up to Rs 2,000 for a loan of Rs 3 lakh.
PNB says there is no service charge for loans up to Rs 3 lakh, but a legal fee of Rs 1,000-1,500 is levied for issuing KCCs. The charges also attract the goods and services tax.
“In banking parlance, we call such charges ‘cost of fund’. They include processing fee, documentation costs, stamp duty, legal fee, among others,” explains Diwakar Shrivastava, who manages farm loans for a private sector bank in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
Abhishek Mishra, a farmer from Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh says that Oriental Bank of Commerce (now merged with PNB) charged him Rs 1,500 in legal fees for his KCC. All the 25-odd farmers that DTE spoke to in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan say they had to pay around Rs 2,500 to banks under various heads to obtain KCC.
Many who already have KCC say they cannot withdraw money since the card is unusable due to non-payment of dues. Mahesh Parmar of Bilkis Ganj village in Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, says he could not clear his KCC dues for two years during the pandemic and was hence unable to use the card to pay for irrigation this year.
“I had taken a loan of Rs 2.9 lakh from SBI in 2019, mortgaging my 3.2 ha farmland. The pandemic ruined my plans for cultivation. In March 2021, the bank sent me a notice to deposit Rs 66,000. I deposited Rs 33,000 and later another Rs 1.56 lakh. Now the bank says I still owe Rs 2.5 lakh. I do not know how my loan of Rs 2.9 lakh turned into a loan of Rs 4 lakh. There are some 15 other families in the villages facing a similar situation,” he says.
This year, Parmar has taken a loan of Rs 2 lakh at a steep monthly interest of 3 per cent from a private lender to pay for irrigation.

In recent years, the government’s focus has been on distributing KCCs, especially after the pandemic which saw a sharp rise in agrarian debt in the country. Between 2013-14 and 2020-21, the number of operational KCC has risen from 21,146,132 to 73,769,951 an increase of nearly 250 per cent.
Government data shows that the issuance of KCCs and farm loan waiver have a clear electoral link. The first and the only time the Centre waived farm loans was under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2008-09.
The UPA government waived farm loans of over Rs 52,000 crore, including loans under KCC, benefit-ting over 37 million farmers, says an official press release dated February 21, 2014. The UPA government was voted back to power in the general elections of 2008.
Similarly, between 2017-18 and 2018-19, the number of operational KCCs in the country increased from 23,528,132 to 66,299,599 a rise of 181 per cent in just one year, as per a reply given by the Union Minister of State for Finance, Bhagwat Karad, in the Lok Sabha on April 4.
Again, the incumbent National Democratic Alliance government was voted back to power in the 2019 general elections.
State governments too have learned the electoral benefits of farm loans. A total of 10 states have announced farm loan waivers till date, according to RBI's “Report of the Internal Working Group to Review Agricultural Credit,” relesed on September 13, 2019.
Eight of these 10 states are among the country’s top 10 in farm sector debt. However, they are seldom able to completely waive the declared amo-unt. Of the Rs 2,36,460 lakh crore loan waiver announced by the 10 states since 2014, only Rs 1,49,790 lakh crore (about 66 per cent) had been released to the banks till 2019 in the states’ budgets, shows the RBI report.

Unstarred question 5177, April 4, 2022The next general elections are in 2024 and the Union government seems to have renewed focus on KCC distribution.
On July 7, in a meeting with heads of public sector banks and regional rural banks in New Delhi, Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman asked for speedy clearance of pending KCC cases.
But does increasing cash flow through KCC help farmers in the long run? A reply by Karad in the Rajya Sabha on March 15 shows that agricultural loans have been increasing in recent years.
The total outstanding agricultural loan for scheduled commercial banks has increased from Rs 12 lakh crore in 2015-16 to over Rs 18.4 lakh crore in 2020-21, with the number of farmers’ accounts holding such debts growing from 69 million to over 100 million.
The total money farmers owe under KCC in 2021-22 is about Rs 7.5 lakh crore, as per a reply by Karad in the Lok Sabha on April 4.
The government, however, does not plan to waive this debt. “No loan waiver scheme for farmers has been implemented by the Union Government during the last six year. There is no proposal under consideration of the Union Govern-ment to waiver of loans of farmers,” Karad said in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on March 15.
This at a time when Rs 10 lakh crore of “NPAs” (non-performing assets or bad loans) have been “written off” by scheduled commercial banks between 2017-18 and 2021-22, as revealed in yet another reply of Karad in the Rajya Sabha on August 2.
Farmers like Parmar, it seems, will continue to have to depend on private lenders in the com ing years.

Parties get Rs 545 cr through electoral bonds ahead of Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat elections: By George Mathew

The Indian Express: Mumbai: Sunday, 30 October 2022.
The total amount collected by parties has gone up to Rs 10,791 crore from various anonymous donors in 22 phases since 2018 when the Electoral Bond Scheme was introduced. Political parties received EBs worth Rs 389.50 crore from donors in the previous sale in July this year.
Ahead of the Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in the next two months, political parties received Rs 545 crore in the 22nd sale of anonymous Electoral Bonds (EBs) conducted between October 1 and 10, according to data available from State Bank of India (SBI).
The total amount collected by parties has gone up to Rs 10,791 crore from various anonymous donors in 22 phases since 2018 when the Electoral Bond Scheme was introduced. Political parties received EBs worth Rs 389.50 crore from donors in the previous sale in July this year.
As many as 738 EBs worth Rs 542.25 crore were redeemed by parties in the latest phase, SBI, the only bank authorised to sell these bonds, said in its reply to the RTI application filed by Commodore Lokesh K Batra (Retd). Significantly, this amount has been collected by the political parties as Assembly elections in HP are scheduled in November 2022 and Gujarat by December.
According to the provisions of the EB Scheme, only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and have secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly, as the case may be, are eligible to receive electoral bonds. The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing of a pending plea challenging the EB scheme to December 6. The petitions were filed in 2017 challenging the provisions of Finance Act 2017 which paved the way for these anonymous bonds.
SBI data shows that in the October phase, as much as Rs 67 crore worth EBs was encashed at the Hyderabad main branch, Rs 285 crore at New Delhi main branch and Rs 143 crore at the Kolkata main branch of SBI.
However, SBI data reveals that EBs worth Rs 117 crore purchased from the Hyderabad main branch of SBI and Rs 115 crore from the Chennai branch. Although donors shelled out Rs 40 crore at the Mumbai main branch, not a single EB was encashed here. As much as 96 per cent of the EBs sold were of the face value of Rs one crore each.
Interestingly, major political parties have not disclosed the amount they received through Electoral Bonds. Further, as the bonds are sold through a public sector bank, the government would come to know who is funding which political party, sources said.
On Saturday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that one political party got as much as 95 per cent of the Electoral Bonds issued so far.
Donors gave Rs 1,056.73 crore in 2018, Rs 5,071.99 crore in 2019 and Rs 363.96 crore in 2020, Rs 1502.29 crore in 2021 and Rs 2,797 crore in 2022, SBI had said.
Electoral Bonds are purchased anonymously by donors and are valid for 15 days from the date of issue. A debt instrument, these can be bought by donors from a bank, and the political party can then encash them. These can be redeemed only by an eligible party by depositing the same in its designated account maintained with a bank. The bonds are issued by SBI in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore. Only 25 political parties are eligible for redemption of electoral bonds.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Common Cause and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have legally challenged the scheme that was started in 2018. They, along with several other critics, have been alleging that the introduction of EBs is “distorting democracy” in India.
According to the ADR, in the case of continuance of the scheme, the principle of anonymity of the bond donor enshrined in the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018 must be done away with. “All political parties which receive donations through Electoral Bonds should declare in their Contributions Reports the total amount of such donations received in the given financial year, along with the detailed particulars of the donors as against each bond; the amount of each such bond and the full particulars of the credit received against each bond,” ADR said in a report.
Year-wise EB sales:
2022: Rs 2,797      crore
2021: Rs 1,502.29 crore
2020: Rs 363.96    crore
2019: Rs 5,071.99 crore
2018: Rs 1,056.73 crore
TOTAL: Rs 10,791 crore

17 years on, RTI Act needs a review: By Dr Vinay Kumar Malhotra

Hindustan Times: Chandigarh: Sunday, 30 October 2022.
To prevent the Act’s misuse, there should be a limit on questions to be asked at a time and attempts to be made for seeking information. Such an amendment will cut the number of pending cases. At present, there is a backlog of 3.15 lakh appeals
No law is sacrosanct, no law is flawless. Only after the execution of the law for a few years do its shortcomings surface. It becomes useful if we remove its practical difficulties and misuse. The Right to Information (RTI) Act was passed with a big bang in India in 2005 and no government dared to amend it. During his second tenure, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh hinted that the time had come to review the Act. There was an outcry and it was alleged that his government intended subverting the sunshine Act. He had to immediately clarify that his government had no such intention. The present Narendra Modi dispensation has repealed many redundant laws; amended and improved flawed ones passed either by the British or by governments after independence. It is hoped that the Centre will investigate the RTI Act’s tardy working and execution to make it more effective and relevant in changed circumstances.
This month, the RTI Act completed 17 years. Records show its working has been discouraging as lakhs of appeals are pending. In 95% of the cases, penalty was not imposed on the culprits. The violation of the law is rampant. Of the 165 vacancies of information commissioners, one-fourth is vacant, while two-thirds of information commissions don’t even provide e-filing facility. Since the enactment of the RTI Act, it has been reviewed only once in 2019 that too for the salary and emoluments of chief information commissioners and information commissioners. Its contents, difficulties in its execution, misuse of it by RTI activists have never been reviewed.
Haven for retired bureaucrats, cops
In 2019, Parliament passed the first amendment to this Act. The amendment pertains only to Sections 13 and 16 of the RTI Act that deal with tenure, salary and status of central and state chief information commissioners (CICs) and information commissioners (ICs). Critics say the amendment enhances powers of the Centre at the cost of the states and will impinge upon the independence and impartiality of the information commissions. States will have the authority to appoint commissioners, but the Centre will determine their tenure, salary, and status.
Information commissions have become a haven for retired bureaucrats and senior police officers besides frustrated and defeated politicians. Section 12(5) of the Act, however, stipulates that “persons of eminence in public life with knowledge and experience of law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance” can only be appointed as the CIC and ICs.
Prevent misuse of RTI
More than 25,000 cases are filed with the central commission every year and lakhs of people have used the RTI, but how many of them are genuine information seekers is questionable. As a result, the Act is rampantly misused in our country. Due to this, there has emerged a separate class of professional RTI activists whose daily routine is to apply to the PIO or first appellate authority or RTI commissioner for information and to harass government officials. Then there are those who write a letter a day to seek information from a government office under RTI. Some subordinates misuse it as a tool to pressurise their seniors and divert their attention to settle scores.
It’s time the RTI Act is amended so that it can’t be misused. To get information from a department, most professional RTI activists ask 10 to 50 questions pertaining to a period of 10 or more years at one go by paying ₹10. It is a Herculean task for a public information officer (PIO) to find answers for such a long list of questions that too form a period of over a decade within a stipulated period of 30 days.
It is suggested that there should be a limit on questions to be asked at a time and attempts to be made for seeking information. Such an amendment will reduce the number of pending cases. At present, 3.15 lakh appeals and complaints are pending across the country.
To make information commissions independent and impartial, persons of eminence and integrity from different fields should be appointed as CIC and ICs as prescribed in Section 12(5) of the RTI Act.
vkmalhotra08@gmail.com
(The writer is a former college principal and author of several books)

Who is extracting Goa’s groundwater? : By Supriya Vohra

Mongabay-India: Goa: Saturday, 29 October 2022.
Despite Goa being one of the first few states in the country with a Groundwater Regulation Act, researchers and activists say that its groundwater is being extracted rapidly and, in some cases, illegally.
Limited data on water, both on the resource and utilisation side, makes it difficult to fully understand how much water is actually being used and where.
While better rainwater storage and groundwater recharge methods are needed, a more urgent need is a change in policy, since the rate of urbanisation in Goa is faster than the resource infrastructure it can support.
Data, on registered wells and tankers, obtained through Right To Information applications in Goa, is used to understand water use patterns in the state.
Erwin Fonseca, a 47-year-old farmer lives in Goa’s Assagao, a village near the coast in the northern district of the state. He owns approximately 1,600 square metres of land in the Munangwada ward of the village, on which he grows seasonal fruits and vegetables as well as decorative and ornamental plants. An open well, approximately 10 metres deep, supplies his farm with water.
In February 2019, this well, along with the wells of at least 10 other farmers in the neighbourhood, went dry. “It was the first time we had experienced this,” Fonseca told Mongabay-India. A month ago, someone had sunk two borewells, over 100 metres away from Fonseca’s farm. The farmers were convinced that those borewells were causing disruption in water supply to their farms.
A borewell is a borehole with a narrow shaft drilled into the ground. It is a tube, with a width ranging from 100 millimetres to a foot, made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic or stainless steel. The lower end is fitted with a strainer and an attached pump lifts the water. Borewells extract much more water and at a faster pace than open wells. They can also be difficult to locate. Officials from the Water Resources Department, that Mongabay-India spoke to, admit that it is easy to hide these unauthorised borewells from plain sight.
Explaining the layers of rock and soil type in the state, Sandip Nadkarni, former chief engineer of Goa’s Water Resources Department, says, “There is lateritic soil for about one metre, after which there is the lateritic rock six to ten metres deep. This is an unconfined aquifer, which means it is without pressure.” He adds that after the lateritic rock, comes the clay which extends for 30-80 metres and is a non-aquifer. “After the clay, is the precambrian metamorphic rock layer, which could have fissures, or be cracked. This is where water accumulates.”
Nadkarni explains that an open well will hit the unconfined aquifer, no more than 10 metres deep and get water from there. “But a borewell usually digs deep, straight into the metamorphic layer, and pulls water from there. It can be a shallow borewell as well.”
In order to curb the illegal extraction and regulate the extraction of water, Goa’s Water Resources Department, under the helm of Nadkarni, set up the Goa Groundwater Regulation Act, 2002. The Act required all wells to be registered, and newly-dug wells to have requisite permissions from the department and other civic authorities. Commercial wells were required to pay a fee.
The borewells dug at the start of 2019 in Assagao, near Fonseca’s farm, however, did not have these permissions, found Fonseca and other farmers, through a Right to Information (RTI) application.
In May 2019, they filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court, claiming that two borewells had been illegally drilled, usurping all the groundwater, and creating an artificial drought in their ward. On September 11, the same year, the judge ordered the two illegal borewells to be sealed.
According to Goa’s State Water Policy 2021, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has, as of March 2017, estimated Goa’s annual extractable groundwater resources as 160.33 Million Cubic Metres (MCuM) and the extraction of groundwater for all uses as 53.71 MCuM. The overall stage of groundwater development (a ratio of annual groundwater draft and net annual groundwater availability in percentage) for the entire state is 34 percent, and all talukas of the state come under the “safe” category in terms of groundwater levels. However, the policy also states that there is a lack of recent and reliable estimates of water requirement for specific sectors. The paucity of data of water, both on the resource and utilisation side, makes it difficult to fully understand how much water is actually being used and where.
Several researchers, residents and activists told Mongabay-India that there is rampant extraction of groundwater across the state. While both the Water Resources Department (WRD) and Public Works Department (PWD) officials say that groundwater is mostly used to fulfill the shortfalls of piped water supply to households, they also admit that activities like tourism and construction have an impact on the state’s water table, especially in the northern coastal, tourism-driven belt.
What the data says, and doesn’t say
Mongabay-India, through Right To Information applications in June 2022, accessed government data on registered wells and water tankers in Goa from 2006 till present. This is the most primary form of data accessible, according to which, there are approximately 6,000 wells in the state. Of these, 80 percent are open wells, and the remaining are borewells.
Most registered wells fall under the “domestic” and “agriculture” category. While borewells serve a commercial purpose, the number of registrations of wells has been dwindling after 2017.
There are just over 600 registered water tankers in Goa, according to this data, and the number of registrations peaked in May 2020, a time when the first pandemic-associated lockdown was at its peak. A water tanker’s primary purpose, according to WRD and Public Works Department (PWD) officials, is to fulfill the shortage of water supply on an emergency basis. Whenever there is a power outage at the treatment plant, PWD sends water tankers in the affected areas to tide over the loss. However, tankers are also used to supply water for commercial and industrial use.
The existing data on tankers collects the name, address of the applicant, the vehicle number, the licence number, date of registration, where the water is being drawn from, the purpose and the capacity of the tanker. It does not, however, contain details about where the water from these tankers is going and what are the groundwater levels of the regions these tankers are withdrawing from.
Similarly, the data on wells records the name of the applicant, the type of well, its location, purpose and the quantity of water being drawn. It does not record the impact of the wells on the groundwater resource.
In August 2022, in response to a Lok Sabha question, the central government’s Jal Shakti ministry released a state-wise breakdown of declining water levels of wells in India. In Goa, 68 registered open wells were analysed. In these, 85 percent were found to show a decline in water levels between 2011 and 2020. Across states in India, Goa has the highest proportion of wells with a decline in water level.
Meanwhile, a conference paper released in December 2020 by two professors and a student of the department of geography at Government College Khandola, Marcela, Goa shows, through satellite data, that there has been a rise in the built-up area in Goa’s northern coastal belt an increase of almost 20 percent between 1991 and 2019.
A rise in built-up area, as indicated by the conference paper, should indicate a rise in the use of water. Instead, the WRD’s RTI data reveals that the number of registrations of borewells and open wells dwindled after 2017.
A major challenge in understanding the usage of water in Goa is the way data is being recorded. Currently, if one has a well or a tanker, one has to register it.
Water use by the tourism industry
Tourism is one of the crucial contributors to Goa’s economy. A large part of north Goa’s coastal belt is built up by the growing hospitality industry. Restaurants, bars, holiday villas, hotels and guest houses crowd the spaces. Research indicates that the northern coastal belt’s built-up area increased by almost 20 percent between 1991 and 2019. Goa experiences a shortage of water particularly in the non-monsoon months from November to May. While restaurants, on an average, need 3,000 to 5,000 litres of water daily, guest houses could require anything between 7,000 to 20,000 litres a day, depending on their capacity and requirement. “November to May is a testing time for us,” says Brenda Lobo, who runs a guesthouse in Vagator. “Piped water is only for domestic purposes. For our commercial ventures, we are dependent on water tankers.”
Dean D’Cruz, who has been practicing environmentally responsible architecture for over three decades, says that the hotel industry consumes a lot of water, and there has been no real or conscious effort made to do water recharge. A 2017 paper by Tandem Research and The Asia Foundation on Goa’s water situation states that 37 percent of the hotels use groundwater, while 25 percent buy water from tankers, that also get most of their water from wells, thereby increasing the strain on groundwater. Researchers add that since Goa is a tourism state, there is a tendency for tourists to use more water than they would in their own homes.
The booming real estate industry
Goa is witnessing a boom in the real estate industry, particularly the residential sector. A recent survey done by Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) shows that given the rising demand for housing in Goa, 68 percent of builders prefer taking on residential projects.
Fernando Velho, architect, researcher and visiting professor of urban design at Goa College of Architecture, says people have an idea that Goa is somehow different from the rest of India. “Everybody wants a second home here.”
Fonseca says that Assagao never had problems with water, but in the last 10 years, he has witnessed land being sold to real estate developers, who are filling up the quiet village with apartment complexes and luxury homes. “Every second person I meet asks me if there is land to buy in Assagao,” he adds.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has also been a rise in the number of holiday homes, or second homes in Goa, particularly in Assagao. The entire village today is dotted with large-gated blocks of concrete and Hyacinth-style homes, built by luxury developers.
All of these properties are gated complexes housing five to seven villas, each plot about 1,500 square metres on average, with three to four bedrooms and a swimming pool.
“A second home consumes resources without people living in them,” says Velho “If you have a [swimming] pool running, you are going to have to maintain that pool when you are not here. So, the load on water is very high in these second homes.”
Waylon D’souza, a transdisciplinary artist and designer, attempts to bring about sustainable design elements into these luxury villas. He often runs into roadblocks with end users (new settlers and tourists) and urban civil works. He recounted an incident where a family arrived at their newly-rented villa from a city and saw a frog in their pool. “They basically told the management that the bacteria of the frog would spread in the pool and affect their children’s health, so they must decant the entire pool and put in fresh water.”
D’souza says that the urban clientele does not know much about suburban regenerative estates and ecologies, as many of them are box dwellers. “They will always aspire to get what they see in architectural digest magazines – a deck by the pool with foxtail palm trees, sterile lawns and overly concreted outdoor areas. Very few will value a natural pool, which has a way of purifying water and air without chemicals, and supporting local biodiversity, such as dragonflies, which also reduce mosquito population.”
While the websites of these homes indicate a piped water supply, several residents of these luxury homes told Mongabay-India that they get their water from the tankers. “Our monthly water bills run up to Rs. 7,000, how do you explain that with a piped water system?” said one resident, on condition of anonymity. A regular domestic water bill in Goa from piped water averages at Rs. 500 monthly.
How do so many homes get permission to build in a village? Mongabay-India went through a few permission files, and discovered that the Town and Country Planning, the health department, the structural engineer, the architects and the Panchayat were required to provide permissions, and none of the drawings indicated where the water is going to be drawn from.
“The problem with authorities is that they want the taxes that all these hotels and second homes bring,” says Velho. “The only revenue available to many villages is house tax. So, they are not going to oppose these projects.”
Mongabay-India has sent queries regarding Goa’s groundwater supply to the state’s Water Resources Department but did not receive any comments at the time of publishing this article.
Is there a way to save water?
Goa is not a water-stressed state, but people experience a shortage of water regularly. Nadkarni, D’cruz and D’souza call for better design and process. While Nadkarni feels Goa needs to build a better storage capacity for rainwater, D’cruz says techniques for recharging groundwater are extremely important.
“Rainfall lasts for four months,” says D’cruz. “A tank is feasible in areas that have continuous rainfall. Then you can keep topping up the tank. To make a tank that lasts you through nine months to a year is enormous. So, it’s essential that we do groundwater recharge, which is a natural underground tank in a way and also filters through the natural soil.”
One of the ways is to create swales, which is already being done in some spaces.  Swales are shallow ditches with gently sloping sides made in a criss-cross way that prevent run-off of rainwater. They allow the soil to absorb the water fully. D’souza says that there needs to be aquifer and hydrological cycle mapping for educating all segments. “Everyone who is part of this industry needs to understand how water moves, and only after being educated can one appreciate it and make better decisions for their investments, lifestyle or their child’s future.”
Velho and Fonseca add that the laws need to be stricter. While Fonseca believes in better monitoring, and stricter laws at the panchayat level, Velho says stricter state level policy, and creation of construction authorities that lays down standards for the construction industry to follow is perhaps a more hopeful way of bringing in a circular economy.
“In Goa, the rate of urbanisation is faster than what the government can keep up with. They are more interested in boosting the industry as opposed to regulating it,” says Velho, adding that litigation has to step in. “New permissions have to be only granted to projects where the government can provide the basic facilities like sewerage, piped water, electricity, garbage disposal and these things have to be in the public domain,” he says, lamenting that it is a failure of the political system.

‘Raj Bhawan, ECI not bound to reply on JMM’s RTI query’

Daily Pioneer: Ranchi: Saturday, 29 October 2022.
Neither the Raj Bhawan nor the Election Commission of India (ECI) is bound to provide information of disqualification of Chief Minister on office of profit issue, stated a reply on the RTI query made by a JMM leader. The leader form the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha had filed a Right to Information query with the Governor’s secretariat asking what opinion the Election Commission had given on Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s possible disqualification as an MLA.
The RTI query was made by one JMM leader Hemant Kumar Mahto of Kasmar block of Bokaro district. It has been told in the reply that the information and documents sought are exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1) (e) and 8(1)(h) of the Right to Information Act 2005. If you are not satisfied with the reply provided, first appeal can be made within 30 days from the receipt of this letter. Apart from this, details of the appellate authority are given.
It is clear from the reply of the Election Commission of India that the case of Hemant Soren's mining lease case has been kept out of the Right to Information. Therefore, neither the Raj Bhavan nor the Election Commission of India is bound to provide the information sought in this matter. It is clear from the reply given by the Election Commission of India that even the Raj Bhavan will not provide any kind of information to JMM.
The JMM leader last month had filed the RTI query as many as 45 days have passed since the poll panel submitted its opinion to Ramesh Bais on an office-of-profit complaint against Soren over holding a mining lease, but the governor is yet to disclose the contents.
The JMM leadership had alleged that there was uncertainty in Jharkhand during which the ruling JMM-Congress combined alleged attempts by the BJP to topple the government.
Earlier in September, Hemant had met governor Bais and urged him to clear the confusion prevailing in the state over the poll panel’s opinion on his “disqualification” as a member of the Assembly in connection with the office-of-profit case.
“Provide a copy of the decision of the Election Commission and provide an opportunity for reasonable hearing at the earliest so that the atmosphere of uncertainty engulfing the state, which is dangerous for healthy democracy, can be removed soon,” Soren had urged the governor in a two-page letter submitted to him.
The Chief Minister had also said the Opposition BJP had been taking advantage of the uncertainty to “destabilise a democratically elected government by trying to poach ruling UPA (United Progressive Alliance) MLAs.”

Delhi HC stays CIC's order directing IB to provide information related to issuance of LOC

ANI News: New Delhi: Friday, 28 October 2022.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday stayed the order passed by the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to provide information related to the issuance of Lookout Circular (LOC) against the respondent. IB has sought the quashing of the order terming it illegal.
The bench of Justice Yashwant Varma issued notice to Jayesh Vishnu Parab on the petition and directed them to file a reply. The CIC's order has stayed.
The matter now has been listed on February 11, 2023.
Why has IB moved? It is in your favour, the court asked.
Advocate Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, standing counsel for IB submitted that the reasoning, I believe is very flawed; it defeats the purpose of LOC. If I give details that LOC is for a,b and c they will leave the country in some other manner.
The Court said that a citizen has the right to travel. Why does he not have the right to know that? There must be some rationale Let's not go down that road. The IB has challenged an order passed by CIC on August 31, 2021, directing it to provide a revised reply on the application of Parab.
The CIC had directed the petitioner to issue a revised reply to the respondent, whether Any Look Out Circular (LOC) has been issued against the applicant, date of issuance of LOC, and date of expiry of the said LOC, in furtherance of the respondent's application dated September 13, 2018.
It is submitted by the IB that the CIC in its order has held that the information sought by the respondent does not fall in the exemption afforded to the petitioner under Section 24 of the RTI Act, 2005.
The CIC has passed the said order primarily on the ground that the denial of the information sought by the respondent would lead to a violation of his fundamental right to life and liberty and thereby will not be covered by the protection granted under Section 24(1) of the Act, the plea stated.
IB also submitted that the said order is ex-facie illegal and non-est in law. The CIC has passed the same in blatant disregard of the exemption and protection afforded to the petitioner by Section 24 of the Act.
The learned CIC has erred in law by holding that Section 24 would not be applicable in the instant case as the denial of the information sought by Parab, the petition stated. (ANI)

Maharashtra forest dept denied CRZ powers by Union govt, reveals RTI

Free Press Journal: Mumbai: Friday, 28 October 2022.
The Union government has instead asked Maharashtra to strengthen its Coastal Zone Management Authority (CZMA) which, it said, is empowered “to take appropriate steps” under the EPA.
In a setback to Maharashtra Government's efforts to aggressively protect mangroves from being destroyed by vested interests, the Union government has turned down the state's request for delegating the powers under the Environment Protection Act (EPA) 1986 to the Forest Department to deal with coastal regulation zone (CRZ) offences.
The Union government has instead asked Maharashtra to strengthen its Coastal Zone Management Authority (CZMA) which, it said, is empowered “to take appropriate steps” under the EPA, information obtained under the RTI Act by Nat Connect Foundation shows.
The EPA empowers only the environment secretary, the district collector, the pollution control board and the sub-divisional officer (SDO) to file cases for violations, the then State Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray said in his letter of request to the MOEFCC.
Thackeray, therefore, pleaded for empowering the Forest Department with the authority to file cases under the EPA. But Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and his predecessor Prakash Javadekar have in identical but separate letters turned down the plea and said “multiple authorities enforcing one statute is likely to increase compliance burden as well as harassment for the public”.
The environment ministry shared the letters with Nat Connect director BN Kumar who had filed the RTI application seeking to know the status of Thackeray's request.
Describing the response as “unfortunate” and politically motivated, Kumar said the Union Ministers rejection was based on a wrong premise that the CZMAs are empowered under the EPA.
On the contrary, Kumar said, MCZMA member secretary Narendra Toke made it very clear to Nat Connect during hearing of the NGO’s appeals under the RTI Act that the Authority is not an enforcing agency, but a monitoring one.
MCZMA merely passed on directions to the district coastal zone committees on a series of complaints relating CRZ and mangrove violations filed by Nat Connect and Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan. The district committees are yet to act, despite MCZMA reminders, which the NGOs regretted.
The Bombay High Court had mandated way back in September 2018 that all mangroves in the State must be handed over to the Forest Department to be protected under the Forest Act.
Section 19 of the EPA clearly states that no court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act except on a complaint made by the Union Government or any authority or officer authorised on the behalf of the government, Kumar pointed out.

Can Right To Information Help Track Tenants Who Fled Without Paying Rent?

NDTV: National: Thursday, 27 October 2022.
When a person rents a property to a tenant, an agreement is signed between the two, which states the terms and conditions under which the property is being leased.
If a tenant refuses or fails to pay the monthly rent, the landlord can approach the court seeking the tenant's eviction from the house. These property disputes are quite common, and several such cases are brought to court.
However, what happens if the tenant vacates the property without paying the due rent to the landlord?
Do you think there is a way the landlord can know the current address of the tenant and recover the unpaid amount?
A recent ruling by the Central Information Commission (CIC) has shed some light on the question.
In a dispute, a landlord named V Venkatapathy sought information about the new address of a tenant who got away without paying the rent.
The owner of the property filed a Right to Information (RTI) application before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Tamil Nadu, in a bid to get details about the tenant's residential address, reported The Financial Express.
The landlord claimed that the tenant, who works as a LIC Star Agent, vacated the property without informing him and did not settle the dues.
However, the report added that the CPIO rejected the owner's application citing Section 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act 2005.
According to Section 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act, the "information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information."
The landlord then approached the First Appellate Authority (FAA) and filed another plea on November 23, 2020. But the FAA, too, dismissed the appeal and upheld CPIO's order.
Following this, the owner filed a second appeal before the CIC, stating that the information sought was not provided to him, according to the report.
In its order dated October 3, 2022, the CIC said that since the dispute is regarding non-payment of rent, the grievance cannot be resolved under the RTI Act.

S.18 RTI Act Does Not Empower State Commission To Direct PIO To Furnish Information Sought: Kerala High Court

Live Law: Kerala: Thursday, 27 October 2022.
The Kerala High Court has held that when a complaint is filed before the State Information Commission under Section 18 of the Right to Information Act for illegal denial of information, it may impose a penalty on the errant Public Information Officer. However, the provision does not empower the State Commission to direct the PIO furnish such information to the requester.
A Division Bench consisting of Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice P. G. Ajithkumar observed that in case of withholding of information, the aggrieved cannot resort to Section 18 of the Act to get access to the information since the Statute provides a complete statutory mechanism to a person who is aggrieved by a refusal to provide information under Section 19.
It clarified that a complaint under Section 18 of the Act can also be filed wherein the Commission can impose a penalty but cannot direct the PIO to furnish the information requested.
A person can approach and invoke jurisdiction of the State Information Commission through a complaint under Section 18 of the Act if there is illegal denial of information or withholding of information. On such a complaint what is open to the State Commission is to impose a penalty, and not to direct the Public Information Officer to furnish the information requested.
The Kerala High Court, in a 2014 decision, held that when an application made for information as provided under Section 6 of the RTI Act is rejected, the remedy available to the applicant is to file an appeal as provided under Section 19 and that a further complaint under Section 18 to the State Information Commission is not maintainable. The present Revision Petition was moved by the State Information Commission, taking exception of the law laid down by the Court, invoking Order XLVII, Rule 1 of CPC.
The Standing Counsel for the State Information Commission, Advocate M. Ajay, submitted that the view taken in the impugned order that a requester who was denied an information ought to file an appeal as provided under Section 19 of the Act and that the requester cannot prefer a further complaint under Section 18 of the State Information Commission is against the principle laid down by the Apex Court and the High Court in its previous decisions.
The Standing Counsel contended that the judgment, to the extent it deprives a person, who was denied information, the right to file a complaint under Section 18 of the RTI Act, is an error that requires review.
Section 18 of the Act deals with the powers of the Central Information Commission and State Information Commission, which have been categorised under clauses (a) to (f) of Section 18(1) of the Act. The Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission may receive and inquire into a complaint of any person;

1. who has been refused access to any information requested under this Act or,

1. has been given incomplete, misleading or false information under the Act or,

1. has not been given a response to a request for information or access to the information within the time limits specified under the Act.

Under the residuary provision under Section 18(1)(f) of the Act, the Commission is empowered to inquire in respect of any other matter relating to requesting or obtaining access to records under this Act. Under Section 18(3) of the Act, the Central Information Commission or State Information Commission, while inquiring into any matter in this Section, has the same powers as are vested in a civil court while trying a suit in respect of the matters specified in Section 18(1) (a) to (f).
The Court observed that if a requester applied for information under Section 6 of the Act and then did not receive any reply for the same, it must be deemed that he has been refused the information, and the said situation is covered under Section 7 of the Act. The recourse open for such a person to get the information is proved under Section 19 of the Act.
It relied on the Apex Court decision in Chief Information Commissioner and another v. State of Manipur and another in which it was held that under Section 18 of the Act the commission has power to impose penalty as provided under Section 20. Similarly, the High Court had in B.N Mohandasan v. State Information Commission and others, observed that the procedure contemplated under Sections 18 and 19 of the RTI Act is substantially different. The nature of
the power under Section 18 is supervisory in character, whereas the procedure under Section 19 is an appellate procedure and a person who is aggrieved by refusal in receiving the information can only seek redress of getting access to that information only in the manner provided in the statute, namely, by following the procedure under Section 19 of the Act.
The Court further added that when the Statute provides, under Section 19, a complete statutory mechanism to a person who is aggrieved by a refusal to provide information, he has to get the information by following the said statutory provisions. The aggrieved cannot resort to Section 18 of the Act to get access to the information since the provisions under Section 18 do not invest such power on the Commission.
...a requester, who was denied information, cannot approach the State Information Commission invoking the provisions under Section 18 of the Act for getting the information. If to get information, his remedy is only to file an appeal as provided under Section 19 of the Act, the Court observed.
The Court observed the impugned judgment to the extent that it says that an applicant, when his application for information under Section 6 of the RTI Act is rejected, is not entitled to file a complaint to the State Information Commission under Section 18 of the RTI Act is against the scheme of the Act and the principle of law laid down by the Apex Court and the High Court, and therefore is an error liable to be reviewed.
The Court, while disposing of the Review Petition, held that a person can invoke the jurisdiction of the State Information Commission through a complaint filed under Section 18 of the Right to Information Act if there is an illegal denial of information or withholding of information.
However, while dealing with such a complaint, the Court can impose a penalty, but directing the Public Information Officer to furnish the information sought does not come within the preview of the power conferred to the State Information Commission.
(Click Here To Read/Download The Order)

AICF claims pests destroyed records in response to query under RTI Act

The Indian Express: National: Thursday, 27 October 2022.
The All-India Chess Federation (AICF) has claimed that records pertaining to a Right to Information (RTI) Act query by a player were destroyed by pests at its headquarters here, leading to a rebuke from the Central Information Commission.
Responding to a query under the RTI Act seeking information on various issues by FIDE Master (FM) Gurpreet Pal Singh, the AICF claimed the records had been destroyed by pests.
“Initially, they denied information stating that the case is pending in Madras High Court. Then they said records have been destroyed by pests and finally they denied it under section 8 (1)(d), (e), (j) of the act,” Singh told PTI.
“The commission did not agree with this and ordered them to provide information and admonished them for trying to misguide the commission and changing their stand,” he added.
He further said that “the AICF had earlier told the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that its records were destroyed by the floods in Chennai in 2015”.
At a hearing at the CIC office, the AICF’s Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) had submitted that the requisite information pertains to the Chennai office and apprised the bench that the relevant records have been destroyed/damaged by pests.
“Upon being queried by the Commission whether he has any proof for the same, he could not provide a cogent reply,” the CIC order notes.
Meanwhile, the CIC ordered AICF to provide the details sought by Singh.
Earlier in 2019, Singh had sought information from AICF with regard to year-wise expenditure incurred by AICF in a case filed by them against the CCI’s order before the Madras High Court, apart from various other issues.

Sri Lanka opposition MP presents private bill to remove secrecy clause in asset declaration act.

Economy Next: Srilanka: Wednesday, October 26, 2022.

Sri Lanka opposition MP Eran Wickramaratne has presented a private member’s bill to remove secrecy provisions in the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act to keep it in line with obligations of disclosure under the Right to Information Act.

Wickramaratne tweeted on Tuesday October 25 that the bill, presented to parliament on October 18, seeks to remove the “archaic secrecy provisions” in the asset declaration act to keep it in line with the principle of maximum disclosure.

The main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP said his bill seeks to achieve this through five aspects:First, it seeks to remove the archaic secrecy provisions within the Act to keep it in line with the obligations of disclosure under the Right to Information Act and the principle of maximum disclosure.

Second, the bill ensures that electoral candidates will submit Asset Declaration’s with the nominations.Third, the bill has included the President in the list of individuals to whom this law applies.

Fourth, the bill ensures that asset declarations are routinely examined and verified at a central authority – the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

And fifth, the bill supports law enforcement to pursue asset recovery in the case of stolen assets. This has been specifically included to address the demands from the Aragalaya youth-led street protests to recover stolen assets.

To eliminate or minimize corruption, the example needs to be set by the executive arm of government, said Wickramaratne.

“I call upon all present and past presidents, prime ministers and cabinet ministers to join me in voluntarily making a public declaration of assets and liabilities,” he said. 

No plans for bill on violence against doctors, says Centre in RTI reply.

New Indian Express: Kavita Bajeli-Datt: New Delhi: Wednesday, October 26, 2022.

The ministry in its reply, said, “With regard to your RTI Application, it is informed that it was decided not to pursue the draft legislation...”

Even as the Supreme Court is hearing a case on rising assaults on doctors and other medical professionals in the country, the Union Health Ministry has reiterated that it is not working on a draft legislation bill, which addresses the issue of violence against healthcare practitioners, according to a Rights to Information (RTI) query.

Kannur-based ophthalmologist KV Babu in his RTI had asked the ministry whether the government plans to pursue the draft legislation ‘The Healthcare Service Personnel and Clinical Establishments (prohibition of violence and damage to property) Bill, 2019. The legislation sought to penalise those assaulting doctors and other healthcare professionals with imprisonment not less than six months, which can be extended to five years and a fine not less than Rs 50,000 and which may extend to Rs 5 lakh.

The ministry in its reply, said, “With regard to your RTI Application, it is informed that it was decided not to pursue the draft legislation...” It further said that “no further action has been taken on the matter and no recent communication has been done with the Ministry of Home Affair, as per records available in the medical services section.”

The Home Ministry had rejected the draft proposal in 2019, saying that a separate law covering medical professionals cannot be considered. Babu had first filed the RTI on July 5, in which he received the same reply. He then filed another RTI on July 27 following reports that the health ministry is mulling the legislation after the suicide by Dr Archana Sharma, who was booked in an alleged medical negligence case in Rajasthan in March.

Medical fraternity and doctors’ associations, including the Indian Medical Association, had demanded a stringent law to stop attacks on physicians and other health personnel. Even the World Medical Association (WMA) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to find a solution to the number of attacks on the medical practitioners in India in April. The proposed legislation was drafted when Dr Harsh Vardhan was union health minister. “The logic to shelve the proposal was that a separate law is not needed in this regard, then why in April 2020, the government came out with an amendment in the Epidemic Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020 during the pandemic,” Babu said.

He said the amendment includes protections for healthcare personnel combatting epidemic diseases. “My point is when the government was in dire need during the pandemic when people were attacking doctors and other medical practitioners, the government introduced the amendment. So why is it now backtracking from its promise.”

Bill on Healthcare Service Personnel safety

Kannur-based ophthalmologist KV Babu in his RTI had asked the ministry whether the government plans to pursue the draft legislation ‘The Healthcare Service Personnel and Clinical Establishments (prohibition of violence and damage to property) Bill, 2019. The legislation sought to penalise those assaulting doctors and healthcare staff.

Search panel recommended only one name for Sanskrit varsity VC, reveals RTI.

The Hindu: Kochi: Wednesday, October 26, 2022.

Appointment of VC would be illegal if search committee recommends only one name, SC had held in a previous order.

The search committee for the selection of the Vice Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, had recommended only Prof. M.V. Narayanan to the post, according to details emerging out of an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

Six other candidates had met the eligibility criteria for the appointment. But the committee, which met in Thiruvananthapuram on December 6, 2021, had recommended only a single name, according to information provided by the State Public Information Officer, Kerala Raj Bhavan, in response to the RTI application filed by Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC).

The records hold relevance as the Supreme Court had held that the appointment of a Vice Chancellor would be illegal if the search committee recommended only one name instead of a panel, in its order setting aside the appointment of Dr. Rajasree M.S. as Vice Chancellor of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University, said R.S. Sasikumar, chairman of SUCC.

The search committee consisted of Prof. V.K. Ramachandran, Vice Chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board; Prof. Shrinivasa Varakhedi, nominee of the University Grants Commission, and Prof. Rajan Gurukkal, Vice Chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council.

SUCC pointed out that the inclusion of Prof. Gurukkal was in violation of University Grants Commission (UGC) rules as he was linked to the university affairs in his capacity as Vice Chairman of the State Higher Education Council.

The six other candidates included professors and senior professors of Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, and Calicut University.

We must defend investigative journalism.

The Daily Star: Dhaka: Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Bangladesh High Court’s verdict a clarion call to government.

In what is perhaps its most powerful endorsement of the freedom of the press in recent times, the High Court on Sunday released the full text of a verdict announced in June last year, in which it touched upon the issue in considerable detail. In the judgment, made in relation to a case about a newspaper's coverage of how the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had exempted a former engineer of the Public Works Department and his wife charged with corruption, the court was firm, unambiguous and decisive. There cannot be a more authentic voice on this topic than the court, and we are happy that it chose to intervene at a time when the press is facing all sorts of challenges.

The court stated that journalists are "part and parcel" of a democratic process. "In a modern world, right to information is being treated as one of the preconditions for expression of opinion. Journalists act as helping hands in ensuring rule of law and democracy." As "watchdogs", it said, journalists disperse information not to undermine anyone but to serve the cause of justice. There is, then, no alternative to an "efficient" and "fearless" press that can do this without any impediments put in its way. Referring to Article 39 of the constitution which deals with freedoms of thought, conscience and speech, the court said that these rights are vital for the press, especially investigative journalism.

Investigative journalism is an effective antidote to the corrosive effect of corruption which, the court said, "undermines democracy and the rule of law; leads to violation of human rights; distorts markets; erodes the quality of life; and allows organised crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish." Seeing how pervasive corruption has become in our society, it is important that investigative journalists, and their sources, are protected from harm. In this regard, the court categorically mentions that journalists are constitutionally and legally authorised to expose corruption in public interest, and that they cannot be compelled to divulge their sources.

These observations are not without context, and if contrasted with the present reality, they serve as a clarion call to the state authorities which often act as if the rights of the press are not inalienable. In recent years, we have seen how journalists were subjected to threats, violence, harassment, lawsuits, and a culture of censorship. Investigative journalists were especially targeted for disclosing critical information. And various barriers were put up – including, most recently, by declaring 29 government agencies and institutions as "critical information infrastructure" – so that they cannot access or disclose information. Meanwhile, the Digital Security Act, a law that should never have been passed, has been repeatedly abused to target journalists. Also, overt and covert attempts have been made to make it difficult for media organisations, especially those critical of the government, to function.

Under such circumstances, the High Court reminds the authorities that their job is to protect and promote public interest journalism, not punish it or clip its wings. We urge the government to take the court judgment with the seriousness it deserves, and act upon its recommendations.

Five pressure groups to launch ‘Save 7trep Mission’ to pressurize Govt to fulfill 9-point charter of demands.

The Rising Meghalaya: Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Five pressure groups on Monday decided to soon launch the ‘Save Hynniewtrep Mission’ by organizing a series of agitations for pressurizing the state government to fulfill the nine-point charter of demands that include the implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) before the 2023 Assembly polls.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the five pressure groups – Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC), East Jaintia National Council (EJNC), Jaintia Students’ Movement (JSM), Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) and the Confederation of Ri Bhoi People (CoRP).

“There will be a series of agitations in the next few days to ensure that the state government comply with the nine-point charter of demands before the model code of conduct (MCC) comes to effect in the state in view of the upcoming 2023 Assembly elections,” HYC general secretary Roykupar Synrem told reporters.

Synrem said the five pressure groups are also demanding the immediate relocation of the Sweepers’ Colony from Them Iew Mawlong, to review the MoU signed under the first phase of border talks with Assam, to punish the police officials involved in the killing of ex-HNLC leader Cheristerfield Thangkhiew, action against people involved in the various scams, resolving unemployment crisis, reviewing of the office memorandum on job recruitment at the district level and repealing of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act (MRGA), 2021.

According to him, these are long pending issues which are affecting the people of the Hynniewtrep land.

He however refused to divulge further details on the plan of action by saying that, “there will be agitations which will be made known to the press and there will also be surprise agitations.”

Slamming the Conrad K Sangma government for its failure to aggressively pursue with the Centre for implementation of the ILP and inclusion of Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, Synrem said, “The two official resolutions passed by the state government are only an eye wash and a ploy to tame people’s protests but in fact they have no seriousness to ensure these two issues get the approval of the Centre.”

Stating that corruption in the present regime is plenty, the HYC leader said the state has witnessed irregularities in the implementation of the Saubhagya scheme, smart meter projects, collapse of the Assembly dome, rice scam and others.

“All these scams have happened during the tenure of this present regime and unfortunately, the reports of the many inquiries are yet to be made public. Therefore, we demand that there should be an independent or a CBI inquiry to ensure all those people who are involved should be prosecuted as per law,” he added.

Demanding the government to speed up the recruitment process against the thousands sanctioned posts, Synrem said, “As per an RTI activist there are over 8,000 sanctioned posts which are yet to fill up. If this is the case then what happens to the money that has been sanctioned for the creation of these sanctioned posts. Where is the government spending this money? These are the questions that we need to ask the government. Therefore, we demand before the government that all the sanctioned posts should be filled up as soon as possible.”

Accusing the government of doing injustice to the Khasi and Jaintia people while referring to a recent office memorandum for job recruitment at the district level, the HYC general secretary said, “We found out that this office memorandum is tilted towards our friends from the Garo Hills…saying that they will get 80% reservation at the DSC level. This is an injustice to the Hynniewtrep people.”

When asked, he further elaborated by saying, “we are concern with the office memorandum which was notified by the state government for jobs at the DSC level in which our Garo friends are getting 80% and when it comes to our Khasi Jaintia Hills districts we have to give them also some reservations. So we think that if they can get 80% in their own district, why should they get another 40% in other districts in Khasi-Jaintia Hills.”

Further, the five pressure groups also demanded the state government to either pass an ordinance or immediately call a special session to repeal the MRGA, 2021 to close the chapter of setting up of casinos in the state once and for all.

“Although the state government and the taxation minister have already announced that this issue has been put to a stop or they will repeal the Act but until and unless they bring a repealing Act we won’t believe them as time and again, they are trying to mislead the people. We will believe them till they bring an ordinance in this effect or they will call for a special session for tabling the repealing Act,” Synrem said.

Meanwhile, the HYC leader said that the meeting has also resolved to demand the government to evict all illegal settlers from Them Iew Mawlong. “The government should ensure that only the genuine settlers should be rehabilitated,” he said while asserting the need for the government to resolve this long pending demand for relocation of the Sweepers’ Colony at the earliest.

They were officially declared ‘indigenous’ to Assam. Then they were asked to prove their citizenship.

Scroll.in: Rokibuz Zaman: Assam: Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

Over the last year, many Desi Muslims in Lower Assam have got legal notices in decades old cases, asking them to appear before foreigners tribunals.

It was drizzling when 60-year-old Sader Ali rushed in from the fields on the afternoon of October 9. He had heard someone from Guwahati was visiting their home to listen to their story.

Ali’s 12-member joint family lives in Ramraikuti I village in Lower Assam’s Dhubri district. It is on the international border between India and Bangladesh and just 100 metres from the Assam-West Bengal interstate border.

Ali and his older brother, 66-year-old Mujam Sheikh, are tenant farmers. When it is not sowing or harvest season, they try to find work as daily wagers. They belong to the “Desi” Muslim community – a group recently designated by the government as “indigenous” to Assam.

But on July 30, two people in civilian clothes turned up at their home – they said they were from the local Agomoni police station and that four members of Ali’s family were under scrutiny as suspected foreigners. The four notices were handed out to Ali and his wife, 51-year-old Molina Bibi, and Sheikh and his wife, 55-year-old Saleha Bibi.

They had to go to the Foreigners’ Tribunal in Dhubri town to prove their citizenship. Foreigners’ Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies tasked with deciding on matters of disputed nationality.

“It was a shock like an earthquake,” said a weeping Ali. “It is a matter of shame. We are Indians and there is no question about it. My father has a school certificate from 1947, he worked in the 1950s, his name figured in the 1951 NRC and he also voted in 1958.”

The NRC or National Register of Citizens is a list of Indian citizens living in Assam. First compiled in 1951, it was updated in 2019.

“We have been living here since we were born,” said Ali. “My father worked in a government office and used to get Rs 7-Rs 10 as salary per month. Now, his sons are served with notices to prove their nationality. We don’t have money. The government does not help us in any way. Instead, it troubles us by asking to prove our nationality.”

Ali’s family is not the only one in this predicament. According to a border police official at the Agomoni police station, at least 150 families living within its jurisdiction have been served notices this year.

Most belong to the Desi Muslim community. Considered native to Lower Assam, Desi Muslims trace their roots to the kingdom of Kamrup and local tribal communities. They are believed to have converted to Islam around the 13th century.

According to officials of Assam’s border police, most of these notices were connected to old cases that went back over two decades.Sader Ali is a tenant farmer who also does daily wage labour to get by. Photo: Rokibuz Zaman

Old cases, long shadows

Assam’s border police is a wing of the state’s police force dedicated to tracking down so-called foreigners in a state that shares a boundary with Bangladesh and has seen waves of migration. Police stations across Assam have border police units. Besides, there are watch posts installed at border villages.

According to the border police officer at Agomoni, there are now two types of suspected foreigner cases. First, there are cases referred to them by the Election Commission, which has marked certain people “D” – or doubtful – voters. These are people whose citizenship is dubious, according to the commission.

Second, there are cases filed by the police based on village surveys. The police maintain official registers of births, deaths, marriages and village population. People whose names are missing from the records may be investigated as foreigners.

The border police refer these cases to the foreigners’ tribunals. If the tribunals deem the individuals under investigation to be foreigners, they may be held in Assam’s detention centres or deported to Bangladesh, the presumed country of origin. Since Bangladesh rarely accepts them as citizens, many of those declared foreigners in Assam have spent years in detention centres.

A senior officer from the Dhubri border police said they were exempted from the Right to Information Act and not bound to share any data or information on suspected foreigner cases.

“There are about 18,000 pending suspected foreigners’ cases in Dhubri as of today,” the officer said. According to him, no new cases have been initiated by them since 2018.

The current tranche of notices go back to cases from 1997-98, he said. About 450 such notices have been distributed across Dhubri district, he added. For years, these cases had mouldered in the police files. The official, who did not want to be identified, surmised that the sudden surge in notices might be related to the fact that the foreigners’ tribunal in Dhubri had recently added four new members, as the adjudicating officers are called. The sudden increase in manpower, he claimed, “boosts the functioning of the foreigners’ tribunal”.

According to the officer, most of those who received notices were Muslim, although a few were Bengali-speaking Hindus. “They have been asked to provide documents to prove identity and birth,” he said.

To be considered an Indian citizen in Assam, residents have to prove they or their ancestors had entered the state before March 25, 1971, the start of the Bangladesh war. In border districts like Dhubri, many Bengali-origin residents are often branded “illegal Bangladeshis”.

But, as Ali pointed out repeatedly, theirs was a Desi Muslim family.An ageing Mujam Sheikh and his family have few resources to fight a legal battle.

What inquiry?

In 1971, Sheikh was in Class 9 and Ali was in primary school in Assam. Their father, Bhutto Sheikh, had worked in the local panchayat office and after his death, the job had passed down to their youngest brother, who has been spared a border police notice.

All the brothers made it to the 2019 NRC, which was meant to be a certificate of citizenship and excluded over 19 lakh applicants in the state.

The notices against the family show that the cases were referred by Dhubri’s border police superintendent in 2002, when the border police allegedly conducted an inquiry into their antecedents and the family was unable to produce valid documents.

The family said they did not recall any such inquiry. They vaguely remember everyone in the village was summoned to the police station some 20 years ago but a lot of people paid no attention to the summons, and neither did they. Puzzled, they wonder if that is why they have been handed a notice now.

Ainul Hoque concedes there was an error in the names in the voter lists maintained by the Election Commission. First, Ali’s father’s name was Bhutto Sheikh but in the voter lists it is the same as his own – Sader Ali.

The family only discovered the error this year, when they were trying to link their voter identity cards with Aadhaar, the 12-digit biometric identification number.

“The [name in the] voter card was correct,” said Ainul Hoque. “But the booth level officer blamed us for the error and said that we had forged the voter ID.” There was another discrepancy in the names in the electoral rolls, he said. In the 1985 voter list, Sader Ali’s name is “Abdul Sader”. After the electoral rolls were updated in 1997, it was correctly noted as “Sader Ali”.

“Is it our mistake or the officials’?” asked Ainul Hoque. But if anyone in the family has been marked a “D” voter, they have not been informed of it yet. Ainul Hoque said his family had spent over Rs 20,000 to collect documents from various departments.”

Sheikh and Ali have few resources to fight a legal battle that could go on for years. Sheikh’s son, Saidul Hoque, said he was planning to go to Bihar to find work in the brick-making industry so that they could earn some money for the case.

The case has taken on Ali’s health. “My father fell sick immediately after he was served with the FT notice,” said his 33-year-old son, Ainal Hoque. “There was a sudden drop in his blood pressure. His health continued to deteriorate and he spent five nights at the hospital.

Targeting the poor

According to Habibul Bepari, Dhubri district volunteer for Citizens For Justice and Peace, a human rights group providing legal aid, the pace of serving notices had picked up in August and September.

“Mostly poor, illiterate and marginalised people were forced to prove their citizenship,” he said.

Like Ali’s family, many said they did not even know they were being investigated until they were served legal notices.

Take 70-year-old Neshar Uddin Sheik and his wife, 61-year-old Johira Bibi, who live in Shernagar, about eight kilometres away from Ali’s family. On July 2, they were served a legal notice, which said the border police had referred their case to the foreigners tribunal in 1998.

“In the notice, it is mentioned that we could not produce any valid document for the police during an inquiry or verification,” said Neshar Sheik, who also identifies as Desi Muslim. “But we were not aware of any inquiry or verification. The police never asked or visited our place asking about our citizenship.”

Johira Bibi has been voting since 1985 but now has to establish documentary links with her father. She also has to produce valid documents to prove that her father, who is now deceased, lived in Assam before March 25, 1971. She looked terrified.

“I was married before I turned 18,” she said. “I do not have a school certificate or a marriage certificate. My name does not figure in my father’s land and property documents. We have already spent over Rs 10,000 to gather all the documents, affidavits, and certified copies of voter lists since the year 1951.

‘I don’t have anyone’

For married women and widows – many of whom lack school certificates or property documents and rely on male relatives for proof of identity – the legal notices are an even bigger ordeal.

Aklima Khatun, another Desi Muslim resident of Shernagar village, said she had been voting for about 35 years. Her husband died 20 years ago and she has no children or surviving parents. On July 6, she received a notice saying she would have to prove her citizenship.

Khatun, who makes ends meet from her salary as a domestic worker, is in shock. “I don’t have anyone– why have they done it to me?” asked a sobbing Khatun. “I have gone mad after receiving the notice. I don’t know what to do and where to go.”

The odds are already stacked against 71-year-old Sakina Bibi, a Bengali-origin Muslim from Barpeta district. In Assam, the community is the main target of suspicions about illegal immigration. For Bibi, matters are even more complicated because she only moved to Shernagar village after marrying a Desi Muslim man.

All her documents were in order, she claimed, and she had been voting for years with no difficulty. But then on July 5, she got a notice saying she needed to prove her citizenship.

“The government takes my vote so why are they sending me a notice?” she demanded. “My father, grandfather, no one was Bangladeshi but suddenly I have become Bangladeshi?” she demanded. “Do you really think a person like me comes from Bangladesh to Assam? I’m nearing the end of my life expectancy but now I’m considered a Bangladeshi.”

While smarting at the accusation, Bibi also worries about finding the money to fight her battle. Her husband is bed-ridden and their only son cannot work after he got into an accident. The family got by on government rations. “Amid all these tensions, this notice came,” said Bibi.

For some, the ordeal can last for years. Take 37-year-old Roshida Begum, who sat in the veranda of the Dhubri Foreigners Tribunal one October morning. Khatun’s notice arrived earlier. She had been visiting the tribunal almost every month for the last nine months.

“My husband was a D-voter and passed away in 2016,” said Begum, who identifies as a Desi Muslim. “A week after his death, I got a notice asking me to prove my citizenship. I have all my documents and my name is also included in the [2019] NRC.”

Begum, who has spent over Rs 15,000 in the case, gets by on sewing and government rations. The case has added to her worries. “I don’t have anyone,” said Begum.Roshida Begum at the foreigners tribunal in Dhubri town. 

‘Because we are Muslim’

Most families believe they are being targeted because of their religious identity.

“They are harassing us because we are Muslim,” said Ainul Hoque. “Most of the people who were served notices are Muslims. Muslims have been targeted by the police. This system has been created by the government and they are responsible for our suffering.”

When Desi Muslims were officially designated as an “indigenous” community in Assam, many had welcomed the decision. But Ainul Hoque feels it would be of little help in their legal battle.

“We don’t know or understand how the indigenous tag will help us,” he said.

Illias Sarkar, a resident of the Agomoni area, felt differently. The “indigenous” tag, he felt, would help distinguish them from migrant communities.

“Now, the question will be asked: why, despite being a native community and using an indigenous language, are [Desi Muslims] being asked to prove their citizenship?” he said. “This is an advantage. The indigenous tag will give us a separate identity and citizenship problems will go down slowly.”

Sarkar felt the whole process of investigating so-called foreigners was driven by Assamese politics. The state has long seen ethnic agitations. The Assam Movement of the 1980s was born of the anxiety that “foreigners” had taken over “indigenous” lands. Such foreigners had to be driven out so that Assamese language, culture and identity could be preserved, the leaders of the movement argued.

While Desi Muslims of Lower Assam have been tagged as “indigenous”, they have linguistic differences with the people of Upper Assam, the heartland of the movement. The Desi communities of Lower Assam speak their distinctive Goalpariya dialect. These differences have been compounded by an increasingly Hindu majoritarian politics, Sarkar felt.

“They are harassing us for the satisfaction of the majority Hindu communities,” he said. “People in Upper Assam think we are Bangladeshi as we speak Deshi or Goalpariya language.”

The senior Dhubri police officer denied they had targeted people because of their identity. “It is not enough to say you are indigenous, you have to show documents to prove it,” he said. “These Deshi people have been inducted as indigenous recently. But the cases were filed from 1997-’19. Many people, especially indigenous people, don’t want to show documents. But that will only harm them.