The Hindu: Bengaluru: Sunday, 13 July 2025.
To ensure effective
implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which aims to bring
transparency in administration besides checking corruption, the Karnataka State
Information Commission has recommended to the government to include a lesson on
the RTI in the curriculum of pre-university and degree courses.
The Karnataka State Information Commissioners have appealed to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh to include this in the agenda for discussion at a high-level meeting on the RTI Act being presided over by Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta on July 14.
The Information Commissioners have also suggested to the government to recommend the inclusion of a lesson on the RTI to the board of studies and syllabus revision boards of universities, according to an official release.
Expressing concern that there was still a need to create awareness about the RTI Act among government employees though 20 years had passed since the legislation came into effect, the Information Commissioners have suggested that the RTI should be a part of the subject for competitive examinations that are conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission and the Karnataka Examinations Authority.
Similarly, there was a need to provide training on the RTI Act to government officials and officers on the lines of training on various issues being imparted to them, they said and suggested that RTI should be one of the subjects for training being imparted by District Training Institute, Administrative Training Institute, and Fiscal Policy Institute.
Pointing out that the RTI dashboard on the website of the DPAR was not being used effectively, the commissioners said the responsibility of managing this dashboard should be entrusted to the Information Commission.
They also suggested that one more floor should be built at the Karnataka Mahiti Soudha so that the two court halls of the commission that are presently located in rented buildings could be accommodated in the main building itself.
They also sought that gunmen should be posted at the court halls of the Information Commission and assigned for the Information Commissioners.
The Karnataka State Information Commissioners have appealed to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh to include this in the agenda for discussion at a high-level meeting on the RTI Act being presided over by Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta on July 14.
The Information Commissioners have also suggested to the government to recommend the inclusion of a lesson on the RTI to the board of studies and syllabus revision boards of universities, according to an official release.
Expressing concern that there was still a need to create awareness about the RTI Act among government employees though 20 years had passed since the legislation came into effect, the Information Commissioners have suggested that the RTI should be a part of the subject for competitive examinations that are conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission and the Karnataka Examinations Authority.
Similarly, there was a need to provide training on the RTI Act to government officials and officers on the lines of training on various issues being imparted to them, they said and suggested that RTI should be one of the subjects for training being imparted by District Training Institute, Administrative Training Institute, and Fiscal Policy Institute.
Pointing out that the RTI dashboard on the website of the DPAR was not being used effectively, the commissioners said the responsibility of managing this dashboard should be entrusted to the Information Commission.
They also suggested that one more floor should be built at the Karnataka Mahiti Soudha so that the two court halls of the commission that are presently located in rented buildings could be accommodated in the main building itself.
They also sought that gunmen should be posted at the court halls of the Information Commission and assigned for the Information Commissioners.
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