Selection of Information Commissioners

Dear All,
The following way for selection of Information Commissioners which is given by:Shailesh Gandhi is a former Central Information Commissioner, I Think the proposed way is enough to make this tool powerful,

A. The Information Commissions should set a target for disposals: I suggest 5000 per Commissioner per year. An attempt should be made to increase this target number (around 85% of the matters do not require any legal interpretations as per a study of four months of CIC decisions).

B. Every six months they should review their actual performance per Commissioner and forecast the expected receipts and disposals for the next two years, factoring the retirements. This information should be displayed on their websites. This forecast would show the requirements for new commissioners to be appointed by taking into account the expected retirements.  

C. The government should advertise its intention to appoint a certain number of Information Commissioners depending on the need, four months in advance. Eminent people could apply or be nominated by others.  

 D.  A search committee—perhaps—consisting of two members of Parliament, Chief Information Commissioner, one vice-chancellor, one Supreme Court judge and two RTI activists, could be formed to shortlist a panel which could be three times the number of Commissioners to be selected. These could be announced with the minutes of the meeting at which the shortlisting was done.      
                             
E.  An interview should be held by the search committee in public view to give citizens and media the opportunity to hear the views and commitment to work of the candidates. Citizens could give their feedback and views to the search committee. After this the search committee could give its recommendation for two times the number of Commissioners to be appointed. Based on these inputs, the final decision to select the Commissioners could be taken by the committee as per the Act consisting of PM, LOP and one minister. (A similar process could be adopted for State Commissions with MLAs instead of MPs and high court judge instead of Supreme Court judge).

Citizens will benefit if they could get the Commissions to publish data on the performance of each Commissioner monthly, and also build public opinion to lower the average age of the Commissioners. Atleast half the Information Commissioners should be less than sixty years. There are many RTI activists who have gained considerable understanding of the nuances of the law, and have a natural empathy for transparency. Some of these should be appointed as Information Commissioners. Another useful function which civil society groups could perform is to analyze all the decisions of each Information Commissioner each month continuously in a transparent manner. This would build pressure on those who may be giving errant decisions.

Presently, individual decisions are randomly criticized and this does not give a picture of the overall trend of a Commissioner’s decisions. If we can get a transparent process for selecting Commissioners and put continuous pressure on them for accountability, we will get much better results from our cherished Right to Information. If this works well, it could be used as a model for selecting commissioners for various commissions. The commissions are designed as our checks and balances of democracy. Presently, most of them are not delivering their expected functions effectively.
http://www.moneylife.in/article/transparent-process-will-help-in-selection-of-information-commissioners/32282.html

Implementation of suo motu disclosure under Section 4 of RTI Act, 2005

Implementation of suo motu disclosure under Section 4 of RTI Act, 2005 – Issue of guidelines regarding:
Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act lays down the information which should be disclosed by Public Authorities on a suo motu or proactive basis. Section 4(2) and Section 4(3) prescribe the method of dissemination of this information. The purpose of suo motu disclosures under Section 4 is to place large amount of information in public domain on a proactive basis to make the functioning of the Public Authorities more transparent and also to reduce the need for filing individual RTI applications.


http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02rti/Suo_moto_disclosure-15042013.pdf


http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=94720

Guidelines for Central Government Ministries/Departments are on:
i. Suo motu disclosure of more items under Section 4.
ii. Guidelines for digital publication of proactive disclosure under Section 4.
iii. Detailing of Section 4(1)(b)(iii), 4(1)(b)(iv), 4(1)(b)(xi) and 4(1)(b)(xiv)
iv. Compliance mechanism for suo motu disclosure (proactive disclosure) under the RTI Act, 2005.

Central Government Ministries/ Departments should undertake suo motu disclosure and ensure compliance based on these guidelines.

The enclosed guidelines may be brought to the notice of all for compliance.

Alok Kumar Singh

Convener RTI Council of U.P.
मोबइल : +91-९९३६७१६५२६

"Monitor the implementation of a law is to Get Real democracy"

Dear All,

We Have Proposed & submitted One innovative strategy to monitor the implementation of a law is to conduct information commission court monitoring to UPSIC Chief on 29th Jan-2013.

kindly find attached link of proposal, and reply with how we can get more involvement of Common Citizen,
https://docs.google.com/file/d/1pt7UsrbRiF_YmUtkE9_sFheQzFsxZjuy5COW8Eh8FmMqhXIk0qErRybInKho/edit?usp=sharing

When a magistrate almost took RTI route to get answers

When a magistrate almost took RTI route to get answers

How many FIRs were lodged in the last one year under the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act? In how many FIRs were the accused politicians? And how many of them were arrested for blemishing public structures by putting up posters, banners and hoardings during election campaigning?
Do these sound like queries from an application filed under the Right To Information (RTI) Act? Well, almost.
Baffled over lack of clarity on the circumstances under which police arrest such accused and even file chargesheets without arresting them, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kiran Bansal wondered if she, being a citizen of India, should file a RTI application to get such information from the police.
When a police officer failed to her of any clear policy in this regard, she wondered if this “discretion” was being used in “special cases” where people, accused of defacing properties, were leaders of political parties.
The officer had filed a chargesheet in a case naming, among others, Congress leader Geeta Sharma and her husband Manoj Sharma as accused under the Defacement of Property Act over posters pasted ahead of the MCD elections.
As per the FIR lodged at the Madhu Vihar police station, two posters were found pasted on water tanks near Ganesh Apartments in I P Extension on
April 6, eight days before the MCD elections. Geeta Sharma went on to win and is councillor from IP Extension.
“In the present court, charge sheet pertaining to the above Act of the entire East District are being filed and this court has come across many instances wherein sometimes the charge sheet is filed after the arrest of the accused and sometimes without arrest of the accused. It is also felt that in most of the cases where the charge sheet is filed without arrest of the accused, the accused persons are influential persons and posters and banners are of political parties,” ACMM Bansal said.
She went on to compile a list of seven questions for the area DCP. These queries included those on number of defacement cases between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012, instances where politicians were involved, and on the decision to file charge sheets without arresting them.
ACMM Bansal said because she was a judicial officer, she could get all the information without resorting to the RTI Act.
“The undersigned felt that being a citizen of India and also an ACMM, it was the onerous duty of the court to take up the matter on the official side...”She had a copy of the order sent to the DCP, East for collection of data regarding her queries, its compilation and submission in court by the last week of June.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/when-a-magistrate-almost-took-rti-route-to-get-answers/956350/2

'No plans to evaluate RTI Act

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanasamy said that a study was conducted in 2008-09 to assess the key issues and constraints in implementation of the RTI Act. Based on the report, the minister said, "The Government has taken initiatives to build the capacity of the demand and supply side through trainings, an on-line certificate course, and publication of guides on the Right to Information Act". Narayanasamy said awareness generation has been undertaken through print, electronic and outdoor media.

राज्य के मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त- रणजीत सिंह पंकज ने आदेश दिया- और अब खुद ही फँस गए.........

आर.टी.आई. एक्टिविस्ट-सलीम बेग ने राज्य सूचना आयोग से अपने सूचना के अधिकार का प्रयोग करते हुए
२२ फरबरी - २०१० को सूचना मांगी थी कि-
१-कुल कितने जन सूचना अधिकारियों के ऊपर सूचना न देने पर कितना दण्ड लगाया गया
२-राज्य सूचना आयोग ने जिन जन सूचना अधिकारियों के ऊपर सूचना न देने के कारण दण्ड लगाया है उसकी निगरानी करने वाली समिति कि मासिक/त्रिमासिक बैठक कितनी बार हुई
इस पर प्राशासनिक सुधार विभाग की ओर से सूचना दी गई-
सूचना आयोग के गठन के बाद अब तक १ करोड़ , १८ लाख , ९३ हज़ार ५० रुपये जुर्माना लगया गया ,जिसमे से ६२ हज़ार ५०० रुपये की वसूली हुई.
इस सम्बन्ध में राज्य के मुख्य सूचना आयुक्त- रणजीत सिंह पंकज ने आदेश दिया-
और अब खुद ही फँस गए.........

Government, judiciary not interested in RTI disclosures

NEW DELHI: At a time when the Congress-led UPA government has been battling with Team Anna over a comprehensive anti-corruption legislation, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has taken on the government and the judiciary over the transparency issue saying not even a single public authority has been following disclosure norms.
Even six years after the implementation of the Right to Information Act 2005, the final appellate authority for the legislation feels that the government has not voluntarily disclosed information on its ministry and department websites, as required under Section 4 (1) (b) of RTI Act.
Central Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra said, "The biggest issue on RTI Act implementation is whether the government departments have implemented Section 4 (1) (b) and voluntarily disclosed information on their websites. We have got a study done and when I say that none of the websites of Government of India follow the disclosure law, it is not an exaggeration. Even the high courts are no better."
Each government department is required to disclose information, including number of employees, their education, salary drawn, the tenure of employment, records held by the department, records destroyed, areas of responsibility and similar information.
Mishra said, "When we see websites of the government, we find half-hearted attempt to disclose information. If you randomly go to websites, you will find names of people who have retired and in some cases have even died. There is no updated information. We have sent repeated letters to the government on how they can improve the information delivery mechanism, which would ultimately mean less number of RTI applications. After all RTI applications cost money not only to the applicant but also to the government."
CIC's suggestion that each ministry should publish a "negative list", which would include information that the ministry would not provide, has also not been followed. "Our national goal should be that no citizen is required to use RTI Act. But our suggestions have not been followed," Mishra said.
CIC had suggested in 2010 that each government department appoint a transparency officer to oversee the implementation of RTI Act. So far, of the 2,200 public authorities registered with CIC, only 324 (about 15%) have followed this.
It is not just the government but also the judiciary that does not seem to be following the rule book. CIC has found that only Guwahati High Court has a website that gives "exemplary information". CIC has directed all the high courts to get their act together by April 1.
Hearing an appeal filed by Hyderabad-based RTI activist C J Karira, CIC has ordered that high courts should voluntarily disclose information as the law provides. Mishra said, "There are other issues like harsh RTI rules also. Allahabad high court has levied a fee of Rs 500 per application and per item, which means that if you ask more than one question they will charge Rs 1,000. We have directed them to at least follow what Supreme Court is doing - levying a standard fee of Rs 10."

RTI expose of how World Bank had arm-twisted Delhi Jal Board for water privatisation

The ministry of water resources has been undertaking public consultations across the country for quite sometime to formulate the New Water Policy to be probably implemented in March this year (the last revision was in 2002). While the general feedback it got points to proper water management and augmentation at the grass-root level, the draft policy being circulated recently dangerously lays emphasis on privatization of water services.
According to news reports, the draft National Water Policy encourages privatization of water supply services and gives liberty to private operators (who would look at profits first) to “fully recover” their operational and administrative costs, which could obviously lead to steep hike in water rates for the end consumer. The draft also suggests that the government should shrug of its responsibility of being a service provider for water and has curiously put the onus on private operators.
In fact, Section 13 of the National Water Policy, 2002 states: “Private sector participation should be encouraged in planning, development and management of water resources projects for diverse uses, wherever feasible. Private sector participation may help in introducing innovative ideas, generating financial resources and introducing corporate management and improving service efficiency and accountability to users. Depending upon the specific situations, various combination of private sector participation, in building, owning, operating, leasing and transferring of water resources facilities, may be considered.” The latest draft National Policy further hammers this issue, in complete disregard to peoples’ right of being delivered water at reasonable rates.

The first battle fought against the World Bank and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) was in 2005 when RTI activist and social reformer Arvind Kejriwal through his non-governmental organisation (NGO) ‘Parivartan’ steered a tenacious campaign against privatization of water. For this, he obtained, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, voluminous 9,000 pages of documents pertaining to correspondence between the World Bank and DJB of biddings, DJB’s correspondence with state and central government as well as reports of various consultants.

RTI documents revealed that the DJB had approached World Bank in 1998 for a loan to upgrade its water utility services to Delhi. The bank suggested that they hire a multi-national consultant who would ‘suggest’ basic reforms for the DJB to carry out. The bank offered a $2.5 million loan to DJB for hiring the consultant.  States Arvind Kejriwal, “Delhi has 21 water zones. The management of each water zone was to be given to four experts for each zone at a salary of Rs25,000 per month which is Rs11 lakh. The per annum cost of the salaries would come to Rs108 crore. The total budget of the DJB was Rs168 crore thus 60% of the money would be spent on salaries on foreign consultants. Roughly estimated, this would lead to nine times increase in water tax for Delhites.”

RTI documents further revealed how the World Bank arm-twisted DJB to favour a particular multi-national company. The DJB invited tenders for which 35 consultants applied and six of them were to be short listed. An evaluation committee consisting of senior officials of the DJB ranked them in order of merit as per the World Bank guidelines.  PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) was curiously termed as a ‘desi’ company because it bid from its Kolkata branch but was ranked 10th. However, the World Bank arm-twisted the DJB to prop it up to the 6th position.  States Mr Kejriwal in a protest letter that he wrote to the World Bank after studying the documents, “This provision was misused to bail out PWC as it was treated as an Indian company because the branch of PWC which had applied is incorporated in India. Thus, PWC featured amongst the top six short-listed companies.

Mr Kejriwal’s letter to the World Bank further states: “Thereafter, technical and financial proposals were invited from the six short-listed companies. A company needed 75% marks in technical evaluation to qualify. An evaluation committee, consisting of senior officials of DJB, evaluated the proposals on the basis of the criteria given in World Bank guidelines. PWC again failed. Only two companies, namely Deloitte of USA and TAHAL of Israel, got more than 75% marks.

“The results were sent to the World Bank for their “no objection”. The bank was strangely dissatisfied with the results. It nevertheless blatantly displayed its interests in PWC. It demanded an explanation from the DJB as to why did they give such low marks to PWC.” DJB was stunned at this reply from the World Bank and in a note, the official placed on record that he strictly abided by the World Bank norms and no company procuring below 75% could be eligible for procuring the contract. If PWC is considered, the official wrote in his internal correspondence, it would go against the principles of transparency and would cause great embarrassment to the DJB.

DJB opposed this arbitrary interference but the World Bank bullied it into revising the criteria, audaciously stating this was not the first time it had so intervened.

Shockingly, DJB, the state and central government revealed their helplessness before the World Bank. Despite their many objections, DJB had to comply.

Mr Kejriwal further states: “Fresh bids were invited. A new evaluation committee was formed. The new committee was careful this time. At every step, they obtained bank’s approval. The bank interfered in the formation of the committee. The composition, structure and procedures were all laid down in great detail by the bank. The new committee was formed with the approval of the bank.

“However, PWC again failed to get pass marks. Only one company, namely M
Watson of UK, qualified. Amazingly, the bank was again dissatisfied. It called for the detailed scores given by each member of the evaluation committee.

This time, the bank transgressed all limits of interference and violated all norms of fair play and decency. It demanded that the scores given by RK Jain, one of the members of the evaluation committee, be omitted because ‘evaluation made by Mr Jain is at considerable variance with the evaluation made by other evaluators.’  Interestingly, the evaluation committee mentioned in its report that RK Jain gave low marks to PWC and SK Chhabra gave low marks to M/s Sogreah. But the World Bank demanded omission of Mr Jain’s scorecards only. The bank’s bias could not have been more apparent.”

“DJB was “requested” to recast the scores accordingly. This time, there were no protests from DJB. DJB obliged and PWC scraped through.

The documents were carefully studied by the alumnus association of IIT Delhi and Kharagpur and they had held a press conference urging the Delhi government to withdraw the World Bank loan, but to no avail. Mr Kejriwal whipped up a mass public campaign and was joined in by noted RTI activist Aruna Roy. Buckling under pressure, DJB was forced to withdraw.

In an article in The Delhi Science Forum website authored by Raghu (http://www.delhiscienceforum.net/others/342-privatisation-of-delhi-water-supply-by-raghu-.html) states - “The World Bank has a long and inglorious record of advocating privatisation of public utilities. In the water supply sector, the bank-funded projects run by European and American multi-nationals are being implemented in the country after country in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In Tanzania, Colombia and the Philippines, for example, the World Bank-funded water supply projects have left a trail of disaster, debt and impoverishment. The MNCs have imposed enormous tariff hikes, denied water to the poor and others unable to bear these hardships, diverted water to luxury resorts and golf courses and reaped exorbitant profits. In the face of inevitable public protests, in some places at the level of popular uprisings, the MNCs have fled these countries, leaving behind stranded water utilities, governments with huge uncovered loans, infructuous infrastructure costs and, adding insult to injury, have demanded and often extracted compensation invoking contractual clauses imposed by the World Bank. As a result, these discredited policies are now being rolled back all over the world including in Europe where such privatisation began during the Thatcher era.”

Despite this, the National Water Policy may just give a green signal to privatization of water supply and put the country under the barbaric control of multi-nationals. Any sense?

Links for Arvind Kejriwal’s campaign against privatization of water supply in Delhi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XwiyWgZHMA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOmr7aXj_hA

(Vinita Deshmukh is consulting editor of Moneylife. She is also an RTI activist and convener of the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. She is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting which she won twice in 1998 and 2005 and the Chameli Devi Jain award for outstanding media person for her investigation series on Dow Chemicals. She co-authored the book “To The Last Bullet - The Inspiring Story of A Braveheart - Ashok Kamte” with Vinita Kamte. She can be reached at vinitapune@gmail.com)
 

RTI a form of Education

Delivering a thought provoking lecture on the ‘Role of Right To Information in Education’ PPS Gill, Information Commissioner (RTI), Punjab and PAU alumnus said, “RTI itself is an education. It is one of the acts of independent India which has stirred the nation and empowered the people.”
He was addressing the varsity faculty and the students on the occasion of National Education Day on Friday . The event was organised by the Punjab Agricultural University Science Club. Gill said that in a democracy, there are three important ingredients which include awareness, information and knowledge
Sharing the essential details of the Right To Information Act, Gill said that information about e-mails, press releases, documents, orders, circulars, can be sought through the public authority. 
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rti-a-form-of-education-says-info-commissioner/874573/ 

Kerala the first state in India to facilitate online RTI queries.

Now file RTI queries online

KOCHI: The e-filing of RTI conceived by the IT mission will make Kerala the first state in India to facilitate online RTI queries. The project is expected to be launched this month at the General Administration Department (GAD) in the secretariat.Training is being imparted to the staff members of all Akshaya centres, the state's grassroots level ICT centres which will be the source point enabling people to file their query.Being launched under the e-district programme, the service will make electronic network available across the state with GAD working as the nodal office through all the Akshaya centres.A fee of rs10 will be charged on each application filed online. Once confirmed the application will be routed through Akshaya centres to the public information officers of the concerned department.The officers will then be provided with digital signatures to accept the application.The status of the application at each stage will be messaged to the applicant. One will have the choice to opt for the response as soft or hard copy.IT mission is also planning to increase the number of Akshaya centres in the state from 2,500 to 3,500.

http://www.cityjournal.in/Newspaper/20111104/Kerala/Kerala_4.html

 

केन्द्रीय सूचना आयुक्त की नियुक्ति

प्रिय साथियो

 

सूचना अधिकार से जुड़े विभिन्न योद्धाओं के प्रयासों के कारण अब केन्द्रीय कार्मिक मंत्रालय ने केन्द्रीय सूचना आयुक्त की नियुक्ति के लिए आम नागरिको से भी आवेदन मांगे है , 

हमारे प्रयासों को सफलीभूत करने हेंतु आपसे अनुरोध है की कृपया अपने अखबार में इस सूचना को प्रमुखता से प्रकाशित करने की कृपा करे जिससे देश के कुछ अच्छे और  विद्वत जन भी केन्द्रीय आयोग में पहुँच कर  देश की वर्तमान व्यवस्था परिवर्तन में अपनी अहम् भूमिका निभा सके ! 
भारत सरकार के क्रमिक मंत्रालय द्वारा जारी विज्ञप्ति

http://circulars.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02nic/ic.pdf

  पर देखी जा सकती है

निवेदक :
आलोक कुमार सिंह
+९१-९९३६७१६५२६
अनिल जानी
+९१-9639331179
बिमल कुमार खेमानी
+९१-9359724625
डॉ.नीरज कुमार
+९१-9415787095

Jammu and Kashmir govt spent Rs 11 crore on sorties, in trouble :

The exchequer in civil Aviation Department shows the amount of Rs 12crore for ferrying of Chief Minister and Other Ministers in last three years. Civil Aviation Department revealed the exchequer of Government Ministers and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for travel various places in Kashmir. For three years the People elected person spent in Aviation but the purpose could realize.

CAD showed the report to Bashir Ahmad Malik in Budgam resident He asked the RTI to CAD which is application on details response within the limit of Law, the reason to showing the spending exchequer.

The expenditure from 2009 to 2011 is Rs12 crore the expenditure gives unpleasant look on state chopper service for the usage of government utilities on personnel uses. Bhat sought the details from CM’s office he had been refused and he could not collect the details.

Bhat was approached Chief Information Commission and made a complaint on further proceeding .The complaint and letter forwarded to (CAD) Civil Aviation Department and furnishing details suddenly.

The state Aviation department in control of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, He has the responsible to answering the massive exchequer. In 2009 CAD reports the exchequer value was Rs 4 crore. The expenditure, Maintenance, inspection and examination charges, Reneuval of license, landing and parking charges, insurance, fuel spending, workers salary those combine under 4 crore rupees.

Chief minister and personnel and other minister were travelled in the places of Gulmarg to Nehru Helipad, Jammu to Katra, Jammu to Rajouri, Nehru Helipad to Ganderbal, Nehru Helipad to Srinagar Airport, Rajouri to Sharda Sharief, Pahalgam to Nehru Helipad, Nehru Helipad to SKICC, SKICC to Ganderbal the places trips in 2009,it covers Rs 4 crore.

During the time period of 2010-11,For using the chopper and aircrafts were spent nearly Rs 6 crore for the purpose of spending examination charges, Reneuval of license, landing and parking charges, insurance, fuel spending, workers salary, The expenditure, Maintenance, inspection CAD reported.

Nehru Helipad to Jammu, Mattan to Ashmuqam, , Jammu to Magam, Kishtwar to Jammu, , Jammu to Maam, Nehru Helipad to Beerwah, , Jammu to Magam, Jammu to Kalakote and others places have been made as trip on 2011 till June Expenditure alone 78,00,000 without other expenses, if the chance of analyzing those expenditure and payments the cost could be risen.

Civil Aviation Department gives the details the exchequer spent money on transport alone Rs 12 crore in same senses other expenses how it is, Article 370 gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, When compares other states in India Kashmir has the state of Specialization including constitution.

The defense support, financial support, goods and services support are special on comparing any territory of India but the Administration flexibility which country made such freedom within their territory.

The Civil Aviation department under the control of Chief minister Omar Abdullah but Kashmir has lot of elevated places and the chopper service support must need, The Government misters transportation exchequer is only reached the amount Rs 12 crores, At the same time other spending of Kashmir is to be huge amount.

Jammu and Kashmir govt spent Rs 11 crore on sorties, in trouble : India: India Today

Supreme Court allows students to use RTI to cross check evaluation of marks

New Delhi: In order to ensure transparency in the evaluation of marks by schools, colleges and various competitive exams, the Supreme Court in an important decision on Tuesday ruled that students can go through their answer sheets under Right to Information Act (RTI).
The students appearing for Board, competitive or Public Service Commission exams will have the rights to cross check their answer sheets.
A Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice RV Ravindra and Justice NK Patnaik turned down the joint plea of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, Institute of Charted Accountant of India, Kolkata University, West Bengal counseling of Higher Secondary Education, Chairman West Bengal Central School Service Commission, Assam Public Service Commission and Bihar Public Service Commission.

Approving Kolkata High Court order passed on February 5, 2009, the bench said that answer sheet will not come under section 8(1) (E) of RTI, which is related to  holding of information in trust for another.
It is to be noted that the Kolkata High Court in its verdict clearly stated that if voters are allowed to know the bio-data of any particular party candidate, students too have the rights to see their answer sheets.
Education Boards and Commission were of the view that answer sheet cannot be shown to students by using RTI since it is the fiduciary right of the authority conducting exam. They had contended that the entire system will get disturbed if answer sheets were to be shown under the RTI.
However, the counsel of MKSS and Josh, Divya Jyoti objected to the plea and put forth examples of such institute which allow students to cross examine their answer sheets.
Not convinced with arguments of the petitioner, the bench dismissed the plea stating that the system needs to change with time.

अब सोने-चांदी का हिसाब देना होगा सरकार को

केंद्रीय सूचना आयोग ने अपनी सुनवाई में एक लैंडमार्क फैसला सुनाते हुए वित्त मंत्रालय को हलफनामा दायर करने को कहा है कि उसके पास देश में खपत और बिक्री होने वाले सोने - चांदी का कोई रिकॉर्ड या उसकी जानकारी है या नहीं। आयोग ने यह फैसला आरटीआई के उस अपील की सुनवाई में दिया है , जिसमें केंद्रीय वित्त मंत्रालय के अलावा रिजर्व बैंक से यह जानकारी मांगी गई थी कि क्या उनके पास देश में मौजूद बेनामी सोने ( अनअकाउंटेड गोल्ड ) पर नकेल लगाने के लिए कोई प्लान है या नहीं , और अगर है तो अब तक इस संबंध में क्या कार्रवाई की गई है। और यह भी पूछा गया था कि हवाला के जरिए होने वाले सोने के काले कारोबार को रोकने के लिए सरकार ने क्या प्लान बनाया है ?
आयोग की आयुक्त दीपक संधू ने सुनवाई में कहा कि वित्त मंत्रालय ही इसकी जानकारी रखने की नोडल एजेंसी होगी और इसी मंत्रालय को हलफनामा दाखिल करना होगा। यह हलफनामा डेप्युटि सेक्रेटरी से ऊपर के रैंक के अधिकारी के जरिए दाखिल होगा। ऐसे समय में जब चारों तरफ घोटाले , भ्रष्टाचार की आग सुलग रही है , यह फैसला काफी महत्वपूर्ण माना जा रहा है। 
http://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/9531473.cms 
दिल्ली के आरटीआई कार्यकर्ता सुभाष चंद्र अग्रवाल बताते हैं कि यह कितने दुर्भाग्य की बात है कि वित्त मंत्रालय के साथ - साथ आरबीआई , सेंट्रल बोर्ड ऑफ डायरेक्ट टैक्सेज , राजस्व विभाग , प्रवर्तन निदेशालय जानकारी देने लिए एक दूसरे का मुंह ताकते रहे। उनका कहना है कि पहले सोना ग्राम में बिकता था और आज किलो में मिलता है। पहले सोना आम आदमी के लिए इन्वेस्टमेंट का एक जरिया हुआ करता था , आज अरबपतियों के लिए पार्किंग प्लेस बन गया है ... विडंबना है कि सरकार मौन बैठी हुई है। अग्रवाल के मुताबिक जब से विदेशों में पड़े काले धन को वापस भारत में लाने की बात चली है , तबसे लोग अपना पैसा इस देश में मंगाकर उसे सोने में इन्वेस्ट करने लगे हैं , इसीलिए सोने की कीमतों में बेतहाशा वृद्धि हुई है। 

Awareness on International Right to Know Day – Wednesday-28 September-2011

Dear All RTI Activist,
as we are aware that International Right to Know Day – is on Wednesday-28 September-2011.
The aim of having a Right to Know Day is to raise awareness of the right to information. It is a day on which freedom of information activists from around the world can use further to promote this fundamental human right and to campaign for open, democratic societies in which there is full citizen empowerment and participation in government.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF--0uXYJos&feature=related

International Right to Know Day was established by access to information advocates from around the globe. It was first celebrated on 28 September 2003, and 2011 will see the 9th International Right to Know Day.
On 28th September 2002, freedom of information organizations from around the world met in Sofia, Bulgaria, and created a network of Freedom of Information Advo...cates (FOIA Network). They agreed to collaborate in promoting the individual right of access to information and open, transparent governance, and proposed September 28 be designated as International Right to Know Day, in order to symbolise the global movement for promotion of the right to information. In order to celebrate this day and to create public awareness about the newly enacted Right to Information legislation in India.The aim of Right to Know Day is to raise awareness of every individual's right of access to government-held information: the right to know how elected officials are exercising power and how the tax-payers' money is being spent.
Below you will find some ideas about how to celebrate International Right to Know Day in your country.

If you are organising an activity in your country to celebrate Right to Know Day (or Right to Know Week) fill in the form below so we can add your activity to our world Right to Know Day map... coming soon!











Ideas of What You Can Do for Right to Know Day
if you are an NGO / civil society organization ... hold an event, a debate, an award ceremony .... write a press release ... hold a discussion with a local community group or in the local school ... print up posters and t-shirts and hand them out in the streets ... get people involved and, best of all, get them exercising their rights by filing request for information!
if you are an individual ... file a request for information, write a letter to your local newspaper, ask your local town hall to put up notices telling people about the right to information, or ask them to put more information on their website ... write to your local council or to your member of parliament and ask them what they are doing to promote government transparency!
if you are a teacher or pupil ... have a discussion in class about the right to know and why open government is important ... think of some requests you can file with your local authority or with a government body such as the Ministry of Education ... find a local issue that you would like to know more about such as the quality of the drinking water or the budget for the sports centre and file requests for more information!
if you are a librarian or write an Internet blog ... you already understand the value of information, so make sure you inform your members/readers about Right to Know Day!
if you are a journalist ... write an article about Right to Know Day around the world and/or about local transparency issues ... if you have never filed a request before using your national access to information law, now is the time to start, and then make a story out of what happens!
if you are an Information Commissioner ... join in the publicity for the day by holding an event or issuing a press release ... hold a competition that will encourage openness such as the best government website or the department with the fastest average response time for answering requests ... publicize examples of information disclosure that has helped strengthen the relationship between the public and the government ... send a memo to government departments reminding them that 28 September is International Right to Know Day and emphasizing that transparency is nothing to be afraid of because everyone is doing it!
if you are a public servant or elected member of government ... ask yourself you are doing to help promote open government ... find out what the department you work in is doing to be more open ... think about how you can manage information better so that it's easier to provide to members of the public ... put some more information on your website so that the public has a better idea about what you are doing ... and if your country has an access to information law, talk to the people in your department who are responsible for giving out information and find out what you can to do help them respond to requests within the timeframes established by law!
if you are still not sure what to do ... take a look at the http://rticup2010.blogspot​.com/ for more information about what the members are doing and what you can do ... we can also put you in touch with the local access to information organization in your area ... and please, send us your reports and press cutting so that we can make our Right to Know Day Map as full as possible this year! Thank you