Right to information a far cry for villagers in India

People in rural India have a tough time in accessing information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from government departments and some even face retribution, a new study released on January 29 said.

The study conducted by Participatory Research in Asia (Priya), a civil society group, in eight states last year, found that 75% of the respondents say that no directories of Public Information Officers (PIOs) are available in their district.

According to the study, 50% applicants found that due to official apathy, they could not know where to submit their applications.

The study took into account data of eight states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.

�The attitude of PIOs is extremely apathetic and hostile to the applicants as 60% respondents say that they are either harassed or denied information,� said Vikas Jha, a coordinator of Priya.

�In large number of instances, the applicants are facing retribution when they file RTI applications. We found it in the Sitapur district (Uttar Pradesh), where the names of citizens who asked for information under RTI were struck off the below poverty line list,� Jha said.

The study found that many information commissioners are in favour of PIOs and thus deny required information to common people.

Nearly 32% of the respondents say that the first appellate authority is not concerned and does not admit the appeal.

The State Information Commission (SIC), the final appellate authority, has been able to provide some solace to the applicants. Nearly 44% of respondents feel that the SIC has been cooperative.

In such a scenario, only the middle or rich class and educated sections of the society can approach the government offices and the appellate authorities for the information.

The study concludes that accessibility to information under RTI Act is restricted to educated and middle class people. A large section of the poor and marginalised lack energy, courage and time to struggle for information at several levels of government institutions.

It said 58% of information commissioners are from administration and governance sector. Of the 60 information commissioners profile, 27 were found as retired IAS officers.

Source: News Post India

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