No right to information

[ganpat1956]

Article by Amitabh Srivastava in "India Today"

Bihar has always inspired many a Bollywood script-writers penning a few blockbusters. Even today, for someone looking for a contemporary script with a hard-nosed babu playing the pugnacious protagonist who preys on gullible information seekers, the state may still serve as a storehouse of real-life takeoff ideas.

Sample this: In February, social activist Shiv Prakash Rai, 43, had to spend 29 days in judicial custody when Buxar District Magistrate Vishnudev Prasad got an FIR lodged against him, claiming that "Rai demanded Rs 25,000 as monthly extortion money" from him.

According to Rai, a frail character who looks nowhere close to the mighty status he needs to extort from a district magistrate in Bihar, he was summoned by Prasad in relation to his applications seeking information on welfare schemes under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

"The officer got angry when I refused to give it in writing that I had received the information I had asked for," Rai told India Today.

Rai, who was sent to jail on February 1, was released only after the police discovered "there was no evidence of an extortion demand". While Prasad has since then been transferred from Buxar, the state Information Commission has ordered a probe.

"We have issued a notice to all concerned parties. We will do whatever is required to ensure smooth flow of information," says P.N. Narayanan, state information commissioner.

Rai's, however, is not a solitary story in Bihar, which has earned the sobriquet of being a frontline state in implementation of the RTI Act. "Perception is not always akin to the ground reality," says Parveen Amanullah, coordinator of NGO Bihar Right to Information Manch (BRIM).

In June 2007, when she sought the distribution details of medicines from the Patna Medical College and Hospital under the RTI Act, Amanullah was asked to cough up Rs 5 lakh as charges for photocopying 2.5 lakh pages of documents. Only on the commission's intervention was she allowed to see the hospital's medicine distribution system at work.

Asking uncomfortable questions indeed has been tumultuous for a few others too. Take the case of 30-year-old Virendra Kumar Shah, a handicapped youth of Pir Maker village of Saran district, who had to face murder charges when he sought information under the Act about the November 2006 appointment of Panchayat teachers. "I was an unsuccessful applicant, so I sought details of the appointments," he says.

Incidentally, the state Information Commission has received almost 7,500 complaints against erring officials and agencies.

"Despite substantial resistance betrayed by sundry bureaucrats, Bihar is still one of the best states in terms of RTI implementation. But, we report to the Government whenever we come across any aberration, besides, acting on our own," says Narayanan.

So far, the Commission has slapped fines against erring officials in more than 165 cases. Some officials, however, cite procedural troubles.

"Record keeping has been manual in the state, because of which information older than a decade is just not available," says Vipin Kumar Sinha, general secretary of Bihar Administrative Service Association. Nevertheless, Bihar Chief Secretary R.J.M. Pillai says, "The implementation of RTI Act in Bihar has been satisfactory."

Deputy IG of police, Muzaffarpur, Arvind Pandey admits to having seen a local CPI(M) leader Vidhyasagar falsely implicated in several police cases after he sought details about implementation of certain government schemes. Worse still, Vidhyasagar's applications have failed to yield desired results, so far. Indeed, the Commission has its task cut out.

India Today - The most widely read newsweekly in South Asia.

[sidmis]

It's tough seeking information under RTI Act
as reported by Faizan Ahmad,TNN14 Aug 2008,

PATNA: "DM se rangdari?" yelled the district magistrate (DM) of Buxar at a social activist, Shiv Prakash Rai. "You sign this paper or else...," the DM continued.

Rai's crime? He used RTI and asked for details of schemes being executed under the Prime Minister's Rojgar Yojana.
As a defiant Rai refused to be cowed down, a furious DM called police and got him arrested on the charge of demanding Rs 25,000 as "rangdari" from him. Rai, 48, languished in jail for about a month in February.

Rai told TOI he had earlier approached the district authorities to get the details. They shooed him away. Then he approached the State Information Commission (SIC) which directed the DM to reply to the petitioner's queries.

The DM sent out a messenger to call Rai. "It was February 1. The SDO and district welfare officer were also present in the DM office when I went there," he recalled and added the paper the DM wanted him to sign read something like "I have received the information I had asked for".

After Rai's arrest, a representation was made to chief minister Nitish Kumar who ordered an inquiry into the matter. Secretariat sources said the Buxar SP almost confirmed the allegations. The DM was shifted.

The CM is aware of the reluctance of most of the officials to part with information. "RTI Act is an effective tool to secure justice, but the problem is some officials with old mindset are hesitant to make official information public," Nitish admitted.

Social activist Parveen Amanullah, who has formed Soochna Ka Adhikar Manch to make people aware of the RTI Act in the state's small towns, recalled her own experience when she asked for certain information from Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).

"The hospital administration wrote to me that I would have to deposit Rs 5 lakh as cost photocopying 2.5 lakh pages containing the information I had asked for," she said.

To her relief, however, the SIC directed the PMCH to provide the information free. "The matter was settled when I agreed to only go through the papers and picked up photocopies of about 1,000 pages," said Parveen Amanullah, wife of a senior bureaucrat.

Recalling another instance of how dearly it costs to seek info under RTI, she said one of her Manch activists, Chandra Deep Singh of Maner in Patna district, was implicated in a case of rape attempt by police when the septuagenarian sought a status report on a case pending against him.

SIC spokesman Rambadan Baruah admitted some officials are still hesitant to share information. "Things have improved though after the SIC ordered posting of public information officers in each government department and office," he said.

He said 9,000-odd cases regarding denial of info have been filed in the SIC so far and the SIC has fined 236 officials for sitting on applications seeking info.

Buxar's Rai has now taken it upon himself to make people at villages aware of the RTI.

It's tough seeking information under RTI Act-Patna-Cities-The Times of India

[shan]

Sure it is very tough. But then that is the only way this revolution will lead to evolving a system from chaos, that is prevailing around us.

[sidmis]

Warning: Using RTI in Bihar may be injurious
as reported by Abhay Kumar, Deccan Herald, in Patna

When 48-year-old humble farmer Shiv Prakash Rai sought certain information under the RTI Act in May 2008, the then district magistrate of Buxar, Vishnudeo Prasad charged him with entering the DMs chamber and asking Rs 25,000 as monthly rangdari (extortion) from the district magistrate.

Eventually, Rai was put behind the bars for 29 days until the SP found the “bizarre case” untrue and absolved him. But that’s not the end of the story. The State Information Commission, after a thorough probe, found the district magistrate (now transferred) guilty and slapped him with a fine of Rs 25,000. The amount has recently been deducted from the bureaucrat’s salary. His successor in Buxar was also slapped with a fine of equal amount but the full bench of the SIC, at a later meeting, stayed the order.

Having achieved justice, an emboldened Rai could now again be seen pursuing his mission with the same zeal to expose corruption in government offices using the powers enshrined under the Right to Information Act.

“I had sought information about the beneficiaries under schemes like Prime Minister Rozgar Yojna (PMRY). But I was implicated by the DM at the behest of some bank officials who had disbursed loans under the fictitious names for purchase of tractors. That’s why I am pursuing for the truth under the RTI Act,” said Rai, a free bird now.

An activist of the Soochna Ka Adhikar Manch, Rai could be seen carrying heavy bundles of xerox copy of official documents he has procured through the RTI. “These papers provide the clearest evidence of embezzlement of fund in government-sponsored schemes like Million Sallow Tubewell Yojna. Surprisingly, the fraudulent practices are going on for years,” says Rai, who has vowed to nail the corrupt.




Ever since the UPA Government launched its flagship scheme — Right to Information (RTI) Act, activists like Rai have become self-styled watchdog and trying to disseminate as much information as possible. But not everyone is as lucky as Rai.

Take the case of Chandradeep Singh, an ex-Armyman, who, under the RTI, had sought details of his son and daughter’s murder from the police. The retired serviceman was eventually charged with attempting to rape a woman from Maner. Purshottam Prasad of Nalanda had sought information about lands reforms under the RTI. He, too, was implicated in a fabricated case of stealing kerosene oil drums. Jaiprakash from Patne had sought details of multi-crore Chiraiyatand road-cum-rail overbridge, but he was charged with obstructing government servant in discharging his duties.

Now, an NGO has come forward to take up the case of such people who are at the receiving end while trying to expose rampant corruption in different departments. “Officers in Bihar are unable to accept the fact that the public can now use RTI facility for seeking information about any schemes,” said Praveen Amanullah, founder head of the Soochna Ka Adhikar Manch.

Deccan Herald - Warning: Using RTI in Bihar may be injurious

[DineshK]

These thread should be merged.

It's tough seeking information under RTI Act

No right to information