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LEARNING VISIT ON RTI- NEW DELHI GUJARAT : 14TH TO 23RD NOVEMBER 2011

My  experiences of the learning visit to India on Right to information

On the invitation of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (India) I participated in the Learning visit on RTI held in New Delhi. Five representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nepal & Sri Lanka participated in this program.

On the first day we were introduced to country situation on RTI of each of the representative countries as well as India.  Sri Lanka being a country without RTI law it was not possible for me to participate effectively in this exercise. It was sad to feel that even though we call ourselves a democracy Sri Lanka was the only democratic country in South Asia without a RTI law. 

However it gave me an insight to the manner in which other neighboring countries are making effort to either introduce or workout the RTI law.

On the second day our visits to various organizations and persons who are involved in RTI activities in various fields commenced. Our first visit was to meet Justice Ajit Shah (retired) who gave us an input of the role of the judiciary in making RTI effective. He outlined the Indian experiences in getting the RTI law in to the statute book and today it has become a strong peaceful weapon in the hands of the general public for god governance. In respect of the Sri Lanka situation his advice was that as a first step we should seek judicial interpretation/ opinion of the constitutional guarantees on human & fundamental rights. 

Our second visit was to the Department of Personnel & Training- India (DOPT) where we met Mr. Rajiv Kapoor – Joint Secretary & Ms. Anuradha Chagti- Director @ the Home Ministry. This meeting was very fruitful in learning the capacity of the RTI law. It gave us an in-depth knowledge as to how the government institutions respond to RTI applications and the attitude of public officers towards the law. Mr. Kapoor was of the view that USA experience in (data.gov) website is an alternative RTI where all relevant info is available to any citizen.

The meeting with Mr. Shekar Singh (NCPRI) founder member of the national campaign for RTI was extremely interesting & useful particularly in Sri Lankan perspective.

He took us thru the long journey of Indian experience of getting the comprehensive and strong legislation passed and operative.
He explained the key points the high’s & the low’s of the law i.e. time frame, penalties independent appellate authorities etc.
With all the hype & publicity of the RTI awareness of the RTI in India is around 20%. 

Attitudes of the public sector has not changed much

Attacks on RTI activists/whistle blowers

Innovativeness etc were some of the points discussed.

What was interesting to me in respect of Sri Lanka scenario was the multiple use of RTI activity.  Initially it could be used as a tool to address grievance interest where public could get their basic needs attended to.

He also advised to gather as much as possible like minded organizations at grass root level and introduce the RTI concept in order to make people aware of the usefulness of this law as weapon to guarantee their basic right to life.Our third day was once again to visit persons & organizations.

The visit to the office of Mr. Mahabir Kasana former trainer at the Institute  of Secretariat Training Management gave us the opportunity to learn about various sectors of the administration that come under the RTI & in particular the State owned (fully or partially) banking sector, the right of the insiders to ask for info etc;  There are provisions in the law that could be used to obtain information regarding private sector institutions that serve a public cause (such as a private school/ hospital) thru the regulatory authority.

The law has made every citizen an investigator/auditor.
RTI has opened the doors for social audits.

Next we met with two RTI activists Ms. Anjali Bhardwaj of Nagark Sangathan (NGO) & Mr. Sakat Dutta (Journalist- DNA) who appraised us on their experiences of RTI. Mr. Dutta explained to us the difficulties he has to go thru in obtaining information for his news stories and the importance to see thru the story to a logical conclusion in order to get justice.  He enlightened us on the importance of the relationship between the civil society & the media & social accountability.

The NGO’s work on common issues the people are faced with in their day to day life & use RTI as a tool to obtain results.
In the evening we flew to Gujarat to attend the second phase of our visit.

Gujarat was an enlightening visit.  We traveled in to the interiors of the State and the first meeting was at Kalol with the Nagarika Adikari Kendra (NGO) headed by a village leader Aslam. His knowledge & experience in RTI activities and the energy & enthusiasm never failed to impress us. My personal observations on the NAK activities could very well help in preparing & putting into effect a programme to bring awareness on RTI among the Sri Lankan masses.  The NAK uses posters, organizes RTI fairs and activities to impart knowledge on the usefulness & practical side of the law & helps the villagers who are mostly illiterate to use it as a tool to obtain their basic rights.

Our visits to the Panchayats of Vejapur & malav were very interesting. It gave us the in depth knowledge of how the local self governing bodies operates at different levels. Their innovative methods of pro active disclosure, communication and self help are commendable.

We also met the members of the UTTHAN (NGO) @Limkheda where the RTI was being used to obtain information on environmental, gender issues as well as problems faced by vulnerable communities. They also empower people with knowledge and information on how to access to information to secure their legal rights.

The Khangala Panchayat had the most update pro active disclosure method. The Office had wall posters displaying all types of information that the people would need to access their basic rights. These included the information on land, housing, population, taxation, schools, health care etc, as well as basic information such as telephone numbers of public service offices.  It was revealed that due to this action the beneficiaries to various grants (which they were not aware of before) has increased by 300%.

Our meeting with the Chief Information Commission of Gujarat gave us the opportunity to learn more about the working of the RTI in different spheres of the society.  It demonstrated the manner in which the information seekers & providers worked in harmony. It was revealing to discover that the public servants who are information officers & commissioners have stepped out of the strict ambit of the law to help citizens by introducing innovative methods of pro active disclosures to facilitate the process. It's also important to have the proper mechanism in place in order the law to succeed. The stake holders themselves were heavily involved in the activity. The disclosure of information is rural oriented and accessible to all. Gujarat is a good example of the successful implementation of the RTI.

On our return to New Delhi we visited an NGO dealing with environment issues- LIFE. It gave us the knowledge and the input on how RTI was used to obtain critical information on environmental issues caused by large scale development projects. It helped people to participate in decision making as well as gave them access to justice. RTI will be a powerful tool in national issues.
The most interesting meeting was with Mr. Silesh Gandhi the Central information commissioner. He works on the paperless theory and all his inquiries are held using video conference method. He was in the process of some inquiries and we had the privilege of watching the process live.  The speed & accuracy of the inquiry impressed me. However it needs the public officers to be accurate and sufficiently efficient in order to answer all the quarries put forward at the inquiry. It also needs trust on both sides.

Mr. Gandhi explained to us his experiences in dealing with RTI appeals & application. He sees the penalty clause in the Act has made the officers enthusiastic & it had spread thru the country. He was of the view that in   “defective” democracies of Asia, RTI can be the tool in the hands of the people to be more participatory in governance.
We visited the offices of Centre for Policy Research & met Mr. Chakshu Roy & other members. This Organization acted as a Parliamentary Research Service assisting Parliament rains & MLA’s in their legislative debate. Though there was no direct connection to RTI by this organization I found their work interesting and unique & could be used as a model for one of our sister Organization’s to follow.

Our final meeting was with a Public Corporation National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) where we were given the information as to how a public/private sector institutions work on RTI and how it has helped in minimizing the impact of the project issues. Mr. Khornal the PIO of the NTPC gave a detail description of how his organization deals with RTI applications issues. In a vast organization such as theirs it was important to keep the consistency of the information in order to maintain their credibility. It was also revealed that no future information is allowed under RTI.We also had the opportunity of meeting with the Director & staff of CHRI as well as of FNF.

Conclusion.

Among the democracies of South Asia Sri Lanka stands alone as a country without a Right to information law. All attempts to introduce this piece of legislation in to the statute books has been unsuccessful. Yet there are some civil society groups and political parties have been actively engaged in keeping this glimmer of hope alive and all hope is not lost.

This learning visit opened up my knowledge on RTI in to new vistas. It gave me the opportunity to gain hands on experience as to how RTI works at grass root level. My understanding of the RTI law was that it would help to minimize corruption in society and improve the efficiency of the public service. It was also my belief that RTI is a weapon in the hands of the educated middle class and the media & as a basic human right.  This visit helped me to correct my thinking and learn how even the uneducated, under privileged people accessed RTI thru innovative methods. In Kalol I found how people were imparted with the knowledge of the RTI thru poster campaigns, RTI fairs etc. which were hitherto not thought of being used for this type of activity.  They use this facility to get the authorities to address their grievances as well as fight for their right to live.

IDL became involved with RTI in 2006 when CHRI held a workshop in Sri Lanka on the subject. Since then IDL has been spreading awareness at grass root level thru our seminars & workshops.

In 2009 with the establishment of the Liberal academy for Political Leadership under the IDL, we have introduced Right to Information as a permanent subject in our curriculum.  The knowledge I gained from this visit would definitely help IDL/LAPL to expand the activities on RTI. It is also important to seek the assistance of other likeminded organizations to step up the pressure on the authorities to demand for a RTI law. The innovative methods learned of bringing awareness among common people will definitely help the cause.  Sri Lanka needs to wake up to the cause in a more meaningful manner & in order to build up a strong pressure group we need to educate & bring awareness among the ordinary people the usefulness of such a law to obtain their basic right to life.

On behalf of IDL & myself, I thank CHRI/FNF for giving the opportunity to participate at this program and all the officers who planned & executed this task.

Shyamila Perera
Executive Director
Institute for Democracy & Leadership (Sri Lanka)

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