Activist group’s RTI findings show Nagaland in the Stone Age

EMN Dimapur, March 7 The largely-rural citizens of Nagaland are a people who take pride in progressive ethos–at least verbal claims–when it comes to education and social concerns. Unfortunately, the notion of laissez-faire for this tribal people may have run into a formidable opponent: ignorance. A study of the impact of the Right to Information Act (RTI) for the last 10 years in Nagaland was undertaken by Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO). Some of the key findings and recommendation were stated in a press release the NVCO issued on Monday, March 7 – and it doesn’t make the people of Nagaland look too intelligent when it comes to availing statutory benefits from even critically significant instruments that fight evils such as corruption. And, according to the report, little efforts seem to have been exerted by Nagaland government to promote or raise awareness about the act which is considered to keep check on accountability and transparency by government entities, and curb corruption. And corruption, at both the government and the social level, is Nagaland’s biggest foe at this time. The reports stated that the RTI system (or the lack of it) in Nagaland is rife with ignorance, bias for retired government employees, threat to applicants, untrained information officers, and delay in furnishing information, and so on. Some of the findings of the NVCO’s report show Nagaland in poor light when it comes to the Right to Information Act (RTI), considered one of India’s biggest statutory achievements in combating corruption. Here are some of the startling statements as highlighted by the NVCO. (Give verbatim) Low knowledge about RTI Act There is poor awareness about the RTI, worse in villages than district headquarters. Few citizens from villages said that they had heard about the RTI Act but no one has taught them how to go about it and no participation had heard of the RTI Act in many villages. Recommendations * There continues to be an urgent need for a concerted and professional approach to increasing awareness among the public. In addition, information regarding the RTI Act and its relevance to the people should be imparted along with information about other basic rights, highlighting how the RTI Act can be used to ensure access to these other rights. This would not only contextualize information about the RTI Act but also raise awareness about other rights. * Dedicated programming on RTI awareness could be broadcast on local TV channels and radio, and also disseminated through social media and through whatever other means are available. * A module on RTI should be made mandatory in school curriculum. * Perhaps self-help groups (SHGs) could be mandated to spread awareness about the RTI Act and facilitate the filing of applications and appeals. Information about RTI should also be displayed outside schools, colleges, bus stops, community halls, etc. * In many villages, school teachers are an important source of information and support to village communities. It might, therefore, be useful to train them in the use of the RTI Act. Use of the RTI Act and nature of information sought The village-district headquarter (urban) divide: Very few applicants were from villages, even though over 75% of Nagaland population lives in villages. Awareness levels about the RTI also seen very low in villages. Recommendations * An assessment needs to be carried out to determine the reasons why there is such poor participation by village populations in the RTI process especially applicants. * Very little effort, in general, seems to have been made by the state government to raise awareness about the RTI. Whereas in district headquarters there are many other methods by which the public can learn about the RTI and its uses and processes, special attention needs to be paid to villages. * Grievances redress mechanism: The applicants especially from village said that they wanted to use the RTI Act in order to seek redress of their grievances. Analysis of RTI applicants showed that good percentage of the applicants were seeking information that was aimed at getting action on a complaint, getting a response from a public authority, or getting redress for a grievance. Threats to applicants Applicants are often intimated, threatened and even physically attacked when they file an RTI application, or as a consequence of their submitting such an application. Recommendations: * Complaints of such intimidation, threat or attack, in so far as it is an effort to deter the applicant from filing or pursuing an RTI application, can clearly be considered as obstruction and falls within the gamut of section 20(1) as a penalisable offence. Therefore, where the enquiry establishes the guilt of a person who is a PIO, the Information Commission must impose a penalty which is both appropriate to the case and acts as deterrent to other PIOs. If required, the Information Commission should make a report to the police for criminal proceedings. * Where the guilty party is not a PIO, the Information Commission must establish a tradition to the enquiry report to the police, where a cognizable offence is made, or otherwise to the relevant court, and use its good offices (and its moral authority) to ensure that timely and appropriate action is taken. Public authorities of the government Nearly 75% of the RTI applications seek information that should have been proactively made public without citizens having to file an RTI application. Despite a very strong provision (suo motu) disclosure under section 4 of the RTI Act, there is poor compliance by public authorities. This forces applicants to file applications for information that should be available to them proactively, and consequently creates extra work for themselves, for the concerned public authorities, and for information commission. Many departments do not have a board with the required proactive disclosures. Recommendations: *Given the very poor implementation of section 4 by most public authorities, the state nodal agencies should direct all Public Authorities to designate one or more PIOs as responsible for ensuring compliance with all the provisions of section 4. *In Mizoram, public authorities do not charged for any application seeking information that should have been proactively provided or disclosed. This encourage public authority to ensure that all that was legally required to be proactively displayed or communicated, was being disclosed. Even our state government should make such rule. *Information that is proactively disclosed must be properly and organized in such a manner that it facilitates easy retrieval. Information on the website must be organized in a searchable and retrievable database to enable people to access the records. Similarly, proactive indexed to enable people to access this information can actually contribute to opaqueness rather than transparency. Record management One major constraint faced by PIOs in providing information in a timely manner is the poor state of record management in most public authorities. Recommendations: Section 4(1) (a) of the RTI Act obligates every public authority to properly manage and speedily computerize its records. Training of PIOs Many PIOs have not received any training on the RTI Act. In fact, the PIOs interviewed identified lack of training as their number on constraint. A much larger proportion of non-PIO civil servants, who have to provide information to the PIOs or function as first appellate authorities, have not been oriented and trained towards facilitating the right to information. Recommendations: State government and the Information Commission should direct all Public Authorities and training institutions, that apart from conducting separate training courses for PIOs/FAAs and other officers, a module on RTI should be incorporated into all training programmes, considering all government employees are subject to the RTI and most of them are potential PIOs or first appellate authorities. Delays and pendency Unlike Nagaland Information Commission, there are huge and growing delays in the disposal of cases in many of the information commissions, with pendency of cases growing every month. Recommendations * Newly appointed information commissioners must be provided an opportunity to orient themselves to the law and case law. Incumbent commissioners should have an opportunity to refresh their knowledge and understanding and to discuss their experiences and thinking with commissioners from other commissions, and with experts from outside the information commissions * There also needs to be standardized format for Information Commission orders that ensures that at least the basic information about the case and the rationale for the decision is available in the order. Each order needs to be speaking order and contain at least the date of the application; description of the information asked for; date of response, if any; nature of response; reasons given for refusal, if relevant; legal basis and rational for the order of the commission; whether the actions of the PIO attract a penalty under any of the grounds laid down in section 20 of the RTI Act. * Whenever a commissioner is due to demit office in regular course of time(by way of retirement), the government must ensure that the process of appointment of new commissioners is done well in advance so that there is no gap between previous commissioner demitting office and a new one joining in. Composition of commissions The composition of information commissions across the country has a bias towards retired government servants. It is desirable to have a more balanced composition so that diverse expertise is represented in the commission. Recommendations Towards this end, the process of short-listing candidates for appointment to information commissions must be participatory and transparent, allowing public consultation and debate before a short-list is finally sent to the selection committee. The criteria used for short listing and for selection must be made public.