EMN
Dimapur, November 6
Since inception of the Right to Information Act (RTI), Nagaland state is among the few states in the country that has no pending appeals lying with the commission. Nagaland is also the first state to have women leading the commission in the capacity of chief information commissioner. These success stories were a highlight during a seminar on the RTI in Kohima on Friday.
The Administrative Training Institute (ATI) in Kohima and the department of Personnel & Training, Government of India organized a workshop on November 4 on the Right to Information Act of 2005.
The objective of the event was to sensitize public information officials about latest developments in the RTI Act; to clarify grey areas of the Act and to enlighten the officials on the practical problems ‘faced till now.’ 104officials from various departments attended the program.
The Inaugural program was chaired by Lithrongla G Chishi, director of the ATI. In her welcome address, Chishi urged the participants to ‘sincerely carry out the roles and responsibilities as information officials and encouraged them to interact in order to make the program a fruitful one.’
Kevinino P.Meru, chief information commissioner of Nagaland Information Commission, attended the event as the chief guest of the event. She pointed out that the year was the 10th year of implementation of the RTI Act. She highlighted that the commission had ‘faced many difficulties in the process of implementing the RTI Act, 2005’ and spoke about the hurdles the commission faces ‘when implementing the Act in its true spirit.’ The wisdom of appellate authorities and information officials is needed for the success of the Act, she added.
The chief guest also talked about some success stories from the implementation of the RTI in Nagaland. She mentioned that Nagaland was ‘among few states where there were no pending appeals lying with the commission.’
‘Translating the Act into all the local dialects is another milestone the commission has achieved. Another note worthy achievement is that in the whole country, only Nagaland and Chhattisgarh has come up with the gender break-up in RTI implementation,’ the commissioner said.
Another event of which Nagaland can be proud of is that, she said, Nagaland is the only state in the country to have a lady as the chief information commissioner. The chief guest expressed gratitude to the ATI for the initiatives it had taken to organize the programs ‘since the inception of RTI in the country.’
The resource persons for the day were L Youdang Jamir who spoke on the topic “Proactive Disclosure towards transparency and accountability; Worhonthung Ezung who spoke on the topic “Privacy in times of RTI; Dr. S Rongsen Longkumer who spoke on the topic “Role of PIOs and APIOs; Dr. Alem W Longchar who spoke on the topic “Exemption of Information,” and Dr. Hovithal N Sothu who spoke on the topic “The Paradigm Shift” and “Public Authorities, Scope and Range.” Group discussions and presentations also marked the event.
