Right to Information

1
Right to Information Need and Status

• Sirish Agarwal
• and
• Sanjeev Ranganathan
• Asha-14 Conference
• Chicago May 28 - 30, 2005

2
Content

• Provisions of Right to Information law
• Social Change
• Government Solution
• Why it does not work
• Peoples Needs
• Peoples Solutions
• Examples of Peoples struggles
• Current Status
• Get Involved

3
Right To Information

• Law provides for easy access to public
  information
• Inspect any government work
• Appeal to Public grievance commission
• Nine states and central govt have passed the
  right to information law
• Implementation resisted
• Lack training, clear procedures, awareness among
  users

4
Social Change

• Education Health
• Justice for all rule of law
• Right to food and work
• Shelter
• Transparent accountable governance
• Rights for women and children

5
Social Change - Government Solution

• Top-down approach for a problem
• These do not always represent requirements of the
  people

6
Why it does not work?

• Vested interests
• Opportunism
• Corruption
• Cultural and social bounds structural in nature
• Extreme poverty and marginalization
• Externalized problem, stigmatized
• Threats to survival, dignity, hope, self-respect

7
Examples of Peoples Involvement

• Social Audits of
• Pension schemes
• Housing schemes
• Construction projects
• Ration shops
• Land redistribution
• Government health clinics

8
Social Change - Peoples Solutions

• Peoples groups work to
• Make policies relevant
• Monitor functioning of govt agencies
• Change attitudes
• Peoples groups are participatory in decision
  making and accountability

9
Examples of Struggles

• Panchayat Sikoriah (Hardoi District)
• Construction projects
• The peoples group in this case was the self-help
  group organized around Asha center Lalpur, U.P.
• - Villages asked the panchayat for the details of
  the accounts.
• After long struggle they finally got some numbers
  of expenditure in six construction projects.
• Three items were ghost projects and bogus
  expenses were found in the rest.

10
Examples cont

• Delhi
• Ration shops
• The peoples group in this case was Parivartan.
• 142/182 families did not receive ration
• 87 of the wheat did not reach the families
• Records were made public and since then people
  have informed us that all dealers but one have
  been giving the correct ration for the last two
  months
• An FIR has been lodged against him

11
Current Status

• In nine states the right to information is
  empowering peoples groups.
• There is resistance to pass this law in the rest
  of the states.
• Citizenship education is still required to get
  people to exercise this right.
• However, in some cases the gains made at local
  officials are still overturned by higher level
  administration and judiciary.

12
Get Involved

• Understand issues of the underprivileged
• Encourage getting information for government
  agencies that affect projects and communities
• Give moral support, encourage formation of local
  groups/civic institutions, networks
• Encourage transparency and local accountability
  in projects
• Personally do not encourage systems that make
  govt bodies morally weaker, e.g. do not use short
  cuts like bribes or connections to get things
  done.

13
Statistics

• TamilNadu, Goa, Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra,
  Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh -between
  1997 and 2003
• Delhi Covers 119 departments of govt., 15 30
  days response time, penalties for refusal to
  respond
• Central govt. Freedom of Information Act 2002
• Initiatives in other states

14
RTI Campaigns

• Mazdoor Kissan Shakti Sangathan, Rajasthan.
• Parivartan, Delhi.
• Asha, Hardoi District, U.P.
• National campaign for peoples rights to
  information (NCPRI) www.righttoinformation.com
• Others.

15
Citizenship Education

• Education that empowers to change the economic
  and structural binds
• Awareness of rights and responsibilities
• Participatory decision making, local
  accountability
• Understanding of environment

16
Investment in Future

• Development through steps of
• access to education, income, and information
• empowerment, citizenship rights and duties and
• participation.
• These steps will lead to community's
  participation in training, resource generation
  and management for its future generations.

17
Summary

• At-risk, Threat to survival
• RTI as a tool for participation, control,
  management of future, choices, staying power
• Hope, dignity, respect, confidence