EMN
Dimapur, July 20
Nagaland is increasingly being perceived by observers as one of the most corrupt states in the country. Interestingly, most of the citizens of this north eastern state still have little or no idea that they have a powerful weapon – the Right to Information Act, or ‘RTI’.
The ignorance or refusal to use it is being compounded more by the fact that some village councils, some government departments and politicians’ touts have been going far as to coerce or impose fines on citizens who seek information through the RTI, the Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organization (NVCO) disclosed in a statement on Monday, July 20.Taking the instance of districts such as Tuensang, where RTI activism is low, the NVCO stated that in as far the impact of RTI was concerned “awareness is still low amongst the school children and rural areas, however, there are few unique incidences where the RTI applicants were being fined out of the village council resolutions where no one would file any RTI application without the consultations of village authority and it has come on appeal to State Information Commission”.
“VIP quota” again
The infamous ‘VIP quota’ of Naga politicians has entered the topic again. The NVCO said that in Tuensang an RTI application enquiring whether the huge amount of deduction on MNREGA funds as “VIP quota” was proper or not. Applicants were being fined by village councils, the organization lamented.
However, there is no such provision for any quota whatsoever, the NVCO stated and was found to be illegal. The fine money imposed upon the RTI applicants were recovered and even the deducted huge amount of money as VIP quota was refunded to the people in the constituency, the organization stated.
The NVCO narrated a case when government officials and political touts tried to coerce an RTI applicant to withdraw his application:
‘An RTI activist in the district said that he was called to the office where he filed an RTI application and he was offered money in the presence of department director, Commissioner & Secretary, concerned minister’s personal secretary in order to withdraw the application. He declined and the department was make to fulfilled at least a project for community of his area, the difficulty shared by the department was the minister concerned has deducted 25% in all the projects as election is nearing and no doubt the projects are done only in papers’.
The government functionaries and persons involved in the incident were not identified in the NVCO’s statement.
The NVCO interacted with the Deputy Commissioner of Tuensang, Alemjongshi, recently. They discussed the impact of RTI in Nagaland. The administrator said that somewhere or the other there were cases that the RTI was also being used as a tool to harass public authorities.
‘It is more worse to the dishonest officer in the department but the honest officers are more happy to receive more RTI application. And in the proper use of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 it is a powerful tool to be use in the fight against corruption which is the need of the hour,’ the statement quoted the deputy commissioner as having stated.
The deputy commissioner also cautioned citizens about using the RTI. They should observe RTI regulations and in proper manner ‘as we furnish so much of documents demanded under RTI laws but do not see any outcome thereafter’.
“RTI laws is not just to file and receive documents but it has also to put into actions in exposing the illegality and initiate against the wrong doing,” the district’s administrator stated.
Earlier, the NVCO visited some villages as a part of the assessment and study about the impact of RTI in Nagaland since the legislation was introduced.
The NVCO has requested citizens to share their views and opinion, and experiences as well as offer suggestions about the impact of RTI in Nagaland. They can write to kezhokhotosavi@yahoo.com.
The Right to Information Act (RTI) is an Act of the Parliament of India “to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens”. It replaced the erstwhile Freedom of information Act, 2002. The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir.
The basic object of the Right to Information Act is to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government, contain corruption, and make our democracy work for the people in real sense.
It goes without saying that an informed citizen is better equipped to keep necessary vigil on the instruments of governance and make the government more accountable to the governed. The Act is a big step towards making the citizens informed about the activities of the Government.
