RIGHT TO INFORMATION

Public Interest

Students have no Right to Know about RTI in Rajasthan!

Vinita Deshmukh
19 May 2016 2

The lesson in the 8th standard text book on Social Sciences of Rajasthan State Board schools was
titled `Kanuno ki samajh’ (knowledge of Laws) and the lesson was about the citizens’ historic
movement to bring in the Right to Information (RTI) legislation in Rajasthan. Led by Aruna
Roy, the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in village Devdungri of Rajasthan had sowed
the seeds of an era of transparency and right to information, inspiring enough, for Rajasthan’s
education committee to include it in the Social Sciences curriculum.

The Rajasthan government, however, seems to think that this knowledge would empower
citizens of tomorrow, who may demand accountability from the rulers and thus may have
decided to nip this education, in the bud. RTI has been removed from the Rajasthan text books.
Activists across Rajasthan are piqued with this decision and are demanding an explanation from
the state government.
Aruna Roy, in a letter dated 15 May 2016, to CS Rajan, Chief Secretary of Rajasthan, writes, “In
the hurry to re-write history and manipulate textbooks for political reasons, the government is
hurting the sentiments of ordinary people, burying the truth and actually attempting to obliterate
acknowledgement of a contribution that should be of pride to the whole state.”

Roy demanded that “the changes to the text book be put on hold and an open dialogue be
established to determine if there is any need for amending text books, and if so, what these
amendments should be.”

An RTI application has been filed by Kamal Tank, a citizen, on 10th May to the Primary School
Department seeking copies of decision of the proposal to remove the chapter, report of the
Committee, if it has been instituted for this purpose and copy of the decision of the fate of the
second hand books, in case the chapter gets deleted.

The Suchna Evum Rojgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan, in a press note, has stated that, this seems to be
political motive and this decision has hurt the sentiments of the citizens, who are very proud of
this historic campaign. The organisation protests against keeping people in the dark, before
making an outrageous decision.

Noted RTI activist, Subhash Chandra Agrawal, states, “It is definitely a step in reverse direction.
Rather Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) should co-ordinate with Union Ministry of
Human Resource Development (MoHRD) to ensure incorporating chapters on RTI in school
text-books of all the states to develop student from schools to become informed citizens for not
only availing their rights through RTI Act but also performing their duty to use the transparency-
Act in larger national and public good.”

Agrawal suggested that the central government should modify RTI rules for copying charges to
ensure that first 20 copied pages are part of basic RTI fees (say Rs50) but uniformly for all
public-authorities and states with no provision for any more fees payable at stage of first or
second appeals. “Attractive RTI stamps in denominations of Rs2, Rs10 and Rs50 can be
introduced along the lines of erstwhile radio and TV license fees stamps not only to save funds
on handling postal-orders (handling cost rupees Rs37.45 per postal-order) but also to popularise
the Act,” he says.

It may be recalled that in the late 2000s, Maharashtra government had taken up the issue of
including RTI lesson in the secondary school curriculum. However, after much media hype, the
proposal went into oblivion.

Roy rightly reminds the government that, “I do not need to remind the government about the
fundamental role played by ordinary people and peoples’ movements in Rajasthan, in fashioning
the RTI for the whole country. This contribution is acknowledged and is part of many curricula
the world over, including the Kennedy School of Governance in Harvard and in eminent
universities in Europe and the Americas…We would like to know what was objectionable to
warrant blacking it out.”

Sure, the government needs to provide a lot of explanation for removing RTI chapters from
school textbooks.

(Vinita Deshmukh is consulting editor of Moneylife, an RTI activist and convener of the Pune
Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. She is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Statesman Award for
Rural Reporting which she won twice in 1998 and 2005 and the Chameli Devi Jain award for
outstanding media person for her investigation series on Dow Chemicals. She co-authored the
book “To The Last Bullet – The Inspiring Story of A Braveheart - Ashok Kamte” with Vinita
Kamte and is the author of “The Mighty Fall”.)