MGM

3/5/16

RTI-Introduction
TheRight to Information Act(RTI) is an Act of
theParliament of India

"to provide for setting out the practical

regime of right to information for citizens"
and replaced the erstwhile Freedom of information
Purpose:
Background
Act,
2002.
Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen may Promote transparency and
request information from a "public authority"

which is

required to reply expeditiously or within thirty

This law empowered Indian citizens to seek information
days.
from Public Authorities, thus making the Government
and its functionaries more accountable and responsible.
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accountability in every public authority

Reduce corruption
Make citizens part of decision making
Make administration responsive
Bridge the gap between provider and
recipient of public services
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Process and Exclusion

Written/online request for information
to the department (Rs.10)

PIO(Public information officer)/APIO

processes the request

Information accepted /denied

Information delivered within 30

days(direct PIO) 35 days(APIO
request)
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If life or liberty of any person is involved, the PIO is

48 hours

expected to reply within

Information concerning corruption and Human Rights
violations by security agencies is to be
provided within

45 days

Exclusions

Information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affe

the sovereignty and integrity of India
Information regarding Central Intelligence and Secur
agencies like IB, RAW, CBI ,etc.
Information which relates to personal information th
disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activ
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Upload & Update

suo-motu
disclosure

E-filling of RTI
Applications

Online Receipt and

Disposal of RTI
Applications &
Appeals

Respond to Opinion
of Citizen

Commissi
oner cumSecretarie
s of
Departme
nts

RTI Central
Monitoring
Mechanism

Submit Online RTI

Application & First

Check Online
Application Status

Respond to
Opinion of
Citizen

Online audit of
suo-motu
disclosure
Nodal
Departm
ent and
Informati
on
Commissi
on

Citize
n

Participatory
Approach in
Decision Making
Process

Obtain Information
from3/5/16
suo-motu
Disclosure

Generate Annual
Report

Public
Authoritie
s (from
Secretaria
t to
Panchayat
)

Monitor the
progress of RTI
Implementation of
all sub-ordinate
offices
Generate
Comprehensive
Annual Report

Maintenance of
Information
Registers,etc.

Generate Annual
Report

Monitor RTI
Implementation
Check Progress
of Online
Applications

Float Opinion on suomotu Disclosure

Generate Annual
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Report

 My experiments with Truth-RTI

It was all about marks and cut off
Process was smooth, but there was confusion regarding
whose door to knock at
Yes. It is true. It costs Rs. 10
It was transferred from Higher education department to
that college
Reply was late. I got some data but my questions were
not answered and my questions for them were entirely
different
Lot3/5/16
of subjectivity involved in the format of RTI

Findings
National survey(www.)

45%

of the people in our survey

are aware of the RTI and the process
of RTI

10%

of the people surveyed actually

filed RTI

Means of filing RTI

50.00%
45.00%
40.00%
35.00%

Quality of information from the RTI is

not satisfactory
People are made to make multiple visits
to the PIO office
Non availability of a user guide/ manual
for filing an RTI is one of the key issue in RTI
awareness
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30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
PIO Office

Post

Online
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Stakeholders of RTI
Demand
side

Stakeholders of
RTI

Supply
side

Adjudica
tory
side
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Citizens
RTI applicants
Past applicants

PIO/APIO
Nodal department

Gaps in the RTI is

identified based on the
Stakeholders concerned

Information Commission
Judiciary
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Gap in Demand side

Low public awareness
Quality of awareness
Male vs. Female awareness(%) levels
Constraints faced in filing application
30
Urban vs. Rural awareness(%) levels
35%
26%
Poor quality of information provided
25
33%
Reply satisfaction
Satisfied
Non Satisfactory

30%

20

25%
20%

15

12%
10
52%

10%

48%
5

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15%13%

Male

5%
0%

Female

Rural

8
Urban

Gap in supply slide

Failure to provide information within 30 day

Inadequate trained PIOs and First Appellate Authorities
Obsolete record management Guidelines Visits to public authority
1 Time
2 Times
3-5 times
>5 times
Non-availability of basic Infrastructure
Lack of motivation among PIOs
9%
Assistance provided by PIOs
No Help Available

Person available

Manual available

13%

34%

57%
49%

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17%

21%

Gaps in Adjudicatory
No SIC Annual reports
Lack of Monitoring and Review mechanism
High level of pendency
Perception of being lenient towards PIOs
Geographical spread of the Information

TRAINING TO PIO

Commissions

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Only 1.74% of PIOs were

actually penalized by Information
committee

No training

Training provided

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Vulnerabilities
The Government and Judiciary are not very keen on the
RTI Act and may try to amend it in order to render it
toothless.
Government departments are rushing to courts to get
stay orders against the decisions of Information
Commissions to provide information to common man.
Recent political party exclusion amendment will weaken
the law
Highly Manual system of information of government
institutions
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Recommendation-Structure
Appellate
Authority
Information
Committee
Central Agency
Government
Department

Information
Officer

Applicant
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Central
Repository
Functions of Agency

Involve in the record management of the appeals to ensur

Help
compliance with the provisions of the Act
center/Online Issue the guidelines required for the implementation of th
Manual act to be prepared, advertised and distributed
Cause statistics to be collected on an annual basis for the
purpose of assessing the compliance of Government instituti
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Recommendation for demand side

Massive awareness campaign ( jago grahak jago , Hum do
hamare do)
This campaign should be divided into two parts. - National
awareness program - State specific awareness program
Introduce Anonymous RTI filing system for the convenience of
the people
Creation/Strengthening of a brand identity for RTI (Brand logo,
tag line etc.)
Increase the awareness in digital platform, social Media etc.
RTI3/5/16
Education should be introduced in the school syllabus.
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Recommendation for supply side

Creation of RTI Implementation Cell/RTI call
centre by appropriate Governments
Strengthening implementation set-up at Public
Authority
Annual self assessment by Nodal
Departments
Address issues relating motivation of PIOs
Improving convenience in filing requests
Single window for submitting RTI requests
across the country which Would enable creation
of centralized
database of RTI applicants
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Recommendation for Information

commission
Creation of more offices and using Video Conferencing
for Hearings
Composition of Information Commissions (currently 27 of 60
commissioners are retired officers)
Usage of Standard Templates for passing order
Third party audit to ensure compliance with provisions/ guidelines
of the RTI Act by Public Authorities
Arrange more training on Basic RTI fact and behavioural aspect of
PIOs
Designating Information Officers and Appellate Authorities
(empowering PIOs)
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Earmarking
budget for implementing the recommendations

Thank You

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