Only 7.6% Govt of India ministries, 17.4% depts comply by directive to submit, upload monthly progress reports

A senior right to information (RTI) activist has revealed that his RTI interventions have showed majority of Government of India ministries and departments are refusing to comply with the rule 10 of the Rules of Procedure in Regard to Proceedings of the Cabinet, 1987, which requires them to send a report of the work done every month to the Cabinet Secretariat.

Needed to be submitted through the Cabinet Secretariat by the 10th of the next month, earlier, the ministries and departments were refusing to obey the rule saying it would “divert” their resources disproportionately.
Venkatesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative says, the monthly reports are not being submitted despite a recent Central Information Commission (CIC) directive to the Cabinet Secretariat in April 2016 to “consider the possibility of proactively disclosing the ‘unclassified’ portions of the monthly reports on their websites.”
Such a monthly report may have a classified portion (labelled “top secret” or “secret” or “confidential”) containing ‘sensitive matters’ and an unclassified portion, the CIC had said.
In June 2016, the Cabinet Secretariat issued a circular to all ministries and departments, which said, “In order to ensure greater transparency and availability of information in public domain about the activities of the ministries/ departments, it has been decided that henceforth, all ministries /departments may upload, on a monthly basis, the major achievements, significant developments and important events for the month on their official websites.”
“After allowing a whole quarter (3 months) for the ministries and departments to put in place systems for publishing the required monthly reports, we checked their websites for compliance. We find that compliance with this directive across the Government is poor”, Nayak complains.
“Only 7.6% (4 out of 52) of the central ministries and 17.4% (8 out of 46) of the central departments have complied with this directive. Even where there is compliance, all reports due since the date of the Cabinet Secretariat’s circular are not uploaded on their website”, he adds.
The ministries/ department which have complied so far are Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Medium Small and Micro Enterprises, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Textiles, Department of Personnel and Training, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Department of Health and Family, Welfare, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotions, , Department of Investment and Public Investment Management, Department of Public Enterprises , and the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.
While most of these submitted their reports for two months, a few have submitted it for just a month.
Ironically, Nayak’s research has found that there is little truth in the fact that submitting such reports would “divert” its resources disproportionately, as “other kinds of progress reports” are being published and uploaded.
For instance, the Central Government publishes a Fortnightly report of the NDA Government. Then, apart from the regular publication of annual reports which are tabled in Parliament, some have published e-books or two-year reports on their official websites. A few of them even publish fortnightly and weekly reports.
Those who have done it include Department of Defence, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Ministry of Food processing Industries, Department of Sports, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Railways, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Department of Fertilisers, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of External Affairs, and the Department of Atomic Energy.

Comments

Irrational? Basis for fear among Hindus about being 'swamped' by Muslims

I was amused while reading an article titled "Ham Paanch, Hamare Pachees", shared on Facebook, by well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Guruswamy, who has also worked as an advisor to the Finance Minister with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, seeks to probe, as he himself states, "the supposed Muslim attitude to family planning"—a theme that was invoked by Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister ahead of the December 2002 assembly polls.

Why's Australian crackdown rattling Indian students? Whopping 25% fake visa applications

This is what happened several months ago. A teenager living in the housing society where I reside was sent to Australia to study at a university in Sydney with much fanfare. The parents, whom I often met as part of a group, would tell us how easily the boy got his admission with the help of "some well-meaning friends," adding that they had obtained an education loan to ensure he could study at a graduate school.

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Gujarat slips in India Justice Report 2025: From model state to mid-table performer

Overall ranking in IJR reports The latest India Justice Report (IJR), prepared by legal experts with the backing of several civil society organisations and aimed at ranking the capacity of states to deliver justice, has found Gujarat—considered by India's rulers as a model state for others to follow—slipping to the 11th position from fourth in 2022.

Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

The other day, someone close to me attempted to order some goodies on Flipkart and its subsidiary Shopsy. After preparing a long list of items, this person, as usual, opted for the Cash on Delivery (popularly known as COD) option, as this senior citizen isn't very familiar with online prepaid payment methods like UPI, credit or debit cards, or online bank transfers through websites. In fact, she is hesitant to make online payments, fearing, "I may make a mistake," she explained, adding, "I read a lot about online frauds, so I always choose COD as it's safe. I have no knowledge of how to prepay online."

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Not just Haren Pandya, even Dhirubhai Shah, youngest assembly speaker, wanted to be Gujarat CM

Dhirubhai Shah with Keshubhai Patel When Keshubhai Patel was sought to be replaced by the BJP high command in 2001, everyone knows that Narendra Modi became the final choice. However, someone who was part of the top circles those days now tells me something I had no knowledge of—that the choice was between Modi and a Kutch MLA, Dhirubhai Shah, who served as the 16th Speaker from March 1998 to December 2002 during the 10th Assembly, the youngest to take the office.

Of lingering shadow of Haren Pandya's murder during Modi's Gujarat days

Sunita Williams’ return to Earth has, ironically, reopened an old wound: the mysterious murder of her first cousin, the popular BJP leader Haren Pandya, in 2003. Initially a supporter of Narendra Modi, Haren turned against him, not sparing any opportunity to do things that would embarrass Modi. Social media and some online news portals, including The Wire , are abuzz with how Modi’s recent invitation to Sunita to visit India comes against the backdrop of how he, as Gujarat’s chief minister, didn’t care to offer any official protocol support during her 2007 visit to Gujarat.

Area set aside in Ahmedabad for PM's affordable housing scheme 'has gone to big builders'

Following my article on affordable housing in Counterview, which quoted a top real estate consultant, I was informed that affordable housing—a scheme introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi—has deviated from its original intent. A former senior bureaucrat, whom I used to meet during my Sachivalaya days, told me that an entire area in Ahmedabad, designated for the scheme, has been used to construct costly houses instead.

Search This Blog