Gujarat witnessed 10 RTI-related murders, 43 serious attacks, as official denials for critical info pile up: MAGP

By Our Representative
Marking the 12th anniversary of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, Gujarat's independent RTI watchdog Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP) has regretted that though 55% of those using RTI are from rural areas, and seek answers on issues related to panchayat functioning, rural jobs guarantee scheme NREGA, housing, pension schemes, land matters etc., women RTI users are less than 5%.
Giving details of what has been and what hasn't been achieved under RTI, MAGP says, while the "quality of RTI applications has improved" and "people do ask specific questions, and seek copies of particular documents", with MAGP claiming it's contribution for the same, the top RTI watchdog, however, says, the quality of replies by government officials has "worsened."
The result of increased awareness of RTI, on one hand, and official inertia to provide information, on the other, is that over the last 12 years there have 10 murders of RTI applicants and 43 serious attacks. "Applicants are threatened and pressurized to withdraw their applications, especially in cases of illegal mining, encroachments, allotment of land and permissions/clearance to companies/industries", MAGP notes.
Calling it "greatest issue of concern", MAGP executive director Pankti Jog in a note says, it has been found that public information officers (PIO) do not give specific orders, underlining, "Section 8 (denying information invoking privacy or security clauses) and third party provisions are applied without application of mind and logic."

Pankti Jog

Insisting that "this shows poor quality of training inputs to PIOs and opposition to transparency and accountability", Jog says, the usual replies while denying information even include such flimsy grounds like "record not traceable, record is very old, record is too huge, application is not clear" and so on. She adds, often replies are denied saying they violate court orders "without giving rationale of how does that order applies."
While expressing satisfaction that the posts of state RTI commissioners has been increased to four, MAGP says, this happened "due to repeated petitions in the High Court", adding, "The procedure for appointment of the commissioner is not transparent", there is no "diversity in the commission" and "we do not have single commissioner other than ex-bureaucrats", unlike other states where "people from other backgrounds like journalism, social worker etc." are also chosen.
Agreeing that the number of pendency cases at the commission has reduced to 3900, as these were "always above 7500", Jog says, more often than not, "orders are not complied with", and the government's " general administrative department does not keep any track of this", adding, this shows "the attitude of the system to disobey the orders from the highest authority, which makes RTI inefficient and creates an environment of disappointment."
Jog further says that though online tools are now being used for RTI, the "public authorities in Gujarat are very poor in pro-active disclosures" and their compliance ratio on this score is "below 50%".
She adds, "Websites show outdated information. Some of the striking examples of non-compliance of pro-active disclosures are: Information on budgets and expenses are not on website in MIS form; no information on disposal of claims under the forest right Act, disbursal of amount for toilet, or housing schemes on websites."
Pointing out that there is "no online tracking" of RTI pleas, MAGP says, "Statistics of different departments show that only 10 to 12% of the applications are answered fully within time limit" at the PIO level and "another 20% are getting information at the first appellate authority (FAA) level with a delay of more than 50 days."

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Rushdie, Pamuk, 260 writers tell Modi: Aatish episode casts chill on public discourse

Counterview Desk
As many as 260 writers, journalists, artists, academics and activists across the world, including Salman Rushdie, British Indian novelist, Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in literature, and Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet and novelist, have called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the decision to strip British Indian writer Aatish Taseer of his overseas Indian citizenship.

Church in India 'seems to have lost' moral compass of unequivocal support to the poor

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*
In 2017, Pope Francis dedicated a special day, to be observed by the Universal Church, every year, as the ‘World Day of the Poor’. This year it will be observed on November 17 on the theme ‘The hope of the poor shall not perish for ever’; in a message for the day Pope Francis says:

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By Rajiv Shah
A top-notch archeologist, Prof Supriya Varma, who served as an observer during the excavation of the Babri Masjid site in early 2000s along with another archeologist, Jaya Menon, has controversially stated that not only was there "no temple under the Babri Masjid”, if one goes “beyond” the 12th century to 4th to 6th century, i.e. the Gupta period, “there seems to be a Buddhist stupa.”

VHP doesn't represent all Hindus, Sunni Waqf Board all Muslims: NAPM on SC ruling

Counterview Desk
India's top civil rights network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), even as describing the Supreme Court's Ayodhya judgement unjust, has said, it is an "assault on the secular fabric of the Constitution". In a statement signed by top social workers and activists, NAPM said, "The judgement conveys an impression to Muslims that, despite being equal citizens of the country, their rights are not equal before the law."

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By Our Representative
In what may prove to be a major embarrassment for the Government of India (GoI), a new official survey, carried out in 207-18, has reportedly said that average consumer spending in India fell by more than 4% the previous six years "primarily driven by slackening rural demand." The survey, "Key Indicators: Household Consumer Expenditure in India”, carried out by the National Statistical Office (NSO), says that money spent per person in a month fell by 3.7% from Rs 1,501 in 2011-12 to Rs 1,446 in 2017-18.

As fear 'grips' right liberals, Arvind Panagariya, too, would be declared anti-national?

By Rajiv Shah
It is surely well-known by now that India's top people in the power-that-be have been castigating all those who disagree with them as "anti-nationals". Nothing unusual. If till yesterday only "secular liberals", and "left-liberals" were declared anti-national, facts, however, appear to have begun surfacing that, now, guns are being trained against those who could be qualified as right liberals, too. Let me be specific.

National award winning film 'Hellaro' co-produced by three chartered accountants

By Our Representative
“Hellaro”, a Gujarati feature film produced by Saarthi Productions in association with Harfanmaula Films (Ahmedabad) was declared as the Best Feature Film at the National Film Awards which was conferred by the Government of India. The film also won the Special Jury Award for the Best Actress to all the 13 actresses of the film.
Ashish Patel produced the movie, which has been co-produced three co-producers, Aayush Patel, Prateek Gupta and Mit Jani, all of whom, interestingly, started their filmmaking journey after becoming Chartered Accountants in 2012.
“Hellaro” is directed by Abhishek Shah, who has been working in Gujarati theatre since the past 17 years as writer, director and actor and has received numerous awards for his plays. He has also worked as a casting director for 12 films.
“Hellaro” is a period drama based in Kutch and has been co-written by Abhishek Shah and Prateek Gupta. Gupta previously received the Best Debut Director Award, along with Mit Jan…

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