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."

Comments

Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

Counterview Desk
In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers.
Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’.
Pointing out that Evergreen Revol…

Rejoinder: Inescapable to have Central Water Commission as strong technical body in India

By BN Navalawala*
This is with reference to Counterview Blog (December 5, 2018), "Modi govt 'shelves' water reforms report, shows 'no interest' in its recommendations", below mentioned are my comments/observations thereon:
A committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mihir Shah, Former Member, Planning Commission, for restructuring of Central Water Commission (CWC) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) for optimal development of water resources in the country in the backdrop of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

Some Hindu bodies in US defending BJP-RSS' divisive, violent activities: Agnivesh

Counterview Desk Last week, Washington DC saw speakers at a religious freedom roundtable, chaired by the US Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, express concern over "eroding" space for religious freedom in India. Dr Mike Ghouse, executive director, of the Center for Pluralism in Washington DC, referring to the roundtable, said in an email alert that Indian-Americans have "a moral duty to prevent India from being labeled as a Country of Particular Concern by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)".

Preventing childhood deaths: India performs worse than Bangladesh, "equals" Pakistan

By Rajiv Shah
A just-released study, “The Pneumonia and Diarrhea Progress Report 2018”, prepared by the International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has identified India among 15 other countries which are still far off the mark in achieving the targets of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD).

Karnataka: NGO Akshay Patra "not sensitive" to nutrition demands of school children

Counterview Desk
Well-known civil rights organizations, Right to Food Campaign and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, have sent a letter to the Union minister of human resource development, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, other concerned ministers and officials of the state expressing concerns regarding the mid-day meal (MDM) to school children, insisting, all contracts to the Akshay Patra for supply of MDM should be immediately terminated.

India's rewritten textbooks talk of demerits of democracy, praise Hitler, underrate Mughals

Counterview Desk
A detailed, 3,800-word review of the books rewritten under directions of the BJP rulers across India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014 has suggested that one of aims of the books is to instill a sense of doubt about India’s democratic polity among the country’s young minds. Reviewed in the prestigious US journal, “The New York Review of Books”, in its latest issue (December 6, 2018) by Alex Traub, the scrutiny insists, the effort has also been to paint Indian history from the angle of “Hindu triumphalism”, even as creating “Islamophobia”.

Four children die after poor UP Dalit, Muslim families forced to flee to forest area: PVCHR

Counterview Desk
Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) has said that the forest department police’s crackdown, allegedly without any prior notice, on Dalit and Muslim households in Dakhin Tola, Churk Bazaar, Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh, beating up “children and old people, women, and men in an inhuman way”, has led to “forced displacement, starvation and discrimination”. This has reportedly affected about 350 people.

World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

Modi's PRO, who served previous Congress, BJP CMs in Gujarat with "equal" competence

By Rajiv Shah
A public relations officer (PRO), even as maintaining anonymity, is supposed to “manage” reputation of his or her client, reflecting the client’s views in order to influence opinion and behaviour. A PRO is also known to use, the world over, media and communication to build, maintain, manage and plan publicity strategies and campaigns, even as dealing with enquiries from the public, particularly media, organising promotional events such as press conferences, open days, exhibitions, tours and visits. A PRO is also supposed to final touches to press statements for his or client.

80% school children are beaten up, 91% parents "approve" of it: Report

By Rajiv Shah
A recent report, prepared by researchers with the civil rights group, Agrasar, has revealed that of the 521 children from marginalized groups surveyed in Gurugram, Haryana, 80% said they are punished at school. Based on data collected from semi-urban communities in Gurugram, the report’s conclusions also take into account survey 100 parents, personal interviews with 26 children, three focus group discussions and one seasonal calendar exercise with 29 parents.

Counterview

Search This Blog