IIJNM organises RTI workshop

‘State of RTI’ discussion at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore saw panelists encouraging participants to make use of RTI.

The Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media (IIJNM) organised a Right To Information (RTI) workshop, ‘State of the RTI’,  on 14th August, at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore.

Guest speaker, Dr Shekhar Singh of the National Coalition for People’s Right to Information talked about safeguarding RTI and described how the law was drafted to catch corrupt officials in government departments. He presented the findings of a recent, nationwide survey conducted by his group. The survey tested the knowledge and use of the RTI by more than 35,000 citizens across 10 states. The survey found out that more than 800 RTI requests were filed to determine government responsiveness. Singh also added that students should make use of the RTI.

Several panelists discussed the state of the RTI. Virupakshaiah, Commissioner, Karnataka Information Commission, whose responsibility is to handle citizen’s RTI appeals and complaints, pointed out that the state has only three Information Commissioners.

“With the number of cases pending in the files, we need more infrastructure and more people to handle it,” he added. He said that almost 6000 cases were still pending. The BBMP and the BDA had the maximum cases filed against them.

Parvathi Menon, Bureau chief of The Hindu, Bangalore, talked about the role of media in the context of spreading RTI awareness.

"The media today needs to change its mindset,” she said, adding that daily deadline pressures left little space for long-format investigative stories.

Y G Murlidharan, Consumer Advocate, Director, Consumer Rights Education and Awareness Trust (CREAT) shed some light on the efforts of bringing about some transparency at the village-level by two model villages.

Pointing out to the statistics that showed how the english language media was more active in propagating RTI then the vernacular media, another panelist, historian Theodore Bhaskaran, mentioned it took two years to get the Tamil version of the RTI act.

"One has to fight for their right to get information at every step, you just can’t give up at any point", asserted Jayashree JN, Founder of "Fight Corruption Now", who made use of RTI to root out corrupt officials in the administrative offices.

Students from various colleges in the city also attended the seminar.

IIJNM alumni who had produced investigative stories using the RTI talked about their experiences of using the Act. The seminar was moderated by IIJNM Visiting Professor and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Ralph Frammolino.
 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

City Buzz: One more stampede at Maha Kumbh | GRAP 3 in Delhi…and more

Other news: Guillain-Barré Syndrome cases in Pune, Amaravathi ORR work on and no plans to outsource free breakfast scheme in Chennai

Poor crowd management blamed for Maha Kumbh stampede The Maha Kumbh Mela stampede in the early hours of January 29th in Prayagraj led to at least 30 deaths and 60 people being injured. Large crowds flocked to the Sangam area of the Maha Kumbh, on Mauni Amavasya, a day considered auspicious for the ritual dip. There were about 10 crore pilgrims.  Just a few hours later, another stampede-like situation three kilometres away at Jhusi resulted in deaths of at least seven, including a child, said police sources. Strangely, the authorities remained silent about this incident.  Uttar Pradesh authorities drafted guidelines on…

Similar Story

City Buzz: Citizen’s policy for affordable transport | Awareness drive by BBMP clinics…and more

Other news: TNUHDB residents' issues unresolved, Delhi-NCR housing prices go up and disaster management measures in Thiruvananthapuram

Draft policy for affordable transport Major reforms are needed to address urban mobility challenges, according to the citizen’s draft policy for affordable public transport by Greenpeace India and the Public Transport Forum. The policy was developed by consulting experts and citizens. The policy document recommends universal fare-free transport through “climate tickets,” improved investment in public transport infrastructure and more inclusivity in workforce policies. The main issues that need to be tackled include inadequate bus services, underfunding and overemphasis on road expansion. The draft police recommended Road infrastructure funds can be reallocated to public transport, which could double city bus fleets,…