- Do you have any pending work with any department of the
Government?
- Are they not doing your work and expecting or demanding a
bribe?
- Did you submit a grievance in a government department but
they are simply not acting on it?
- Did you make a complaint against any wrongdoing, but
without any result?
You can use the Right to Information Act to know the status
of your application or work. The government will have to provide
you the information within 30 days. Demanding the status under
the law almost always forces them to act and do your work first
& then report a positive status. How can they say they did
nothing! |
| Have you ever
thought |
- Why are the streets and colonies so dirty?
- Why the manhole covers or footpath slabs over sewer lines
missing, posing danger to life?
- Why are the roads in your area in such a pathetic
condition?
- Why are people dying of starvation in various parts of the
country?
- Why are still so many people forced to live in abject
poverty?
- Why your local municipality does so little and always
claims that they have no funds?
- Why your local ration shop never has any ration?
- Why there is never any doctor or medicines at the
government hospital?
- Where have all the teachers in the government schools
gone?
Some of us feel that we need good politicians and good
bureaucrats. However, real change can come only when the people
of this country have the power to hold their governments
accountable. When that happens, no government or politician
would dare to be corrupt, inefficient or insensitive. |
| How do we hold the
government accountable |
| To make the government
accountable, we need information regarding government decisions
and how exactly it functions. The Right to Information Act
empowers us to do just that. It gives us the right to obtain
information from the government about matters that affect us in
thousands of ways. Used innovatively, such information could
lead to exposure of corruption and inaction, and make the
government responsive and accountable.
The government spends so much money on various works in your
area. You may and should ask for the details of all the works
carried out by the municipal body in your area. How much money
was spent? On what works was it spent? Similar information was
asked by people all over the country since October 2005. When
the information was physically verified, it turned out that a
number of works existed only on paper. Wont you like to hold
the government similarly accountable in your area, city and
state?
Under the RTI Act, you can demand from any government body:
- any information pertaining to any of its departments
- photocopies of contracts, payments, estimates,
measurements of engineering works, etc.
- samples of material used in the construction of roads,
drains, buildings, etc.
- to inspect any under-construction or completed work done
by the government
- to inspect government documents - books, registers,
drawings, records, absolutely anything
- the status of your complaints and requests
|
| Using RTI is simple |
| Using the RTI Act is quite simple.
An average citizen with average education can begin to use it
effortlessly within 5 minutes. This is the time it takes to
learn the broad rules. Having said this, we have prepared a
Handbook in order to facilitate a thorough understanding of the
Act. Once you have read and understood it, consider yourself an
M.A. (RTI) Master in the Application of RTI. |
