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By Freny Manecksha
Students at the Prabhat Khabar Institute for Media Studies in Ranchi use the right to information in various innovative and exploratory exercises. They have filed a slew of applications—from probing administrative excesses to simply finding out why someone has not got a telephone connection for six months
“Ooof, woh RTI-walleh aa gaye.” (“Oh, no, those RTI-wallahs are here.”) A new sobriquet (RTI-walleh) has been coined in Ranchi ever since a team of zealous students and professors from the Prabhat Khabar Institute have begun stalking the corridors of babudom. Armed with the necessary information procured under the Right to Information Act (RTI), they have rattled not just the government and administrative machinery but have also stirred up a hornet’s nest in the legislature. Questions have been raised about the distribution of gifts during sessions, the surprisingly small amounts of money deposited in the treasury for use of the assembly guest house, and illegal promotions of officials employed in the assembly.
The Prabhat Khabar Institute for Media Studies, begun by the newspaper Prabhat Khabar, is affiliated to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Mumbai, and offers a one-year diploma course in journalism. Its director Vishnu Rajgadia has been spearheading the Jharkhand RTI Forum along with Mritunjay Sharma, also from the Institute and Shakti Pandey, a journalist attached to Prabhat Khabbar. Together they have motivated and guided students into using RTI in various innovative and exploratory exercises. The students have filed a slew of applications in an effort to pursue investigative journalism and even uncover scams.
The decision to create the Jharkhand RTI Forum was taken on July 11, 2006, after a seminar revealed that the government was disinclined towards providing the necessary infrastructure and manpower for the mandatory duty of disseminating information. Experiences revealed that officials did not, or were slow in replying to applications. Many government offices had not yet appointed public information officers (PIOs) or assistant public information officers (APIOs). It was also found that disclosure under Section 4 (1) B, which makes it mandatory for the public authorities to disseminate information on the workings and staffing of various departments, was not being carried out.
In many instances, officials sought to mislead the public, especially poorer sections, by saying that the information they sought would be expensive. There were also complaints of officials harassing the public and not cooperating. And so it was decided that the Forum would disseminate information to the public through newspapers, booklets and pamphlets, and also provide assistance through an RTI telephone helpline.
Says Vishnu Rajgadia: “RTI can be a very effective weapon for the media and the public. So it is imperative that one learns how to use it effectively. Hitherto, the bureaucracy could dodge by claiming certain matters were confidential or secret, but with the right knowledge and application of this Act one can now demand transparency and accountability. This is why we have decided to train media students in how to use RTI.”
Six months after the Forum launched ‘Action Research on RTI in Jharkhand’ there have been some noteworthy cases of the use of RTI. Here are some of them:
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In one of the first exercises, Mritunjay Sharma filed two applications with the department of personnel and administrative reforms (the nodal agency for implementation of RTI) and discovered the extremely casual approach it had taken on some basic enquiries. This was an eye-opener to the state’s approach to RTI. A concerted campaign over six months, however, soon began bearing results. On the day I visited the Institute, a newspaper carried a state government announcement on Section 4 (1) B -- disseminating information on the workings of various departments.
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Vishnu Rajgadia used RTI to uncover a story on how IDBI, Patna, had sanctioned over Rs 2 crore for factories in Ranchi that were never completed, and how the land was lying unused. When Rajgadia sought information from IDBI he was denied it on grounds of 8 (d), with IDBI claiming it was under no obligation to provide information relating to commercial confidence. After a second appeal to the Central Information Commission (CIC), Rajgadia succeeded in getting most of the relevant information out of IDBI. He intends to pursue the matter for an audit report and other documents.
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In another instance of using RTI for investigative reporting, Rajgadia and Mritunjay Sharma fought a protracted battle to get to the bottom of a case in which the president of the Jharkhand Hindu Religious Trust Board had managed to illegally convert property worth millions into private property. The law department stalled their efforts to get the relevant papers, but after successfully appealing to the SIC they were able to get the file. Another RTI application forced the law department to act, whereby the move by the chairman of the Hindu Religious Trust Board was declared illegal.
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Shiveshawr Hazam, a student of the Institute, has filed a number of applications with the block development office in Tamar to pursue his interest in rural instances of bad governance. Through one application he learnt that around Rs 58 lakh had been given in crop insurance but that officials had not carried out any inspections, although it was mandatory.
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Nilmani Kumar, another student, followed up on an earlier case study initiated by Shakti Pandey. Pandey had raised questions about various gifts distributed during the assembly sessions. The PIO refused to divulge the right information and, later, when summoned before the CIC he did not show up. Instead, he sent his advocate. Pandey pointed out that the appeal rules do not allow an advocate to represent the PIO. He succeeded in getting the information that gifts worth Rs 21 lakh had been distributed by various departments over two years. What’s more, Nilmani Kumar pressed the assembly secretariat for details on who had paid for the advocate’s expenses; he received the startling reply that the advocate had not been paid a single paisa!
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Student Uday Kumar Yadav has asked the cabinet secretariat and coordination department for details on all trips made outside the state by various chief ministers of Jharkhand since the state’s formation. He has also asked for the nature of the trips, expenditure incurred, names of those who accompanied the chief minister, and the expenses incurred on them. He is awaiting a reply.
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Premi Bhuniya, a student, sought information from the Sadar Hospital on what provisions there were at the hospital for poor patients. Also, the attendance records of doctors there. She found that doctors visited the hospital only two days a week.
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Vinita Sharma filed an application with the nagar nigam and found that although Rs 3 crore had been allocated towards developing Burra Talao, there were no signs of any work having been carried out
The students file RTI applications according to their particular line of interest, be it civic matters, issues of rural employment, child rights, prison conditions, or even simple cases of redressal like helping a small transporter get his dues of Rs 8 lakh from the department of education, or getting someone a BSNL telephone connection that has been pending for six months.
(Freny Manecksha is a Mumbai-based journalist)
InfoChange News & Features, February 2007
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