Just five days left to submit your RTI success story

As a mark of acknowledgment that the transparency Act is not just providing information but making changes in the lives of citizens, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has decided to publish a book on success stories of the Right To Information (RTI) Act. The published book then might be released by the prime minister in the forthcoming annual convention in October.

Applicants will have to send their stories to government administrative training institutes, such as Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (Yashada), by August 20. 

The RTI Act, which came into effect in 2005, is one of the most widely used Acts by citizens across the country. It has been used for purposes including grievance redressal, getting citizens on level playing field by empowering them, helping people in their right to fight corruption, and transparency in the government functioning as well as all private parties into public service.

In a letter to Yashada, the CIC stated that every year, an annual convention is held mid-October to mark constitution of the RTI Act. “The Act has completed more than 10 years and has been instrumental in ensuring greater and more effective access to information to all citizens of the country, especially the marginalised sections of the society. To mark this event, the commission proposes to bring out a volume titled Success Stories of the Right to Information Act,” the CIC stated.

It went on to add, “The book shall contain success stories from across the country, reflecting the success of the RTI Act as a tool to ensure citizens' access to various services, ensuring better governance and introducing transparent systems in the government functioning.” In Maharashtra, Yashada has been asked to be the nodal agency for compiling and shortlisting the stories. 

“Each applicant will have to send a success story in English. These stories will then be sent to administrative training institutes of their respective states to be shortlisted by a board. People in Maharashtra can send them directly to Yashada. Success stories have been published by states, but never at the Central level,” said Milind Tanksale, director of center for RTI in Yashada, which has earlier published RTI stories.

“It is a very good initiative. There are a lot of success stories in as many years. The move should give a clear message to public authorities that there is no going back on RTI. More than focusing on allegations of blackmailing by people, public authorities should concentrate on success stories,” said Bhaskar Prabhu, an RTI activist and the convener of the Mahiti Adhikar Manch.

When asked why they were calling for stories at such a short notice, Tanksale said, “They had sent us a letter in June but consulting them on financial implications and other things took time. Hence, there was a delay.”