A one-day District level Seminar was convened jointly by Sri Bhakta Batsala Mohanty, Secretary, Sanyog and Sri Kailash Nayak, a Social Worker to discuss various aspects of the Right to Infonnation in Orissa and held at Gujurati Samaj, Keonjhar on 28th November 2001, attended by about 50 delegates hailing from different cross sections of people, such as social workers, lawyers, media men, Govt. officials, NGOs etc. working in different parts of district. Sri Bhagirathi Mohanta, a senior Advocate and an eminent citizen of the district presided over the Seminar. A backgrounder dealing with Right to Infonnation issues at national and State level in Oriya language was circulated to the participants prior to the Seminar. The one-day Seminar was divided into two sessions, the Inaugural Session and Participants' Session. While the inaugural session consisted of talks by the resource persons, the second session was open to the participants for expressing their views on the subject. At the end of the 2nd Session, a Resolution was passed by the house unanimously, followed by the valedictory address of the President of the Seminar.
Shri Bhakta Batsala Mohanty, Convenor of the Seminar:
Sri Mohanty introduced the resource persons and observed that this Seminar being held at Keonjhar today is the 3rd one in the series of district level Seminar/Workshops on Right to Information in Orissa, after Anugul on 5th October and Kendrapara on 4th November 2001. The basic objective behind such district level programmes is to simulate a debate around the topic 'Right to Information' involving the social leaders who in turn shall carry it forward further to the people at Panchayat and village level. Today's programme is therefore, not an end in itself but the beginning of a long and arduous process of campaign for legislating an appropriate kind of legislation on Right to Information in Orissa.
Sri Kailash Nayak, Co-convenor of the Seminar
The need for Right to Information to be legislated in different States is not an issue championed by NGOs only but has received the unanimous approval of the Conferences of Chief Secretaries and of Chief Ministers of India held in 1996 and 1997 respectively. So far seven States of the country, namely Tamil Nadu, Goa, Maharastra, Karnatak, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi have passed the Bills on RTI in their respective Assemblies. On 1st October last, a Bill on Right to Information has been introduced in the Assam Assembly for discussion. A Central Bill named Freedom of Information Bill 2000 introduced in Parliament in July 2000 remains pending for discussion. There is no point why Orissa should not have a Right to Information legislation soon. Due to the continuance of the Official Secreets Act 1923 from the colonial days, the people at various levels Panchayat, Block and Districts are not able to access information about the various development programmes, let alone participate in I them. In a backward State like Orissa where more than 50 percent of population is Dalits, non participatory manner of implementing the development programmes, solely orchestrated by the Government along with a lack of people's access to information is perpetuating the state of backwardness and impoverishment of its people.
Sri Chitta Ranjan Behera, Social Activist
Sri Behera observed that the Right to Information, which we are discussing today was first legislated in a small country Sweden in 1776 about 225 years back. The countries like USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada introduced Freedom of Information Act in the year 1968. Though England is now in the process of legislating an explicit Act for Freedom of Information, they however, had introduced several legislations at several levels at different times in the past, whose objective was to facilitate communication of requisite information to the public on demand. It is true that while England was making its administration more and more transparent at home they were imposing draconian laws like Official Secrets Act in their colonies including India with an intention to keep the subjects aloof and ignorant about the motives and manner of the colonial administration. Notwithstanding the decades of independence achieved by India from foreign rule, the Official Secrets Act 1923 along with a host of other obsolete laws and administrative procedures still continue to dominate our governance. While some ex-colonies have abolished Official Secrets Act and legislated freedom of information law, India is yet to achieve such reforms. While a Central Bill on Freedom of Information is pending in Parliament since July 2000, only 8 States including Assam have passed Right to Information Bill in their respective Assemblies.
The five years of experience of the RTI legislation in different States have brought to light some structural lacunae in their formulation, as a result of which Right to Information continues to be denied to the citizens on the grounds of exempted areas and other procedural complexities. It is therefore imperative that the conscious citizens demand a foolproof formulation of the Bill so as to render the administration really transparent, open and responsive before the citizens. An ideal Bill for Right to Information should ensure compliance of such nine principles as maximum disclosure, obligation to publish, openness in transactions, minimum exemptions, facilitating access, minimum fees, open meetings, priority on disclosure and protection to whistle-blowers.
The Right to Information legislation should be accompanied by an attitudinal change on the part of the Government servants who are otherwise called public servants but behave as masters of the public just as the officials used to do in colonial days. The public servants being paid as they are out of the tax paid by the common people need to remain transparent and accountable before them.
The tradition of secrecy and lack of transparency in the administration have resulted in rampant corruption in every sphere of social life. How to check corruption is a big question that haunts every sensible citizen of the country. The surest and easiest answer is to make the administration transparent. Who can check a fraudulent contractor from cheating the public else than his professional rival who applied for the same job but could not win it due to clandestine transaction between the bribing contractor and dealing officials. Once the process of selection of the contractor by the administration becomes transparent under the influence of the law for Right to Information, the clandestine deals taking place within the officialdom and the manipulation by the dishonest contractors won't be possible.
The deep-rooted tradition of secrecy has also percolated to the public psyche, so much so that the common people have cultivated the habit of hiding facts about their income and wealth from the Government, resulting in regular and massive loss to the public exchequer. An unhealthy game of hide and seek goes on between the administration and people daily and hourly centring round almost every thing, be it crime, tax, dispute, law and order etc. Moreover, the culture of secrecy is so pervasive that even the common people tend to hide their knowledge about the governmental schemes from each other.
In order that a Right to Information legislation should succeed in its basic objective, the common people need also to give up the habit of maintaining secrecy from each other and as well from the administration. Then only the true goal behind the freedom of information legislation shall be achieved.
Sri Santanu Das, Inspector of Police, Keonjhar:
Sri Das observe that the Police Department have been observing certain norms in respect of providing information to the public. Whenever a citizen lodges an FIR in the Police Station, he is invariably given a copy thereof Moreover, whenever an arrested person is taken into the police custody, we inform his family members about the day-to-day condition of the person under custody.
The organizers of the Seminar aim at making right to information into a law. But as all of us do know, laws are hardly respected and implemented in our country. For instance, the dowry law which is most often either forgotten by the givers and takers of dowry or taken advantage of by the people for making financial gains or scoring over their rivals. Again it is a well known fact that some couples develop conjugal tension between them around the issues other than dowry but tend to picturise them as cases of dowry atrocities, since the law recognizes dowry as the basis of a case for police or court. Secondly, the law by itself becomes of little consequence because of an all-round degeneration of moral and ethical fabric of the society as we witness today. Most of us have forgotten our traditional obligation to parents and grand parents and think of the interest of only the nuclear family, which consists of husband, wife and children and excludes old parents and grand parents from its purview. How can the State or any of its laws take care of millions of aged people who are rendered helpless simply by our self-centric attitude? The moral depravity of the society has of course adversely affected the attitude of the public servants, who only think of growing rich and powerful by using the power and position they wield even unscrupulously at the expense of the service to the people for whom they are employed and paid. The government servants being human beings and a part of society's population, their public is not likely to change until and unless the over all scenario of the society change for better.
Sri Swarajya Biswal, Govt. Advocate, Orissa State Administrative Tribunal, Bhubaneswar.
Earlier Sri Biswal had attended the District level Seminar on RTI held at Anugul on 5th October last. At the outset he expressed his satisfaction that today's Seminar though a small one is quite fruitful in the sense that each delegate represents some organization or the other and is therefore capable of making the message of the Seminar reach to the wider sections of the public whom they represent. The ruling class everywhere even in democracies harbour a usual tendency to be secretive towards the people whom they treat as subjects. In every bureaucracy the officers want their subordinates to remain loyal to them irrespective of people's interest or law of the land. But in this process, the culture of secrecy and confidentiality takes precedence over that of transparency and accountability, leading to the defeat of democracy it self.
But one should remember that transparency is now the go of every progressive society, where free flow of information is the norm and it's withholding an exception. Openness in public life not only helps the people but the rulers too, since the latter can implement their policies with full consent and involvement of the people. Moreover the rulers can be benefited by way of getting truthful information on the attitude and reaction of public towards any policy or programme of the State.
However a mere legislation on right to information won't bring about the much-desired transparency, for which a sustained movement by the common people is necessary. No other country in the world but India has the largest number of legislations i.e. a total of about 25, 000 Central and State Acts. Every State has an average of 700 to 800 Acts. But surprisingly Orissa has the largest number of State Acts i.e. 1300. More surprising is the fact that there is no single source where one can access all these Acts. Quite many of these Acts have turned obsolete but still continue to exist on pen and paper and thereby confound further an already confused situation.
But a legislation is a very good starting point for the people to assert their right to know vis-a-vis the government. It is heartening to know that following the Seminar held at Anugul on 5th October, the Chief Minister of Orissa declared on the occasion of Jay Prakash Jayanti on 11th October that his Government was interested to bringing about an Act for Right to Information. To help the Government of Orissa in this matter, a draft-Bill has also been prepared and circulated.
From his personal experience, he (Sri Biswal) knows that information is power and there is no better means of empowering the people except through giving them the right to information. Orissa is one of the poorest States of India, but can overcome the development lag soon if its people are empowered with the right to know and question as to how they are being governed.
Sri Manas Jena, a Social Activist:
Sri Jena who is a coordinator of the campaign for right to infonnation at State level briefed the participants about the cardinal issues on which each delegate should give his or her opinion so as to enrich the discussion and lead it a fruitful conclusion.
Sri Jena observed that the NGOs who submit the proposals under different Government schemes do face an attitude of indifference on the part of the bureaucrats in the matter of processing and recommending them to the concerned Government Departments. Due to utter lack of administration's accountability, quite many socially useful proposals do not get through at all. Similarly with regard to the development funds for the Panchayat and villages, the villagers seeking any information from the Government offices are simply scoped off by the bureaucrats. As a result of all this, the lion's share of the development funds allotted to the villages are siphoned offby the unscrupulous elements. This is what the former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi after his visit to famine-struck Kalahandi in Orissa had commented about one and half decades back. Right to Information accompanied by transparency in the administration would serve as a great weapon in people's hands to check the current spate of scams and scandals surfacing from time to time around the development funds.
Now that the economic liberalization has opened our door to the multi-national companies, who can bribe easily the administration into their profiteering designs, transparency is all the more necessary in the affairs of administration and foreign companies as well. Sri Jena cited the instance of Rio Tito Zinc Limited, the 2nd largest mining company of the world, who have been camping near Keonjhar for last two years in connection with a survey of the iron ore potential of Gandhamardan Range, without the local people knowing anything about them. When he and his colleagues asked the camping personnel of the said company, the latter refused to disclose anything of the sort. Then they contacted the Orissa Mining Corporation, a Government agency with the hope of getting some information but were bluntly refused. At last they (Sri Jena and others) had to email to their head office abroad, to get back only some sketchy information about their proposed project for iron ore exploration.
Sri Jena outlined 5 important areas of concern, around which participants should ventilate their views:
Sri Sanjib Paikray, Advocate and Secretary, Centre for Developmental Activities-
Right to Information is most essential for the people act Block, Panchayat and Village level where massive allocation of Government funds is being made on account of various development programmes but where people are least aware about them. The organizers of today's Seminar need to carry forward the movement for Right to Information legislation down to grass-root level. Are they prepared to do the same?
Sri Birabar Nayak, Banabasi Chetana Mandal, Gonasika-
Keonjhar is considered as a backward district populated by Juang and Bhuyan tribals but the history of Keonjhar speaks of its glory of having a successful Bhuyan revolt against the then oppressive rule of the king. Keonjhar literally means the central point where from all new ideas emanate.
However it is a fact that the Juang and Bhuyan tribes are now living in an acute state of backwardness and impoverishment. The administrators like District Collector and Block Development Officer never care to visit the interior villages. The J.D.A. (Juang Development Authority) was formed as far back as 1979 but the Juangs themselves are not aware about how they are related to it. Whenever we the activists ask the officers of JD.A. about this or that scheme, they retort, 'Who are you, why are you asking about all this ?' In this way the common people and even the social activists are kept away from the secretive functioning of JD.A. and other Government agencies. The schemes of old age and widow allowances are being cornered by the people who are close to political and administrative elite. The employment of Anganwadi personnel is also monopolized by them. The Government officials are found acting only on the orders of their superiors but not necessarily as per the norms of the schemes. They behave very indifferently and rudely with the Juang and Bhuyan tribals.
Under the circumstances, the main issue is therefore how to establish an effective and living link between the people on one hand and the administrative and political authorities on the other, otherwise no solution is visible. It requires the long and painstaking effort on the part of the social activists to give constant association with the tribals in their day-to-day life. Only by interacting with them closely and in respect of their day-to-day problems can we hope to change their attitude of fatalism and build up courage and strength in them to encounter the indifferent and lethargic administration to achieve their Right to Information.
Sri Gamharam Giri, Bansapal-
The Juang and Bhuyan tribals are now so much addicted to alcoholism that they are forgetful of their rights and responsibilities towards the family or community. So the agenda for reform of the State machinery should incorporate a programme for de-addicting the tribals from the influence of intoxicants.
Sri Santosh Bharma, Advocate-
Sri Bharma recollected his participation in an anti-corruption campaign going on in Bangalore 3 years back, where the Right to Information was considered as an antidote to corruption. As a matter of fact, information is power. Once a common man is informed bout how much development funds accrue to his village and on which heads, he can improve his lot in a big way. The Block and G.P. authorities should therefore put up big hoardings in front of their offices displaying the services for the villagers available under different schemes. As the trend goes, Orissa Assembly shall pass a legislation on RTI sooner or later. But if the law is not formulated properly giving real powers to the people, the groups of vested interests are very much likely to take advantage of the legislation to the detriment of the people as it happens today in case of so many welfarist legislations. It is therefore, necessary that the proposed Bill for Right to Information need be discussed threadbare at the level of Block and Panchayats. This Seminar should aim at evolving an action plan for the purpose.
Sri Suvendu Kumar Dash, Coordinator, Society for Action, Human Integration and Development, Kodapada, Anandpur-
Sri Dash observed that he knew from the newspapers about Mrs Aruna Roy, a Magsasay Award winner, who led the movement for Right to Information in Rajasthan. A similar movement should take place in our State involving the people at grass root level.
He cited an instance of a Medical Officer of one local PHC who refused to inform him as to how many malarial deaths have taken place on record. The MO further said in an arbitrary manner, 'We don't give information to the journalists. What shall you do ? When the enquiry was made, the common people also feared to express the truth before the administration or journalists. How can there be free flow of information under such circumstances? The Government agencies and Panchayati Raj institutions should not only cater to the information needs of the requesting public, but also proactively publicize the information available with them on development issues. Now in an age of Email and Internet the Govt. should employ all the latest messes of mass communication to reach to the people.
Sri Gandhi Kar, CORE, Keonjhar-
He observed that the disclosure of some information might lead to unwholesome consequences about which we should be aware. He cited his experience at Kusunpur G.P. under Athagarh Block where the Government had allocated provision for only eight women beneficiaries under Annapurna Yojana. When Sarpanch of the G.P. informed the villagers about this provision, fierce quarrel took place among the people of the villages under the G.P. who competed with each other to avail the limited benefit. Since no solution could be found on the conflicting situation, the Annapurna Yojana could not be implemented at all and the money went back. Another critical instance that Sri Kar pointed out was the harassment faced by an NGO as a result of its transparency before the people. In a particular village, an NGO implemented a health project and made all the information about the project transparent before the villagers form the very beginning. At first the villagers cooperated with the project staff and in the process got all the money sanctioned on the programme head fully utilized. At the end of the project when the evaluation took place, a section of the villagers opined that why the money on salary account was not utilized for the villagers but paid to the staff.
Under the circumstances, people should ask about the justification for making a limited provision for their village under any scheme. Again the RTI law should incorporate a provision for the penalty against an officer who refuses to disclose information to the requesting persons. The processing fee to be charged against the information seeker should be as law as Rs 2/. Per copy.
Sri Daktar Barik, Kanaposi, Keonjhar-
He cited an instance of Indira Awash Yojana implemented in his village. When the people came to learn about the Yojana they asked their Sarpanch about who are the beneficiaries. The Sarpanch stubbornly told that the benefiaries are already selected by him and there was no point raising the question of beneficiaries selection again. In such a situation the people should assert their Right to Information. The present campaign for Right to Information should therefore, be taken to the village level in order to train the villagers to assert their Right to Know.
Sri Rama Krishna Mohapatra, Journalist-
Sri Mohapatra who has been working for last sixteen years as a journalist narrated a bitter experience of his life, in which he had to resign from his former government job. He was a health worker of the family planning unit of a local PHC. Some day in 1984 he got to know that 26 persons died ofMalaria. In order to ascertain the truth of the occurrence he went to the Municipal Office and collected the death certificates of all the 26 victims. He reported the same to the Medical Officer of the PHC, who said point blank, 'Your infortnation must be wrong. We have eradicated Malaria under NMEP. So how can we register the death cases of Malaria? Then Sri Mohapatra wrote a letter to the Director Health, Government of Orissa enclosing therewith the copies of the death certificates. After a few days, the Director Health visited the PHC and became convinced about the fact of the malarial death. But Sri Mohapatra was put under suspension the next day by the Medical Officer on the fictitious grounds of negligence of duty. Sri Mohapatra out of disgust resigned from his job and has been working since then as a journalist with a motto to give exposure to the unpleasant facts, which the Government agencies would try to suppress.
He further opined that there is no rapport between the people and Government agencies, which is however very much crucial for the development programmes to succeed. If at least five people from each village come forward to work with dedication in confronting the Government agencies for their Right to Know, the situation shall certainly improve a lot in days to come.
Ms. Tiki Rani Patra, a Social Worker from Bansapal Block-
She expressed her wholehearted support to the cause of the Right to Information campaign and assured to carry forward it to the people in her Block.
Sri Prafulla Sahoo, Director, Udyoga Bikash, Keonjhar-
Most of the people in the villages do not have time to run to Government offices just to get information on development programmes sanctioned for their village. So the Government should create necessary administrative arrangements for making such information reach to the people suomoto. The District Rural Development Agency, which usually administers the development programmes in the villages should develop a suitable mechanism for constant flow of information to the villagers. Now as every body knows, the corruption has spread from State Secretariat down to the G.P. level due to lack of transparency in the administration. One has to bribe a Government employee just to get a piece of simple information about anything. There is no way out to remedy the present situation except by the organized strength of people's power.
Sri Manoj Parida, RVDO, Telakoi-
Not only the Government agencies, but also the NGOs are never transparent either before the people or before each other. If an NGO has some information relating to the funding agencies they wouldn't easily share it with other NGOs. The culture of secrecy characteristic of the Government agencies has affected the NGOs resulting in the deprivation of the people of both knowledge and power. The NGOs should change their mind set and cultivate transparency themselves if they want to champion the cause of people's Right to Information.
Sri Kailash Nayak, Social Activist, Sundargarh-
The law on Right to Information should not be equated with other laws, since the Right to Information covers the entire gamut of the Government agencies and people's issues within its fold. The Right to Information is most essential for the people since they can improve their lot by such Right. The full potential of information technology for making the information reach to the people even at village level need be harnessed by the State machinery. As social workers we have to work as bridgemen between the Government agencies and common villagers for perfecting the mechanism of a transparent and accountable administration.
Sri Bhakta Bastala Mohanty, Convener of the Seminar:
Sri Mohanty suggested a few follow-up measures to be taken by the participants hereafter. Firstly, they should circulate the copies of the today's background material on the Right to Information among the villagers.
Yubak Sanghs, Mahila Samitis and Libraries, which are people's organizations at village level should organize discussion forums on the subject and give the feedback to the organizers of the movement at district level, who in turn would help the message reach to the State level. As and when necessary the people's message on RTI would be carried to the Government at Delhi.
The persons who were invited to the Seminar but could not be present need be apprised about the results of today' s Seminar.
People's Committees at village, G.P. and Block level need to be built up as pressure groups for the State Government to pass a proper legislation on RTI. The Draft Bill which has been spoken about in today's Seminar need be translated into Oriya and circulated widely among the people for an in depth discussion. In this way only, a strong and sustained campaign for Right to Information shall grow up in our State.
The selected speakers of today's Seminar who have definite case histories and suggestions to present before a wider audience shall be invited to the State level meetings, Seminars etc.
Sri Bhagirathi Mohanta- President
In his concluding remarks Sri Mohanta observed that the old colonial culture still dominates the administration and public life in our country. The Government servants are called as public servants but behave as masters of the public. In course of his experience as a Government Advocate, he had seen a number of cases, in which the people were not given the record of rights and certified copies of legally permissible documents. In the courts of law, people are also getting harassed due to lack of ready access to information relating to their cases. Now there is a three-tire system of development administration at District, Block and Panchayat level. Our movement for Right to Information should focuss on the Panchayat level where majority of the people live and where information is most wanted for development programmes to properly take place.
Sri Mohanta summed up the consensus of the participants into a Resolution which was unanimously passed by the house. The Resolution called for an early and proper enactment of the Right to Information in Orissa along with the corresponding structural and procedural reforms to be effected by the administration at different levels. The Resolution also appealed to the organizers of the Right to Information campaign to carry forward its message down to Panchayat and village level.
A Memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister Orissa appealing to him to enact the Right to Information in Orissa was signed by the participants at the end of the Seminar.
Vote of thanks was offered by Sri Gandhi Kar.