Right To Information And Rural Development

Right to Information The right to information is a fundamental right flowing from freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article19(a) of the constitution. The Parliament has passed the Right to Information Act-2005. The failure in improving the rural scenario is attributed less to the formulation of appropriate policies, and more to their implementation. The problem lien in ignorance on the part of people about the details of the programmes and prevalence of wide-spread corruption during their execution. It is in these areas that the tool of right to information act’ can make a pathbreaking impact. The instrument of right to information can be used to get hold of the official records.

Right to information is a basic democratic right existing in almost all functional democracies, through mostly at conceptual level and less so in practice. The concept has caught the limelight because of its inclusion as an aspect of good governance popularized by the World Bank. The highest judiciary in many judgments has ruled that the right to information is a fundamental right flowing from freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article-19 (a) of the Constitution. The Parliament has passed the Right to Information Act-2005 in its budget session to give effect to the concept. Rural development is probably the biggest challenge before the planners and policy makers of India. Despite launching numerous schemes and programmes, and pumping corners of rupees in RD, the overall picture of rural India continues to be grim. Today, rural India is marked by high incidence of poverty and illiteracy, widespread disease, considerable unemployment, prevalent malnutrition among children, women and masses at large, existence of miserable rural infrastructure like roads, electricity, primary health, drinking water, etc. lack of irrigation facilities and many other socio-political problems. The failure in improving the rural scenario is attributed less to the formulation of appropriate policies, and more to their implementation. The problem lies in ignorance on the part of people about the details of the programmes and prevalence of wide-spread corruption during this execution. It is in these areas that the tool of ‘right to information act’ can make path breaking impact. The use of right to information can spread awareness among the masses about various ingredients of developmental and welfare schemes and bring about openness and

transparency in their implementation, thereby facilitating the process of people’s participation in both policy formulation and implementation. Let us discuss how. It is pertinent to point out here that the government statistics on the achievements of the rural development programmes look quite satisfactory but things are different on the ground. The instrument of right to information can be used to get hold of the official records and then catch the discrepancy by comparing them with ground realities. (a) RTI and Public Distribution System. Hunger, malnutrition and occasional cases of starvation deaths in rural areas are causes of grave concern to any sensible individual. In order to ensure food security and to maintain the appropriate nutritional level among the populace, the Government has put in place the Public distribution System (PDS) which is supposed to make available the monthly rations to the people below poverty line (BPL) at subsidized rate. As much as 26,000 crores of rupees are spent per year by way of food subsidy in the process. However, due to the existence of unholy nexus between the licensees of the fair price shops (FPS) and the officers of food supply department, substantial portion of this money is siphoned off through black marketing; as a result the whole PDS system is in shambles. But, the fact that the use of RTI can change the whole PDS system was approved by the people of Sunder Nagri area of Delhi. The case study as follows :With the active help of Parivartan-a citizens’ initiative on RTI in Delhi, the people of Sunder Nagri area of Delhi got hold of the records of the FPSs by making wide use of the Delhi RTI Act. While the

records were cross-verified by way of asking the ration card holders in that area, numerous discrepancies were found between reality and what the records had to show. Following the discrepancies, complaints were made near the Food and Supply Officer demanding the cancellation of the licenses of the erring FPSs. The authorities however preferred non-action. The people then filed another set of application, this time under RTI Act, near the same authorities seeking the information regarding the progress made on the application seeking action against the errant FPSs. As a result, the authorities promptly woke up to the act. It may be pertinent to describe the nature of questions asked under RTI act seeking information non the progress made on the previous application :

mentioned rule. 5. What action can be taken against these officials for violating the above rules and for causing mental agony to the public? By when this action would be taken? 6. By when will you act on my complaints made?

Under the Delhi RTI Act, the authorities are duty bound to furnish information within thirty days after the receipt of the application; if they fail in adhering to the time limit, then their salary would be deducted. Since it was difficult to answer the above questions, the authorities preferred to answer the above questions, the authorities preferred redressing the grievances of the person(s) and requesting the withdrawal of such applications. This Please provide the following whole movement of Parivartan was borne fruit and the Delhi Government has information with respect to the same : accepted the following suggestions in the 1. Please provide the daily progress PDS. made on my application. 1. The Govt. has agreed to throw open 2. Please give the names and the records of all shops in Delhi for designations of the officials with public inspection every Saturday. whom my application was lying The people, without paying any fee during this period. Please intimate and without giving any prior the periods when it was lying with intimation, can go to the nearest which officer and what was the Good Office and inspect the action taken by the official during records. that period. 2. If any discrepancy were found in the 3. According to your rules of citizens’ records during public inspection, the charter or any other order, in how shop would be placed under many days should such a matter be suspension immediately on the spot dealt with or resolved. Please and criminal proceedings will be provide a copy of these rules. initiated subsequently. 4. The above officials have not adhered to the time limit mentioned Now the FPSs are seen always open in these rules and hence guilty of misconduct under their conduct in the area discussed. The authorities are rules. Please give a copy of their ensuring that the ration is arriving near the conduct rule, which they have FPSs on the 1st of the month. This is how violated by violating the above systematic changes could be brought about

in the complex system like PDS by the people through the use of RTI Act. This is in fact a landmark achievement for the people. If similar exercises are carried out in all rural areas of the country, the starvation deaths and widespread malnutrition would be things of the past. (b) RTI and the Poverty Alleviation and Employment Generation Schemes. Two national programmes, specifically aiming at ensuring food security and improving nutritional levels in rural areas by way of providing additional wage employment to the people who are unskilled, are in operation. They are SGRY (Sampoorn Gramin Rojgar Yojna) and NFFW (National Food For Work) Programme. Crores of rupees and lakhs of tones of food grains are supplied to villagers to achieve the said objectives, but with little gain. The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in case of SGRY and the Dist .Collectors in case of NFFW are the implementation authorities. It is an open fact that widespread embezzlement and irregularities take place during the implementation of such programmes. In order to check these, information about the list of beneficiaries of these programmes, the muster rolls, etc., may be sought by any individual or a group of people or any civil society organization under RTI Act. Having got the list, the mentioned beneficiaries may be touched upon and enquired for cross verification if (a) They have really been given the work, and (b) If given, whether they were paid according to the figures shown in the records. After the cross verification, if any discrepancy is found between the records and what the beneficiaries said, the facts may be put before the appropriate authority for action against those who are parties to

the fraud. These can also be discussed in the public platform like “jan sunwai” where the people are the participating and jury both. Discussion in such forums takes place in an open environment and the versions of the beneficiaries are testified in a transparent manner. Even after these exercises, if action is not taken against the guilty persons, then another application may be filed, this time under the RTI Act, similar to the ones done in PDS system seeking information on the progress of the complaints made. This time, the authorities will be compelled to listen to the grievances of the complaint(s) and may offer to compensate all the damages done to the victims and persuade for the withdrawal of the application filed under RTI. In the ultimate analysis, the courts are there to be approached in the authorities still continue to be stubborn. It is appropriate to cite the example of the achievement of MKSS in this area. “In a small village of Rajasthan in 1990, the workers demanded the minimum wages (under the Minimum Wages Act) for the work they were doing. They were told that they had not done the work, as proved in the records. When the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghathan (MKSS) made a demand to see the records, they were told that these records are government accounts and therefore secret. Struggle followed and ultimately people were given the records. Cross examination revealed that in records all the workers were given the minimum wages, which was denied to them in reality. It is from here the group came to know the importance of access to government records. It became evident that it was necessary to access records in order to prevent corruption and to obtain the minimum wage.” It may be noted here that it is through this struggle of MKSS in 1990s that the seeds of RTI movement were implanted in India leading to the

maturing of fruit in terms of passage of RTI Acts as both State and Central levels. The National Employment Guarantee Bill that promises to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment to every household, proposes to converge all wage employment schemes into one. The success of this scheme, once the bill is passed, would require wide use RTI acts as Mr. Jean Dreze, the NAC member named the architect of Bill, himself agrees. Another similar issue of concern is the flawful implementation and prevalence of widespread nepotism, favoritism and slippage in the self employment programmes like SGSY (Swarna jayanti Gramin Swarojgar Yojna), PMGY ( Prime Minister Gramodaya Yojna) etc. Some case studies suggest that full GramSabha meeting are not summoned while choosing the beneficiaries of poverty alleviation and employment generation programmes; in many cases the Self Help Groups (SHGs) simply do not exist. In the name of SHGs, some influential persons in the village, who are close to the Pradhan or the Panchayat members, enjoy the fruits of all the schemes. The people either do not know about the schemes, or if they know, are getting the subsidized loans under these schemes only after paying bribes. In Rajasthan, there is a popular saying: “Ya tho jack ho, ya cheque ho” (You must have contacts to use, or money for bribes).” Fits very much here. The use of RTI, if done appropriately, would prove to be very effective in eliminating nepotism and favoritism and bring about transparency in the process of selection of beneficiaries and delivering the desired results.

The central government schemes like PMGY, IAS, and PMGSY etc. are in operation for catering to the rural infrastructure like roads, drinking water, electrification, housing etc. In order to make the system work effectively, the records of the public works done in a village or an area for one or more financial year may be sought under the RTI for conducting social audit. Inspection may be done by physically going to the work sites in order to see if (a) The works exist or not, and (b) It exist, then whether the work done were of satisfactory quality or not. This kind of activity is presently going on with ‘Parivartan’ in Delhi. The volunteers and the people of various areas of Delhi are asking for the records of public works done in their areas. Verification done in some areas reveals that in many instances, works exist only on paper, not in reality. In some other cases, the work done is of poor quality. Apprehending the fact that corruption would come to limelight (as it has come on some cases) once the people start verifying the records, the authorities are approaching the applicants for compromise. The people however feel that they would have control over the government expenditure and want the following demands to be accepted. 1. Before spending any money in any area, the local people should be consulted. Not a single penny should be spent in any area without the approval from the local people. 2. when the work is in progress, the people should have the right to (c) RTI and Rural Infrastructure. inspect the same, and after the work The next major issue of concern is the is done, the recor5ds of such works development of infrastructure in rural areas. should be thrown open for scrutiny. work, satisfaction of the people should be 3. Before making any payment for any

ascertained. No payment should be made without the approval of the people. Once these demands are accepted by the government, the people can supervise the developmental process in their areas. And if similar exercised can be carried out in all the rural areas, proper execution of the infrastructure projects can be ensured.

(e) RTI and the Panchayati Raj Institutions

Similarly, continuous RTI movement in the rural areas of different states may enable the people to be in a position to pressurize the governments of various states to incorporate some of the following suggestions for the effective functioning of the PRIs that hold the key to the Similarly, imaginative and innovative development of rural areas. use of RTI can address problems of illiteracy, poor health and sanitary 1. It should be mandatory for the Pradhanas to properly inform the conditions under-performance of members of Grama Sabha about the Anganwadis and underdevelopment of timing and the purpose of the agriculture and irrigation in rural areas by meeting. ensure meaningful expenditure of public 2. The provision of quorum of the money allocated for the purpose. meeting is made mandatory before finalizing the names of (d) RTI Facilitates the Involvement beneficiaries of the Poverty and participation of people in the alleviation and Employment development process. Generation programmes. The During the process of ascertaining the minimum presence of the women information on various fields discussed and SC/ST members should also above, the members of public are likely to constitute part of the quorum. suggest remedial measures and alternative 3. The plans of the development of policy proposals on those issues. Apart from rural infrastructure should be this, under the RTI laws, the authorities are compulsorily approved, by way of supposed to make some suo moto publicity signatures, by the Gramsabha of information about various issues of before the funds are released for public concern. Once this is properly done, their implementation. it would provide ample opportunities to the 4. All the necessary information intellectuals, civil societies and common should be suo moto displayed on people to contribute rich inputs to the the Panchayat office notice board, process of policy formulation, decision and all the records of expenditure making and their execution. For instance, in like bills, vouchers and muster rolls Rajasthan the suggestions of MKKS etc. should be thrown open for removed serious anomalies existing in public audit. policies of rural development and the Panchayati Raj Act was amended giving the Some Prerequisites Ward Sabha (a group of 50 to 80 homes) However, there are some pre-requisites legal status and the right to conduct social for the above discussed exercise to succeed. audits of works carried out in its area. The first necessity is to have an effective RTI Act both at the central and the state

level, (which we will fortunately have once the RTI Bill passed by Parliament, gets the Presidential assent). In such acts, at least four essential provisions should be present. They are : (a) Access to information should be the rule, denial to it be the exception. The grounds of denial to information be clearly and specifically mentioned. (b) There should be a fixed time limit within which the sought information is to be provided, failing which the Information Officer would be penalized. (c) Penalty provision for noncompliance to the demand of information or for furnishing false information by the officials. (d) Provision for an independent mechanism to address to the complaints of public denied information or provided with false information. The second one is popularizing the use of RTI Acts. For this, the Government should be made responsible to publicize the various provisions of the act. However, for effective publicity, the civil society organizations, intellectuals, experts have to give leadership to masses as Ms Aruna Roy and MKSS in Rajasthan. Mr. Anna Hazare in Maharastra, Mr. Arvind Kejerwal and Parivartan in Delhi are giving. The masses should be made to realize the potential of such concept in redressing individual and public grievances and be encouraged to practice the same. The role of mass media is very important in high lightening the achievements of the use of RTI. Apart from the mainstream media, the help of traditional medias like nukkad nataks, puppet dances, community radios, local newspapers etc. may be taken to spread the

message to every rural household. Last, but not the least, a good number of Fast Track Courts should be constituted for the speedy disposal of corruption cases caught as a result of use of RTI. Conclusion The success of the RTI movement depends on the will of the politicians bureaucrats will to change their mindset and adapt it to the concepts of good governance, on civil society to maintain constant pressure on the Government apart from popularizing the concept and giving direction to the populace. Then only it will be possible to empower the poorest individual of the remotest rural area of the country and usher in the era of democracy at work at the grass root level.

Developed by – Mousham Email – [email protected]