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NAC's suggestions for RTI rejected by Smita Gupta


The Department of Personnel and Training has rejected most of the changes suggested in the government's Draft Rules for the Right to Information Act by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC). The NAC, therefore, decided on Friday to have a face-to-face consultation with the DoPT before finalising its recommendations on the subject.

The NAC had specifically objected to two proposed changes– abating of the proceedings before the Information Commission if an appellant dies, and limiting RTI applications “only to one subject and 250 words”. The first change, the NAC had said, would encourage “murder” of RTI activists, and the second, introduce an exemption which is not there in the Act, making it particularly difficult for the poor and uneducated appellants.

Important intervention

The NAC's intervention was important, especially as there has been a spate of killings of RTI applicants in the last one year.

The DoPT had sent its comments to the issues raised by the NAC's Working Group on Transparency, Accountability and Governance on the proposed amendments to the RTI Rules. Responses to the DoPT's comments were presented by Aruna Roy, convener of the working group, after which it was decided to have another consultation with the DoPT before finalising its recommendations.

States to be visited

At Friday's meeting, the Joint Convenor of the NAC's new Working Group on Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Reforms, A.K. Shivakumar, briefed the NAC on their proposed course of action. This, sources said, will include visiting a few States to interact with officials, experts and members of civil society with the object of widening the scope of ICDS.

The NAC's next meeting is scheduled to be held on 26 February, 2011. Those who attended Friday's meeting, which was presided over by Ms. Gandhi, included Narendra Jadhav, Jean Dreze, Aruna Roy, Naresh Saxena, Anu Aga, Deep Joshi, Farah Naqvi, Harsh Mander, and AK Shivakumar