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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Rise in number of RTI applications with increasing awareness among rurals

Rise in number of RTI applications with increasing awareness among rurals

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published Published on Jul 21, 2011   modified Modified on Jul 21, 2011
Even though urban people are considered 'more aware' than their rural counterparts, in Andhra Pradesh, it is the rural people who are getting increasingly aware about the use of Right to Information Act, 2005 as compared to urbanites.

According to the data furnished by the Andhra Pradesh Information Commission, while the awareness level among rural public about RTI has been sharply increasing every year, it is showing a declining trend among the urban populace.

In 2006, the awareness among rural people in filing RTI appeals and complaints was only 11 per cent as against 89 per cent among urbanites. In 2007, it rose to 32 per cent among rural people and came down to 68 per cent among urbanites.

“The (awareness) percentage continued to rise in rural areas in 2008 and 2009, while it constantly reduced in urban parts. In 2010, 43 per cent of rural public became aware of RTI whereas the figure fell to 57 per cent among urban populace,” a top functionary of the AP Information Commission pointed out.

A series of programmes taken up by the Commission, the respective district Collectors as well as RTI activists and media to propagate the RTI Act have helped increase the awareness levels among rural people, he added.

“Our objective is to increase the awareness level and improve the appeals by rural people to 70 per cent,” Chief Information Commissioner Jannat Husain said.

Rise in awareness has also led to increase in the number of applications filed with the Principal Information Officers in the state from about 8,864 in 2006 to 1,01,453 in 2010.

Of the total 2.66 lakh RTI applications since 2006, 2.56 lakh have been disposed of and in 95 per cent of these cases the requested information has been furnished to the applicants.

The mounting pendency, however, both in terms of applications and appeals has become a cause of concern. By the end of 2010, the number of appeals and complaints pending at the Commission has increased to 7,271 -- a staggering 35.72 per cent. The number of applications pending at the PIOs is 9,955.

The APIC has been reduced to a “one-man show” with just the Chief Information Commissioner presiding over it. Three Information Commissioners demitted office last November, but the state government is yet to make new appointments. In fact, the APIC could have 10 Information Commissioners in all, but not a single vacancy has been filled.

“People are suffering due to lack of Information Commissioners,” Chief Information Commissioner Jannat Husain lamented.

His repeated requests to the chief minister to appoint new Information Commissioners have met with “no response” so far. “I am helpless, since it is the government's job to appoint the ICs,” the CIC noted.

The Commission is now using the video-conference mode to conduct hearings on appeals in each district headquarters town so as to ease the burden on applicants as well as dispose cases in quick time.

But, without any regular Information Commissioners in place, files will only pile up at the Commission.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Rise-in-number-of-RTI-applications-with-increasing-awareness-among-rurals/819978/


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