Here's an encounter that the city police are in no mood to encourage. Within days of a Right to Information activist subjected to third degree at a city police station, TOI finds that it wasn't a stray bad experience, with cops pulling out all stops to stay RTI-proof. In fact, police officers in some stations even say they are unaware of the RTI Act and remain most unresponsive when it comes to their responsibilities under the Act. And a telling reality: a significant number of pending cases at the Information Commission pertain to the police department.

From claiming that "there is nothing like RTI" to showing the door to quizzing on the reasons for filing an RTI query, police stations come across well-armed against anybody seeking information under the Act.

On Tuesday, TOI posing as an RTI applicant visited police stations with a simple three-question query: the number of FIRs filed at police stations in the year 2011, the number of cases solved and the number of cases pending. The Cyberabad commissionerate directed the applicant from one official to another, with the third official, an administrative officer, finally reluctantly accepting the application, saying that a "lot of information" had been sought in the query and it would take over a month to put it together.

The Punjagutta police station did not deny giving information. It simply refused to accept the RTI query since the letter was "not in an envelope". In fact, it took time for the concerned Public Information Officer (PIO), the writer (who writes complaints and FIRs) at the station, to decide whether or not to accept the application. He threw a volley of interrogative questions demanding to know the applicant's background, details of professional life and also residence proof etc. The applicant was also advised to show more interest in other police stations and spare Punjagutta. The PIO also demanded to know repeatedly why the applicant was interested in these details and what he intended to do with it. After much persuasion, the PIO insisted that he would accept the application only if it was brought in an envelope. The RTI Act does not mention any such rule.

It was a similar experience at the Begumpet police station where an inspector first tried to physically stop the applicant from entering the premises. The second hurdle was once again the station's PIO (the writer) who bombarded the applicant with questions about background only to advise him in the end to concentrate on social service and stop filing RTIs which is not beneficial to anyone. However, unlike at Punjagutta they accepted the RTI application.

RTI activists corroborate TOI's experience with their own. P Ramakrishna, an RTI activist shared how a colleague had gone to Chandanagar police station on December 4, 2011, to file an RTI query on the number of road accidents in the area. "He was held over and the inspector called me from the station. I was asked rudely about why we needed this information," says Ramakrishna, adding that he recorded that telephone conversation where the inspector was threatening him. While the RTI query was finally accepted, a reply is still awaited.

Another activist, T V Bhaskar of Guntur said that he received threatening calls four months ago following which he informed the collector and district SP and sought protection, which was denied. A government circular released in 2010 states that any RTI activist seeking protection should be provided the same.

Known RTI activist C J Karira said that the home department was the most RTI-unfriendly. He said as per the Act, every police station should have a board outside giving details of the PIO and the appellate officer which is not being followed in any police station in the city.

Engineers, Who Met Online, Set Up Website To Protect Information Seekers From Attack


In an encouraging fillip for the Right To Information movement, a citizens’ initiative launched online allows applicants a shield of anonymity while seeking information from any public agency. The initiative operating under the ‘RTI Anonymous’ banner was floated on October 15 by three engineering professionals and comes at a time when transparency movements both in India and abroad are fighting for survival as information seekers are forced to work in an environment of growing hostility and resistance.

Earlier this week, citing financial reasons, whistleblower website Wikileaks announced that it would temporarily stop publishing secret government files. Closer home Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently suggested that RTI was interfering with the working of the government. Attacks on information seekers have become commonplace, with transparency groups estimating that 28 activists have been killed since the RTI Act was passed in 2005.

For NRI Anand Sharma, web-designer from Delhi Avnish Singh, and IIT-Kharagpur student Ritesh Singh, it was the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood which served as a wake-up call. Strangers to each other till social activist Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption movement brought them together on common online fora, the trio decided to move beyond the agitation, pool in their expertise and lift the shadow of fear enveloping the RTI.

“The three of us were on a common social networking group and would post our opinions on what should be done next. This led to online chats and conference calls during which we realized that people who dared to stand up against corruption were being victimized,” recalls Sharma, an engineer working in the US. Given their technical know-how, setting up a website to facilitate RTIs for applicants who didn’t want to reveal their identity seemed the most logical step. The website, getup4change.org, allows anyone to log on and draft an RTI on the site or email the group using a dummy email ID. The trio and their informal network of volunteers take over from there.

“We file the RTI through random volunteers, who are based in different parts of India, thereby completely bypassing the possibility of any victimization. For instance, a volunteer in Delhi with a legitimate Delhi address files an RTI for an issue concerning Bangalore authorities,” explains Ritesh (19), adding that fellow-IITians have been volunteering to file the RTIs. Activists are more susceptible to attacks if they are within “geographical limits of the authorities they are seeking information for”. Dispersing the network of applicants, thus offers some degree of protection to information seekers.

Within two weeks of its launch, the group has drawn 35 volunteers including retired public information officers and received 105 applications on subjects varying from the spending of Parliamentarians to the illegal quota of liquor shops in Karnataka and misuse of funds in MP.

Calling the initiative a good idea, chief information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said that the protection of whistleblowers has been a growing concern. “Such initiatives will ultimately strengthen the RTI movement. The only challenge is that information officers are unlikely to reveal sensitive information at the first go and the group would need to pursue matters diligently,” he cautioned. The challenges are evident. The website has in fact already faced a hacking attempt.

HOW IT WORKS

 
l RTI applicants can log on to www(dot)getup4change(dot)org
l Click on the ‘Submit RTI’ link to file a Right To Information application
l Users can also send an email with a dummy email ID, if they wish
l The team files the RTI through their network of volunteers at no cost to the applicants
l Applicants can choose to be appraised on the progress of their application via email
l The information or document is put up on the site once obtained
l The group has no details of applicants. So, identity of information seekers is protected

FREEDOM UNDER THREAT

Attacks on information seekers have become commonplace with transparency groups estimating that 28 activists have been killed since the RTI Act was passed in 2005
OCTOBER 2011 | Two Goan RTI activists, Derrick Dias (61) and Ganasham Kunkolkar (42) have been repeatedly attacked following their complaint against illegal motor garages
AUGUST 2011 | Environmental activist Shehla Masood (35) was shot dead in Bhopal while she was on her way to a rally in support of Anna Hazare
AUGUST 2010 | Activist Ramdas Ghadegaonkar was killed in Nanded after his RTI exposed irregularities in fuel and grain allocation under the public distribution system
MAY 2010 | Social activist Dattatreya Patil, who used the RTI to expose fake registration of handloom societies in Maharashtra, was killed in the textile town of Ichalkaranji
JANUARY 2010 | Whistleblower Satish Shetty who had exposed a series of land scams in the areas of Pimpri-Chinchwad, Talegaon and Lonavala was killed in Pune while he was taking a morning walk

The RTI is a landmark initiative in Indian democracy. It is unfortunate that activists and information seekers using this rightful transparency tool have been victimized and many have even lost their lives. It is time the government passes a legislation for the protection of whistleblowers.

The state should also be more proactive with its disclosures. Making citizens run around for information that is rightfully theirs is inexcusable. Any effort to dilute the RTI should be vehemently opposed.

Yet again, another RTI activist was brutally murdered. This time it was Ahmedabad-based Nadeem Sayeed. Will this trend soon become a run-of-the-mill crime story or is there hope? The ball is actually in the government's court - all it has to do is enforce Section 4 of RTI Act in right earnest - which mandates suo moto disclosure by all its departments

Ahmedabad-based Nadeem Sayeed is the latest Right to Information (RTI) activist to have been brutally killed in broad daylight. Last year too he was seriously assaulted but continued his campaign to expose bad governance by filing RTIs related to illegal cow slaughterhouses, bad sanitation and asking uncomfortable queries to two police officers and a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader against whom charge sheet was not filed despite him being declared accused in an extortion case.

Silencing of whistleblowers with knives and guns seems to have become an untoward trend, thanks to culprits roaming free due to pathetic police investigations and government's hollow assurances on giving police protection to RTI activists and bringing in a strong Whistleblowers Protection Law. After Pune-based RTI activist Satish Shetty's murder in January 2010, the state government, prompted by a High Court directive, issued a circular assuring immediate lodging of non-cognisable first information report (FIR) by the police and speedy investigations, besides protection..

Recently, speaking at the Central Information Convention in Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, "I would like to mention here our initiative to enact legislation for the protection of Whistleblowers which would further strengthen the Right to Information. We expect this law to be enacted in the next few months and it would, among other things, help in prevention of violence against those who seek to expose wrongdoings in our public administration.''

 However, the irony is that, the government need not look here and there for protecting activists - it is just one step away from ensuring minimum threats to RTI activists as the RTI Act itself has provisions for maximum transparency. The reference is to Section 4 of the RTI Act, which makes it mandatory for every government department to disclose most of its functions. In fact, every 'Public Authority' had to make this information accessible to public within 120 days of the enactment of the RTI Act, which was back in 2005 and regularly update the information thereafter. However, six years down the line, official secrecy is rampant if you consider that most of the 'Public Authorities' have been reticent in updating their websites in providing maximum information about its activities.

So, you may ask, how is this connected to curtailing threats and killings? The reason is simple - citizens invoke RTI to demand transparency in the small and large scale projects that the government undertakes, be in the land deals; in the concessions or grants it gives for various schemes; in the construction of civic utilities like roads, school buildings; in the funds it disburses for various purposes and so on. If all such information is readily available on the websites of the relevant government departments, there would not be any need for citizens and activists to file an RTI application and invoke ire from untoward elements.

Before that, let us see how the vicious circle of revenge and animosity can be brought to a full stop - a way that is not necessarily Utopian. The seed of threats and killings of activists, which hang like a Damocles' Sword is corruption, as commissions, kickbacks, financial irregularities and other scandalous issues surround projects meant for the public which largely funds them through the tax it pays.

If the government sternly enforces Section 4, then the first place of sin - of shady deals, bribes and financial irregularities, the bane of governance today, wherein the nexus of government officers at all levels, elected representatives and contractors that is all too well-known would be minimized. This is because both the lower and higher bureaucracy would be made accountable for their line of action as most of the information would be available in the public domain. Already, government officers are wary of the RTI Act. One of the senior police officers confessed sometime back to me that, “Earlier I used to casually put in remarks on files (called file noting which come under RTI Act) but now I am very careful as people have access to this information too.'' Hence, transparency can trigger off the need to come clean while executing projects and deals by the public authorities.

So, all that the government need to do is find ways by which strong directives to every department (which it can issue again at the backdrop of killings of RTI activists) to abide by Section 4 would be sternly enforced. This would compel government departments to put up information in the public domain made mandatory by Section 4 of the RTI Act. This would in turn make information accessible to the public at the click of the mouse. Result? More than 70% or more of RTI applications would be reduced, say experts. More importantly, threats and killings would slowly but steadily become redundant.

Under Section 4, every government department or Public Authority as it is termed in the RTI Act, is required to put up the following information, on its websites. This would reveal the extent of transparency that is mandatory on the part of the government and why uploading of such information from time to time would drastically reduce the number of RTI applications and also threats and killings of activists.

In his white and grey uniform, big school bag, bespectacled Mobashshir Sarwar stands out in the bustling premises of the Delhi High Court. The XII standard student has a date with the judge, one of the many he has had since he took his school to court for expelling him in December.

At 17 and already a 100-odd RTIs old, Mobashshir is no ordinary rebel. He has taken on the administration for everything from bad rotis served at the hostel to how school fee is being misused at annual functions by seeking information using the RTI.

No wonder then that on a Monday morning when his classmates were concentrating on finishing a three-hour exam paper, Mobashshir, having turned in his answer sheet in 45 minutes, was waiting in queue at the Delhi High Court to get his pass made.

On 20 December 2010, Mobashshir was sent an expulsion notice, banning him from campus and debarring him from exams for “unending complaints of misbehavior and indiscipline”.

In March, after his appeals to the administration fell on deaf ears, Mobashshir filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court challenging his expulsion. The school, since, has been directed by the high court to hold supplementary exams for Mobashshir and allow him to attend classes while the case remains pending.

So what led to Mobashshir’s expulsion from school?

The principal of Jamia Senior Secondary School, Tariq Habib, speaking to Firstpost, said, “I know Mobashshir for a long time. And he is still my student. Whatever I am doing, it is for his good. I have no ill-feeling against any of my students. If a student does something wrong, it is the duty of the teacher to correct him. I don’t mean that he has done something wrong; it may be that he has done something wrong. Students are still very young and they may do something wrong. As teachers we have a duty to bring them to the right path.”

The principal refused to comment on the Mobashshir’s use of the RTI Act to seek information from the administration. He added that the school came under the purview of the Jamia Milia Islamia University and that further questions should be directed to the university’s media coordinator.

A little background on Mobashshir, a boy who moved to Delhi from Bihar’s Madhepura district in 2005 to study at the Jamia school:

Last year, Mobashshir sought information through the RTI Act about the sanctioned budget for the school’s annual function. “I asked what the sanctioned budget was and to provide me with a copy of the approval for the budget. I didn’t get the information I sought. I had also asked for details of the guest list. Is it right to invite 200 guests who have no direct connection with the school at the expense of students?”

As a XI standard student, when Mobashshir was not allowed to take up Home Science as a subject, he sought information through the RTI Act asking on what grounds he had been denied. “By law, boys are allowed to opt for Home Science. Besides, the prospectus of Jamia does not state that there is a bar on boys from taking up Home Science.”

The reply he received from the administration stated that it was not the practice in Jamia that boys took up Home Science. “Practice does not make law,” says Mobashshir. “I gave a detailed representation, in which I also pointed out that Home Science is one of the subjects for civil services. And even in CBSE schools, there is Home Science… I am now thinking of filing a PIL on this issue,” says the civil service aspirant.

In another instance, information he got through RTI exposed the difference between the amount charged to students towards the hostel mess and that charged by administration to the contractor.

“I asked in my RTI applications whether Jamia was a profit-making institution. The answer was no. Then I asked why was this money — Rs 200-300 per student — being saved? If they paid the contractor the amount they charged the student, the food quality will be considerably better.”

When Mobashshir was only in the VI (sixth) standard, he shot off a letter to this principal complaining that the rotis were of poor quality. The provost sent him a reply that accused him of violating hostel norms by approaching the principal directly. “The provost’s reaction surprised me. I responded in writing by saying that in my previous school directly speaking to the principal was not a violation and if it that was the case here, it should be stated so in the prospectus and in the Act of Jamia. The provost was removed from his job after a few days.”

His first victory? “I don’t think of it as a victory. I was not fighting any one person,” he says.

Asked what makes him take such risks, he says, “It is just that the truth should come out. I don’t think of consequences.”

The administration seems to have realised early on the potential Mobashshir had to shake things up. He received his first notice in VI Standard. He rebutted allegations of poor attendance and indiscipline with hard facts. “I concluded my letter by saying that it was my apprehension that a ground was being selectively made for my expulsion from the hostel since I had brought the issue of poor quality of food to the notice of the vice-chancellor,” said Mobashshir.

Despite such constant tussles between him and the administration, Mobashshir has continued to pass with first division marks. So what do his classmates have to say about all this? “They support me. They believe this should be done and that these issues need to be raised. I tell them too to file RTIs. But some of them are scared.”

But Mobashshir already knows what it means to take on the high and mighty. While his case was pending in court, he was threatened by members of the administration. “I immediately filed a police complaint stating that if harm should come to me, such and such persons should be held responsible.”

Mobashshir says he likes to read Delhi High Court and Supreme Court judgments. And he seems to know the Delhi High Court like the back of his hand. “Ever since my case went to court, I would have gone a hundred times. Once I get a pass, I spend the whole day going from courtroom to courtroom listening to cases.”

He has even attended the 2G case hearings at the Special CBI court. “But it’s no fun. There is just too much crowd. It is a tamasha.”

Mobashshir is from Bihar’s Madhepura district. His father is a businessman, his mother a housewife. He has three sisters. Ask him about his parents’ reaction to his campaign against corruption and he only says, “Without the help of parents, nothing can happen. They support me.”

After our world-cup victory, our government awarded each member of the cricket team one crore rupees, and the coaches and others Rs 50 lakhs each. Overjoyed though I was at our team’s achievement, my heart sank. Rs 16 crore — roughly what the government gifted to the team — is the annual budget of our cash-starved Maharashtra State Information Commission. Over 13,000 RTI appeals are languishing because our SICs don’t have funds and stenographers.

And my heart sinks every time the government announces Padma awards for people like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar. I have no malice towards celebrities, but isn’t it absurd to hand out Padma awards to screen heroes and play-field heroes while there are thousands of real-life heroes out there? People like Subhash Chandra Agarwal and Prashant Bhushan, for instance, who have taken on the heroic task of making the Supreme Court answerable to the common man? Must the government ignore such meritorious heroes and give the awards to celebrities? 

And must the government studiously ignore thousands of RTI activists who are daily doing the thankless job of cleaning up the administration in their villages, talukas, district-headquarters and small towns? Unrecognized but struggling every day, these people are chipping away at bad governance. Must we, as a nation, continue to ignore them and waste our admiration on trivial celebrities? 

I want to dedicate this article to the dozens of heroic persons who I have the privilege of knowing, and many more whom I am yet to meet. I want to dedicate it to the nameless RTI Activist – that man or woman who lives on a small income or a pension, and walks or rides a scooter in sun and rain, and insistently goes to the offices of various public authorities, filing RTI applications, appeals, attending hearings, seeking justice from an unjust system.

What does RTI activism mean to all of us? What are the benefits that RTI activists bring to society? Come, let us look at the big picture:

1.    FIRST OF ALL, WHO IS AN RTI ACTIVIST? Right to Information Act 2005 has empowered the common man to question government servants and hold them accountable. Under the RTI Act, a large official mechanism was brought into existence, consisting of lakhs of Public Information Officers (PIOs), thousands of First Appellate Authorities, and over a hundred Information Commissioners in various States. Nourished by this mechanism, a sweeping civil society movement consisting of lakhs of independent citizens, and a couple of hundred NGOs sprang up. All these people are actively questioning the administration on various issues, public or private. We refer to all the people involved in this movement as “RTI Activists”.

2.    EACH RTI ACTIVIST HAS A SIGNATURE STYLE. No two RTI activists are the same. Some are like the wide-beam of a headlight, filing hundreds of RTI applications to a wide range of government authorities on a variety of issues. They unearth hundreds of documents and get them published by the media, throwing light on a variety of issues. Others are like laser-beams with a sharp focus on one or two issues. They drill deep, sometimes for years, before they even reveal their findings. Some activists are more interested in improving the quality of the RTI appeal process; they frequently file appeals, attend hearings, try to get the PIO penalized, and try to get the information free-of-charge if the PIO missed his deadlines. Some try to get their individual or collective grievances redressed, directly through complaints, or indirectly by using RTI applications as a pressure tactic. Some people act as neighbourhood supervisors and watchdogs — overseeing the garbage-disposal, encroachment-clearance, hawkers, road safety and so on. Others are RTI trainers, helpers, mentors, webmasters, etc., finding fulfillment in helping other people file RTI applications and appeals. 

3.RTI ACTIVISTS ARE ESSENTIALLY LEADERLESS AND CANNOT BE “TAMED”. THEY ARE SELF-FINANCING, FIERCELY INDEPENDENT & DIFFICULT TO ORGANIZE. A majority of RTI activists are spending money from their own pockets, and have no sponsors. Unlike NGOs, most RTI activists have no ability to tap government funding or corporate support. When such individualistic, self-motivated persons join organizations, they are usually unable to subject themselves to organizational norms of behavior; they are, in that sense, ‘untamable’.

4.RTI ACTIVISTS & JOURNALISTS GIVE A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS COMMON MAN. RTI activists are acting as the connective-tissues between a powerful administration and the powerless aam aadmi, whom Gandhiji referred to as Daridra Narayan. The common man is essentially voiceless; RTI activists give him a voice, and tiny lever to move the seats of power. Thousands of journalists are participants in this movement by reporting RTI findings, raising public awareness and giving credible feedback to the government; they are part of the RTI movement. RTI activists are answerable only to Daridra Narayan. The ultimate logic that an activist accepts is whether his actions are good for the man at the tea-stall wearing hawai-chappals, or the tired old lady living on pensions and savings.

5.RTI ACTIVISTS ARE DEFENDERS OF SAMPADA — THE COMMON WEALTH THAT BELONGS TO ALL OF US. A little-recognized fact of life is that there are two sorts of wealth: Sampatti ie. individually-owned personal wealth such as apartment, car, bank-balance  and Sampada i.e. common wealth, belonging to all citizens together e.g. access to open spaces, clean air, pure and adequate water, a clean and safe city, clear roads, usable footpaths, good public transport systems, good administration, fair justice system, etc. Our quality of life depends on Sampada; driving an expensive Honda Accord gives you no pleasure if the roads are potholed and crowded. Having a filthy neighbourhood lacking in gardens takes away the joy of owning a spacious and expensive home. Our Sampada is under attack by hawkers and slumdwellers, encroaching shopkeepers and hoteliers, MLAs and MPs, poachers and illegal miners, greedy companies and regulatory authorities who shirk their duty to regulate. RTI activists are fighting to defend it.

6.RTI ACTIVISTS ARE SAFEGUARDING THE IDEA OF INDIA. By corruptly favouring various vested interests, many elected representatives and bureaucrats are corroding the India that was entrusted to all of us by the founding fathers, and enshrined in our Constitution. RTI activists are waging a daily battle to prevent this corrosion.

7.RTI ACTIVISTS SEEK RULE OF LAW. If there is one single reason why ministers, bureaucrats and officers yield to ordinary men and women who harry them with questions, it is that they are trying to get various rules and laws implemented. The underlying logic of most RTI applications, appeals and complaints is to compare laws, rules, norms, manuals, guidelines, circulars and terms & conditions with the administration’s failures in delivery, due diligence and vigilance.

Friends, the RTI movement is an ongoing revolution. It is an authentic grassroots-level Satyagraha, and it has been sustained over five years. The average RTI activist is an unknown hero who carries in his or her heart a flame of faith in India’s system, and he does not look up to any leader to give him his rights. Alone, carefully shielding this sacred flame in his heart, he does his rounds of the government offices, seeking a tiny piece of information and a little justice. Despite suffering many defeats and insults, he picks himself up and continues to believe that this nation of ours can change for the better.

A new breed of professionals is on the rise that owes its existence to the Right To Information (RTI) Act that has grown popular and powerful as it has proved to be effective in empowering citizens.

The professionals, though few, are experts on the RTI Act. They are well-versed with the act's finer points and can draft questionnaires for applicants. The consultants charge anything from a couple of hundreds to a few thousands. In some cases, they demand a share of the commission if there is monetary benefit to the client.

A Ramakrishnan, who retired as Maharashtra principal secretary, and became an RTI consultant, said, "We began to provide consultancy on RTI-related issues a few months ago as we realized people are eager to use the tool but are unaware of the modalities even though it is one of the least complicated acts."