A new bridge tour bus service for common citizens.

Photo courtesy: www.abhijitsplanet.com

Please download from here and forward this page to all your friends.

Jai Hind

For more info on what is omitted and what is included, please go through the email that I received from my friend Krish who is a Loksatta activist in India.

The Right to Information Act 2005 has nearly 10,800 words in over 31 sections, and very complicated sentences. Most of it does not concern the RTI applicant or appellant, and can be safely omitted.

Download SIMPLIFIED & ABRIDGED VERSION: http://www.box.net/shared/n6ovb3944c

This abridged version has less than 4,300 words, and most sentences are simplified. Everything needed by RTI activists and common people 99% of the times is in it. Important parts for information-seekers – both applicants and appellants — are highlighted to assist the common man.

PLEASE FORWARD TO FRIENDS… They will thank you for helping them clearly understand the RTI Act.

WHAT IS OMITTED? Most of the words in the RTI Act are:

(a) For explaining the rationale of the RTI Act (eg. Preamble of the Act)

(b) Repetitive phrases like “Central Public Information Officer or a State Public Information Officer, as the case may be” are replaced with “PIO”. Similarly, “Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be” are replaced with “Information Commission”.

(c) Sections concerning the appointment of PIOs, terms of service of SICs, CICs and other administrative details

(d) Legal expressions such as “without prejudice to,” “provided that” and “as the case may be” which make sentences difficult to understand.

FOR EXAMPLE, Section 5(2) states:

“Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), every public authority shall designate an officer, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, at each sub-divisional level or other sub-district level as a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, to receive the applications for information or appeals under this Act for forwarding the same forthwith to the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or senior officer specified under sub-section (1) of section 19 or the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be:
Provided that where an application for information or appeal is given to a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, a period of five days shall be added in computing the period for response specified under sub-section (1) of section 7.”

THE USEFUL PART of Section 5(2) for INFORMATION-SEEKERS & RTI ACTIVISTS is: “… where an application for information or appeal is given to… Assistant PIO… a period of five days shall be added in computing the period for response specified under sub-section (1) of section 7.” ALL THE REST IS OMITTED.

Other sections are similarly dealt with in the simplified and abridged version. Experts who wish to critically analyze the method of omission or abridgement may also download this file: http://www.box.net/shared/cml9r2506i

The Indian society is a society of ideas. It is a society that has revered talk. In this society, articulation is mistaken for accomplishment. We are quite satisfied with our voice, with our writings. This is not a society that is focussed on execution.

Frankly, the problem is due to our caste system and the dominance of Brahmins in our society for long period. The Brahminical system said my job is to think of the higher worlds. My job is to think of connecting you people with God. I don’t want to do anything that has a relationship with the real world.

Now that is a problem that has played havoc with the Indian culture. So, here in this culture, if you do anything with your hands, it is considered less honourable that anything to do with your brain.

Here everybody wants to be an engineer, nobody wants to be a technician. So when a society does not value implementation, execution, what happens is you create more and more reports and nothing gets done.

For example, (Reliance Industries Chairman) Mr Mukesh Ambani and I gave two reports on how to improve the higher education system: one to (then prime minister) Mr Vajpayee and one to Dr Manmohan Singh.

Second, there has been the Knowledge Commission. Nothing has happened. Third, in 1998 I was a member of the IT Task Force — which was headed by Mr Jaswant Singh — and that task force submitted its report somewhere in 1999 0r 2000.

Nine years and I don’t think even one suggestion has been implemented. And we made 108 suggestions! So that is why I am not a big fan of ideas in India.

My brother-in-law is a famous professor of physics at Caltech and he tells me it is very easy to come out with an idea. But to validate that idea he and his doctoral students will have to work hard for six months, one year… sometimes two years. That takes 20 hours of work each day for two years. So it is important to come out with new ideas, but it is even more important to execute them.

We are not a nation of doers; we are a nation which believes that our articulation is our accomplishment.

Click to find out who spoke this bitter truth.

Q: But you are fighting an election from the plank of honesty, so scrutiny on this count is bound to be high.

A: Of course, I have to fight that. I have to fight corruption. I have to defeat the big guys. I have to defeat Sakal. I have to tell them I am better than Sharad Pawar. I am better than Sonia Gandhi. Who the hell is she? She comes from Italy, interviews five farmers and says I will make my son prime minister. I am better than all of them.

Complete interview

In 1947, British Rule ended, but we did not get Swaraj (Self Rule). The British administrative system continued. Indian administrators, judges etc resisted becoming answerable to you, the citizen, the common man. They concentrated power with themselves by making arbitrariness and “discretionary powers” their fortress, and thus they prevented the coming of true democracy and Rule of Law.

You, Mr Citizen, became part of a giant lottery-machine called elections to decide which politicians occupied the seats of power vacated by British rulers. Elections empowered those who could create a mob-psychology so that people voted along communal or casteist lines. The individual citizen remained weak and powerless.

2005: Year of Promise of True Swaraj

Nearly 60 years later, the passing of Right to Information Act holds out the promise of true Swaraj. Our actions today will determine whether this promise is fulfilled, or whether it is betrayed.

Please understand this, Mr Citizen: RTI ACT 2005 IS A DETAILED PROMISE, A CONTRACT BETWEEN GOVERNANCE BODIES AND THE COMMON MAN. NO CLAUSE OF THIS CONTRACT IS UNIMPORTANT OR MEANINGLESS. This contractual document is extremely valuable, because its remedies are accessible to all of us, unlike other legal remedies that have gone out of our reach.

The RTI Act gives you the right to question the actions and decisions of the administration, judiciary, police etc. It gives even poor citizens the power to ask what are the various criteria being used to govern him, and how these criteria are being applied in actual reality. In this way, it enables each of us to participate in governance.

To enforce your newly-defined right, a structure has been set up. PIOs, FAAs and Information Commissions are part of this structure. However, the people within this structure are mostly bureaucrats and administrators — the same people who have successfully resisted transparency for 60 years after Independence. Naturally, they continue to resist.

2009: Year of Promise Fulfilment or Betrayal

We are now at a critical juncture of history, Mr Citizen. There is a great opportunity, but also a great threat. The OPPORTUNITY is that India’s common man will understand that nobody can GIVE him Swaraj; he has to awaken and TAKE Swaraj. Swaraj diya nahin jayega, ussey lena padega. No mai-baap sarkar will fulfill a citizen’s responsibilities in return for votes and taxes; every man and woman must participate in self-government by seeking to understand decisions taken on their behalf by various public authorities.

The THREAT, Mr Citizen, is that you will expect a small number of activists to fight and give you Swaraj on a silver plate. There is a danger that we activists will actually try to do so and be rewarded by the system with fame and power. If this happens, then we activists will become one with the privileged elite classes, and you will become helpless for another 60 years. If you allow leading activists – especially those who are elevated as Information Commissioners etc — to start making unlawful decisions “in everybody’s interests”, then Swaraj will be lost. Therefore the battle for proper implementation of RTI must be dominated by large numbers of you — RTI applicants and appellants – and not just a few activists like us. Each of you must become a warrior and fight, alone if necessary, and in groups if possible.

To get Swaraj, Fight for UNADULTERATED ENFORCEMENT OF RTI ACT

A variety of “well-meaning and experienced people” – including administrators, appellate authorities, Information Commissioners and activists – are saying that the RTI Act must be enforced leniently, not strictly. These are men of great moral stature… but please don’t believe them, Mr Citizen, because this is a lie that will keep you dependent on their favours and mercies, and prevent true systemic reforms.

“Well-meaning and experienced people” are telling you not to insist on Section 20 of RTI Act, which stipulates penalties and disciplinary action for even a single day’s delay in providing information. “Do you really want information, or are you doing this to harass the poor PIO?” they ask. Don’t let them fool you, Mr Citizen; reply that you want the RTI Act to be enforced – nothing more and nothing less.

“Well-meaning and experienced people” are warning you that if every PIO who denies information is penalized, the system will collapse. Even strict enforcement of Section 19(5) — compelling the PIO to justify his actions in writing – will cause system failure, they gravely add. Don’t trust them, Mr Citizen; they are defending the status quo, and preventing the balance of power from shifting in your favour.

“Well-meaning and experienced people” argue that asking for orders in an objective format amounts to questioning their quasi judicial powers. Discretionary powers are necessary for functioning, they say without a trace of irony. “Everything in a judicial process cannot be reduced into black and white”, they argue. And so they exercise their discretionary powers and mighty intellect to give vague and dubious orders that ignore obvious questions of law such as:

(i) How many days of delay was PIO guilty of?

(ii) Was PIO’s reply evasive, incomplete, misleading or false?

(iii) Was information denied unjustifiably?

(iv) Did PIO submit a written justification for each of the grounds of appeal?

(v) Are PIO’s justifications upheld under relevant provisions, or are they rejected?

(vi) If PIO is being asked to give information in the Second Appeal hearing or order, why is he not eligible for penalty? Why is he being let off without even a written reprimand?

In this context, please study our model Speaking Order of Second Appellate Authority
in English: http://www.box.net/shared/61qztgjvfc

and also in Marathi (translated by Dr Shriram Pande): http://www.box.net/shared/3bxhfgxahu

If you are convinced of the logic of this format, take a printout with you to the Information Commissioner and insist on such an Order to be given immediately after your hearing. If that is not possible on the same day, ask him nonetheless to give you a clear order according to this format.

Oh yes, he may shout at you, threaten you, ask you to get out… but don’t you fear him, Mr Citizen. Because he is after all a public servant who is paid a salary to serve you and defend YOUR RIGHT to information; you are in reality his master. His kind of people have bullied us all for the last 60 years with great bluster, a show of offended dignity and arbitrary use of power and influence. But don’t waver, Mr Citizen, stand firm. Control your temper and keep your voice pleasant. If you remain calm and are careful not to misbehave even under provocation, he has no legitimate power to punish you. In the end, he shall yield before you, my friend. Never lose faith; this is Satyagraha.

REJECT VAGUE ORDERS BY POLITELY TEARING THEM UP BEFORE THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER AND SUBMITTING THEM IN THE DESPATCH DEPARTMENT. Alternatively, burn such orders in large numbers in a public place to make a peaceful but forceful gesture for rejection of vagueness. Circulate the photos of such tearing and burning to media and fellow-activists to encourage others to do the same.

Satyagraha means a non-violent, fearless, unyielding insistence on the truth. “We, the People” must seize the promised powers of the RTI Act through Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience. There is a great need for such a movement right now, Mr Citizen. Don’t wait for us activists to do this; act now to begin this movement and reclaim your Swaraj.

Jai Hind!

I’m not.

Read on

Deoria (Eastern UP): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s inaugural election rally from her home State on Sunday saw a huge turnout. The meeting, held in the eastern town of Deoria, showcased her as Prime Minister-in-waiting. It also elicited a promise from her that in the event she formed a Government at the Centre, she would offer job reservation to the poor among the forward castes.

Ms. Mayawati ascended the stage to ear-splitting shouts of “U.P. hui hamari hai, ab dilli ki baari hai (we have taken Uttar Pradesh, we will take Delhi next). The crowd, estimated by the police at a lakh and a half, a record for Deoria, kept up a continuous chant of slogans revolving around the theme of her “impending” Prime Ministership.

“Bharat ki majboori hai; Behen Mayawati zaroori hai” (India needs Mayawati), the audience sang, even as the U.P. Chief Minister spoke of going beyond the State to set up a government in Delhi. Ms. Mayawati said any government she formed at the Centre would be based on the principle that all communities are equal. She came to power in U.P. on the promise of “sarvajan hitaya” (welfare of all communities) and she would follow the same policy in Delhi, the Chief Minister said.

Ms. Mayawati stressed that her concern was more about poverty than caste. She said the poor suffered uniformly, whether they belonged to the backward or forward castes. She said she had addressed many letters to the Centre seeking reservation for the poor among the forward castes but had got no response. “I want to tell you that the day we form a government at the Centre we will give reservation to the upper caste poor.” She added that she wanted to give Schedule Caste status to many of the smaller castes currently included in the Other Backward Classes list.

The Chief Minister said the Bahujan Samaj Party had not entered into electoral alliances with other parties, preferring instead to fight on its own strength. However, in doing so, the party had ensured that every community got its due share in ticket allotment. She asked the audience not to waste their votes on mainstream parties like the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party but to put their entire weight behind the BSP and elect a maximum of its candidates so as to help the party form a government at the Centre.

Ms. Mayawati said the BSP was unique in many ways. Where other parties drew their financial strength from corporate power and big business interests, the BSP’s funds were built from the “sweat and labour” of its cadre. “In the entire country, we are the only party that does not depend on corporate interests. Our financiers are our workers. This is the reason we are not under pressure from the big business houses,” she said.

Source