No More Lessons On Transparency In Rajasthan As Government Drops Chapter On RTI

NEW DELHI:  From securing water connections to passports, better roads to ration cards, the Right to Information has been a powerful tool in the hands of citizens to make governments accountable. The landmark transparency law was the result of almost two decades of toil by campaigners including Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, starting in Rajasthan which culminated into the formation of a national law. Till recently that lesson was taught to school children in Rajasthan, but that’s not going to happen anymore.

As part of an overhaul of school text books, the state education department has decided to scrap the chapter on Right to Information or RTI, a move that has several RTI campaigners seeing red.

In a strongly worded letter to the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, India’s first Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has asked for the chapter to be reinstated.

“I am dismayed to learn of the reported removal of the chapter from a school text book containing references to the fundamental right to information,” wrote Mr Habibulla in his two-page letter to the chief minister, a copy of which is available with NDTV.

“Rajasthan is arguably the karambhoomi of the RTI… Section 26 of the RTI Act places statutory duty on state governments to educate citizenry, particularly disadvantaged segments of society about their rights to seek and receive information from public authorities,” writes Mr Habibullah.

RTI campaigner Nikhil Dey, however, says that there is perhaps a larger political conspiracy.

“This is clearly a political decision and it is inexplicable why the BJP leadership would want to go against what has been a people’s movement in Rajasthan,” said Mr Dey.

Since it became law in 2005, millions of RTIs have been filed till now in states and with the central government.

[“source-ndtv”]