Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 21: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today made it clear that the Central Government had no intention to dilute Right to Information.
He gave this assurance while interacting with a group of RTI activists, representing “Right to Information Activists Social Welfare Society”, who called on him here today for discussing issues regarding citizens’ right to information and related concerns.
Pertinent to mention that the Information Commission, dealing with the RTI, functions within the purview of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), which is under the Ministerial charge of Dr Jitendra Singh.
During the meeting, Dr Jitendra Singh allayed fears and apprehensions appearing in a section of media that there was any move by the Modi Government to dilute or curtail the Right To Information. He said, on the contrary, the Modi Government had, in the last four years, worked on the principle of increasing citizen participation in governance, with more accountability and transparency.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, it was during the Modi Government that all the 11 vacancies of the Central Information Commission were sought to be filled by the Government while the pendency of the RTI applications has been tremendously brought down and the time of disposal also curtailed.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the last four years, most of the public authorities numbering around 2000 have been brought under the purview of the RTI Act, which was not so before.
Members of the visiting delegation suggested that there should be a proper institutionalized mechanism to share the crucial pieces of information, which can be of great importance from the point of view of administration and public service.
They also shared Dr Jitendra Singh’s concern about frivolous RTI applications and even suggested making it mandatory for the RTI applicant to disclose his Aadhaar number in order to check the possibility of a fake RTI.
The RTI activists were in favour of having a continuous and aggressive awareness campaign to educate the general masses about the utility of RTI for ensuring transparency and at the same time, also cautioning them against the misuse of RTI for mala-fide motives. The Minister appreciated the suggestion and said this suggestion could be further worked upon more constructively.
The delegation comprised of Dr D C Prajapati, Dr M C Sharma, Iqbal Sanjhi, Pawan Rawat, Vikush Sharma, Anju Chowdhary, Avinash Shukla and others.
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