On implementation of RTI Act 2005: Governments initiatives

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• On implementation of RTI Act 2005 Governments
  initiatives

Department of Personnel and Training November 4,
2008, Delhi
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RTI regime in India facts

• RTI Act 2005 operational since October 2005
• Information Commissions at the central level as
  well as at the state levels (except in JK) are
  working
• Capacity building of different stakeholders on
  RTI is in progress since December 2005
• GOI has drawn up program for smooth
  implementation of the RTI Act, during 11th Five
  Year Plans

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RTI Act 2005 looking back to see ahead

• Government of India
• Recognizes the need to remove constraints in
  early implementation of the RTI Act
• Is keen to ensure that intended benefits out of
  RTI regime go to the citizens
• Wants to know the factors ( institutional,
  structural, systemic, process related,
  analytical, etc), that facilitate or hinders
  implementation of the Act.
• Launched study on RTI captioned Understanding
  key issues and constraints in effective
  implementation of the RTI Act during 2008-09
  through an independent agency

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Scope of the Study
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Approach and Methodology
Participative Approach to the whole study
involving NGOs, CBOs, and Media
Three Workshops to identify issues and validate
the findings
Two Workshops/FGD to discuss the recommendations
and Implementation plan

• Information Seeker Survey in five states and
  central Ministries
• Information Provider Survey in five states and
  Central Ministries
• RTI Case Studies
• RTI successful Practices from States
• International Benchmarking with Canada and Mexico
• Design of State of Implementation Matrix
• Design of Issue Identification Framework

• Identification of Process Gaps based on survey
  results, observations and case studies
• Recommend changes to plug process gaps
• Build in successful practices into the process
• Capacity gaps
• Infrastructure gaps

• Prepare a detailed action plan for implementation
  of the proposed changes

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Findings of the StudyStatus on Key Enablers
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Key Findings Compliance

• Limited SIC reviews
• Out of 5 States, only Andhra Pradesh has
  established a mechanism for regular review of
  Public Authorities for RTI Implementation
• Low disposal rate of 2nd appeals
• 79.4 of the appeals received in Maharashtra in
  2007 are still pending
• Guidelines for Information Providers and Seekers
  have not been widely disseminated
• It was observed during one on one discussions
  with the PIOs that in Assam that they needed
  comprehensive guidelines for RTI request
  processing especially related to rejection
  clauses of the act

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Findings Information Disclosure

• PIOs are not aware of the Proactive Disclosure
  done by their department
• 77 of the Central PIOs were found to be aware
• 84 of the PIOs in Andhra Pradesh were found to
  be aware
• Only 47 PIOs aware in Maharashtra
• SIC reports do not contain the status of
  Proactive Disclosures done by Public Authorities
• Out of the 5 States being surveyed, only 2 states
  (Assam and Andhra Pradesh) SIC reports show the
  status of proactive disclosure done
• There is no monitoring mechanism for Proactive
  Disclosure in the 4 states
• Andhra Pradesh has formed a committee for review
  of proactive disclosures done by the PAs in the
  state

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Findings Information Disclosure

• Lack of standard dissemination channels for
  proactive disclosure
• Central PAs were found to use internet for
  dissemination (93.75)
• Majority of PAs in Assam used Printed Books for
  dissemination (83)
• Information Needs of citizens not being captured
  to improve Proactive Disclosure
• None of the PAs in surveyed states have made an
  effort to capture information needs and reflect
  them in their Proactive Disclosures
• Central and State schemes do not contain RTI
  specific guidelines for proactive information
  disclosure

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Findings Capacity Building

• Lack of budget provisions for RTI Implementation
  at the state
• No separate RTI budget provision at state level
• Budget allocation only for SIC and Training (All
  four states surveyed)
• Ineffective Record Management Systems
• Record Management System being cited as the major
  reason for delay in processing of RTI application
  (Above 80 in Andhra Pradesh, Assam and
  Maharashtra)
• Low levels of Training among PIOs and AAs
• 46 PIOs at Central level, 72 PIOs in Assam and
  50 of PIOs in Andhra Pradesh have not received
  training

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Key Findings of the StudyChallenges faced by
Citizen Applicant Side of the Story
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Key Findings Easy Access to Information

• Lack of a signage for PIO identification and
  location at the PA
• 59 of the respondents said that there was no or
  little signage present at the PA office for
  locating the PIO
• Lack of easy channel for Information request
  filing
• 85 of the respondents said that they had filed
  their application at the PA office would have
  preferred more convenient channel
• Non standard payment channels for application fee
  submission
• Use of treasury challans and court fee stamps
  inconveniencing the information seekers
• Also in some cases, used as a means to discourage
  filing of applications

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Key Findings Easy Access to Information

• Multiple visits to the PA office for filing RTI
  Applications
• More than 33 of the respondents said that they
  had to visit the PA office multiple times for
  filing a RTI Application
• Cost of filing an RTI application is estimated at
  Rs. 150-300 in Urban Areas and Rs. 100-200 in
  rural areas (Estimates collected, includes cost
  of lost wages)
• PIO attitude when filing a RTI Application
• 54 of the respondents surveyed said the PIOs has
  apathetic attitude towards their RTI request
• Incomplete and incorrect information being
  provided by the PIOs
• This was identified as the major reason for
  dissatisfaction among Information seekers
• Lack of Knowledge about RTI among citizens
• More than 50 of the respondents surveyed said
  that they could ask for information about Private
  enterprises under RTI Act

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Key Findings of the StudyChallenges faced by
Government Staff Other Side of the Story
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Identification of Challenges in Government
Set-up State of Implementation Matrix
Objectives
Enabling Strategies
Gap Areas
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State of Implementation Matrix

• State of Implementation being designed to capture
  objective implementation data from the states.
• In current situation due non availability of
  standard data points from across the states, it
  is difficult to build in qualitative factors
  into the matrix.
• Due to the fact that qualitative factors have not
  been built in, the matrix cannot be used to
  measure the implementation performance across the
  states
• It can only be used as a guiding tool for
  ascertaining the implementation progress in a
  particular state over a period of time.

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Immediate future Agenda

• Acting upon recommendations of various studies
• Facilitating easy access to information
• Strengthening Information Commissions
• Capacity building
• Awareness on RTI

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Thank You