Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal agency for the implementation of the Right to Information Act, has floated a questionnaire on RTI regime that has led some people to wonder if it could be another government attempt at preparing ground for amendments to the law.
The questionnaire, meant for “various stakeholders”, including state governments and information commissions, has been posted on DoPT website, which says its objective is “to facilitate strategy formulation on RTI”.
The questionnaire will canvass the views of stakeholders, who need to respond latest by April 15, 2010, on RTI implementation as part of a performance management and evaluation system (PMES).
PMES, in turn, is part of an exercise undertaken by all ministries and departments to draw up a “strategy plan” for the next few years, as directed by a high-powered committee on government performance headed by the Prime Minister.
Under the same exercise, the DoPT invited some RTI activists on March 31st to hear them out on what they think about RTI implementation.
According to at least one RTI activist, who attended the March 31st meeting, copies of the questionnaire were handed to all the activists in attendance.
The meeting had created a buzz in the RTI community, who feared that it could be another roundabout way of winning support for debilitating amendments to the Act.
Even though the meeting turned out to be an innocuous one, with DoPT assuring the participants that it had nothing to do with possible amendments, government’s intentions continue to be doubted.
The questionnaire has multiple-choice questions, except the last two. The second last question asks: ‘Any two improvements you would like to see in the RTI Act.’
The last question: How do you visualise the RTI regime after 5 years hence?
There are eight questions in all, including one addressed to only the state governments and another one for the information commissioners. The rest are meant for ministries, departments and other stakeholders.
The state governments have been asked to state steps taken for its effective implementation in respect of training, awareness generation, record management and any other action taken.
The information commissioners have been asked to list ‘two most important constraints faced in RTI functioning.’