urban population knew about the Right to Information Act, the government
on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha that steps were afoot to increase
awareness about the law.
“Government instituted a study in 2009 which found that awareness
level about the RTI Act is low. Only 33 per cent of people in urban
areas were aware of the Act till 2008-09,”Minister of State in the Prime
Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan said in response to a question by
SP’s Ghanshyam Anuragi during Question Hour
The government, Chavan said, was taking steps to increase awareness
among people through radio,television and other media. Besides,more
Assistant Public Information Officers were being appointed,including in
post offices, to make RTI more accessible to people, he added.
On the recent killings of RTI activists, Chavan said the Centre had
written to chief ministers to provide protection to activists whenever
they sought it. The government is also working on further strengthening
and expanding scope of the RTI Act. An Act would also be introduced to
protect whistleblowers.
On complaints that the RTI Act was not being implemented properly,
Chavan said it was being implemented by the Centre as well as the
states. “We are providing information that we maintain at the Centre.The
five lakh applications that we have disposed of with 95 per cent
favourable disposal pertain only to the Central government information,”
Chavan said, adding that states had to implement the law as per the
statute formulated by the Centre.
Asked if the Act had helped reduce corruption, Chavan said, “There is
no specific study that we have carried out to assess the impact of the
Act on reducing corruption because it is very difficult.”
Replying to a question by BJP’s Ramesh Bais about options available
to an RTI applicant if officials do not provide information, Chavan said
that under Section 19 of the Act, there was a provision for penalty
which may be imposed by the State Information Commission or the Central
Information Commission if the information is not given within a
specified period. “This is being implemented, people are being punished
if the information is not given in time,” he said.