Status of NREGS

RTI exposes poor implementation of NREGS Vishnu Rajgadia Jharkhand was a fortunate state as it had got lions share in NREGS. Initially, 200 districts of the country were selected for the scheme. 20 districts of the Jharkhand were among the list out of them total 22 districts of the state. But the implementation of NREGS was very poor. On August 23rd of 2006, Vishnu Rajgadia filed a RTI application to provide details of the implementation of NREGS in each block. Denied for the information, he moved to State Information Commission. During the hearing, the PIO of Rural Development informed the commission that a request for information was sent to the Deputy Commissioners of 20 districts, but nobody provided the same. The commission felt that the implementing authorities itself lacking the information on block level regarding NREGS. Therefore, the commission summoned the 20 Deputy Commissioners to state whether they have the block level information on NREGS or not. The commission also wanted to know from the Principal Secretary of the Rural Development Department whether he gets the reports on implementations of NREGS in blocks or not. on 04.01.2007, for the first time in country, 21 IAS officers were summoned before a Information Commission. Some of them were present in person. The Principal Secretary of Rural Development had also appeared before the commission. Information provided were enough to disclose the poor implementation of NREGS.

Success Stories

Sugandh Kumar Gets Passport Transporter gets his due payment of Rs. 9 lakhs Electricity bill reduced from 5588 to 302

RTI for New Democracy

Vishnu Rajgadia The Right to Information Act 2005 enables every citizen access to public information from government records. Earlier, this access was available to citizens of only nine states in the country but with the enforcing of the central act on 12 October 2005 this right is now available to every citizen. Experiences suggest that in the states where the Right to Information Act has been implemented, it has become an important tool of social development and governance. Awareness among the people about the use of RTI has had a great effect on the working culture of the government. It has made the officials more responsible towards the dispensation of their duties. There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that a newly formed state like Jharkhand requires the RTI Act for enhancing its performance. Right to Information has provided a base for new democracy. Until now all public information was out of the reach of the people as it came under the purview of the Officials Secrets Act (1923). Right to Information has removed this cover. Hence, it has provided a lead on the basis of which the foundations of new democracy can be set. In this blog, you can find a lot of material which are self-explanatory for the word New Democracy.