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Tag: RTI

  • Centre appoints Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha as new CIC

    Centre appoints Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha as new CIC

    MUMBAI: Former diplomat and central information commissioner Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha has reportedly been appointed as the country’s next chief information commissioner (CIC), two months after the position fell vacant.

    Media reported that 155 applications were received for the post of CIC.

    The decision to appoint Sinha was taken after a meeting of the selection panel headed by prime minister Narendra Modi on 24 October. However, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is also a member of the panel, has submitted a dissent note.

    The Opposition leader was against the shortlisting process, alleging a failure to follow the Supreme Court’s transparency guidelines, issued in a February 2019 case brought by RTI (Right to Information) activist Anjali Bhardwaj. Chowdhury also objected to the fact that journalist Uday Mahurkar had been shortlisted for a commissioner position although he was not on the list of applicants.

    Sinha was sworn in as information commissioner on 1 January 2019. He is a former diplomat who was appointed as high commissioner of India to the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka.

    The commission is the highest appellate authority under the right to information act, and consists of a panel including chief and up to ten commissioners. The commission has been headless twice this year, due to a two month delay in appointing the last chief Bimal Julka, and another two month period since he retired at the end of August. The commission has not functioned at full strength for almost four years, and currently has only five commissioners.

  • Law Commission calls for BCCI to be brought under RTI Act

    Law Commission calls for BCCI to be brought under RTI Act

    MUMBAI: The Law Commission of India, headed by Justice BS Chauhan, has recommended to the Centre that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) be classified as a national sports federation and brought under the ambit of the Right to Information Act (RTI).

    BCCI CEO Rahul Johri did not respond to an email query when Indiantelevision.com reached out to him for a comment.

    The commission, which held its full meeting on Tuesday, has informed Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad that “BCCI exercises ‘state-like’ powers affecting the fundamental rights of the stakeholders,” and that the “board has taken a flight under the radar of public scrutiny.”

    It has asked the government to classify the BCCI as “state” under Article 12 of the Constitution so that it is answerable to authorities, including the courts.

    In its 124-page report, the commission has stated that the “BCCI exercises ‘state-like’ powers affecting the fundamental rights of the stakeholders, guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution. It is hereby recommended that BCCI be viewed as an agency or instrumentality of State, under Article 12 of the Constitution, thereby making it amenable to the writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 32.”

    The commission has also noted that since BCCI had a ‘monopolistic’ approach in regulating the game of cricket, it has often escaped public scrutiny that caused malpractices. If the government heeds to the commission’s recommendations and classifies BCCI as a public body or an organisation under the RTI Act, anyone can file PILs in the Supreme Court or high courts questioning the selection of players representing India, states and zones. PILs could also target the agreements signed by the BCCI with other cricket playing nations and the International Cricket Council (ICC).

    “Non-consideration of the role played by BCCI as monopolistic in regulation of the game of cricket has resulted in the Board flying under the radar of public scrutiny, encouraged an environment of opacity and non-accountability. In the past, this has probably given an impression in the minds of the general public that corruption and other forms of malpractices are adversely affecting one of the most popular sports played in India human rights are sacrosanct and innately associated with the human personality,” reads the report. 

    The law panel has also recommended that the government brings the cricket administration under the ambit of RTI, which it has evaded till now. 

    “As per the statement made in the Lok Sabha, the Central Government has already been regarding BCCI as a National Sports Federation and hence, it is recommended that, for the removal of any doubt, the same be explicitly mentioned in the list of NSFs available on the ministry’s website. This express mention would automatically bring BCCI within the purview of RTI Act,” stated the commission. 

    “The government in impliedly authorizing BCCI to raise funds/generate resources from numerous other sources, funds and resources, which otherwise could have been directed to the national/state exchequer, also amounts to ‘substantial financing’. It can be asserted that the BCCI has, over the decades, indeed received ‘substantial financing’ from the governments,” said the report. 

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  • Govt campaigns cost exchequer double than Mars mission

    Govt campaigns cost exchequer double than Mars mission

    MUMBAI: The incumbent central government under the prime minister Narendra Modi has spent Rs 1100 crore in advertising expenditure in the last one and a half years, as per the information provided by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry in response to a Right To Information (RTI) application filed by an activist.

    This expenditure was incurred between 1 June, 2014, and 31 August, 2016. and only accounts for the advertisement for ‘telecast/television, Internet and other electronic media’ and does not include other platforms such as print advertisements, hoardings, posters, booklets and calendars. The total sum will be many times higher if these costs are also factored in. If broken down into daily expenditure the figure comes to Rs 1.4 crore a day.

    Some of the famous campaigns of the union government are — Swachh Bharat initiative, ‘Make in India’, Selfie with Daughter and ‘Digital India.’ The government has engaged several leading creative agencies like Ogilvy and Mather, and McCann Worldwide group to conceptualise and execute the campaigns.

    According to a digital publication, this amount far exceeds the cost of India’s Mars mission, Mangalyaan, which is estimated at Rs 450 crore.

  • Govt campaigns cost exchequer double than Mars mission

    Govt campaigns cost exchequer double than Mars mission

    MUMBAI: The incumbent central government under the prime minister Narendra Modi has spent Rs 1100 crore in advertising expenditure in the last one and a half years, as per the information provided by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry in response to a Right To Information (RTI) application filed by an activist.

    This expenditure was incurred between 1 June, 2014, and 31 August, 2016. and only accounts for the advertisement for ‘telecast/television, Internet and other electronic media’ and does not include other platforms such as print advertisements, hoardings, posters, booklets and calendars. The total sum will be many times higher if these costs are also factored in. If broken down into daily expenditure the figure comes to Rs 1.4 crore a day.

    Some of the famous campaigns of the union government are — Swachh Bharat initiative, ‘Make in India’, Selfie with Daughter and ‘Digital India.’ The government has engaged several leading creative agencies like Ogilvy and Mather, and McCann Worldwide group to conceptualise and execute the campaigns.

    According to a digital publication, this amount far exceeds the cost of India’s Mars mission, Mangalyaan, which is estimated at Rs 450 crore.

  • PM hails spectrum & FM Radio auction as proactive information to people

    PM hails spectrum & FM Radio auction as proactive information to people

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today referred to auctions of spectrum and FM radio licenses to say that information should be given out proactively to the people.

     

    He described the “Right to Information” (RTI) Act as a tool through, which the common man has got not just the right to know, but also the right to question those in power. 

     

    In his remarks at the 10th Annual Convention of the Central Information Commission (CIC), Modi said that the Union Government’s Digital India initiative is complimentary to RTI, because putting information online brings transparency, which in turn, builds trust. 

     

    The Prime Minister called for an end to the silo-approach in the Government. He said administrative processes should be run based on trusting the people, rather than doubting them. 

     

    Modi also said that RTI has become a tool for good governance. He also described how the PRAGATI platform developed in the PMO has become a vibrant platform for monitoring progress of projects.  

  • RTI Online Web Portal launched to file applications online

    RTI Online Web Portal launched to file applications online

    NEW DELHI: The government today launched a web portal https://rtionline.gov.in to promote participation of our citizens in the process of governance and policy making decisions of the government.

    Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions and Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanasamy said this facility has presently been provided to Central Ministries but DoPT will consider extending this facility to the subordinate and attached offices of central government also.

    The minister also appealed to the state governments to consider developing similar facility of filing online RTI applications.

    The RTI online web portal has been developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) at the initiative of Department of Personnel and Training.

    This is a facility for the Indian Citizens to file RTI applications online and first appeals and also to make online payment of RTI fees. The prescribed fees can be paid through internet banking of State Bank of India and its associate banks as well as by Credit/Debit cards of Visa/Master, through the payment gateway of SBI linked to this site. This facility is available for all the Ministries/Departments of Central government.

    This system provides for online reply of RTI applications/ first appeals, though reply could be sent by regular post also. This system works as RTI MIS also. The details of RTI applications received through post could also be entered into this system. The citizens can also check the real time status of their RTI applications/first appeals filed online.