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Turning the pages of calendar year 2011 and the RTI developments in the state, It would be injustice if I do not appreciate the state government which though slowly but somehow made many of its promises regarding the implementation of Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009. Of course, yet many promises remained unattended for the reasons best known to the people at the helm of affairs but being a citizen (and a frequent RTI user) of the state I am privileged to feel the essence of participatory democracy in my state, where earlier it was just experienced twice in 6 years. One by voting in the Lok Sabha elections and other while electing our representatives for the state legislative assembly. This switch over from 'Bullet' to 'Ballot Democracy' and then to 'Participatory Democracy' appears to be a dream, but this is realism. It gives lot of encouragement to a common citizen when he goes with an RTI application to the highest offices of the state be it Rajbhavan or the Chief Minister's secretariat, where officers, now, by and large give timely response to the RTI queries. It is only with the help of this transparency law that one BPL category person namely Bashir seeks information from the Chief Minister's office and the officers provided him the full information free of cost. Obviously those officers deserve all the appreciations who honoured the law passed by the state legislature. Such a shift is more significant in our state. The Right to Information Act marked a new beginning in our state which has witnessed a long era of violence and hostility where perhaps no one ever even thought of even ballot forget 'good governance.' On 28th Feb this year, the first chief information commissioner GR Sufi took over his chair and it is only after his appointment that the Public Information officers started adhering the rules and provisions of the act. At the conclusion I must say 2011, was full of RTI activities in the state and all the stake holders deserve many appreciations for their crusade.
Raman Sharma RTI activist and can be reached [@] JKRTIACT@GMAIL.COM |
Monday, March 19, 2012
Raman Sharma, the RTI activist is a journalist by profession, associated with credible newspapers and magazines published from J & K. His writings include articles on the subject like Transparency and Accountability particularly focusing on Right to Information Act in Jammu and Kashmir. He has also successfully completed a Certificate Course in RTI initiated by Centre for Good governance, Hyderabad In collaboration with the Department of Personal and Training. Ministry of Personal, Public Grievances and Pension, Government of India. On the invitation of Jammu University, he has also delivered guest lectures on RTI to educate college students of different colleges of Jammu region . Sharma along with his other colleagues have also been accompanied and served as resource person with the faculty members of JK Institute of Management and Public Administration and Rural Development (J K IMPA) for imparting and conducting RTI Training programs for District Officers and Public Information Officers in different districts of Jammu region. He can also be reached at JKRTIACT@GMAIL.COM Mobile: 9796811012, 9086232994.
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