RIGHT TO INFORMATION
STUDY GUIDE SERIES

Train yourself from the comfort of your home/office.
View a Flyer at: http://www.box.net/shared/6lc4y4dmr9


Five years ago, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) carried out a sample survey covering about 50,000 consumers to audit the performance of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. CAG was shocked to find that 82% Indians were not aware of the existence of the Act, even after two decades. The Right to Information Act is just four years old now. The less we say about its awareness levels the better. Can we protect the law which in return will protect us?

Right to Information is a fundamental human right and a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights. The RTI Act is spearheading a transparent revolution in India. Transparency benefits the poor greatly by protecting their rights and dignity. Information constantly supports their struggle for survival.

But many citizens are not able to use the law to its fullest extent due to unawareness. For example, RTI is very effective in protecting environment and very few are able to file applications seeking environmental information.

Experts like Prof. Sheila Jasanoff see Bhopal tragedy a failure of knowledge and argue that Right to Information could have prevented the tragedy. Freedom of information laws were strengthened in the west after Bhopal. American Emergency Planning and Citizens Right-to-Know Act of 1986 is one such example.

On the other hand, millions of officers, designated as Public Information Officers (PIOs), are suffering from lack of guidance. UK started implementing its Freedom of Information Act in 2005, the very year Indian RTI Act entered into force. UK published a vast range of guidance documents in the form of awareness guidance notes, casework advice notes and so on.

Without appropriate guidance, activists using the law to access the information as well as officials responsible for implementing the law cannot take decisions confidently. This course attempts to compensate such vacuum to some extent. Be informed: Be empowered!

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RIGHT TO INFORMATION: STUDY GUIDE SERIES

Train yourself from the comfort of your home/office.


FOR:

• Citizens including
• Officials.

AIM

Strengthen:
• RTI Administration to enable Officials to implement the law confidently
• Citizen`s Informed Activism.

CONTENTS

Volume I: A simple Primer on the RTI Act.
A set of RTI Guides and Articles on:

• Public Interest
• Exemption
• Environmental Right to Know
• The Right to Food
• Non-Government Organizations
• Medical Right to Know
• Examinations and Transparency
• The Police and RTI
• Voter’s Right to Information
• Gram Sabha
• Social Audit.


Volume II: Detailed Commentary on the RTI Act.
The study material covers hundreds of Decision notices pronounced by the Information Commissions which are valued because of the guidance they provide on future similar cases.

AUTHOR: Experienced advocate and campaigner, Srinivas Madhav - trained thousands of officials/activists - can see from both sides of the fence; won CMS award for RTI research and publication. (CV annexed.)


CONTACT: shrinivasmadhav@gmail.com RTI Flyer at: http://www.box.net/shared/6lc4y4dmr9


PRAISE FOR ARTICLES

1. “Let me first congratulate you on the good work done.”
- Sri A. Venkataratnam, the then State Chief Information Commissioner, Goa.10 April 2007.

2. “Informative paper … Srinivas Madhav sums up the yardsticks.”
- Sri Prakash Kardaley, Founder, Hum Janenge, Former senior editor of the Indian Express.1 Oct.2007.

3. “I am personally benefitting from your works (available on the net) and wish to thank you for your pioneering efforts. Recently, I came across your work, Central Information Commission Yearly Digest 2006: Important Decisions of the Central Information Commission of India. It is very helpful.”
- Prof Raja Mutthirulandi, Executive Trustee, Forum for Good Governance, Tamilnadu.26 Oct.2008.

4. “Thank you for your above compiled and useful information. This will enable me to widen my area.”
- Sri SR Venkatram, President, Supraja Federation, Karnataka.17 Oct. 2008.

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SRINIVAS MADHAV
Advocate
Email: shrinivasmadhav@gmail.com



EXPERIENCE RELEVANT TO RIGHT TO INFORMATION

Conduced more than 100 Sensitization Sessions on the RTI Act, for activists from NGOs and Government Officials from various departments including Police, Education, Health, Welfare, Agriculture and so on at the Centre for Good Governance, Dr MCR HRD Institute of AP, AP Police Academy, AP Forest Academy and so forth.

Provided content support to the website www.rti.org.in (now: www.rtigateway.org.in). The Rajya Sabha Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee has commended the website as ‘one of its kinds in the country’.

Can see from both sides of the fence and provide advice on using the RTI Act to the citizens as well as officials over mobile phone; so far received more than 1000 such calls; moderated an online RTI discussion forum for more than two years.

Participated in a unique mass awareness campaign in AP that engaged more than 50 voluntary organizations, resulting in 31,964 RTI requests during the second year of the RTI Act’s operation (2007), 260% increase on the 8864 requests received in the previous year. I could motivate more than 200 volunteers through Training of Trainers programme conducted at Dr.MCR HRD Institute of AP and designed slogans, stickers, posters and pamphlets for the campaign.


BOOKS
1. Right to Information, 2nd ed. Hyderabad: Asia Law House, 2008.
2. Samachara Hakku: Avineethipai Brahmasthram (A Citizen’s Guide on RTI, Telugu), 8th ed. Hyderabad: Asia Law House, 2009.


BOOK AWARDS
Award for the best book publication and research on Right to Information from the Centre for Media Studies (CMS) and Social Audit Council on Information Rights.

ARTICLES

Articles appeared in the following publications:

1. Resonance of Information, Central Information Commission, released during the First National Convention on RTI, 13 Oct. 2006.
2. Orissa Review, a publication by the Orissa State Government.
3. RTI Times, a newsletter on RTI.
4. Information Decisions, a Journal on RTI.
5. Transparency Review, a Journal of Transparency Studies, Feb. 2009.
6. United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN).
7. More than 20 articles on RTI and social issues in Surya and Andhrajyothi (Telugu newspapers).


OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS

Provided content for RTI e-Learning Module for PIOs for Centre for Good Governance.

Central Information Commission Digest, a compilation of important Decisions of the Central Information Commission. This compilation and other articles can be found on many popular websites on RTI.

Member of the team for preparation of a lesson on RTI, introduced in the Environmental Studies of Class V published by the Director of School Education, Government of AP in 2009. A copy of this lesson was circulated to the Chief Secretaries of all the States/UTs by the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) as a ‘model lesson’ to be introduced in the Environmental Science of Class 5th.

Member of the team for preparation of animation films, Soochana ka Saphalata, in Hindi and Telugu. Member of the team for preparation of the following handbooks on the RTI Act published by Centre for Good Governance: A Manual for Public Authorities, A Guide for Civil Society Organisations, A Guide for Media, A Hand book for Trainers, Annual Report of Information Commissions: A Guide and A Citizen’s Guide.

Participated in televised debates on RTI and current affairs. Eight such programs have been broadcast on Telugu television channels: ETV2, HMTV and Doordarshan.