Shri Satyanand Mishra, Chief Information Commissioner has said that the Right to Information Act is expanding and demand for information under the Act is ever increasing. He was speaking at a workshop organized by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) to sensitize its officials about RTI issues and provisions of RTI Act, with a view to ensure effective implementation of the Act. Shri Mishra congratulated the Commission for its transparency saying that in the face of around 88 lakh candidates appearing in various competitive exams conducted last year miniscule number of around five thousand RTI applications reflect that the Commission is working efficiently and in a very transparent manner. He also said that the Act is becoming very costly and manpower crunch in departments has brought about a sense of passing the buck among officials. Shri Mishra further said that the RTI is becoming very expensive for the government and the society will also consider the cost involved someday.
In his keynote address, Shri S.K. Sarkar, Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training, said that there was a lot of resistance to take this Act on board. Referring to a study by Price Waterhouse Coopers he said that there are some thrust areas to be addressed in ensuring the proper implementation of the Act. These include:-
(i) Capacity building of Public Authorities.
(ii) Awareness generation among different stakeholders, e.g. Government, Public, Media, Civil society, etc.
(iii) Change the attitude of authorities.
(iv) Lack of resources
(v) How to reduce the trust deficit.
He further said that the Government has developed a long time communication strategy under which a new logo and a song and have been developed and workshops and performances are being organized to popularize the RTI Act.
In his keynote address, Shri S.K. Sarkar, Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training, said that there was a lot of resistance to take this Act on board. Referring to a study by Price Waterhouse Coopers he said that there are some thrust areas to be addressed in ensuring the proper implementation of the Act. These include:-
(i) Capacity building of Public Authorities.
(ii) Awareness generation among different stakeholders, e.g. Government, Public, Media, Civil society, etc.
(iii) Change the attitude of authorities.
(iv) Lack of resources
(v) How to reduce the trust deficit.
He further said that the Government has developed a long time communication strategy under which a new logo and a song and have been developed and workshops and performances are being organized to popularize the RTI Act.
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