Ramifications of right to information on good governance

New Delhi, Nov 1 : Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the hird Annual Convention-2008 of the Central Information Commission here on Monday, which has its central theme "RTI and its Ramifications for Good Governance".

Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee will address the valedictory session.

The two-day convention will have seven technical sessions covering major aspects of governance. The present convention is being attended by representatives of the civil society and media both from within the country and from SAARC countries.

The convention is expected to produce documents of contemporary and long term relevance to South Asia. Technical sessions are being chaired by Justice JS Verma, Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court, B N Yugandhar, Member Planning Commission, Aruna Roy, Social Activist, Prannoy Roy, CMD, NDTV, Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner, CIC and A N Tiwari, Information Commissioner, CIC.

First session of the convention is expected to discuss the impact of the RTI Act on various aspects of Governance. The deliberation of the session will make an attempt to analyse the cause and effect relationship of the RTI and the issue of good Governance.

The outcome of this session is also expected to lay down a roadmap for the implementation of the Act in future. The Session will also provide a platform to share the attempts made to assess the level of awareness of the RTI Act among the rural folk. The last Session of the first day aims to discuss "RTI and Poverty Alleviation".

The second day opens with the session on "RTI and Protection of Individual Privacy" will be the first attempt since the promulgation of the RTI Act to debate the issue on a forum like this. This session could deliberate upon and establish the non-adversarial aspect of the relationship of the RTI and Individual privacy.

The Central Information Commission has been organizing the annual convention every year since 2006. The Right to Information Act, 2005 creates many obligations on the State and the Central Government authorities for its implementation and sound monitoring.

ANI