Inclusion of RTI in school curriculum under consideration

New Delhi, Oct 12 (UNI) Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said her government will consider inclusion of the Right to Information (RTI) as subject in the school curriculum in the capital.

She was responding to a suggestion from Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, who was guest of honour at a prize distribution function to award the winners of an essay competition for school students on Right to Information jointly organised by Directorate of Training and Directorate of Education.

Former Union Home Secretary K Padmanabhaiah presided over the function.

After presenting awards to the winning students, Ms Dikshit expressed satisfaction that the message of the RTI Act had reached the common man as first three positions had been secured by girl students from schools situated in slum and rural colonies.

She described this occasion a great day as the children were getting involved in implementation of the RTI Act. With the increase in awareness about Act, there was bound to be more and more improvements in the functioning of the government.

She added that Delhi was the first state in the country to enact its RTI Act in 2001, which brought improvement in administrative system, which was out to create confusion over the years.

Ms Dikshit further said RTI was important and strong tool in the hands of the people, which had changed the mindset of the administrative machinery.

''The RTI will also go a long way in empowering and strengthening democratic system.'' She added her government had made available all useful information on website and had implemented e-governance and computerisation. The involvement of NGOs, Trader Associations, RWAs in 'Bhagidari' workshop had resulted in transparency and openness.

Moreover, the RTI had been able to curb corruption. The days of working behind the curtains were over and people expect more and more transparency and accountability, she said.

She expressed confidence that students of Delhi would take a lead in disseminating the true message of the RTI Act.

The response to the essay competition was overwhelming, more than 2,627 students participated from 914 government and government-aided schools being run by the Directorate of Education.

Kumari Neelam Singh from Government Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Nangloi secured the first position, Kumari Poonam Saini from Government Girls' Senior Secondary School, Najafgarh secured second and Kumari Pratibha from Government Girls' Senior Secondary School, Nand Nagri secured third position. Other prize winning boys and girls from different districts were also felicitated.

The Chief Information Commissioner described RTI as a major step in democratising polity of India. He disclosed that RTI Commission had been receiving complaints from all sections of the society, including slum dwellers, which reflected that the people had come to know about the utility of RTI.

The people were masters of the government in a democracy and RTI was a tool to extract information from public authorities. Whatever information was available with the government, was meant for the people, Mr Habibullah said.

The society should debate that which information was not to be disclosed, he said and requested Delhi government to integrate two Acts -- the Central RTI and the Delhi RTI.

Former Union Home Secretary Padmanabhaiah exhorted NGOs to render constructive cooperation in making RTI more purposeful. He added that RTI was bound to bring in greater transparency and openness apart from changing the mindset of the people working in the government.

He described RTI and consumer court as two of the major positive developments after independence in India.

While mentioning complexities in multiplicity of authorities in Delhi, Mr Padmanabhaiah said there were only three difficult states in India where functioning of the elected governments were facing bigger challenges. These states were Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland and Delhi.

The reason behind nature of challenges was evident in case of Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland whereas Delhi had limited powers, truncated responsibilities and much conscious people, which made the role of Chief Minister more challenging.

He, however, said Ms Dikshit had been able to tackle all difficulties despite all odds.

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