RTI for combating corruption

Jaipur, Apr 18 (UNI) Common citizens of the country pay bribes totaling about Rs 21,068 crore for availing of one or more of eleven public services annually, according to India Corruption study 2005.

This was disclosed at a seminar on Combating Corruption in Rajasthan state, by applying RTI Act as a tool'' by CUTS International here today.

The study with a sample of 14,405 spread across 20 states reveals the exent of corruption in government and society.

Central Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibulla said the act is an effective toll in the hands of the public to establish accountability and transparency in the country. He said the commission is working on integrating the right to information as a part and parcel of each government office in the country. He said a draft paper is being prepared on the direction of Prime Minister for integrating the act as part of the governance culture.

He said the CIC is developing an interactive web for e-filing of information sought by the public in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

''Right to Information Act can be viewed as a facilitator rather than as a weapon in the hands of the public to act as a check and balance in the system,'' he said.

CD Arah, Chief Information Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh said the commission has received about 3370 applications seeking information.

Talking about the urban rural divide he said the total number who sought information about 88.8 per cent was from urban areas while the rest of 11.2 was from rural areas indicating the need for more awareness generation in the rural masses of the Act. He said about 40 per cent exposures were through the media while 17.8 per cent information was sought by the NGOs. He said while the rest was by the government employees. He cautioned against the misuse of the Act by the governemnt employees for settling scores.

George Cheriyan of CUTS said the RTI with in a short period of time proved to be the most epoch making legislation in good governance and an effective tool to ensure transparency and accountability in governance.

UNI