Right to Information

I am sure that many people have heard of the RTI, specially its effectiveness. However, in India, the common man tends to view any government initiative with scepticism. I recently witnessed first hand the effectiveness of the RTI.

My mother, who retired as a Principal of a Kendriya Vidyalaya about 2 years back had been waiting for a ~Rs 30,000 bill for clearance from her regional office. Innumerable phone calls, polite conversations, request letters later, the matter was nowhere near being closed. I was aghast at the disrespect any institution can show to a person who served it for 40 long years. Anyway, my mother filed an RTI application asking the day to day progress on the application. Lo and behold! Within 5 working days of filing the application, her cheque is on the way and discreet enquiries are being made regarding my mother's well-being from high officials in the regional office!

Morale of the story is-citizens of the country should not hesitate to come forward and register their grievances against government instituions. To the elder generation, I would request that they do not consider it a favor when what is rightfully due to them is actually given to them by the government. Over the last 50 years, all arms of the government have successfully created the impression that if the government servant does his job, he is actually rendering a personal favor to the citizen. To eradicate and eliminate this attitude, we must also be prepared to follow the law-let us pay a traffic challan instead of bribing the policeman. Let us demand an explanation from the government babu with courage instead of begging before him. Let us use the courts and the RTI to address our issues.

We are educated citizens of the country-let us act like one as well.