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Is RTI a good thing? No, say 75 pc of users

The study, commissioned by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), found that a majority of the 5,000 people surveyed were not even aware of this law..

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Almost three years after the implementation of the Right to Information Act (RTI), over 75% of the information seekers have said that they were dissatisfied with the quality of information provided. According to an evaluation study carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), poor quality of information, delay in getting replies, and an untrained and uncooperative staff were among the reasons for the RTI not being seen as a success story.

The study, commissioned by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), found that a majority of the 5,000 people surveyed were not even aware of this law.. It also surveyed 2,000 people who had used the RTI at least once and 200 public information officers (PIO).

There were instances wherein citizens were discouraged from filing information requests. Approximately 89% of the PIOs had prevented citizens from inspecting the records despite a legal provision for the same.

There is huge backlog of RTI requests and the average waiting time varies form 4 months to 12 months. The survey said 47% of the citizens did not receive replies to their RTI application within the stipulated 30 days. The survey said there is a need to improve the convenience in filing requests. Since submission of an RTI request at the PIO’s office was the most prevalent channel, over 26% of the citizens had to make more than three visits to submit applications, while 47% said no signboards were present to help them out.

A survey of the PIOs showed that the government machinery is yet to gear up to handle the needs of the RTI Act. More than 38% of the PIOs surveyed blamed the ineffective record management system in use at present for the delay in processing information.
Also, 43% PIO said they were not aware of the record management guidelines while 45% admitted that they had not received any training.

Moreover, 89% said there was no additional allocation of staff to handle RTI queries, thus increasing their workload. Most of the current PIOs had taken up the job unwillingly, which in turn meant low motivation among them.

In the midst of all this is the good news: the survey found that there has been a significant shift in the mindset of government servants. While earlier they thought ‘Official Secrets Act’, now they think about the ‘Right to Information Act’ mindset, which is a major victory for the common man.
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