Government revises guidelines for RTI awareness scheme
22 Jul, 2013To strengthen the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had launched a funding scheme for RTI awareness in 2008 "improving transparency and accountability in government through effective implementation of the Right to Information Act".
Now the central government has sent the revised guidelines for releasing funds under the scheme to all the State Information Commissions (SICs). To get financial assistance under the scheme, the State Information Commissions will have to submit detailed proposals with cost estimates for different activities and the timelines for completing them. The funds will be sanctioned after the review of the proposals by the scheme monitoring committee.
Under the revised guidelines of the centrally sponsored scheme, each SIC will get a financial assistance of Rs. 3 lakh to celebrate RTI Week (October 5-12) every year during which they will organize workshops, seminars, etc. in colleges on RTI related themes. Funds will also be provided for launching e-RTI, for implementing other guidelines like indexing and suo motu disclosures and for organizing innovative programmes like street plays and distance learning programmes.