Ministries have no clue about the expenditure on Gandhi Jayanti in foreign countries
14 Oct, 2013A Lucknow-based class VII student had filed an application with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to know about the details of amount spent on Gandhi Jayanti celebrations in foreign countries after India got independence.
The PMO transferred the application to the Ministry of Culture which said that it didn’t have any information on the matter and in turn forwarded the application to the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti and the Union Ministry of External Affairs. In its reply to the application, the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti said that they had not spent a single penny towards Gandhi Jayanti celebrations in any foreign country.
The Ministry of External Affairs, in its reply stated that they too didn’t have any information about the matter. It rather asked the applicant to file appeals with the Indian embassies to obtain the details. The applicant has written to the Prime Minister apprising him of the situation contending that the government has not done enough to make Gandhi Jayanti- an international event.