Pay zero bribe with the new Rs 0.0 note

Fifth Pillar India, an NGO set up to fight corruption, has printed over 200,000 zero-denomination notes that resemble Indian currency and has begun distributing them around the country. It is asking people to give the notes to anyone demanding a bribe. Fifth Pillar will launch the “zero rupee currency note” campaign in Coimbatore on Saturday.

The NGO launched its 30-day-30-district campaign, called “Freedom From Corruption”, on August 4 in Chennai and will end it on September 9. It consulted leading lawyers in Chennai before printing the “zero rupee note”, which resembles a Rs 50 note in colour and is slightly bigger than a Rs 1,000 note. “Instead of the usual ‘I promise to pay the bearer a sum of x rupees’ pledge on a currency note, the replica will carry the pledge ‘I promise neither to accept nor give bribes,’” Fifth Pillar India president (operations) M. Vijayanand told this newspaper.

As the note is being distributed across the country, the pledge is printed in the respective State languages. “The notes are aimed at sending across the message that enough is enough and we are not willing to pay any more bribes,” he said. A software professional from the city who founded the NGO in Chennai many years ago conceived the idea as he felt corruption was a big issue and the zero currency notes would drive home the message. He is currently working in the US and visits India now and then.
The zero rupee note does not carry any government symbols or emblems. The watermark, which is characteristic of a currency note, is absent and the notes are devoid of the signature of the RBI governor. A distinct circular seal on the notes states: “This is not a currency note.”

The organisation will hold a public meeting at the Government College of Technology campus on August 25 in Coimbatore to launch the “zero currency” and the Coimbatore chapter of Fifth Pillar India will distribute the notes, or mail them to people later. About 20,000 notes will be distributed in Coimbatore in the first phase.

Coimbatore is the 13th district where the notes are being distributed. Some of the other places where the currency notes have already been launched are Thriuvallur, Vellore, Kanchipuram, Vizhupuram, Puducherry, Salem, Trichy, Madurai, Thirunelveli, and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. The notes are already in circulation in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and in Mumbai. A 24-hour call centre will be set up in Chennai to help people who need assistance dealing with corrupt officials or authorities. The call centre will empower the public to use the Right to Information Act. The service centre will register complaints on corruption and make sure that justice is served, Mr Vijayanand added.

I-T dept seeks exemption of RTI Act

The income-tax department has asked the department of personnel and training to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act to shield itself from unsolicited queries on its investigations.

The RTI Act has exempted the department of revenue intelligence, Intelligence Bureau, Central Excise Intelligence Bureau and the Enforcement Directorate, which are in the Schedule-II of the Act. The Central Board of Direct Taxes has written to the department of personnel and training that its investigation wing should also be exempted as its nature of work was similar to these agencies, a government source said.

“Most of these agencies exchange information with the income-tax department, which could be very sensitive in nature. Since these agencies have been exempted from the purview of the RTI Act, it is logical the income-tax department’s investigation wing should also be exempted,” he said.

The investigation mainly involves search operations to nab tax evaders. These searches, and any other investigation activity, usually involves department’s trusted network of informers, whose information is crucial to cases. These informers could get into trouble if exposed under the RTI Act and could be harassed by the affected parties, the source said.

Recently, the Central Information Commission had turned down an appeal by First Global’s Shankar Sharma seeking details of investigations carried out by the income-tax department. The department had raided the stock broker’s premises in 2001 after the Tehelka sting.

Though the department draws comfort from the decision, it wants to prevent anyone filing an application under the RTI Act to find out details about its investigations. The department has also conveyed its objections against bringing scrutiny under the purview of the RTI Act as the selection was carried out by a computerised system.

RTI in jail: Inmates wake up to their rights, living conditions

For the first time, with the help of Right to Information Act, inmates at different prisons of the state have inquired about their term status, section they have been booked, status of state prisons, jail officials and other details.
Officials said with the involvement of inmates, the communication gap between the inmates and officials will bridge and that would bring in transparency in their work.
Speaking to a reporter Jailor R P Singh said, “Interestingly, the inmates have asked various questions like their term, jail officials etc. We have prepared a record book, in which the queries are noted down. Then it is passed to the concerned official. We try to provide the information as soon as possible.”
Advocate Rohit Kant said that “it is a positive sign that inmates are getting aware of their rights and are using the Right to Information Act”.
Sources said though inmates can also collect the details from the court, but it seemed that they prefer more on using RTI Act.
The provisions of the act give rise to several communication issues. The public needs to be made aware of its right to seek information from the government, and the administration on its part has to be reassured that the act is pro-government in enhancing accountability and bringing people closer to governmental processes, officials in the state Jail Department said.

Millions Rupees spent on flowers decoration.

In a country where more than sixty percent of population is poor,live in villages,where thousands of people die each day because of improper health care and malnutrition , where roads are not available to all and if available are full of serial potholes, where drinking water is not available to all and if water supply is available it is packed with disease, can the expenditure of Lacs of rupees from Tax payer pocket on decoration by flowers in ministers Bungalow and offices be justified.
In a information furnished under RTI it revealed Indian oil spent Rs 4 lacs in a year on such flowers decorations. Ministry of Textile came out with startling figure of Rs. 5 lacs. If we calculate the figures of government offices the figure will be in crores. Can this unproductive expenditure from poor pocket be justified.

Rs 25 lacs wasted on fake NGOs

In a copy of Audit report obtained from Social Justice Ministry it revealed that Rs 25 lacs were sanctioned to those NGOs which in due course of time became untraceable. Effort made by ministry has proved to be futile.
What action ministry is taking against those who proposed and approved such sanctions to these NGOs.

Doctor Held For Allegedly Killing Scribe for demanding information under RTI

17th of August 2007 An orthopaedic surgeon here was arrested for allegedly murdering a journalist who had run up unpaid bills and who tried to get information about the doctor's hospital under the Right to Information Act.

B.P. Singh, who owns the Prayag hospital, allegedly hired goons to attack Mahesh Vats, who died after battling for life at the Metro Hospital in this satellite town of New Delhi.

Vats, who had apparently paid Rs.7,000 against a bill of Rs.35,000 for an injury a few years ago claiming that treatment at Prayag was ineffective, was attacked Thursday morning. In June this year, Singh had moved a city court to recover the remaining amount, and the court reportedly directed Vats to pay it up. But Vats instead filed an application under the Right to Information Act seeking information from Noida authorities about illegal construction in Prayag hospital.Vats' family and friends have alleged that the doctor had a long-standing money dispute with him. He hatched a plan to abduct Vats and tried to murder him in collusion with the hired goons, they say. On Thursday morning, an unidentified person rushed Vats, 38, to the Prayag Hospital after a speeding Alto car hit his two-wheeler from behind. The driver of the car managed to flee the spot. After admitting Vats, who writes for Shah Times, in Prayag Hospital, the stranger left the place. When policemen went looking for the injured Vats, they saw Singh treating him in a general ward. When the cops intervened, Vats was shifted to the intensive care unit. The journalist was later shifted to the Metro Hospital and placed on life supporting system. He succumbed to his injuries after few days of his admission in hospital.

Estate dept data is now a click away

Weary of repeated rounds to the local ward office and unsuccessful attempts under the Right To Information Act for knowing the status of a municipal open plot run by a charitable trust? The information will soon be readily available on the click of the mouse.BMC’s estate and land management department has initiated the process of updating the status of all 5,500 municipal properties, most of them located in plush South Mumbai areas and of prime value, on the Internet. This will include 4,176 plots allotted on lease and other vacant properties, acquired and conveyed plots etc. The area of the plot, the name of the owner/lessee, terms of agreement with the BMC, nature of use of the plot, breaches if any committed by the party, ready reckoner rates will also be listed.
Presently, several, affected by the misuse of many such plots, especially those leased to charitable trusts and NGOs, flock to the ward offices or the estate department for information. Many return empty-handed.The system will promote transparency. Not only is a citizen entitled to the Right to Information, it is our Duty to Inform people about the management of these plots

Dubious Promotion nullified : thanks to RTI

Often, tainted government servants, who know how to pull the right strings in the corridors of power in Gandhinagar, get to keep their job despite a vigilance inquiry pending, and are also promoted.

But then, dubious efforts of a public office can be thwarted as has been shown by a commoner who used the Right to Information (RTI) Act to bring this issue to the fore and even nailed some top ranking officers of the health department for helping the tainted official.

Ashwin Patel, who is a drug manufacturer himself, had asked whether the promotion of assistant depot manager of the Central Medical Stores Organisation (CMSO) RS Shah can be considered legal or not. Shah was chargesheeted by his own department and a vigilance inquiry too was pending against him. At the end of the exercise, Shah's promotion was withdrawn on Friday.

CMSO is the nodal body in the health department responsible for procurement of medicines and surgical goods for government hospitals across the state. The issue had come up for hearing before the state chief information commissioner R N Das on July 17. Despite several appeals, Patel was refused information regarding the status of the vigilance proceedings pending against Shah. Das pulled up both the director CMSO Manorama Shah and the principal secretary for persistent denial of information.

What was more appalling, was the fact that even the principal secretary had admitted in a reply to Shah dated September 22 last year, that the promotion given to R S Shah was malafide and irregular.

Patel procured under the RTI Act two letters—- one written by the under secretary dated October 30, 2001 and the other written by a vigilance officer on October 11, 2001, categorically informing the department that it had been decided to initiate departmental enquiry against him. So perturbed were the health department officials that they never allowed Patel to even inspect the files pertaining to Shah's vigilance inquiry under the RTI Act.

Shah's promotion was ordered on February 8, 2002 by the departmental promotion committee (DPC) of the health and family welfare with the recommendation of the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC). Interestingly, on the same day the director of CMSO had issued a chargesheet against Shah.

Three days later, all departmental proceedings against Shah were stalled and on February 21, 2002, Shah was exonerated from the charges.

Das categorically noted that the matter raised by Patel had merit as it seeks to promote transparency in the working of a public authority. On Friday, Shah's promotion was nullified.

Officers denying information under RTI can be jailed

The government will come down heavily on officers who do not respond to applications seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act regarding rural development work.

'We will not spare any officer found erring when it comes to giving information under the RTI Act,' Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said here .'Such officials will go to jail.'
The minister's comments came when it was pointed out to him that a politician-bureaucrat-contractor nexus in Assam was harassing people who sought information on rural development work under the RTI Act. He was addressing a press conference on his ministry's ongoing projects in Assam. When told that most of the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA) offices in Assam have got the reputation of being corrupt, the minister said, 'Whenever such cases come to our notice, we will take strict action against the officers concerned. We are also launching awareness campaigns in rural areas so that people know their rights.'

To another question on contractors taking up work under the Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), a government-housing scheme for people below the poverty line, he said, 'There is no provision whatsoever for IAY work to be allocated to contractors. Strict action will be taken against anybody found doing so.'He clarified that, under this scheme, the money goes straight to the beneficiary's bank account and there is no scope for middlemen to swindle money.'Each family gets Rs.22,000 under IAY, and in the hill areas, the amount is Rs.27,000,' he added.Singh also stated that, to ensure transparency in rural development work at the grassroots level, the government is giving special attention to village level vigilance committees.