In a bid to deepen awareness on the Right to Information (RTI) Act in the tribal dominated regions of Orissa, the state information commission has published the information material containing the provisions of RTI Act in eight tribal languages.
Besides, the state information commission has also taken the initiative to make available all the information contained in the RTI Act in the Braille script for the benefit of the visually impaired people.
“Our information commission has been the pioneer in getting the RTI Act published in eight tribal languages. Our objective is to make all segments of the people in Orissa aware of the RTI Act and also ensure that the Act is implemented in toto”, Jagadananda, the state information commissioner told Business Standard.
As a part of its endeavour to step up awareness on the RTI Act, the state information commission is regularly organizing interactive workshops between the government officials and the people at the panchayat as well as district levels.
The commission has also identified the departments of the state government which have frequent interaction with the people. These include the departments of health, agriculture, panchayati raj, law, women and child development and cooperation.
The RTI is an enabling Act and to ensure its successful implementation, we got to break the cultural barriers and narrow the gulf that exists between the officialdom and the citizens, said Jagadananda.
The state information commission has rolled out a training programme on RTI Act for 1,000 police officers in the state. This programme is being offered by the commission in collaboration with the city-based Biju Patnaik State Police Academy.
“Our information commission also aims to create a band of youth ambassadors for building the necessary awareness on the RTI Act. For achieving this objective, we have tied up with National Service Scheme (NSS) and the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS)”, added Jagadananda.