Bihar shows the way

EAR TO THE GROUND

The move to allow filing of Right to Information applications through phone is set to be implemented in other states.

Right to Information will turn two years old next month, but no state except Bihar has found a way of making RTI accessible to the masses.

On January 29 this year, Bihar began scripting a success story of RTI when it opened a phone line for filing applications. The number 155311 has so far received 1,700 calls, meaning as many applications have been filed till last week. This is against the 2,000 applications filed manually in the whole of last year.

Magsaysay awardee and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, who approached the Nitish Kumar government with this idea last year, was surprised when, within a month, the state government put in place the facility.

"We were in fact asking for more time as the government wanted it by January 14 and then by January 26. Finally, we managed to put it in place by January 29," say activists of Parivartan and associate organisation Kabir.

The biggest block to getting information through RTI is the fact that one has to file an application. For, if you file an application saying you want a particular information, then you are not sure which department or ministry it has to be sent to. And if you know the department then you don't know the principal information officer for RTI for that department, says Kejriwal about the great wall that has to be scaled to get some information through RTI. Again, if you find all these, the department may not accept the fee of Rs 10.

Of course, none of these apply if you are Saraswati who cannot read or write anything except her own name and who has been running from pillar to post seeking to know why her son was arrested on the day he was getting engaged. So where does she go? She goes from one lawyer to another and pays them out of whatever she can manage to borrow from people she works for... RTI doesn't exist for her. But in Bihar it does and all she needs to do is dial the number.

"We decided that telephonic applications are the best solution. It is working in Bihar and other states should follow the example," says Kejriwal.

Explains Bibhav Kumar of Kabir: "The phone line in Bihar is run through a private call centre, which has 12 dedicated lines that accept calls on the RTI number." All that a person needs to do is call and give the information he needs to know, besides his name and address. He need not find out which department or ministry the application has to be routed to.

The voice of the caller gets recorded and it becomes an application in itself which cannot be erased or challenged.

As for the 10 rupee fee, the caller need not worry. Each call costs Rs 10. So, if the call is made from a telephone booth in the village, the bill will automatically be Rs 10, neither more nor less. And if one makes the call from one's own residence, then the Rs 10 will accrue to the monthly bill amount.

There is an officer of the level of additional district magistrate who takes care of sorting the applications and couriering them or sending them manually to the right destinations.

How many of these 1,700 applications have got the desired information? According to Kabir's Bhibhav Kumar, 350 callers went for first appeal and 150 went for second appeal. That is a reflection of the success of the method, says Kumar. People who don't get information in the first 30 days or get wrong information, go for the first appeal. And those who don't get satisfactory results even at this stage, go for the second appeal. Here, the complaint goes to the Central Information Commission itself, which is the apex body. According to Kejriwal, that is not too bad.

Now the activists are hard at work in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat to implement the Bihar model there.

The day RTI reaches the rural masses, its purpose would be fulfilled, says Kejriwal. And 'telephonic RTI' is the key to it, he adds.