Here's a news report:
Arvind Kejriwal, RTI activist and Magsaysay Award winner, described this as the real magic of RTI. "An RTI application can provide instant solutions to problems of a large number of people if real public interest is involved," he said.
A simple RTI application of research scholars at IIT-Bombay to the HRD Ministry and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) earlier this year seeking information on the fellowship hike for M.Tech students had the HRD Ministry announcing an increase in fellowship for students who had cleared the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering last year. Before 30 days, the stipulated period for providing information under the RTI Act, the ministry released additional money to all IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, to increase the stipend.
Earlier, the research scholars got the University Grants Commission and the ministry moving on an RTI application on the increase in fellowship for Ph.D scholars enrolled under the UGC programme. Within a month of receiving the application, the UGC released Rs 2.14 crore. Till then, the IIT authorities had been blaming the UGC for not paying dues for three years. The UGC said IITs had failed to submit the utilisation certificates.
1 Comments:
This clearly shows that IITs are happy to be on the Govt side than on the side of their subjects. Ask any IIT administrative official how many letters requesting for information are pending with them. They would just say "sir, people just keep pestering us. They have no other work. We have so many things to do. You see.". When it comes to implementing benefits, they are happy to enter the indefinite waiting loop. Thanks to the RTI, there is now a stipulated period within which the information is to be provided. But if you want to know how the IITs scare their subjects? Read the warnings on page 4 the pdf linked below:
http://www.iitd.ac.in/thisweek/february27.pdf
Post a Comment