Question

Vigilance Awareness Week Essay writing ‘RTI Act a deterrent to corruption ’

Answer 1

 This Act is supposed to enable people to responsibly scrutinise government officials and legal processes. The Act emanates from what the Indian Constitution guarantees itself. Under Article 19 (1) (a) the Constitution guarantees every citizen freedom of speech and expression with certain restrictions. Logically to allow the exercise of freedom of speech and expression effectively the country needs an informed civil society.In 1975 itself the Supreme Court observed that in a responsible government as ours, where all the agencies of public service must be responsible for their conduct, there can be only few confidential matters. The people of the country have a right to know the details about the functionaries’ function. In this context, Supreme Court judgements have made it mandatory for candidates to disclose certain information while contesting elections.The RTI Act states that public authorities shall make known the particulars of facilities available to citizens for Public Information Officers. According to Section 7 of the Act within 30 days of the receipt of the request, either the information be provided on payment of fee if any or the request rejected and the reason(s) mentioned. If information sought for concerns the life or liberty of a person, the same shall be provided within 48 hours. There is a provision for appeal within 30 days. The Information Commission can impose a penalty on the Public Information Officer amounting to Rs 250 each day delayed till the information is furnished.
This Act exempts certain intelligence and security organisations from its purview (Chapter VI). However, information on corruption and human rights violations are not excluded under this Section. Information on human rights violation is to be provided within 45 days.Thus this Act puts in place implementation mechanisms and processes. However, there are certain issues of bureaucratic and political cultures and secrecy which are used to centralised control of information. In the year 2006, the Central Government proposed certain amendments to the Act. It was interpreted by the Central Information Commission that the Act includes right to see file notings which show advices and opinions of bureaucrats on the concerned issue. However , the government argued that this right was not included in the Act in the first place. The Central Government is now ready to confer a limited right with regard to social sector expenditure and development projects only. Further, no information would be provided on ongoing matters. 

Answer 2

                                 Vigilance Awareness Week  

Building a new India is almost impossible as long as there is the cancer of corruption in it. Corruption is an obstacle that the people of a country must overcome to be a happy nation. The national goals of economic prosperity, infrastructural development, and overall advancement will remain elusive until corruption is wiped out from our country. Eliminating corruption is impossible without the collective will of the people and the Government.  

In order to eliminate the evil of corruption from the country, the Central Vigilance Commission is observing Vigilance Awareness Week throughout the nation from October 29, 2018 to November 3, 2018. The theme for the same is ‘Eradicate Corruption - Build A New India’.  

All the organizations – Public or Private, schools, colleges, etc. shall conduct many activities such as taking Integrity Pledge, conducting seminars or workshops on promoting anti-corruption measures and the role of Vigilance Department, conducting debates, speeches, quizzes, etc. on ‘Eradicate Corruption - Build A New India, bringing out newsletters, journals, issues, pamphlets on Vigilance Awareness and anti-corruption measures, etc.  

Central Vigilance Commission wishes the Vigilance Awareness Week to be organized in true spirit and zeal. Finally the report of the activities conducted is to be sent to the Central Vigilance Commission by November 30, 2018.  

                                    Role of RTI in Curbing Corruption

RTI (Right to Information) is an act passed by the Government of India in 2005. According to the Act any citizen of India may request information from a public authority pertaining to any project; and the authority has to provide the information within 30 days.

The Act makes it mandatory for the public authorities to computerize their records so that they can easily be shared with the citizens when required. This Act has proved very useful in curbing corruption, but still there are many loopholes in it.