"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
More than 16 years have passed since the RTI Act was enacted. A large portion of our country’s population is still unaware of this landmark tool. Out of those persons who know about this Act, there are many who have only read about it - in newspapers, in books or through Social Media - and have never submitted any request under the Act. Out of those persons who have tried to get information by making request for it, many have stopped doing so because of no response or unsatisfactory response from the public authorities. On the other hand, there are few individuals who use this Act to such a great extent that their actions are, sometimes, seen as a misuse of the Act.
In government departments, there are many officers who have been designated as Public Information Officers to handle RTI requests, but they have not been given proper training on this subject. Because of this reason, they often fail to dispose of RTI requests in a manner provided by the Act. A guidebook is also required for these officers to help them understand the true meanings of the provisions of the Act on the basis of various judgments pronounced by the Courts on this subject.
Given the large-scale divide between the level of awareness of the RTI Act among citizens and the lack of training of Public Information Officers who deal with RTI requests in Government departments, it is time that a guidebook is published for the benefit of all. This book, in simple words, is an effort in that direction.
Devendra Kumar Singh
Devendra, an M. Tech. graduate from IIT Kanpur, left his engineering career in year 2013 to raise awareness about RTI and other similar rights among needy persons. As an RTI practitioner since 2007, he has helped hundreds of such persons in exercising their rights without paying a single paisa in bribe. In last 5 years, he has helped dozens of victims of ATM/banking fraud in getting back their hard-earned monies using RTI Act.
Since 2015, Devendra has been imparting RTI trainings/lectures in Colleges/Universities/NGOs and Government departments to raise awareness about this Act. Last year, he delivered a lecture on RTI in a seminar jointly organized by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and Central Information Commission (CIC) in New Delhi.
Devendra has completed RTI Internship in Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) under DoPT’s Annual Programme on “Improving Transparency and Accountability in Government through Effective Implementation of RTI Act”. He has also interned with Association for Democratic Reforms - an NGO working in the field of Electoral Reforms and Transparency International India - an NGO working in the field of Anti-corruption.
After completing LL.B. from Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi, Devendra is now a practising Advocate in Delhi.
He can be reached at rtidevendra@gmail.com
