The Right to Information Act, 2005, may soon be part of the curriculum in schools and colleges in the State. Stating that a proposal to this effect was before the Government, Information Commissioner H.N. Krishna said here on Monday that discussions had already been held by a high-level committee.
Mr. Krishna told presspersons on the sidelines of a two-day Mysore divisional-level workshop on the RTI Act that according to the proposal, school students would have an additional paper on it whereas for college students it would be part of the curriculum, without an examination.
Speaking at the workshop, he regretted that journalists and advocates were not using the Act as much as they should. Urbanites were the greatest beneficiaries of the Act whereas people from rural areas were barely aware of it, he said.
‘Revolutionary Bill’
Hailing October 12, 2005, when RTI Bill was enacted into law, as “the day when India truly attained independence”, Mr. Krishna said that this revolutionary Bill had brought the common man on par with their self-professed rulers - elected representatives and bureaucrats. No major developments in any sector since Independence could match the benefits that people were able to reap through right and effective use of the RTI Act, without personal malice, he added.
Quoting some landmark discoveries made under the Act, he cited the case in which UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was found to have Special Protection Group cover, which she was not entitled to. “Ironically, the Bill was passed with the personal intervention of Ms. Sonia Gandhi in 2005,” he said.
