Open Forum

By Rajiv Shah The Gujarat state assembly may have cleared a law allowing an extremely harsh punishment entailing a maximum of life and a minimum of 10 years imprisonment for cow slaughter. However, in less than month after the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was passed in the absence of the Opposition Congress, with the visitors’ gallery packed with saffron-clad Hindu priests, Gujarat’s Dalit organizations wonder if the law would apply to those who force cows to consume plastics along with leftover food offered to them. Passed eight months after self-styled cow vigilantes brutally beat up four Dalit boys on suspicion of cow slaughter in Una, a small town in Saurashtra, the new law goes so far as to make offences under the amended Act non-bailable. The Bill was cleared amidst Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani declaring, “I am not against any food”, but in the same breathe adding, he wanted to make Gujarat “shakahari (vegetarian).” One of those who has decided to c

The National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information* has welcomed the Maharashtra Chief Information Commission’s order asking the chief secretary to create an online system to enable RTI applicants to know the status of their pleas. Text of the NCPRI statement: *** The National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI) welcomes the landmark order passed by Chief Information Commissioner, Maharashtra that could greatly empower RTI users, Heads of Departments, and the Commissions to track and monitor every Public Information Officers (PIO) response to every RTI application across the state of Maharashtra. The order was passed in response to a complaint filed by the former Central Information Commissioner, Shri Shailesh Gandhi complaint under section 18 of the RTI Act that pointed out that citizens were unable to know their status of their RTI application, once it was submitted. In its order dated 16.04.2017, the commission has directed the Chief Secretary, Government of Maha

Senior activists and concerned individuals* met in Gujarat on March 17 in Janvikas to discuss implications of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for civil rights organizations. Text of the minutes: *** GaganSethi (Janvikas) began by asking Harinesh Pandya (Janpath) to give a broad picture of FCRA and how it is affecting the civil society in Gujarat. Harinesh Pandya said, Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) was passed in 2010, when the Congress was ruling. Ever since then, the government at various levels began acting against civil society organizations which were not to their liking, especially those that opposed its anti-developmental globalization agenda such as setting of nuclear power plants. There was an effort to suppress their voice. After the government changed in 2014, FCRA began being used more extensively for suppressing civil society. First it cancelled FCRA license of 13,000 NGOs, uploading their names in bulk, citing technical violations. Then selective tar

By Venkatesh Nayak* “Another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust uh.. and another one, and another one”. “Apro dikro” (our Parsi lad), Freddie Mercury’s hit song from the 1980s song, is in real danger of becoming the RTI anthem for India. With the murder of renowned RTI activist Suhas Haldankar in Pimpri-Chinchwad area of Pune district in Maharashtra last Sunday, Maharashtra accounts for 16 instances of murder of RTI activists and information seekers counting Satish Shetty, onwards of 2010. Three of them have occurred since the present State Government assumed power in October 2014. Nation-wide, the death toll has gone up to 65 and the total number of attacks on RTI activists and information seekers is at the threshold of 400. Readers may visit the Hall of Shame where CHRI has documented these attacks on a Google Map. According to media reports, using RTI as a tool, Suhas had exposed several irregularities in the functioning of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* Come April 7th and World Health Day will be observed once again. The focus this year is on ‘Depression’, which as the WHO statement says, “affects people of all ages, from all walks of life, in all countries. It causes mental anguish and impacts on people’s ability to carry out even the simplest everyday tasks, with sometimes devastating consequences for relationships with family and friends and the ability to earn a living”. Depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide. According to the latest estimates from WHO, more than 300 million people are now living with depression, an increase of more than 18% between 2005 and 2015. Lack of support for people with mental disorders, coupled with a fear of stigma, prevent many from accessing the treatment they need to live healthy, productive lives. “Let’s Talk” is the response part of the theme; emphasising the fact that those who suffer from depression must seek help, must talk about it- but t

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India, has published a ‘factual position’ about the content of the Draft Right to Information Rules, 2017 that seek to replace the existing RTI Rules notified in 2012. The text of this clarification is copied below. Our preliminary comments on the ‘factual position’ are given after the text of the same: "Factual position on proposed Amendments to RTI Rules: No change in fee structure or word limit in RTI queries, Government committed to full and easy implementation of RTI". A factually incorrect and misleading news report appeared in a section of the media that a new set of RTI Rules have been formulated which creates difficulties and hurdles in the right of the citizens to get information from the Government. It has been alleged that the size of the RTI has been restricted to 500 words and a provision of fees has been unfairly introduced in the Rules. The facts are totally to the co

By Venkatesh Nayak* Even though April 5 was a holiday, the Central Government worked over time to clarify the confusion caused by some media reports containing statements of some political leaders, about their views on the Draft Right to Information Rules, 2017 . The Ministry of Personnel put out a ‘factual position’ on the Draft RTI Rules, explaining how much of it is a repeat of the existing RTI Rules notified in 2012 and how some other provisions were only giving effect to parts of the CIC’s Management Regulations that the Delhi High Court struck down in 2010.  The Hon’ble Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting also clarified that the NDA Government is committed to transparency and accountability in governance and these values are non-negotiable. The clarification from such a senior Minister is very welcome as it sets at rest speculation about the intention behind the Draft Rules, 2017. However, the Government seems to have ignored an important resolution adopted by the C

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are

A team of human rights activists and social activists from various organisations based in Ahmedabad, such as Jan Sangharsh Manch, Human Rights Law Network, Janvikas, Action Aid, Aman Biradri etc. recently visited the Vadavali village in North Gujarat, which saw communal flareup on March 25, 2017. Text of its fact-finding report: *** Vadavali village is situated in Patan district of North Gujarat. Out of the 4 MLA seats from this district 3 seats belong to BJP and 1 to Congress. Vadavali village comprises of nearly 350 Muslim, 700 Patel, 60 Darbar, 150 Thakore, 150 Dalit, 50 Rawal, 50 Prajapati, 30 Rabari, 40 Devi pujak families. This village is part of the Gujarat Government Samras Gram Panchayat Model. The Samras Model was welcomed by this village and especially by Ibrahimbhai Lal Belim who was shot at in the recent rioting incident. In the 2002 Gujarat genocide this village was not affected, in fact the villagers did not participate in the genocide and had also rescued some injured p