Whispers Forum

MP goes to the polls on November 17. Needless to say, victory is a prestige issue for the saffron camp even as the Congress is keen for revenge. PM Narendra Modi himself led the saffron charge by addressing approximately a dozen public meetings. He was seconded by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda. The election campaign also brought out fissures in the newly formed I.N.D.I.A. alliance, with the Samajwadi Party targeting the Congress for not leaving some seats for it. The outcome shall also be a reflection of the voters' mood vis-à-vis the all-important general election scheduled in 2024.
Ritika Malviya

B R Ambedkar did not support endless reservation. He recommended it to last for ten years only. He was opposed to its extension ad infinitum. Ends of justice would be met, if benefits of reservation are restricted to once-in-a-life-time for all categories. The ‘creamy layer’ concept, linked to the inflationary spiral, must be done away with. No doubt, the benefits of reservations are not reaching the downtrodden who really deserve it. These are being monopolised by the elites among the marginalised communities, generations-after-generations. The civil services aspirants availing the reservation benefits, clear the UPSC exams at an advanced age after repeated attempts. This explains why officers of reserved categories superannuate much before reaching the top echelons of bureaucracy. This clarifies Rahul Gandhi's doubt. Similarly, caste-based census in Bihar has a political motive.
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)

"Jiski jitni hissedari, uski utni bhagidari" is a slogan which is not supported by the Constitution. The Constitutional provision is that the state may make provisions for socially and educationally backward classes. However, that cannot be translated to mean share in education provided in state institutions and government jobs proportionate to population of various castes. Further, this cannot be reduced to a "bandarbant" since the efficiency of administration has also to be maintained by the state. Educational institutions admit students on the basis of merit. How can merit be disregarded? That would be contrary to the national interest. Government selects servants on the basis of merit, in order to have efficiency. How can that principle be overturned to that of percentage of population? If that were to be so, a fresh constituent assembly would have to be called to consider the principle before it can be adopted. There are other issues involved. There are thousands of castes in India. Creating a group out of these castes and calling them "OBC" is a political construct which only helps in consolidation of votes, it has no historical sanctity. There was no OBC identity in Hindu society, there were separate castes. Why should these disparate castes be treated as one group? Only to count numbers and insist on a numerical superiority as a vote bank? Linking this to caste identity has its own absurdities. How can Muslims be considered OBC? How can Muslims be divided into castes? Islam does not have any caste divisions. Nor have Muslims suffered from caste disabilities. They ruled India before the British and were the ruling class so they have not suffered from historical disabilities either. Including Muslims among "OBC" is just a political construct for appeasement and vote bank tactics. Should upper caste Hindus be discriminated against so much, including vis a vis the Muslims who ruled India for a thousand years, caused partition of the motherland and formed separate countries for themselves and are still being provided reservations in jobs based on caste in India when there is no caste discrimination in Islam? The truth is that the corrupt leaders this country has endured for decades keep looking to create vote banks who can vote them into power because they have no work to their credit which can bring them back to power. The poorest, most backward state in India today called Bihar has been ruled by "OBC" leaders for forty years now. In these forty years, the state has gone from bad to worse and only the so called leaders have grown fat.
Vijay Kumar

I have been associated with this RTI. Now I feel the CIC office has virtually collapsed. Hardly any decision relating to corruption is decided. Officers involved are protected. No hope. It is better if it is closed.
Maheshwar
DoPT should publish an authoritative book on RTI
Good to hear about a book which would actually help the public information officers. Anyone can be appointed as a SPIO/CPIO and the clock starts ticking for the RTI application. There is little training and there is poor handing over the pending RTI applications. Before one realizes, a new notice appearing before the information commission is at the desk. There is nobody to guide and the penalty is imposed on the SPIO/CPIO for no fault. The DoPT should publish such an authoritative book. Thanks to you for the weekly case laws and the book on RTI Act.
Mrinalini

Infosys Chairman Narayana Murthy was out of sync with ground realities while exhorting India's young generation to increase their contribution to national GDP by working for 70 hours a week instead of the present 48 hours a week. Absurd, illogical in absence of holistic analysis, reflecting an utterly exploitative, capitalist mindset that considers it a sacred duty to grill the youth to the maximum, without increase in remunerations. Murthy is silent on this issue. Sheer hypocrisy. Providing 3 to 4 lakhs rupees annual package in lieu of 70 hours work per week, is cruelty. A pittance as compared to high salaries drawn by CEOs, top and middle level executives enjoying perks like chauffeur-driven cars, free-furnished houses, company-paid army of servants. Contrast these with the problems of an average Indian employee. Is Murthy oblivious of the high rate of inflation, massive unemployment, poor working conditions that the employees have to face along with time consuming transportation cost? By this reckoning, an average Indian is already spending more than 70 hours per week. No doubt, India ranks at an abysmally low position of 126 in the global Happiness index. Why push it down further? European society, on average, works from 35 to 39 hours a week. There is even a demand to switch over from 5-day week to 4-day week. Experience of China, Japan and South Korea should be eye-openers for India. In their enthusiasm to enhance GDPs, working hours were increased. Results were disastrous. Health, productivity, even fertility and population growth--all showed downward trends. Even their GDPs registered negative growth under the new dispensation. GDP cannot be increased by merely enhancing the working hours. More important is increasing the "Productive hours " Worse still, due to continued absence of working children from homes, the loneliness among senior citizens/ parents also increased manifold. These could be potential side effects of thoughtless decision making. Consider another point. Since the suggestion to increase the working hours per week has come from a business tycoon like Murthy, one is entitled to know about the contribution of business houses to the cause of the poor people of India especially those belonging to BPL category. One suggestion would be to reduce the net worth-based eligibility criteria from Rs 500 crores to Rs 200 crores under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR ) and increase the contribution limit from 2 % to 5% of average net profit for preceding three years. Another suggestion would be to deport willful defaulters of banking loans and reduce corruption Sadly, India has failed on all these fronts.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

The appellant sought to know about the steps taken on the certain communications issued by Department of Food of Ministry of Consumer Affairs of Central Government by the Delhi Government. He asked for information regarding the number of new ration card applications pending as on 31/10/2022. He submitted that there are almost 11 lacs new ration card applications pending before the government. And as per the records of September and November, 2021 provided by the central government to the Delhi government it was revealed that almost 5.5 lac ration card holders have duplicate ration cards and 3 lacs of the ration card holders are already deceased whose names are enlisted in the ration card list. Therefore the appellant requested the CIC to direct the respondent authority to provide the complete and detailed information for the benefit of the society. The CIC advised the Chief Minister of Delhi to take appropriate and strict action on the concerned authorities in order to prevent the resource of government going into vain and not letting the needy people avail the benefit of the ration card issued by the government for the weaker sections of the society. Additionally, the CIC advised the Chief Minister to complete the exercise of removing these approx. 8.40 lakh names without delay so that almost 80 percent of the needy people on the ration card list are accommodated and are able to ease their burden of living.
Comments The RTI Act has been used to obtain information which can be utilised for removing inefficiencies in the system. The Public Distribution System is in dire need for improvements to weed out Bogus and duplicate ration cards so that the benefits percolate down to the actual needy persons.
Citation: Mr. Aakash Goel v. Department of Food & Supplies and Consumers Affairs, CIC/FSACA/A/2023/602410-UM Date of Decision: 20.10.2023
Dr Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is a RTI Consultant currently working with IIM Visakhapatnam. She has co-authored the books, RTI Right to Information - Law and Practice and PIO’s Guide to RTI. She offers consultancy on RTI matters and Third party audit. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link www.rtifoundationofindia.com