Hum Janenge

Monday, June 7, 2021

Re: [IAC#RG] THE RTI ACT MUST BE BOOSTED

You have made an interesting point Aires. May I remind you that in October, 2015 most NGOs working in the filed of RTI Act 2005 had boycotted the address of the PM Modi at the CIC Convention. on flimsy ground. As a result these same NGOs with their over inflated ego, just antagonized the very PM who could have helped us in making the Act stronger. What was the outcome from the boycott? Nothing.

In your recent mail you have covered all grounds. It is precise and to the point. So may I request you to approach the Govt. and all stake holders with the same letter / email and also mark a copy to the PMO?

Many of us will also do the same.

Regards

Manoj Pai

On Monday, June 7, 2021, 03:38:40 AM GMT+5:30, Aires Rodrigues <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

The Right to Information Act which came into force on October 12^th 2005 was enacted to ensure transparency and accountability in governance. But the manner in which the government has been subtly subverting the RTI Act is a matter of concern.

A well informed citizenry, transparency, and free flow of information are the very foundations of any successful democratic society. India may be publicly acclaimed as the world's largest democracy but the ground reality is that we are now ebbing away as Democracy and non-transparency in the functioning of the Government cannot co-exist.

Besides, freedom of speech without access to information is meaningless. In 2014 Narendra Modi rode to power on his vow of 'Acche din' for the Aam Aadmi and Good Governance. But once in power the Prime Minister has done nothing to empower the people by strengthening this vital Act. His then enthusiasm for freedom has over the years just waned away and we are in a culture of surveillance and secrecy. For the common man, getting correct and accurate information under the Right to Information Act is today still a far cry.

As the Right to Information Act requires that the Information Commissioners have to be persons of Eminence in public life, Independent minded persons who do not succumb to political pulls and pressures need to be appointed as Information Commissioners to ensure the proper implementation of the Right to Information Act. If Yes-men manage to creep into as Information Commissioners it would be an exercise in futility ending up as white elephants that we would rather be better off without.

Under Section 4 of the RTI Act all public authorities are duty bound to regularly display on their website a wide range of information, including all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affect the public. This proviso in the law was enacted to reduce the need for filing individual RTI applications. But this mandatory duty has been blatantly flouted by the authorities with most government websites themselves dysfunctional or not updated. What is the use of right to freedom of speech when the people do not have their rightful access to information?

The Judiciary needs to step in to ensure that the Government complies with the mandate of the RTI Act. But with the Courts themselves also averse to parting with information and with its functioning largely under a veil of secrecy, we are stonewalled.

But we need to battle it out and cannot allow the RTI Act to be choked by the government to a slow death. Steps need to be taken to strengthen the transparency regime that was sought to be established as envisaged by this Act. Effective implementation of the RTI Act requires political commitment from the very top. Officials denying information or giving misleading and distorted information need to be severely penalized.

Governance by cloak of secrecy and opaqueness needs to be strongly resisted. It cannot be a hush-hush regime. We need to dismantle those walls of secrecy that continue to hound transparency and good governance. In those very words of Narendra Modi 'Sabko sanmati de bhagwan' (Let good sense prevail).

Adv. Aires Rodrigues

C/G-2, Shopping Complex

Ribandar Retreat

Ribandar – Goa – 403006

Mobile No: 9822684372

Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012

Email: airesrodrigues1@gmail.com

You can also reach me on

Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues

Twitter@rodrigues_aires

www.airesrodrigues.in

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Sunday, June 6, 2021

Re: [IAC#RG] THE RTI ACT MUST BE BOOSTED

Instead of boosting, the erstwhile existing Act got very substantially subverted in late 2019: <https://www.mondaq.com/india/white-collar-crime-anti-corruption-fraud/836770/the-toothless-monster-rti-amendment-bill-2019>.

This is over and above routine stonewalling of queries.

Sukla

On Mon, 7 Jun 2021, 03:37 Aires Rodrigues, <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

The Right to Information Act which came into force on October 12^th 2005 was enacted to ensure transparency and accountability in governance. But the manner in which the government has been subtly subverting the RTI Act is a matter of concern.

A well informed citizenry, transparency, and free flow of information are the very foundations of any successful democratic society. India may be publicly acclaimed as the world's largest democracy but the ground reality is that we are now ebbing away as Democracy and non-transparency in the functioning of the Government cannot co-exist.

Besides, freedom of speech without access to information is meaningless. In 2014 Narendra Modi rode to power on his vow of 'Acche din' for the Aam Aadmi and Good Governance. But once in power the Prime Minister has done nothing to empower the people by strengthening this vital Act. His then enthusiasm for freedom has over the years just waned away and we are in a culture of surveillance and secrecy. For the common man, getting correct and accurate information under the Right to Information Act is today still a far cry.

As the Right to Information Act requires that the Information Commissioners have to be persons of Eminence in public life, Independent minded persons who do not succumb to political pulls and pressures need to be appointed as Information Commissioners to ensure the proper implementation of the Right to Information Act. If Yes-men manage to creep into as Information Commissioners it would be an exercise in futility ending up as white elephants that we would rather be better off without.

Under Section 4 of the RTI Act all public authorities are duty bound to regularly display on their website a wide range of information, including all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affect the public. This proviso in the law was enacted to reduce the need for filing individual RTI applications. But this mandatory duty has been blatantly flouted by the authorities with most government websites themselves dysfunctional or not updated. What is the use of right to freedom of speech when the people do not have their rightful access to information?

The Judiciary needs to step in to ensure that the Government complies with the mandate of the RTI Act. But with the Courts themselves also averse to parting with information and with its functioning largely under a veil of secrecy, we are stonewalled.

But we need to battle it out and cannot allow the RTI Act to be choked by the government to a slow death. Steps need to be taken to strengthen the transparency regime that was sought to be established as envisaged by this Act. Effective implementation of the RTI Act requires political commitment from the very top. Officials denying information or giving misleading and distorted information need to be severely penalized.

Governance by cloak of secrecy and opaqueness needs to be strongly resisted. It cannot be a hush-hush regime. We need to dismantle those walls of secrecy that continue to hound transparency and good governance. In those very words of Narendra Modi 'Sabko sanmati de bhagwan' (Let good sense prevail).

Adv. Aires Rodrigues
C/G-2, Shopping Complex
Ribandar Retreat
Ribandar – Goa – 403006

Mobile No: 9822684372
Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012
Email: airesrodrigues1@gmail.com

You can also reach me on
Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues
Twitter@rodrigues_aires
www.airesrodrigues.in
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Re: [IAC#RG] RAJ BHAVANS CANNOT BE REDUCED TO BEING POLITICALDENS

The post is a relic from our colonial past.

In the initial decades since Independence, it was meant to be just ornamental (at considerable expenses of ordinary Indians) - as testified by many of them.

In the later years, it started being used by the Centre to heckle, or even remove, state governments that it considered, for whatever reasons, bothersome.

After the celebrated Supreme Court judgement, in 1994, in the famous SR Bommai vs. Union of India case, things did improve for quite a while.

Now, it's, again, (nearly) back to the bad old days.

This unelected post - chosen completely arbitrarily and appointed unilaterally by the Union Government, goes against the very grain of spirit of federalism.

Needs be forthwith abolished.

Sukla

On Mon, 7 Jun 2021, 03:39 Aires Rodrigues, <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

It is high time that the nation reflects on and debates the manner in which Governors are appointed and whether we need ornamental puppet Governors who needlessly burden the taxpayer.

Constitutionally the Governor possesses executive, legislative, financial and judicial powers. The role of the Governor is very important and essential for the healthy functioning of democracy. However, in recent times this post has been reduced to becoming a retirement package for politicians. As a result people think that the post of the Governor is worthless and just a financial burden on state governments even though technically the role of the Governor if exercised wisely and fairly for the benefit of the state and its people is very vital.

Some Governors of the past had this to say. Sarojini Naidu, the one-time Governor of UP had said that she considered herself "a bird in a golden cage". Dr.Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Governor of Madhya Pradesh had this to say, "My duties as a governor lay more in getting visitors and providing them tea, lunches and dinners than anything else. The first thing I do in the morning is to peruse the list of visitors and invitees to lunch and dinner". KM Munshi, Governor of Uttar Pradesh had a tiff with his Chief Minister and had complained to Pandit Nehru for redressal. When his plea was turned down, he described his job thus: "to run a hotel and entertain guests". NV Gadgil, Governor of Punjab considered himself as "the Patwari of the State of Punjab whose function was to assess the conditions prevailing in the state and report to the Union government".

Governors should not end up being mere rubber stamps as they constitutionally have a major role to play in overseeing that the State is well administered in accordance with law. They should be appointed on merit as the Raj Bhavans cannot end up being shelter homes to rehabilitate the deadwood of the ruling political party. It is imperative that the Governors should be truly non-partisan at all times. We need to reflect and consider whether there is a need to house a "spare wheel" at the state level?

Adv. Aires Rodrigues
C/G-2, Shopping Complex
Ribandar Retreat
Ribandar – Goa – 403006

Mobile No: 9822684372
Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012
Email: airesrodrigues1@gmail.com

You can also reach me on
Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues
Twitter@rodrigues_aires
www.airesrodrigues.in
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[IAC#RG] CORONA CRISIS IN INDIA POINT TO NEED FOR POPULATION CONTROL

India Against Corruption

CORONA CRISIS IN INDIA POINT TO NEED FOR POPULATION CONTROL

The recent decision of the Government of China to allow families to have three children has once again focused the global attention about the population policy of the governments. Alarmed by it's over population scenario, Chinese government ordered several years back that no family should have more than one child. With the dictatorial regime of China and known for it's readiness to impose draconian measures to implement decisions, people of China simply obeyed the government's directive to adhere to the one child family norm and the population growth steadily decreased. Now, the situation in China has undergone one full circle and the government finds that with the longevity of life due to medical advancement, the proportion of the aged population in China has increased, with the number of youth (working hands) reducing in the overall population, that could create a crisis in future.

The question is whether the population of a country should be compulsorily restricted and controlled ?

In sharp contrast to the scenario in China, India is a free and democratic country , where the decision of the government on any matter would be shaped by public opinion and preference of citizens.. India too has been discussing the need for checking the population growth for several decades now and many soft measures to check the rise in population have been introduced, which has not resulted in the desirable level of de growing the population.

There are also vague and confusing discussions in India about what is called a "demographic dividend" , which means that a higher level of population could mean greater number of working hands and consequently larger output of goods and services.

However, the ongoing Corona crisis in India has effectively repudiated the "demographic dividend" theory, which now appears to be an utopian thought.

During this Corona crisis, one reason that the second wave of Corona spread rapidly and uncontrollably in India has been due to the density of population. With such a high level of population density, the social distancing norm has gone for a toss and many people think that the lack of observance of social distancing norm is the biggest issue in tackling the Corona crisis in India today.

In such a scenario, discerning observers are of the firm view that any idea questioning the need for population control is absurd and counter productive.

While under population could create some manageable problems, over population inevitably causes economic and social stress and serious public health issues. This is the biggest problem faced by India today due to it's high population density.. With such a crowd of people all over India which is constantly growing , no measures taken by the government are adequate enough to meet the needs of the people and the society. This has become very evident during the Corona crisis.

Some people tend to compare the size of the USA and it's population with that of India . Such people seem to conclude that even with the present size of India ( which is less than that of USA), if India were to have only the population level of the USA, then India could be as prosperous a country as the USA, particularly considering several natural advantages that India has.

In any case, the ongoing Corona crisis in India is a clear pointer to emphasise the fact that overpopulation with high density is the primary problem in tackling the Corona crisis today. Now, the debate on over population versus under population has been firmly decided in favour of controlling the over population, even if it would lead to under population.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the last seven years of his governance, has taken some extraordinary and innovative measures to implement economic and social reforms in the country. Some positive results have already been seen and several other measures are in the work in progress stage.

What causes concern is that while Mr. Modi has taken several proactive measures, he has not paid attention to the adequate level to check the population growth in India. In the absence of Mr. Modi speaking about the need to control the population, the population control strategy is not a subject of national discussion today in India.

I hope that in the next three years of his present term of office, Mr. Modi would stress on population control and effectively explain to the people that the Corona crisis proved difficult to overcome only due to over -density of the population of the country. He must convince the people that the larger family size is not only an economic issue but also a health issue of serious proportion.

N.S.Venkataraman

Re: [IAC#RG] BJP REWARDS JUSTICE ARUN MISHRA

Dear MG

>"Now Courts are imposing huge costs on petitioners bringing out just and true issues, just because the judges deciding the issues have no real knowledge of the issues "

That is correct and, unfortunately, true.

Recently, the co-founder of INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION (an HRA affiliate), Mr Veeresh Malik has been corruptly fined Rs. 20 lakhs for bringing a simple RTI petition to the Delhi High Court seeking damages for non-providing of information on 4G and 5G mobile tower radiation by DoT, and DoSAT.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/delhi-high-court-dismisses-juhi-chawlas-plea-against-5g-imposes-fine-of-rs-20-lakh/videoshow/83234893.cms

A series of scientific studies conducted sInce 2014 by ICMR, DoT and Department of Science, paid for by Central Govt, conclusively show that mobile tower emissions are highly dangerous and carcinogenic but are not being released into public domain despite RTI applications and appeals.

The corrupt and sold out media, which my young friends tell me is nowadays called "Godimedia", has also done its part by completely misrepresenting what is a very serious issue.

The man in the Clapham bus would definitely say that the only way now left to remove these corruption cancers (judges, politicians, bureaucrats, news barons / journalists and Ramdev types) from the body politico is to exterminate them, although you may disagree.

regards

RS Dalvi

On Sat, Jun 5, 2021 at 2:00 PM MG Kapoor <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

With reference to email by Walter Vieira.

The damage is already done.

The Constitution has already been subverted.

You can demolish a building in a few hours but it would take years to build it.

The Indian Constitution was preserved for over six decades. But now in the last seven years it has been subverted.

Now Courts are imposing huge costs on petitioners bringing out just and true issues, just because the judges deciding the issues have no real knowledge of the issues.

MG

[IAC#RG] RAJ BHAVANS CANNOT BE REDUCED TO BEING POLITICALDENS

It is high time that the nation reflects on and debates the manner in which Governors are appointed and whether we need ornamental puppet Governors who needlessly burden the taxpayer.

Constitutionally the Governor possesses executive, legislative, financial and judicial powers. The role of the Governor is very important and essential for the healthy functioning of democracy. However, in recent times this post has been reduced to becoming a retirement package for politicians. As a result people think that the post of the Governor is worthless and just a financial burden on state governments even though technically the role of the Governor if exercised wisely and fairly for the benefit of the state and its people is very vital.

Some Governors of the past had this to say. Sarojini Naidu, the one-time Governor of UP had said that she considered herself "a bird in a golden cage". Dr.Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Governor of Madhya Pradesh had this to say, "My duties as a governor lay more in getting visitors and providing them tea, lunches and dinners than anything else. The first thing I do in the morning is to peruse the list of visitors and invitees to lunch and dinner". KM Munshi, Governor of Uttar Pradesh had a tiff with his Chief Minister and had complained to Pandit Nehru for redressal. When his plea was turned down, he described his job thus: "to run a hotel and entertain guests". NV Gadgil, Governor of Punjab considered himself as "the Patwari of the State of Punjab whose function was to assess the conditions prevailing in the state and report to the Union government".

Governors should not end up being mere rubber stamps as they constitutionally have a major role to play in overseeing that the State is well administered in accordance with law. They should be appointed on merit as the Raj Bhavans cannot end up being shelter homes to rehabilitate the deadwood of the ruling political party. It is imperative that the Governors should be truly non-partisan at all times. We need to reflect and consider whether there is a need to house a "spare wheel" at the state level?