RTI Week 2015 concludes
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 12 2015: The weeklong celebration of the Right to Information Week-2015 concluded today at the State Guest House, Babupara with a simple valedictory function.

The State observed the week from October 5 where various seminars, workshops and other programmes to spread the benefits of RTI Act was conducted in various parts of the State by the Manipur Information Commission.

The observation was sponsored by the Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension Government of India.

The valedictory function was attended by Lok Sabha MP Dr T Meinya as the chief guest while MLA of Yaiskul AC E Chand was the functional president.

State Chief Information Commissioner Th Ibobi was the guest of honour.

The State Information Commission also conducted a series of workshop and other seminars in different parts of the State to bring awareness to the public that an act called the Right to Information Act 2005 is there to help citizens gather information from the Government agencies on their functioning.

The RTI Act is literally like a watch-dog of the Government's activities and people should not misuse and misinterpret it, stated T Meinya.

He said that an informed citizen is equipped with more power to make the Government more accountable to their functioning and works.

He added "To bring transparency and accountability, the public should utilize the provisions given by the Indian Constitution through the Right to Information Act 2005".To make people more aware of the Act, he said, the State Government should stress more on providing education facilities so that there are healthy competitions among the students.

As part of the weeklong observation of the Right to Information Week, a quiz competition was held among five different colleges on October 8 and Manipur College bagged the first prize, followed by DM College of Arts while DM College of Science bagged the third spot.

Prizes to winners of the competition were distributed by the dignitaries.

Meanwhile, E Chand maintained that Government agencies and public authorities should readily disperse information when enquired by the public under the RTI.

If such Act is properly utilized, the gap between the public and public authorities will be bridged.

He urged the public and various CSOs not to misuse the Act given by the Indian Constitution.

Chief Information Commissioner Th Ibobi said that many of the public authorities are not well versed with the RTI Act and they tend to ignore it.

Such activities have hampered the benefits of RTI reaching the people.

He urged all the stakeholders to reap the benefits to make the State Government more transparent and accountable.

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