Participants of a recent convention in Hyderabad of Right to Information (RTI) activists were amazed by the pro – people attitude of government servants of Andhra Pradesh. Normally, government officers are seen to prefer to stay away from RTI and activists working for it. In the state of Maharashtra almost all officers seem to believe that they belong to the government so need not attend events related to RTI as they are not related to it. On the contrary officers in Andhra Pradesh seemed to be of a view that it was their responsibility to implement the RTI and they should communicate with social activists to remove errors in the implementation. And they just don't have that policy but also they are seen to implement it.
It does not mean that all is well in Andhra Pradesh. It also does not mean that there is total eradication of corruption. It also does not mean there are no complaints of officers about misuse of RTI. There are some complaints but officers do not make an issue of it. There is more emphasis on grievance redressal of RTI applicants. So, they do not seem to have given overwhelming importance to minor issues like word limit in RTI application or only one subject in one application. A committee has been formed under chairmanship of the state chief secretary to ensure proper implementation of RTI and to solve problems related to it. Interestingly, two NGOs have been included in the committee as members. A cell has been formed to ensure maximum use of RTI so that good governance and transparency would be encouraged as well as accountability would be fixed. The cell has been entrusted with communicating with NGOs, media, other institutes and personalities regarding RTI. It appears that there is better implementation of good governance and proactive disclosure of information by the government.
A national convention was organized in Hyderabad by National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) in the campus of Andhra Pradesh Academy of Rural Development (APARD). Although the convention was organized by NCPRI, officers of Andhra Pradesh were proactively helping in its organization as if they were the hosts. APARD is an institute where training about rural development is imparted. The institute imparts training to 2.6 lakh people's representatives and about fifty thousand government officers so that there rural poor would benefit from government schemes.
The convention of activists was attended by former central chief information commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah, former chief election commissioner James Lingdoh, former chief state information commissioner of Andhra Pradesh Jannat Hussain, rural development minister of AP D. M. Varaprasad Rao, additional chief secretary of union rural development ministry S. M. Vijayanand, principal secretary of rural development department of AP Reddy Subramaniam and APARD commissioner K Chandramauli. Directors of social audit departments of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Orissa were present for the convention. It was also attended by social audit tribunals of Manipur, Kerala and Gujarat. About 300 activists from 19 states were present for the convention.
Activists were pleasantly surprised by the pro – people approach of government officers of Andhra Pradesh. But they were more impressed by the practice of doing social audit of government works. Social audit means audit of government schemes or projects done by beneficiaries or those concerned regarding quality of work, its utility, expenditure and accountability. Andhra Pradesh is the only state in the country which has a special law for social audit of government schemes. The Act is called 'Andhra Pradesh Promotion of Social Audit and Prevention of Corrupt Practices' and it is in effect since 2011. There is a provision of imprisonment up to two years of the guilty for lacuna in the work. It is noteworthy that social audit report is read publicly in presence of all concerned and the accused are given an opportunity to present their case.
Social audit does not mean only a fault finding mechanism. Thanks to it common man gets directly associated with government work and the belief in the democracy is deepened. It helps in empowerment of common man and ensures transparency in the work. As the social audit reports are read in village meetings, all records, ground reality and utility of work are reviewed threadbare. So, there is no scope for mistakes. After the law was implemented in Andhra Pradesh, misappropriation of Rs. 99.87 crore in implementation of various works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) was exposed. Out of that amount of Rs. 21.76 crore was recovered. Irregularity in work of 16688 employees was found. On the basis of social audit report, 3111 employees were removed from service, 561 employees were suspended, 229 FIRs were filed and divisional inquiry was launched against 1557 employees. This statistics is impressive.
Although all these developments took place due to social pressure, one should not ignore positive attitude of rulers and government officers. It is widely believed that rulers and officers of Indian Administrative Services are the same everywhere, but then how come they are public oriented only in Andhra Pradesh and why it is not the case anywhere else? Attending this convention or such other conventions can not be a criterion of being pro people. But it helps to know what is happening elsewhere and where are we lacking. One can make improvements accordingly. In that respect, Maharashtra officers were conspicuous by their absence. Can't help, it is a matter of attitude.
