2. In over 110 countries with RTI law it is new way on
investigative reporting for media in “post-fact” era
In Europe “wobbing” is familiar word among
journalists, it means using RTI
See the power of RTI for media, it gives “fact” it
provides “truth,” makes stories “rejoinder free”
But, Indian media failed to utilise this tool,
depended on NGOs, ordinary citizen. Reporters
avoid to file RTI themselves and depend on others
3. From Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet
Secretariat and other 50 ministries we got the
foreign travel details one-by-one.
Put the data on excel sheet and the total
distance calculated with the help of other
references like some websites.
Crux of the story was very amazing for my
editors as well.
4. Union Ministers had made foreign trips equal to 256 round of the globe in three and
half years. It took six months and 59 RTI application to complete the story. Ultimately
Prime Minister wrote to every minister to curtail the foreign travel expenditure
Ministers’ Foreign Travel Abroad
5. "I am, therefore, writing
to ask you to severely
curtail expenditure on air
travel, particularly foreign
travel, except in cases
where it is deemed to be
absolutely necessary. This
economy may be made
applicable immediately for
your own self and also for
all senior functionaries in
6. “1,576 officials have travelled 5.65 Crore
kilometers, which is equivalent to 74 trips to
moon and back. They collectively stayed
abroad for 24,458 days (over 67 years) in less
than three-and-a half years.”
I started to work on the story after some
politicians complained me that I am only after
politicians but real beneficiaries are
bureaucrats. Data was equally amazing.
7. It prompted Finance ministry to issue two circulars to impose many restrictions
on foreign travel expenses.
Story on foreign travel made by bureaucrats
8. Finance Ministry’s circular-
“All mileage points earned by Government employees on
tickets purchased for official travel shall be utilized by
the concerned Department. It is responsibility of the
officer concerned to ensure that free mileage points are
used only for official travel and not for personal trips."
Both stories prompted government to issue
austerity circulars repeatedly since 2008 to
curtail foreign travel expenses of ministers
and bureaucrats. It is still going on….
9. In 1964 there was a resolution that every
minister shall declare their assets and
liabilities to the Prime Minister’s Office.
10. We made story that how two high offices of the country were unaware of this
code of conduct even after 44 years of resolution
PMO and Cabinet Secretariat were unaware
11. Story was published in June 2008, and when
the next government formed in June 2009,
every minister declared their assets and
liabilities on time. This is followed by present
government as well.
If there has not been RTI, probably, this story
would have not been possible to our readers.
And this would probably have not been
implemented.
12. Filed numerous RTI to concerned department to
know the details of assets and liabilities filed by
senior bureaucrats. They were processing my
application on the one hand and on the other
hand they initiated new measures to put these
details in public domain.
Some officers said that their personal information
could not be disclosed but we said since they are
Public Servants, people have right to know what
they own. We got some information and
published.
13. After our story, after all the government decided to put all these details on
websites of their respective departments and now it is open to public scrutiny.
Initiative started along with my application
14. Got information through RTI from Life
Insurance Corporation (LIC) that there were
59 million insurance policies those were
lapsed permanently due to discontinuance of
premium. And the premium deposited since
then had become LIC property.
Despite many efforts LIC did not provide the
info on total money deposited against those
policies till the date they lapsed.
We ran a single column story on our web
edition on 24th December 2008.
15. On 19th January 2009 i.e. after less than 25 days of this story LIC issues an
advertisement in newspapers that it is going to launch the revival scheme for
those policies which was for the first time in the history of LIC
Story made quick effect
16.
17. Jan Dhan scheme launched in August 2014 as
a massive drive of financial inclusion. Over 24
crore accounts opened till August 2016, it
has a Guinness record.
Huge number of accounts are deposited just
Re 1 by bank staffers to impress their
political bosses.
54 RTI applications filed in 82 banks, got
information from 34 banks, travelled six
states to interview account holders.
18.
19.
20. Opposition wants answers
and an inquiry…
Govt says next day on Sep
14: Finding facts, will
check for
‘misunderstanding’
Finance Minister Sh
Arun Jaitley says on Sep
16: Four banks looking
into Jan Dhan account
deposits, will submit
report with in 10 days
21. Selected by UNESCO as one of 20 best
investigative pieces across the globe. Story
was result of 39 RTIs, and took a year
22. MPs have appointed close relatives as their PA
23.
24. Tony Blair, implemented FOI in UK as Prime Minister
but when out of power, he said:
“Freedom of Information. Three harmless words, I look
at those words as I write them, and feel like my head
till it drops off my shoulders. You idiot. You naive,
foolish, irresponsible nincompoop. There is really no
description of stupidity, no matter ho vivid, that is
adequate. I quake at the imbecility of it… For political
leaders, it's like saying to someone who is hitting you
over the head with a stick, 'Hey, try this instead', and
handing them a mallet…. The power it handed to the
tender mercy of the media was gigantic. We did it
with care, but without foresight.”
--A Journey, by Tony Blair, 2010, Random House
25. No party opposes it, with some exceptions---
Prime Minister Sh Narendra Modi said On October 16, 2015: “If we limit RTI just
to reply to questions, there will be no changes in governance. We have to
analyse the RTI questions and ponder whether there is need to make changes
in policy matters.”
But it is the media which can make it more impact making by using it as a tool
of investigative reporting. They must not depend on the information
accessed by others but file applications on their own to explore the
mismanagement of public money by the high offices.
26. Shyamlal Yadav
(Senior Editor,
The Indian Express; author of JOURNALISM THROUGH RTI: INFORMATION,
INVESTIGATION, IMPACT)
Phone: +91 9868400278 Email: shyamlal.yadav@expressindia.com
