Centre stingy with use of RTI publicity funds

The UPA government appears to have put its most vocal campaign the Right to Information (RTI) Act on the silent mode. This comes in the backdrop of growing clamour within a section of the government to review the Act.
The RTI Act, which was enacted in 2005, has been the main factor behind major scams exposed in the last couple of years.
According to official statistics tabulated by the personnel, public grievances and pension ministry, the funds earmarked for the propagation of the RTI scheme have been grossly underutilized. With the 11th five year plan (2007-12) just five months away from termination, only 73 per cent of funds released under the RTI publicity had been utilised until September 30 this year.
An analysis of the government spending on propagating RTI showed a consistent decline. As per the ministry's accounts report , the actual spending last fiscal was 80% of the allocated budget. However, in 2008-09 and 2009-10, the utilisation was 94.68% and 96.72 % respectively. A total of Rs24.16 crore was allocated to the RTI under the 11th plan.
This development has angered votaries of the RTI Act. Expressing his concern over under utilisation of funds, information commissioner ML Sharma said, "After six years of enactment, this is the most crucial time for publicising the Act as maximum citizens are still unaware of the stipulations of this Act."
Sharma further demanded an increase in the allocation of funds for the propagation of the Act to help realise its true potential. He said that because of lack of proper information on various provisions of the RTI Act, several irrelevant applications had got filed with the CIC.
"Proper and sustained information on the Act and its use have to be the top priority to ensure that the Act reaches every home in the country," he added.
Demanding more publicity for the Act, RTI Activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal said, "This (under utilisation of publicity funds for RTI) is really sad and the government should look into it. The propagation of the RTI Act should be in the hands of the Central Information Commission."
Rather than spending on publicising their own personalities, politicians should look for raising funds for the publicity of the RTI Act, he said.