Mountain Children’s Foundation
Changing the way the world perceives and works with children
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Facilitator training on filing of Right To Information applications Partner Organisation : 13 partner organisations Supported by : Asha Workshop Report On 16th & 17th June 2010, a two day facilitators workshop was hosted by the Mountain Children’s Foundation and supported by Asha for Education SV, at Dehradun. Ms.Santosh and Mr.Ram Ashrey from Parivartan,New Delhi were the resource persons for this workshop. Day1: Mr. Dwarika P. Nauni, State RTI Corodinator, made a presention on last year's RTI activities - the success stories and the difficulties face. The collective achievement of the program was highly appreciated by all members and especially by Ms. Santosh and Mr. Ram Ashrey of the Parivaratan Movement, New Delhi. They promised to share the success stories of the children of Uttrakhand at a national level. Initially some of the new partner organizations were slightly apprehensive about working with children but their doubts were cleared after seeing the progress the children had made in the last year. Lunch was followed by the a presentation by Dwarika on the RTI act. Mr Ram Ashrey, Parivartan, New Delhi gave a detailed presentation on all sections of the RTI Act, with emphasis on Section 18 and 20 (1) which could be used in case of lack of response from concerned authority. Under section 18 a direct complaint can be filed to the commission on violation of the act and under Section 20(1) the Information Commission can punish the PIO. He went on to explain when to file, how to file and how to follow up an RTI Application. Also in case of PIOs not accepting the 10 rupee fee submitted in the prescribed ways a complaint could be filed directly with the Commission. All the participants were then handed a format each of the first appeal and second appeal application and were requested to write a mock application for further discussion. Dwarika has conducted over 20 RTI workshops over the last year. He shared his experience regarding the filing of applications and the pressures faced by the children, the communities and the NGO by the govternment bodies. He also went on to discuss the regulations prevelant in the State of Uttrakhand. He emphasized complete involvement of parents / guardian and the village Pradhans when children decide to file RTI applications. He stressed the fact that the facilitators should guide the children to think along the lines of taking up issues which would benefit the entire village. This was followed by an indepth discussion on the plan of action for the year and on the base line and end line surveys that the NGOs would need to conduct at the village level. Day 2: The Day commenced with the screening of a documentary called Swaraj. In this documantary the villagers decided to use "people power" to solve their problems and help them make their village a better place to live in. It was a good example to help all present understand that even though the RTI is a great tool for information, yet if the govtnment did not respond adequately then it is upto the people to start working out alternatives. |
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Mr Ram Ashrey, Parivartan then took the floor and informed the participants that the First Appeal could be filed if there was a lack of complete information or worse still no response at all.
For the Second Appeal: A format was handed out to each participant. The necessary documents to be attached in the second appeal were as follow :
For the Second Appeal all the above mentioned documents needed to be self attested and sent with 2 extra copies to the State Information Commission. The post lunch sessions dealt with reporting formats, base line surveys, program schedules, and the financial plan for the year . Mr Chauhan the accountant explained how the financial reports needed to be completed and the bills submitted. The vote of thanks was given by Ms. Aditi P. Kaur, Pesident MCF.
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The Mountain Children's Foundation,63-A Vyom Prasth, G.M.S Road,Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India |
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