Usages of RTI in Rural Rajasthan, India - Consumer Unity & Trust ...

Awareness Regarding Gram Sabha (%)Awareness of RTI Act, 2005In the selected two districts, only 39 percent of the people had heard about the RTI Act,2005. As far as awareness regarding the RTI application-filing process is concerned,26 percent of the people knew about the application format, 19 percent about PIO, 21about the fee rules for APL and BPL applicants, 08 about the time period in whichinformation has to be provided to applicants and only seven about the provisions offirst and second appellate authorities.Awareness regarding the filing processThe percentage of people aware about filing RTI application was as low as 5.4. Only12 filed RTI application out of 242 respondents. In only 33 percent cases informationwas provided by the PIOs, out of which 75 percent of the applicants were not satisfiedwith the information. As far as going for first appeal was concerned, merely 8.4 percentof the applicants opted for it.It is clear that the use of RTI Act in rural areas is minimal and awareness thereof hasbeen mainly generated through NGOs. It is also clear from the analysis that in 48percent cases the use of the RTI Act was related to corruption issues; 32 percent topersonal issues and the remaining 20 percent pertained to public benefit issues of thevillages.Prevalence of Corruption49 percent of the respondents reported that corruption in NREGS was more than in IAYand SGSY schemes. In IAY, Gram Panchayat officials give benefits after receiving bribein some form.After discussing with the stakeholders, certain areas were short-listed in NREGS. Theseare as follows:34Model Framework for Replication: Usages of RTI in Rural Rajasthan, India