Government to rope in interns to study RTI Act's implementation

NEW DELHI: The Centre has decided to involve people from the field of journalism and non-government organisations to analyse implementation of Right to Information (RTI) Act across the country, especially in remote areas.

The three-month fellowship will also help government in assessing the success of RTI in improving transparency and accountability as well as issues in functioning of central and state information commissions.

The RTI fellowship (total four in numbers) is open to individuals in the age group of 25 to 40 years from the field of journalism, civil society organisations associated with the transparency law, and researchers and trainers in the field of RTI, a senior official in Department of Personnel and Training said.

Earlier, the RTI fellowships were restricted to those having legal background. It is for the first time that people from other areas have been asked to apply for the fellowship, he said.

The selected interns would also study implementation of provisions and guidelines regarding pro-active disclosures and best practises from the field.

Each selected fellow will get a total stipend of Rs two lakh. The last date for sending application to the DoPT is June 22.

The RTI Act, 2005, enacted by the UPA government, allows a citizen to get time-bound information on governance-related matters.