Friday, May 28, 2010

Sample RTI for sec4(1)(b) and sec4(1)(b) manual for Directorate of Health

Download the sample RTI to get sec 4(1)(b) manual and the RTI application we filed to receive the same for Directorate of Health department.


As per the section 4(1)(b) of RTI, every department must have a manual with following information,
  • Functions and Duties of the organization,
  • Budget allocations of the organization,
  • Organization structure,
  • Number of employees and their salaries,
  • Roles and responsibilities of every employee,
  • Schemes which are implemented by the department,
  • Beneficiaries of the schemes, e.t.c
(For more information on this section, please refer section 4(1)(b) of RTI act. There are 16 aspects to be present in this manual as per the RTI act)


All information related to that office or deparment has to be present in this manual and has to be uploaded in their respective website. In most of the websites, it is named as "Right to Information" or "RTI section 4(1)(b)" or "sec 4(1)(b) info".


It is also expected that the organization updates this information regularly, and as necessary.You can get few documents at following link of APIC(Andhra Pradesh Information Commission) website, http://www.apic.gov.in/pioapioindex41b.do


The main idea behind this is to have transparency,accountability in the system.
It helps the public to understand about each delapartment in the organization, with a quick glance through this document.


All the benefits said, it is surprising to know that only few departments have drafted/uploaded this manual. We are filing complaints and RTI's for the same and getting it done.


Recently, we have filed a RTI for the section 4(1)(b) document to "Directorate of Health" which is one of the head of the department in "Health, Medial and Family Welfare" deparment in Andhra Pradesh. Though it is a good sign that we got the document from them quickly, it is not yet uploaded in their website. We are working on it.


PS: Sec 4(1)(b) Manual of Directorate of Health has been uploaded here, please go through this to know function, duties and responsibilities of the deparment.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Inspection of Govt Records event published in Loksatta Times

One of our events(Inspection of Govt. records) has been published in Loksatta times Magazine along with the RTI's filed.

Sanjeevani  hopes that more people would go through it and would start inspecting Govt. records, which will increase the transparency in Govt. Offices.

Please download the Loksatta Magazine from the below link and check page no 26 -30 for our event,
http://www.loksatta.org/cms/documents/lstimes/lstimes-2010-apr-16-31.pdf

To follow or to participate many such impressive events, please join loksattasanjeevani@googlegroups.com group.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sample application and steps to file RTI on passport issues

Please find the sample RTI application at below link to handle the cases of delayed passports. RTI has worked successfully for many people whose passport got delayed.

Download Sample RTI for passport related issues.

Please find below the steps to file a RTI for delayed passports,

  1. Fill the sample RTI application downloaded from above location with below details,
    • Name and address of the applicant with signature
    • Date of passport applied and file reference number for the same
  2. Attach photocopy of passport application and Acknowledgement/receipt received from passport office
  3. Pay 10rs of IPO in post office with below details, (You can also go for DD or Bank cheque)
    • Pay to: Accounts officer
    • Office of: Regional passport office
    • Post office at; Hyderabad
    • Fill - from address in IPO
  4. Send speed post/register post to passport office with below address,
  5. Central Public Information Officer,
    Regional Passport Officer,Passport Office,
    Kummaraguda,Hyderabad 500003,
    Phone No : 040-27708585/27715333,
    Fax No : 040- 277056565.
  6. Please keep counterfoil of IPO, photocopy of RTI and receipt of speed/register post with you.
Please drop a mail to following ids, mailto:abdulazeez1984@gmail.com or  mailto:pattem@gmail.com if you have any queries on this

PS: Please note that court fee stamp is acceptable only for state Govt. offices and not for central Govt. offices

Monday, May 10, 2010

Sanjeevani on Twitter !!

You can now get the quick updates of Sanjeevani on Twitter too!

We have opened Sanjeevani account on twitter this week and we are available here : http://twitter.com/LSPsanjeevani

Sending updates on Twitter has been always easy and we hope that with this step, a lot of other people can watch our updates, and will particiapate in the events actively.
Also, twitter allows us to receive tweets on our mobiles without any charges( Works only with Airtel though ).

Please forward this message to your friends who would be interested.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

MGBS -Monitoring the registration procedures for shops

Dear All,

The war is declared yet again..and it goes on.. Until we see the Indian flag fly high in the sky ... until we see the Proud India..Developed India..which does not contain even the traces of corruption and injustice in it.

Yes, we fought against illegal business and corruption. While thousands of people visit MGBS ,Hyderabad to catch their bus to the destination, we visited it over the weekend, hoping that the event would take us to the times we are dreaming about. See more details below..

Event : Monitoring the registration n renewal procedures for shops at MGBS - Working with labour officials
Date  : 01 May April 2010
Place : MGBS, Hyderabad
Office(s) Involved : APSRTC and Labour department
Purpose :
  1. To make sure that stalls in Bus stand got registered and renewed every year with labour department
  2. To make sure that all employers/shop owners are providing benefits to employees as per the AP shops and establishments Act 1988
This will help us to generate revenue to government and protect the rights/welfare of the employees

Sections Used and Details :
  1. RTI Act 2005, section 6(I) gives the power to every individual to get the information from any public authority.
  2. RTI Act 2005, section 2(j)(II) says that every one has the right to get the certified copies of the desired data/files.
  3. As per AP shops and establishment act, sec 17, every shop owner/company has to be registered with Labor department and certain facilities has to be provided to employee
For more information on Labour department, please refer following site, http://labour.ap.gov.in/

Procedure :
Anybody who would like to do this event in your city/town/mandal,
  1. File a RTI to the APSRTC requesting the information of all stalls(name of the stalls, monthly licence, ...) which are in your respective bus stations.
  2. File a RTI to the labour department requesting the information of stalls which are registered with Labour department as per AP shops and establishments Act.
  3. Compare both the information received and list out the shops which are in bus stands and not registered with labour department.
  4. File a complaint with labour department.
  5. File a RTI to labour department to request the status of above complaint
  6. File a RTI to commercial tax department for the taxes that are being paid by the shop owners.
  7. Compare the license fee of each stall from step1 and data from step6.
  8. If you find anything crunchy, please file a RTI to commercial tax department
Activities Done :
  1. Filed RTI with both deparments and got the required information.It is unbelievable to understand that ONLY 2 shops are registered with labor department out of 104 stalls in MGBS (Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station, Hyderabad)
  2. Filed a complaint and the RTI to labour department
  3. Got a call from labour department that we can monitor them when they are doing registration of shops in MGBS .
  4. We as a team attended this program and monitored the whole procedure.
(LATEST on this : 24 shops are registred by EOD(End of the Day ) yesterday. We expect all the shops to be registered by the end of this week)

Advantages :
  1. Govt will get revenue if all these shops gets registered and renewed every year.
  2. Employee benefits from employer/shop owner.
  3. Employee must get appointment letter while joining.
  4. Employee can NOT be terminated without a valid reason.
  5. Working hours for an employee should only be 8 hours/ day or 48hours/week.
  6. There must be at least one weekly holiday for every employee.
  7. There must be minimum 9 national holidays for all employees.
  8. Casual leaves should be available to all the employees.
  9. Employee must get extra salary if he works onholidays.
  10. Employees who work for registered shop owners/company get some benefits from government as well (Like money for childrens marriage, scholarship for childrens education).There are many other benefits for employees, which are not known to all.
  11. We can catch illegal business owners who are not implementing above rules
  12. Organizations will now be more disciplined and the surprise visits by the responsible people will make every Govt. employee work diligently.
In a simple sentence " More disciplined, Transparent and Corruption free Society"

Our Team:
  1. Srinivas Rao Ganji
  2. Sumathi
  3. Devi Prasad
  4. Pradeep
  5. Uday Bhaskar
  6. Abdul Azeez
  7. Raghavendra.
Please find below the link for photos of the event, http://picasaweb.google.com/LoksattaSanjeevani/01May2010MonitoringTheRegistrationsAtMGBS#

All these attachments will also be uploaded at "files" section of this group.
Please join us in these activities and let us all work for the betterment of society that we all dream of, every minute and every day.

Thanks & Regards,
  Loksatta Party