Put MGNREGA, PDS information in public domain: Centre to states

New Delhi: The Centre today asked state governments to put all information related to implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Public Distribution System in public domain. It has also asked states to ensure proactive disclosure under Right to Information (RTI) Act of information on public works done by a department at block and panchayat levels. Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005 lays down that information should be disclosed by public authorities on a suo motu or proactive basis.[caption id=“attachment_1242455” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Information on PDS soon on public domain. Reuters[/caption] The purpose of disclosure is to place large amount of information in public domain on a proactive basis to make the functioning of the public authorities more transparent and also to reduce the need for filing individual RTI applications, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) today wrote to state governments. A task force was constituted in May 2011 by the Centre to improve suo motu disclosure under the transparency law. Detailed guidelines on proactive disclosure were sent to states through the letter written by secretary, DoPT - a nodal authority for implementation of the RTI Act. “The task force also recommended guidelines for disclosure by state governments along with templates for disclosure at various levels. Illustrative templates have been recommended for disclosure under PDS, Panchayats, MGNREGA and primary and secondary schools… “You are requested to consider issuing above guidelines and templates for better implementation of the suo motu disclosure at state level,” the letter by DoPT secretary SK Sarkar said. The guidelines said the purpose was not only to improve the quality of disclosures but also facilitate more transparency in governance. For example, in the case of PDS, disclosures at the level of Fair Price Shops should go down to the level of ration card holder, while at the level of district or state, agencies dealing with the disclosures would need to be more broad-based, the letter said. It asked states to make information related to working of panchayats, MGNREGA and primary and secondary schools available in public domain. The public information at FPS should have detail of entitlement, complaints register, helpline number (in case it is available), procedure for applying ration cards under various categories and vigilance committees, as per the template issued by the Centre. Panchayats have been asked to put in public domain information including sex and age-wise population of a village, families with and without toilets at home, animals, gram sabhas, details of various monitoring committee (on MGNREGA and others), list of records available for free inspection (Panchayati Act, audit reports, etc), details of panchayat taxes, budget, availability of water and various development work done by them. The detail of job card issued in a village, development work and materials used and social audit has to be displayed prominently and put in public domain at all the levels, it said. Information on grievance redressal mechanism at government schools, number of teachers and students (including those with special needs and belonging to backward classes), entitlement and incentive information, budgetary expenditure and mid-day meal programme has to be made public, it said. The guidelines also ask departments to give details of officers responsible for giving information under the RTI Act along with other details for filing applications. PTI