Journalism of Courage
To promote discussions on various facets of the Right to Information Act, activists will organise RTI katta at Chittaranjan Vatika in Pune on January 4. In Pune,katta is synonymous with an open air meeting of people.
Even eight years after the passage of the Act,much needs to be done to spread awareness. Though activists and government agencies have made efforts,discussion on the Act and its various usages is lacking. The katta aims to answer this by allowing people to express their views in a free and fair environment.
Activist Vijay Kumbhar said the idea is to propagate the power of RTI without taking help of any structured organisation.
These kattas will be held at various public places like gardens,playgrounds,etc. We are intentionally not going to organise it any institute, he said.
The katta would be different from the conventional workshops of RTI as it would not have any
instructor.
People will participate in the katta and express their views about RTI. We think this will help propagate RTI in true sense, he said.
In case of dispute or any difference of opinion on the usage of the Act,discussion would be held during katta to arrive at a conclusion. The main of the initiative is to provide platform to the common man. The participants should ensure they come up with solutions to their questions after discussions, he said.
Similar kattas would be started in Ahmednagar,Mumbai and other parts of the state soon.
Welcoming the idea,former Central Information Commissioner (CIC) Shailesh Gandhi said the idea is interesting and novel. We need to see how it picks up, he said.
