Delhi Govt to consider including RTI in school curriculum
The Delhi Government will consider including the Right to Information Act in the school curriculum, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said on Thursday.
She was responding to a suggestion from Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah at a prize distribution ceremony of an essay competition for school students.
Expressing satisfaction that the message of the act had reached the common man, she said it was an important tool in the hands of the people and had changed the mindset of the administrative machinery.
The RTI will also go a long way in empowering and strengthening the democratic system. It has been able to curb corruption. The days of working behind curtains are over and people expect more transparency and accountability, Dikshit said.
The Chief Minister said that with more public awareness of the Act, it was bound to lead to corresponding improvement in the functioning of the government.
She reminded that Delhi was the first state in the country to enact its own RTI Act in 2001.
Habibullah, who urged the Delhi Government to integrate the two acts, IE Central and Delhi RTI Acts, said the society should debate which information should not be disclosed.
Former Union Home Secretary Padmanabhaiah exhorted NGOs to render constructive cooperation in making the act more purposeful.
The first three positions in the competition were secured by girls from schools located in slums and rural colonies.