Bihar first state where you can dial a number to exercise your right to know

Using your right to information could not get easier than this. Soon, Bihar will be the first and only state in the country where...

Using your right to information could not get easier than this. Soon, Bihar will be the first and only state in the country where, instead of writing and submitting your RTI application on paper, you can ask your queries orally via phone as well as receive the information the same way.

This facility assumes significance given the low literacy levels in the state helping the citizen bypass the need of drafting questions, filling oput the form and submitting it to the department.

Once implemented, anybody seeking information under the RTI Act in Bihar can call on a specific phone number — which will be a routed to a call centre — from anywhere in the country and orally ask for the information she wants. The call will be answered by an executive trained in the use of RTI, who will draft and type the questions and send it to the department and public information officer (PIO) concerned.

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The information, once ready, will be sent by the PIO directly to the caller. In addition, it can also be delivered to the caller via phone.

“We are working on the technical details. I have assigned some officers for the project. Once the details are worked out we will be able to tell when the facility will be ready,” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told The Indian Express. Nitish, the prime mover of the project, is said to have been impressed with the idea when it was first proposed to him last month and immediately gave directions for its implementation.

Language will not be a barrier in this new system. “The call center will be equipped to take calls in English, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Maithili and all other dialects spoken in Bihar,” Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister Chanchal Kumar said.

“The project will be an extension of the telephonic public redressal system that is already in place. It will involve the department of Personnel, National Informatics Centre and the telecom department who are jointly working on it,” he added.

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To implement this system the state government will require to make a few amendments to the RTI Rules. While the call center will have to be declared an assistant public information officer (APIO), acceptance of fee on phone will have to be included in the rules as an accepted mode of fee payment.

The government will take assistance from Delhi-based NGO Parivartan. “This facility will take RTI to the illiterate masses in rural areas. Besides, RTI applications can be filed in a few minutes as against a few days it takes today,” said Parivartan founder Arvind Kejriwal. “One of the main problems that people are facing at present is not knowing which department to approach for which kind of issue. That problem will now be taken care of,” said Kejriwal.

RTI on the phone

• A dedicated phone number called the RTI Application Number routed to a call centre in Patna.

• You may call this number for a fee of Rs 10 (the application fee) plus call charges for the duration of the call.

• Give your name, address and the information you want

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• Phone conversation will be recorded and details typed into the computer which then is your application.

• Call centre forwards the application to the relevant authority, sends a copy to you