| Press Release: Consultations on Proactive Disclosure: The Future of the Right to Information June 28, 2011 A consultation was held in Bengaluru on June 28, 2011 on framing 'Guidelines for Digital Publication under the RTI Act supporting Proactive Disclosure of Information' which was attended by 16 Bengaluru-based NGOs and also by one of the Karnataka State Information Commissioner's, Mr. J.S. Virupakshaiah. The consultations were organised by the NGO IT for Change as a part of a consultative process of a Task Force to make recommendations on operationalising Section 4 of the Right to Information Act (RTI) that has been set up by the Government of India. The outcomes from the state level consultation will feed into a national level workshop between 7th and 9th July being held by the Government of India's Department of Personnel and Training in New Delhi. The RTI has become a key instrument for democratisation in India, and is aiding forces for positive social change in many ways. One of the most important elements of the RTI Act is Section 4 which mandates pro-active disclosure of certain categories of information. Proactive disclosure has been called the future of the RTI, and digital publication is a key means of proactive disclosure. Effective implementation of this section of the Act can transform the leverage citizens have over public authorities in order to ensure accountability. Regularly publishing the most frequently sought information, which includes using the Internet, will also mitigate the huge burden that is placed on public authorities to respond separately to the large number of specific queries about public information. Some the main recommendations that emerged point to the need for putting extensive information on the websites at all levels of government, especially that which most concerns the common citizens. It should also be ensured that the information is presented in a form legible to lay persons, and through open technical standards and in reusable forms. Proactive disclosure also requires proactive monitoring whereby the websites of all levels of governments should be pro-actively monitored vis-à-vis agreed disclosure norms. For this purpose, appropriate indicators and benchmarks should be developed. It was also generally felt that the monitoring and enforcement functions should take place from the Information Commissioner's office though there was some difference in opinion regarding this. It was also considered necessary that senior officials and not just the Public Information Officer must be held responsible for the non-compliance of proactive disclosure requirements. Each department should therefore frame an information policy which should be subject to public scrutiny and periodic review and drawn up in consultation the Information Commissioner's office. It was also important that simultaneously all efforts should be made to ensure that information kiosks are set up in or close to all communities so that they can use digitally published public information. Other important issues like the information audit of government websites and monitoring of proactive disclosure by district, block and village level information councils, also came up. Any organisation or individual who would like to provide inputs to the process can write to itfc@itforchange.net | 
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