Asking questions, demanding answers strengthens citizen-Govt relationship: Tarigami

Kulgam, Jul 5: CPI (M) leader and MLA Kulgam Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami said people’s right to know by asking questions and demanding answers from the public authorities is the very essence of accountable governance.

Addressing a gathering of representatives of civil society and local self-governing bodies like the District Development Council (DDC) in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, Tarigami said that asking questions and demanding answers from the government were not acts of anarchy.

“Right to Information is not about making allegations or false imputations or indulging in abusive conversations with government functionaries,” he said. “Instead, it has the salutary effect of improving public confidence in the administration and bringing the citizenry closer to governance structures. It creates opportunities and spaces for reform.”

Presiding over the sensitisation seminar organised jointly by J&K RTI Movement, CHRI, and civil society of Kulgam, India’s first Chief Information Commissioner and Chairperson of the Delhi-based NGO, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Wajahat Habibullah said people in J&K have the fundamental right to seek and obtain information from the government at par with people residing elsewhere in the country, even though the central Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) was somewhat weaker than the now-abolished J&K RTI Act, 2009.

Habibullah urged the people of J&K to refrain from despairing about not being heard by the government.

He said that the RTI Act had been enacted with the specific objective of attending to people’s grievances about the actions and omissions of the administration.

“So, citizens must use this empowerment tool more and more to make the government transparent and accountable at all levels,” Habibullah said.

Director, CHRI, Venkatesh Nayak, recalled his experience from a two-day capacity development workshop conducted in Srinagar earlier this month, where participating young lawyers and law students identified governance, development, and corruption-related issues in rural areas for drafting RTI applications.

Founder Chairperson of J&K RTI Movement, Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, welcomed the guests and offered a comprehensive overview of the J&K RTI Movement.

Chairperson DDC, Kulgam, Muhammad Afzal Parray delivered the vote of thanks, while Member DDC Kulgam, Muhammad Abbas welcomed the participants.