HEAVY PENALTY PAID BY BPL CARD HOLDERS DUE TO MODERNISATION OF FOOD & SUPPLY DEPARTMENT

Dear friends,

This is very unfortunate that on the one hand  food grains are rotting in godowns while on other, thousands of people who have BPL and Antodaya ration cards are not getting ration.

The Assistant Commissioner of North East District has stated before the Central Information Commission:  “because of an error in their computer program, thousands of BPL persons, who are eligible for getting ration, have been denied ration supplies.”  As a result of departmental fault ,people are not getting ration for last five months despite their ration cards.

Since August 2010, the ration supply for thousands of BPL& Antodaya card holders at 70 Circles of Delhi has stopped suddenly. On inquiry, the people affected were told the following at their respective Circle Offices: "the Head Quarter has cancelled the cards; we do not know the reason for the same.” 

The Food & Supply Department had not sent any notice for the cancellation of cards and all of a sudden, when people went to withdraw ration from the FPS shop they were told that their cards are cancelled.

In Seema Puri Constituency, 707 BPL & Antodaya cards were cancelled and when some of the card holders sought reasons for cancellation of their cards under the RTI Act, then the Public Information officer did not provide  any explanation for their cancellation. 

When the matter reached CIC,  at the time of hearing, the PIO gave the list of cancelled 707 BPL & Antodaya Ration Card Holders and informed the Commission that due to the technical fault of computer the BPL & Antodaya Cards throughout Delhi has been cancelled.

The Hon’ble Commissioner directed the PIO to provide compensation of Rs.2000 to the information seekers for not providing the information in set time limit. The Commission also directed the Food Commissioner to provide reasons why the ration has not been provided to the appellants. 

Warm Regards

Rajiv Kumar

Pardarshita

F-185,186 New Seema Puri

Delhi-110095

Ph: 01122356476, 9899358835

Blog:http://pardarshita.blogspot.com
Email: pardarshita_india@yahoo.com

Pardarshita filed writ petition with the support of HRLN in High Court for not issuing renewed BPL cards

Dear Friends

Greetings!

We would like to share the progress which has been done after the Bawana residents received rejection letter from the Food & supply Department in the month of August’09.

As this had never happened in the history of PDS that the people who had applied for ration card, get rejection letter from the department once their applications get rejected by the department.

All the aggrieved people filed appeal with the Assistant Commissioner of Food & supply department, but the appellate authority neither called the people for hearing nor sent any reply.

As a result, this matter was persuaded in the High Court. The high Court has accepted the case. The Court has issued notice to the Department and the proceedings are in process.

PDS Control Order 2001 section 11(2) states that “Any person aggrieved by an order of the designated authority denying the issue or renewal of a ration card or cancellation of the ration card may appeal to the Appellate Authority within thirty days of the date of receipt of the order”, but it had never happened in the history of PDS.

In 2007 around 4.4 lac people of Delhi applied for the renewal of their BPL ration cards.

Till 2009 around 1.25 lac people neither get their renewed ration cards back from the department nor get any information regarding the status of their cards. Whenever they go to their respective circle offices to enquire about the status of their renewed ration cards, they only get bad words from the employees of Circle office.

Pardarshita supported the people of Bawana in filing the RTI application to know the status of their ration cards. This resulted in issuing of Rejection letters to the people not only in Bawana but also in other District of Delhi.

When the people received the rejection letter with the reason for rejection, they found that the reason which the department has mentioned for rejecting the renewal of ration card is completely wrong.

Therefore people appealed before the appellate authority U/s 11(2) of PDS Control Order 2001, but the Appellate Authority neither sent any reply to complainant nor conducted any hearing.

Thereafter Pardarshita filed the Writ Petition in High Court with the help of HRLN. The High Court accepted the petition and issued notice to the Food & Supply Department on 23rd Feb’10. The hearing is scheduled on 11th March’10.

With Warm Regards

Ritu MehraWrit Petition against Food & Supply Dept. for not issuing Renewed BPL card.

BPL BENEFICIARIES: CIC orders publication of PDS details

CIC Shailesh Gandhi orders that information about the public distribution system and its beneficiaries should be made public, offering hope that a corrupt system may finally see some reform. Shaweta Anand reports.

13 January 2010 - Musmat Musarrat has two children to support on her own - she is a widow - but she earns a mere Rs.1000-1200 each month to run her family's finances. One source of succour for people like her is the Below Poverty Line (BPL) card she is entitled to from the government. But getting and keeping this document has proved quite difficult.

In Bawana'a JJ Colony in Delhi, Musarrat and many others have been hopelessly pursuing government officials, enquiring about the status of BPL cards that were deposited with them for renewal back in 2007, during a 'renewal drive' by the Delhi government. If the card were with her today, she could have purchased basic food items at subsidised rates under the government’s Public Distribution System (PDS), which is one of the largest welfare distribution systems in the world. But having surrendered the old card for renewal, she is caught between the loss of that card and the yet-to-be-issued new one.

Musarrat represents not only the plight of people of Bawana Colony but also that of poor people spread out in various parts of the city, who are fighting a PDS that is both corrupt and functions dismally.

The ration shops, which should open for 25 days a month, are in fact open only for about five days.

Pardarshita, a non-profit organisation, has been working to make various governmant departments in Delhi more transparent and accountable through extensive use of the Right to Information Act 2005, and also including communities in this struggle for social justice. "Like Musmat, about 1.5 lakh poor people in Delhi are struggling to make ends meet and running around government offices to find out status of their card. [This is the case with] not only those who have applied for renewal of BPL cards but also those who have applied for new ration cards, the status of which they should ideally know within 45 days of the first application," says Ritu, an activist with Pardarshita.

"This is not the only problem with PDS," adds her fellow activist Rajiv Kumar, "even the ration shops, which should open for 25 days a month, are open only for about five days, if you enquire!"

With complaints piling up from people of many resettlement colonies - Bawana, New Seemapuri, Sundernagari to name a few - Pardarshita filed a complaint under Section 18 of RTI Act 2005 to the Central Information Commission that the Delhi Food & Supply Department is not following Section 4 of the RTI Act, which mandates government departments must sou moto disclose information about their work. Pardarshita sought the list of people whose BPL card applications were cancelled, as well as the reasons for their rejection. Additionally, a list of beneficiaries of PDS system was also asked for.

Following this complaint, Central Information Commission member Shailesh Gandhi notified the Food Secretary, and held a hearing on 21 December. The meeting was followed by an order the following day, directing all concerned to display the following information online and outside 70 ration shops/circles of Delhi, before 31 January. A complaince report detailing how much of this order has been carried out, has also been demanded by CIC, to be provided by 5 February 2010.

The information to be published includes:

• Entitlement of essential commodities for all type of Ration Cards.
• Scale of issue of each essential commodity for all types of ration cards.
• Retail price of each essential commodity for all types of ration cards.
• Working hours of Fair Price Shops.
• Stock of essential items received during the month.
• Opening and closing stock of essential commodities.
• Name, designation and contact numbers of officials for redressal of grievances with respect to quality and quantity of essential commodities.
• Daily updating of stock position information.
• Information about inspection of records by any citizen on every Saturday except for second Saturday as per the PDS Control Order 15/06/06.
• Display of samples of food grains being supplied through Fair Price Shops.

Soon after these directions by the Commission, its impact can already be seen, at least on the Government of India's Food & Supply Department website, which now provides some information on the above-mentioned lines. According to the order, such information is also to be provided at the points-of-delivery of the rations (i.e. the fair price shops themselves), and that will be an even bigger boost to the transparent functioning of the distribution system.

Disclosure of all this information will be an important milestone in larger struggle for effective PDS in India, which has been going on for many years now. When information regarding the quality and price of grains and other essential commodities becomes available at every FPS, daily, including lists of bonafide card holders and people to contact for grievance redressal at Circle Offices, then there will be much less scope for corrupt officials to deny proper rations to the beneficiaries, or to seek bribes from them to give them what is their due. This should also bring down the practice of shop-owners hoarding essential items for sale in the open market, after diverting them from the beneficiaries.

Moreover, an increasing number of citizens and activist groups will know what to do about unjust practices rampant, and they can in turn intervene on behalf of the poor, even if the beneficiaries themselves are not confident of taking on the system. "The other advantage," says Rajiv Kumar, "is that through the new lists of beneficiary card holders, all bogus card holders will stand exposed. A lot of essential items were earlier taken away from the PDS under the guise of distribution to such fake beneficiaries, and these are instead sold at market rates for earning hefty profits,".

This CIC's order promises to cast new rays of light on the dark corruption of the PDS, and offers hope that poor people like Musmat Musarrat will be able to get the rations they desperately need. ⊕

Shaweta Anand is a freelance writer and a volunteer with Pardarshita.

http://indiatogether.org/2010/jan/pov-pds.htm

Pardarshita: Annual Report from April 2007-March 2008

About the organization:
Pardarshita is an organization formed with the aim to fight corruption and ensure transparency and accountability in the public governance systems thereby empowering the marginalized sections of the society and improve their living conditions.
The goal of this organization is to spread awareness about Right to Information and empower common people to use tool to ensure access to his/her rights and entitlements.
Pardarshita works in different slums of East and North East districts of Delhi.
Objectives of the organization:
• To create awareness amongst the community about their rights
• To make the governance more accountable and transparent
• To conduct research on different government run schools
• To motivate the marginalized section of the society to minimize their dependency and create sustainable systems
• To ensure child rights by ensuring right to education
• To form community based groups
Main Activities:
The activities of Pardarshita are mainly focused to deal with problems of the community. The organization has taken up issues based on the need of the people of the community in which they work. Given below are the details of the activities undertaken by Pardarshita in the last one year.
1. Admissions in private /public schools under Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota:
Approximately 361 schools in Delhi have received land from the Delhi Government at extremely subsidized rates on the condition that in return these schools reserve 25% seats for the children of economically weaker sections (EWS) in their schools, a condition continually violated. The reasons given for not fulfilling such conditions are that if such children are allowed to enrol in their schools it will destroy the school’s environment that caters to the needs of the elite of the society. But the real reason for refusing admission to EWS is the drastic reduction in income that these schools make through donations.
Apart from the schools, three other parties are guilty of violation of the Constitutional Right to Education as well as the terms and conditions for allotting land at concessional rates:
• The Delhi Government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi have failed to ensure that all Unaided Recognised Private Schools in Delhi (to whom public land have been conditionally allotted) to comply with the conditions of allotment of lands in regard to admission to the children (25 per cent belonging to the EWS of society and grant freeship to them)
• The Delhi Government has failed to frame rules or policies regarding provision for education to the children belonging to EWS of society by all Unaided Recognized Private schools in Delhi.
The Union of India, Delhi Development Authority, Delhi Government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi have failed to take action against erring unaided recognized private schools for non-compliance with the conditions on which public lands have been allotted to them.
Pardarshita took the issue and did the following:
• The different schools entitled to come under the EWS scheme were identified. Around 31 schools were identified for work, in Dilshad Garden (3 schools), Nandnagari (2 schools ), Preet Vihar (6 schools), Vivek Vihar (3 schools), Mayur Vihar (5 schools), Kalyan Puri (2 schools), Vasundhara Enclave (2 schools) Vinod Nagar (2 schools), Karkardooma (3 schools) and IP Extension (3 schools)
• Right to Information applications were filed to access information on these schools.
• Families from the clusters in and around these schools were identified who could be probable beneficiaries, based on the criterion that the annual income of the family was less than 1 lakh per annum and were interested and eager to get their children admitted in these private/public schools.
• Next, the families were assisted with the process of documentation required for the admission process. This included helping them acquire all the necessary papers, certificates etc.

CHIEF INFORMATION COMMISSIONER SH . WAJAHAD HABBIBULLAH AT THE NGO MEETING HELD AT NEHRU MEMORIAL MUSEUM LIBRARY

Simultaneously, networking was done with other NGOs working in the field of education about admissions in private/public schools under EWS provisions. Different workshops were held with these NGOs and groups to make them aware about the rules and regulations.
• Pardarshita volunteers then accompanied respective parents and children to the schools in the nearby locality, where they often faced rejection from the school authorities.
• This was followed by a long series of running around, where several complaints were filed against the concerned school authorities in the office of The Deputy Director of Education Department.
• Since no action was taken on any of the complaints filed by the aggrieved parents, Right to Information applications were filed asking for the status of these complaints.
• Immediate action was taken on the applications and was followed by admissions in the respective schools.
Outcome:
• Groups of active parents were formed in different areas, which further assisted other desiring parents for consecutive admissions in the respective areas.
• This process also helped in creating awareness amongst the community regarding their rights.
• Awareness was created amongst other NGOs and groups working in the area of education, which helped in spreading the impact of the work.
• Advocacy with the education department facilitated the admissions
Beneficiaries:
Number of admissions in 31 schools: 250
2. Public Distribution System:
The public distribution system (PDS) ensures the distribution of essential items such as selected cereals, sugar and kerosene at subsidized prices to holders of ration cards. The PDS also helps to modulate open - market prices for commodities that are distributed through the system. The Department of Food & Civil Supplies, Govt. of Delhi, manage the PDS in Delhi by enforcing the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and various Control Orders made there under.
However, it is also a known fact that the people across the country face different problems in respect to issues of PDS. Pardarshita started identified PDS as one of the potential problems faced by people in slums of New Seemapuri and Sunder Nagari. The problems faced were:
• People received less ration than what was entitled to them
• The essential commodities given under both BPL and Antodaya card at prices at par with the market price
• In cases were the families could acquire their ration, the shopkeepers cheated them by giving them lesser quantity of ration
• The qualities of the commodities given were found to be very poor.
• Families were often send back by the ration shopkeepers with false reasons that the designated ration had not arrived.
• Cards were not delivered to the entitled families rather they were illegally kept by the ration shopkeepers. These shopkeepers then faked the signatures of the families and siphoned their entitled rations to local markets for vested interests.
Scheme            Rate (Rs)             Quantity (Kg)
                          Wheat    Rice       Wheat    Rice   Sugar                 Kerosene
APL                      6.80       9.00       25          10        NA                    9.5 litres@Rs.9.09
BPL                       4.65       6.15       25          10       6 kg @Rs 13.50  22 litres@Rs.9.09
AAY                      2            3           25          10       6 kg@ Rs 13.50  22 litres@Rs.9.09
Area of work: New Seemapuri and Sundernagari.
No.of household:
The volunteers of Pardarshita undertook the following activities to deal with the problems mentioned:
• Awareness of created amongst the community regarding the
a) entitled quantity of the different commodities
b) types of ration cards
c) price of the different commodities under each type of ration card
d) timings of the ration shops
• The community was made aware about the Right to Information Act, which they could use to ask for records and status of their ration cards.
• Several workshops were held with community people on RTI focusing especially on the problems of PDS. These workshops were held across different districts in Delhi
• Several RTI applications were filed to take out records of ration shops, which helped in exposing the irregularities. RTI applications were also filed to track status of ration cards.
• Continuous advocacy was done with the concerned government departments, ration shopkeepers and community to help in regularise the system.
Outcome:
• The corruption in the whole system of public distribution was revealed
• Community got aware about their rights and entitlements
• Strong community groups were formed, which later helped in creating a watch groups in the community to monitor the proper functioning of the ration shops.
• The ration cards, which were illegally confiscated by the ration shopkeepers, were distributed to the deserving families.
• There was proper monitoring of the ration shops by the concerned Food inspectors
• The quality and quantity of the commodities were improved.
Beneficiaries:
No. of Household:
No. of Ration shops: New Seemapuri: 12 shops, Sundarnagari: 17 shops
No. of Ration cards released: 300 cards approximately
3. Right to Information Workshops:
RTI stands for Right to Information. Right to Information is a part of fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution. Article 19 (1) says that every citizen has freedom of speech and expression. As early as in 1976, the Supreme Court said in the case of Raj Narain vs State of UP that people cannot speak or express themselves unless they know. Therefore, right to information is embedded in article 19. In the same case, Supreme Court further said that India is a democracy. People are the masters. Therefore, the masters have a right to know how the governments, meant to serve them, are functioning. Further, every citizen pays taxes. Even a beggar on the street pays tax (in the form of sales tax, excise duty etc) when he buys a piece of soap from the market. The citizens therefore, have a right to know how their money was being spent. The Supreme Court while saying that RTI is a part of our fundamental rights laid down these three principles.
This is because if you went to any Government Department and told the officer there, “RTI is my fundamental right, and that I am the master of this country. Therefore, please show me all your files”, he would not do that. In all probability, he would throw you out of his room. Therefore, we need machinery or a process through which we can exercise this fundamental right. Right to Information Act 2005, which became effective on 13th October 2005, provides that machinery. Therefore, Right to Information Act does not give us any new right. It simply lays down the process on how to apply for information, where to apply, how much fees etc.
Right to Information Act 2005 empowers every citizen to
 Ask any questions from the Government or seek any information
 Take copies of any government documents
 Inspect any government documents.
 Inspect any Government works
 Take samples of materials of any Government work.
Several Right to Information workshops were held in different districts of Delhi and other States. The following workshops were held:
• Two days workshop on RTI with employees and volunteers of CFAR, Jaipur
• Four days workshop on RTI with employees and community people across eight districts with SCRIA, Haryana
• Five days workshop on RTI with different organisations like Pani and others in Eastern Uttar Pradesh
• Conducted RTI workshops for different government departments like Narcotics, Central Exercise and Customs in Delhi, Jaipur and Chandigrah. Similar workshops were also held with District Administration of Sitapur and Hardoi districts of Western U.P.
• Conducted RTI workshop for Assam Administrative Staff in Guwahati.
• Similar workshops and training programs on RTI were also held with various grassroots and other organisations across the country.
4. Monitoring of MCD Schools:
The status of schools run by Municipal Corporation of Delhi is deteriorating with the passage of time. The different problems that plague these schools are:
Inadequate infrastructure in government schools -
(a) Lack of basic amenities
(b) Tin classrooms for the students – inhuman and barbaric
(c) New school buildings being constructed without the basic facilities like ramps and special toilets for the children and teachers with disabilities
(d) Sub-standard construction of school buildings
(e) DDA not providing land to government for new schools
(f) Supply of contaminated drinking water to the children in schools
Several complaints regarding irregularities in the MCD schools were brought into notice of Pardarshita volunteers, from the community. Acting on this the Pardarshita intervened into the issue. Pardarshita has worked in 5 MCD schools in Sundernagari (1school), Seemapuri (2 schools), Nandnagari (1 school), and Dilshad Colony (1 school). The following activities were undertaken:
• Regular monitoring of schools on :
a) infrastructure
b) electricity
c) drinking water
d) midday meal quality checked
e) cleanliness and basic hygiene of schools and surroundings
• Involved communities and formed watch groups of parents of children
• Admissions of children in MCD schools were facilitated in different areas of East Delhi
• Assisted people in the process of the admission when authorities created difficulties for parents
Outcome:
• Motivated watch groups among communities were formed who kept constant vigil on different activities of these schools.
• Electricity connections were reinstalled in these schools. Fans and lights were installed.
• The basic infrastructures of the schools were improved. The ceilings of the school buildings were repaired.
• The quality and quantity of the Midday meals were improved and regularised.

Pardarshita: Annual Report from April 2006-March 2007

Mission:
To fight corruption and ensuring transparency and accountability in the Governance system thereby empowering the marginalized section.
About the Organization:
Pardarshita is a non-profit organization. It was registered in December 2005 founded by activists associated with Parivartan. Pardarshita has been formed with the aim of fighting corruption and ensuring transparency and accountability in the Public Governance systems thereby empowering the marginalized sections. The goal of Pardarshita is to spread awareness about Right to Information (RTI) and empower common people to use the RTI tool to ensure access to his/her rights and entitlements.
Objectives of the organization:
• to create awareness amongst the common people about their rights.
• to make the government authorities more accountable and transparent.
• to ensure good quality of education for every child by invoking right to education.
• to conduct research on how the fund is being utilized in government run schools.
• to motivate the marginalized section of the society to minimize their dependency and create sustainable systems
• to form community based groups.
Executive Committee:
Rajiv Kumar- President
Suchi Pandey- Secretary
Ritu Mehra- Treasurer
Shaweta Anand- Executive member
Diwan Singh- Executive member
Momin Khan- Executive member
Ram Ashish- Executive member
Main Activities:
Public Distribution System:
The public distribution system (PDS) ensures the distribution of essential items such as selected cereals, sugar and kerosene at subsidized prices to holders of ration cards. The PDS also helps to modulate open - market prices for commodities that are distributed through the system. The Department of Food & Civil Supplies, Govt. of Delhi, manage the PDS in Delhi by enforcing the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and various Control Orders made there under.
However, it is also a known fact that the people across the country face different problems in respect to issues of PDS. Pardarshita started identified PDS as one of the potential problems faced by people in slums of New Seemapuri. The problems faced were:
• People received less ration than what was entitled to them
• The essential commodities given under both BPL and Antodaya card at prices at par with the market price
• In cases were the families could acquire their ration, the shopkeepers cheated them by giving them lesser quantity of ration
• The qualities of the commodities given were found to be very poor.
• Families were often send back by the ration shopkeepers with false reasons that the designated ration had not arrived.
• Cards were not delivered to the entitled families rather they were illegally kept by the ration shopkeepers. These shopkeepers then faked the signatures of the families and siphoned their entitled rations to local markets for vested interests.
Area of work: New Seemapuri
The volunteers of Pardarshita undertook the following activities to deal with the problems mentioned:
• Awareness of created amongst the community regarding the
a) entitled quantity of the different commodities
b) types of ration cards
c) price of the different commodities under each type of ration card
d) timings of the ration shops
• The community was made aware about the Right to Information Act, which they could use to ask for records and status of their ration cards.
Outcome:
• Community got aware about their rights and entitlements
• Strong community groups were formed, which later helped in creating a watch groups in the community to monitor the proper functioning of the ration shops.
• The quality and quantity of the commodities were improved.

Beneficiaries:

No. of Ration shops: New Seemapuri: 12 shops

No. of Ration cards released: 100 cards approximately.

 Admissions in private /public schools under Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota:
Approximately 361 schools in Delhi have received land from the Delhi Government at extremely subsidized rates on the condition that in return these schools reserve 25% seats for the children of economically weaker sections (EWS) in their schools, a condition continually violated. The reasons given for not fulfilling such conditions are that if such children are allowed to enrol in their schools it will destroy the school’s environment that caters to the needs of the elite of the society. But the real reason for refusing admission to EWS is the drastic reduction in income that these schools make through donations.
Pardarshita took the issue and did the following:
• The different schools entitled to come under the EWS scheme were identified. Around schools were identified for work, in Dilshad Garden (6 schools), Vivek Vihar (4 schools).
• Right to Information applications were filed to access information on these schools.
• Families from the clusters in and around these schools were identified who could be probable beneficiaries, based on the criterion that the annual income of the family was less than 1 lakh per annum and were interested and eager to get their children admitted in these private/public schools.
• Next, the families were assisted with the process of documentation required for the admission process. This included helping them acquire all the necessary papers, certificates etc.
• Pardarshita volunteers then accompanied respective parents and children to the schools in the nearby locality, where they often faced rejection from the school authorities.
• This was followed by a long series of running around, where several complaints were filed against the concerned school authorities in the office of The Deputy Director of Education Department.
• Since no action was taken on any of the complaints filed by the aggrieved parents, Right to Information applications were filed asking for the status of these complaints.
• Immediate action was taken on the applications and was followed by admissions in the respective schools.

Outcome:

• Groups of active parents were formed in different areas, which further assisted other desiring parents for consecutive admissions in the respective areas.
• This process also helped in creating awareness amongst the community regarding their rights.
Beneficiaries: Number of admissions in 10 schools: 50
Right to Information Workshops:
RTI stands for Right to Information. Right to Information is a part of fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution. Article 19 (1) says that every citizen has freedom of speech and expression. As early as in 1976, the Supreme Court said in the case of Raj Narain vs State of UP that people cannot speak or express themselves unless they know. Therefore, right to information is embedded in article 19. In the same case, Supreme Court further said that India is a democracy. People are the masters. Therefore, the masters have a right to know how the governments, meant to serve them, are functioning. Further, every citizen pays taxes. Even a beggar on the street pays tax (in the form of sales tax, excise duty etc) when he buys a piece of soap from the market. The citizens therefore, have a right to know how their money was being spent. The Supreme Court while saying that RTI is a part of our fundamental rights laid down these three principles.
This is because if you went to any Government Department and told the officer there, “RTI is my fundamental right, and that I am the master of this country. Therefore, please show me all your files”, he would not do that. In all probability, he would throw you out of his room. Therefore, we need machinery or a process through which we can exercise this fundamental right. Right to Information Act 2005, which became effective on 13th October 2005, provides that machinery. Therefore, Right to Information Act does not give us any new right. It simply lays down the process on how to apply for information, where to apply, how much fees etc.
Right to Information Act 2005 empowers every citizen to:
 Ask any questions from the Government or seek any information
 Take copies of any government documents
 Inspect any government documents.
 Inspect any Government works
 Take samples of materials of any Government work.
Several Right to Information workshops were held in different districts of Delhi and other States. The following workshops were held:
• One days workshop on RTI with community people across four districts with SCRIA, Haryana
• Two days workshop on RTI with different organisations like Pani and others in Eastern Uttar Pradesh
• Conducted RTI workshops for different government departments like Narcotics, Central Exercise and Customs in Delhi, Jaipur and Chandigrah.
Public Assistance Centre in New Seema Puri:
Most of the population in New Seema Puri is illiterate and as a result they have to depend on other educated people for filling forms or for getting some information and for this they have to pay some amount to those people who help them in filling form or some thing like that., or at times they have to run from pillar to post for getting some form from the Government department. Therefore in order to help such people from where they can get forms and their forms could be filled free of cost a assistance centre was open at New Seema Puri.
Simultaneously the parents were also assisted for getting the admission of their children in Govt. and MCD schools, because people do not have documents and at the time of admission the school authorities ask for many documents, and as the volunteers of Pardarshita are well aware about the rules for the admission therefore they help the parents who so ever approach for the assistance.

Beneficiaries:

Number of people assisted at the Assistance centre: 200

Number of admissions in Govt. & MCD schools: 70

Pardarshita: Annual Report from April 2008-March 2009

Mission:

To fight corruption and ensuring transparency and accountability in the Governance system thereby empowering the marginalized section.
About the Organization:
Pardarshita is a non-profit organization. It was registered in December 2005 founded by activists associated with Parivartan. Pardarshita has been formed with the aim of fighting corruption and ensuring transparency and accountability in the Public Governance systems thereby empowering the marginalized sections. The goal of Pardarshita is to spread awareness about Right to Information (RTI) and empower common people to use the RTI tool to ensure access to his/her rights and entitlements.
 Objectives of the organization:
• to create awareness amongst the common people about their rights.
• to make the government authorities more accountable and transparent.
• to ensure good quality of education for every child by invoking right to education.
• to conduct research on how the fund is being utilized in government run schools.
• to motivate the marginalized section of the society to minimize their dependency and create sustainable systems
• to form community based groups.
Executive Committee:
Rajiv Kumar- President
Ritu Mehra- Secretary/ Treasurer
Shaweta Anand- Executive member
Diwan Singh- Executive member
Momin Khan- Executive member
Ram ashish- Executive member

Main Activities:

Establishing of Resource Centre:
A resource centre has been established at F-185,186, New Seemapuri. The purpose of the centre was to spread awareness and disseminate information and capacity building of local community. The resource centre is equipped with ready information on PDS, Social welfare department schemes, schemes of SC&ST & OBC Department and information with respect to issue of Voter I D Card and enrolment of their names in voter list. The other schemes of Delhi Government like Ladli scheme and insurance schemes for the poorest of the poor.

The broad outcome of the Resource Centre is given below:
1. The forms of different schemes are freely and readily available to the people, now they need not to run from pillar to post for getting the forms
2. The people are being assisted for filing the forms and simultaneously the educated member of the family which is being provided the assistance is also being taught that how to fill the form.
3. The people are being aware about their rights.
4. The people are gradually acknowledging the power of Right to Information Act and now they them selves ask to file the application under the RTI Act if their work gets stricken in the Govt. Department.
5. The people being aware about the different schemes which are being introduced by the Govt. from time to time.  

Beneficiaries: No. of Ration cards released: 250 cards approximately.

No. of people received for old age pension: 25

No. of women received widow pension: 15

No. of voter I-cards released: 200 approximately.

Admission Campaigns:
The activities of Pardarshita started from the admission campaigns in Delhi at various locations like inside the DC office complex, outside Metro stations, in different communities and in the trade fair too.
The basic objective for organizing these camps was to assist parents for the problems which they are facing during the admission of their wards in the schools run by the Government because the principals and the teachers ask for the unnecessary documents for the admission. During this campaign laisioning with the Deputy Director of Education and Director of Primary Education was also done for facilitating the parents. More than 500 complaints against 54 schools were collected from the parents for the denial of admission cases, and these complaints were presented in the High Court during the court proceedings and as a result Hon’ble court issued contempt of court notice to all these public schools.

During this campaign more than 700 students were facilitated for the admission in Public schools under EWS quota and more than 300 students were facilitated for admission in Govt. and MCD schools.                 Beneficiaries: Number of admissions in 54 Public schools: 700+

Number of admissions in Govt. & MCD Schools: 300+

Financial Assistance to students:
The rules which were formed for the admission of children under Economically Weaker Section quota stated that those students will get financial assistance at par with the students of Government school, for expenditure on account of uniform and books. Therefore parents were mobilized and around 90 RTI applications have been filed by the parents in the education department demanding for the same. As a result the students were given a cheque of Rs. 580/- according to the standard in which they were studying.

Beneficiaries: Number of students given financial assistance in Public Schools: 1000+

Capacity Building Initiatives
Capacity building has been the forte of this period of work because various issues had to be clarified at the community level. Hence the team organized several trainings of the women’s groups, youth groups and rag picker groups on RTI, PDS, sanitation etc. the results of the trainings have been very promising which is visible from the fact that many RTIs have been filed after the trainings. The chief trainings organized in the past quarter include:
Training of women group on PDS and Education and Public Development Works helped in forming issue based groups in Seema Puri. A group of women named Mahila Ration Samiti which is working on improvement of ration distribution system has been formed. The other group which is functional in monitoring of the students admitted under economically weaker section quota is also formed; another group which is actively trying to improve the condition of park in their community is also working hard.
Youth Groups
Youth groups have been given strong emphasis as they are the future crusaders of the area. We have organized some special trainings focusing on the needs of the youth in this quarter. Issues like livelihood, PDS, RTI, street theatre activities have been organized by Pardarshita. The youth have benefited greatly from the regular meetings and trainings by Pardarshita.
A two days leadership workshop was also organized for the youth and it was organized in Dehradun. Training on RTI and personality Development was given to them. The strong presence of youth members in our rallies and meetings verifies the close association. The youth group is currently being given training on theatre also and is in process of preparing small street plays on relevant issues such as PDS and education. After his training the youth group offers that they will give regular time to the resource centre, and since then 3-4 youth volunteers are regularly coming to the centre and are learning how to draft application the process of RTI filing and is preceding processes.
Assistance camp for getting Voter I-Card:
It is the right of every citizen of India to vote whosoever has attained the age of 18. The Govt. issues a voter I card within 21 days of filing of form 6 with the SDM (electoral), but it has been noticed that either the people fail to get form 6 from the electoral office or if they happen to get the form in that case their voter card has not been issued by the department.
Therefore an assistance camp with the help of volunteers of Pardarshita was organized in Seema Puri and Bawana. These two camps were organised by the youth group in order to assist the people for filling form-6 and for new BPL ration card.

Outcome: More than 300 form-6 were filed for voter card.

Around 45 RTI applications were filed to know the status of the form which the people have submitted for getting voter cards.

More than 400 voter I-cards were released.

Assistance camp for PDS:
The public distribution system (PDS) ensures the distribution of essential items such as selected cereals, sugar and kerosene at subsidized prices to holders of ration cards. The PDS also helps to modulate open - market prices for commodities that are distributed through the system. The Department of Food & Civil Supplies, Govt. of Delhi, manage the PDS in Delhi by enforcing the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and various Control Orders made there under.
However, it is also a known fact that the people across the country face different problems in respect to issues of PDS. Pardarshita started identified PDS as one of the potential problems faced by people in slums of Delhi. The major problem which came to notice was that people have applied for the ration cards but they failed to get the cards from the Food & Supply office and beside this the people who want new ration cards and if they go to the circle office the inspector does not issue forms to them.
Therefore camps were organized in order to assist those people.

Outcome: More than 200 forms were filed for new ration cards.

Around 50 RTI applications were filed to know the status of the form which the people have submitted for getting new ration cards.

Around 75 people got their cards which were lying with the department.

Community Watch Group Meetings
Regular Group meeting have been held with women group and with youth group. The meeting with the youth has been organised to discuss the local problems like PDS, Sanitation, roads, communication etc and to identify their roles in the same. Their capacity has been built on the use of RTI, PDS and different Government schemes. The youth group consists of 150 persons in Seema Puri at present. They are also devoting their time for the resource centre too. To engage the youths a computer literacy classes are also being held on a daily basis. 7 computers have been raised through community contribution and are being managed by the youth group in propagating computer literacy.
The women group has more than 60 active women at present. These women are now working on issue based mode like ration mahila samiti is working on ration, EWS monitoring group is working on ensuring the financial assistance in the public schools.

CIC Order for Food & Supply Department

http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/SG-22122009-22.pdf

CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION

Club Building, Opposite Ber Sarai Market,

Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067.

Tel: +91-11-26161796

Decision No. CIC/SG/C/2009/001619; 001621; 001622/6047

Complaint No. CIC/SG/C/2009/001619; 001621; 001622

Complainant : Mr. Rajiv Kumar

c/o Pardarshita

F-185, 186, New Seema Puri

Delhi 110095

Respondent : The Food Commissioner

Department of Food & Supplies

Govt. of NCT Delhi, K-Block,

Vikas Bhawan, New Delhi 110002

Assistant Commissioner (HQ/RTI),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, K Block, Vikas Bhawan, IP Estate, New Delhi.

Assistant Commissioner (North East),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Weavers Complex, Nand Nagari, Delhi.

Assistant Commissioner (West),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, 152 C Block, Janakpuri, Delhi.

Assistant Commissioner (North West),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, C Block, Pocket C, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi.

Assistant Commissioner (New Delhi),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, M Block Vikas Bhawan, IP Estate, Delhi.

Assistant Commissioner (South),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Asian Market, Sector 3, Pushp Vihar, New Delhi.

Assistant Commissioner (Central),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, K Block, Vikas Bhawan, IP Estate, New Delhi.

Assistant Commissioner (East),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, DDA Shopping Complex, Dayanand Vihar, Delhi.

Assistant Commissioner (North),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, 23/26, Shopping Complex, Gulabi Bagh, Delhi.

Assistant Commissioner (South West),

GNCTD, Deptt. of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, C22/23,

Behind Qutb Hotel, Mehrauli, Delhi.

Facts arising from the Complaint:

It has been brought to the notice of the Commission vide four Complaints filed by Mr. Rajiv Kumar that the Department was not meeting certain obligations under the PDS Control Order. According to PDS Control Order 2001, it is the duty of every Fair Price shopkeeper to “display information on a notice at a prominent place in the Fair Price shop on a daily basis regarding a) list of BPL and Antodaya beneficiaries, b) entitlements of essential commodities, c) scale of issue, d) retail issue prices, e) timings of opening and closing of Fair Price shops, f) stock of essential commodities received during the month, g) opening and closing stock of essential commodities and h) the name of authorities for redressal of grievances/lodging complaints with respect to quality and quantity of essential commodities under the Public Distribution System.

One of the complaints (Complaint No. CIC/SG/C/2009/001621) state that many of the Fair Price shops especially in circle 63 have not complied with the PDS Control Order 2001 and the disclosures have not been displayed. The information should have been displayed as part of obligations to make suo moto disclosures under Section 4 of the RTI Act.

Mr. Shailesh Gandhi, Central Information Commissioner, called a meeting on 21/12/2009 at the Commission’s office on this matter to discuss issues relating to disclosure of information on the Public Distribution System in Delhi. A notice dated 14/12/2009 was issued to all the Assistant Commissioners & PIOs of the Department and they were directed to attend this meeting. An Agenda of issues that were going to be discussed was enclosed along with the notice and the Assistant Commissioners were informed that appropriate directions will be issued by the Commissioner after giving the PIOs of every district/zone an opportunity to present his opinion.

Facts arising from the hearing held on 21/12/2009:

The following persons were present:

Complainant: Mr. Rajiv Kumar

Respondent: Ms. Jayshree Raghuram, Secretary-cum-Commissioner (F&S); Mr. SS Rathi, Jt. Commissioner; Mr. Kishore, Addl. Commissioner; Mr. Mange Ram, AC (North); Mr. KD Trehan, AC; Mr. Ajay Arora, AC (West); Mr. MK Sharma, AC (South); Mr. GS DHodi, AC (SW); Mr. Subhash Chander, AC (NW); Mr. HP Meena, AC (New Delhi); Mr. Mehresh, Sysyem Analyst; Mr. PP Baruah, Programmer

The Commission informed the Food Commissioner that complaints had been received from some citizen groups particularly Pardarshita, Satark Nagrik Sangathan and Sajha Manch that information should be available suo moto at the Circle Offices and the Fair Price Shops is not available.

The Commission discussed the various issues that were indicated in the Agenda which included information that must be displayed at the Fair Price Shops and the Circle Offices in compliance with the Department’s own orders as well as requirements of Section 4 of the Right to Information Act 2005. After consultation with the Food Commissioner as well as others present, the Commission directs that the following information should be displayed at every Circle Office of the Department:

i) Copy of all ration cards along with photographs of individual card holders in the circle offices of Food and Supply Department.

ii) All citizens should have access to daily sale register, and stock register under suo moto disclosure of RTI Act.

iii) Name and designation of each official in the Circle office along with their stated roles and responsibilities.

iv) Name and contact details of PIO’s and FAA.

v) Procedure to apply for new ration cards and the list of documents required.

vi) Time frame for disposal of various applications (new cards, renewal, change of address etc).

vii) Date of the next Vigilance Committee meeting and names of the members of the Committee.

viii) Rights and privileges of ration card holders as per Section 6(7) of Annexe to PDS Control Order 2001.

ix) List of documents present in the Circle Offices.

The Complainant brought a sample display print of the information that may be displayed outside each Fair Price Shop. Keeping this is view, the Commission directs that the following information will be displayed at the Fair Price Shops under the Department:

i) Entitlement of essential commodities for all types of ration cards.

ii) Scale of issue of each essential commodity for all types of ration cards.

iii) Retail prices of each essential commodity for all types of ration cards.

iv) Working hours of fair price shops.

v) Stock of essential items received during the month.

vi) Opening and closing stock of essential commodities.

vii) Name, designation and contact numbers of officials for redressal of grievances with respect to quality and quantity of essential commodities.

viii) Daily updation of stock position information

ix) Information about inspection of records by any citizen on every Saturday except for second Saturday as per the PDS Control Order dated 15/06/2006.

x) Display of samples of food grains being supplied through fair price shops.

The Food Commissioner has given a commitment to the Commission that she will ensure that the afore-mentioned information will be displayed before 31 January 2010.

Decision announced on 22 December 2009:

The Complaint is allowed.

The Department will ensure that the afore-mentioned information is displayed in the Circle Offices and the Fair Price Shops before 31 January 2010. A compliance report will be sent to the Commission before 05 February 2010.

This decision is announced in open chamber.

Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties.

Any information in compliance with this Order will be provided free of cost as per Section 7(6) of RTI Act.

Shailesh Gandhi

Information Commissioner

22 December 2009

(In any correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number.) ShG