The projects presented here in IIJNM Investigations all began with requests by student journalists under the 2005 Right To Information Act. Despite the clear deadlines, guidelines and provision for fines against unwilling bureaucrats provided in the landmark law, students had uneven success getting public records.
Lokayukta Santosh Hegde was the most helpful and transparent. He immediately opened his files, allowing students to examine 150 disposed cases and follow them through resolution.
The three other student teams, however, ran into immediate difficulties getting records in a timely manner from the BMTC, Karnataka educational officials and the Chief Minister's office.
It became clear that many officials didn’t take the requests as seriously as they could because, well, they came from students. But the difficulties also had the same patterns familiar to all RTI advocates.
Students were asked why they wanted the information—something expressly forbidden under the law. And they did not receive anything within the 30-day deadline. Time and again, they returned for appointments with designated public information officers only to find them missing or putting off delivery for another week or so. It seemed as if, at the initial point of contact, government agencies were determined to do all they could to discourage RTI requests.
In the case of the BMTC, things changed after students filed a formal RTI appeal to more senior administrators. S Manohar, the Chief Law Officer, made sure the traffic division opened up its internal records of accidents and driver discipline.
The other two student teams weren’t as fortunate. Students seeking lists of government school teachers with the worst attendance records were put through the bureaucratic wringer at nine education “block” offices within Bangalore. Eventually, two offices complied, eeking out a list of 10 names after two months.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the education department’s reform arm, was the most stubborn. It agreed, then delayed, then refused to disclose the names of teachers identified as absent in its publicly funded study. Students have filed another appeal with the Karnataka Information Commission seeking fines against SSA for the delay.
The worst RTI response, however, came from the office of Chief Minister Yeddyurappa. Students had to go to the office 12 times and file an appeal before obtaining the list of the official taxpayer-paid temple visits during the first months of his tenure.
Getting a list of public information for a second project became a sad parody of administrative torture. In a finale to a two-month wait, students were put on a bureaucratic treadmill, made to go around and around, stopping 72 times at 18 tables on the second and third floors of the Vidhan Soudha, before the Chief Minister’s office finally, and grudgingly, handed over the material.
Even then, the students were warned the information was for study material and not publication.
No report based on that material is included here--not because of the warning but because the data were too voluminous and rich for a short-term project to be completed in one semester. But we will not disclose what it was. Our hope is that, someday soon, the students who worked so hard to pry it loose will eventually use it for an investigative reporting project, perhaps working at their first professional media outlet.
Once they catch their breath and get over their dizziness, that is.
