Dimapur: Chief Information Commissioner Nagaland, Lalhuma IAS (Retd) along with his colleagues, Information Commissioner, Kevinino Meru and Bukchen Phom held a sensitization cum interaction session on RTI with officials of the Directorates/Head Offices, District Officials, PSUB and NGOs/CSOs at DC’s Conference hall, Dimapur on February 25.
Speaking at the interactive session Lalhuma stressed on the importance of RTI discussion for better implementation of RTI. Explaining with the aid of power point presentation, he gave an overview of RTI stating that it was started in Sweden in the year 1776 which was then known as the Freedom of Information (FOI). In India, it was passed in the parliament enacted only by the year 2005 and as of today there are 82 countries which have passed the FOI Laws, he informed and further said that where there are FOI Laws there is more transparency and accountability.
The objective of RTI is to secure both transparency and accountability, to grant statutory RTI for every citizen and contain corruption and Public authorities’ attitude to information seekers should always be courteous and friendly, he reminded. Pointing out that RTI Application has been increasing year by year, he observed that public are getting more and more aware. CIC also stressed on the importance of sensitising NGOs in our state in order to read the benefits of RTI implementation. A short feature film on RTI and theme song was also screened which was followed by an interactive session. ADC Dimapur Tarep Imchen chaired the program.
