Memorandum to introspect and act about Containing the rising Corruption by ensuring Implementation of RTI Act 2005 in “ Letter & Spirit ” at Government Of India level

E-MEMORANDUM    To :  Sri  Manmohan   Singh                                                                                                                                    The Prime Minister of India  Government of India , P.M.O. , South Block New Delhi , India , Pin Code – 110001 "Hon'ble Prime Miister of India Dr. Man Mohan Singh" pmosb@pmo.nic.in ,     From : Members of  " YAISHWARYAJ "   and " SURYA " , the Lucknow and Bareilly , Uttar Pradesh , India based AOP ,  involved in Social Activism     Date : 03rd  of  November , 2010     Re. : Alarming trend indicated by the Corruption Perception Index figures Released by Transparency International for last 10 years involving both Pre and post Right to Information Act  periods   , Introspection and Action needed at the Government of India Level  to combat the corruption by ensuring Compliance of Right to Information Act  2005 in " letter & spirit " --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   On behalf of the Members of  " YAISHWARYAJ "   & " SURYA ", the undersigned have drafted this memorandum to communicate our collective concerns for the alarming situation of  rising Corruption in the Country , as indicated by the data released by Transparency International for last 10 years involving both Pre and post Right to Information Act  periods. We are alarmed and distressed to learn from the recent newspaper reports and website of the of  Transparency International  that for the year 2010 , India moved up the ladder of corruption despite there being an act called the Right to Information Act 2005 .     We,  the Social activists from Uttar Pradesh , discussed RTI  Act 2005 vis-à-vis Corruption Perception index Data released by Transparency International and decided to send this memorandum to you with the demand to constitute a committee to study this scenario in the light of implementation of Right to Information Act  2005 in " letter & spirit " since 2005 to date . The Preamble of the RTI Act 2005 states "And whereas democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed; "     Here emphasis has been laid on the words " to contain corruption " means  prime motive of enacting this act was to contain corruption and the spirit of the act was to diminish it gradually.     As per Transparency International's annual survey ,India  slipped from 84th position to 87th. It means India has become  more corrupt than year before despite there being  an important tool called " RTI act 2005 " to contain corruption . On a  Scale which ranges from zero (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (thought to have little corruption) , India scored 3.3 in the corruption perception index, which ranks countries on a scale from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt).     Corruption's ultimate consequences  has  to be borne  by the poor , vulnerable  and deprived section of the society . This section constitutes the largest chunk of India's Population.     So we collected Corruption Perception Index Data from the Transparency International's Website from year 2001 to 2010. The Time period selected involved both  Pre and post Right to Information Act  periods   .  The data tables are given below –   Table – 1 YEAR COUNTRY RANK COUNTRY C.P.I. SCORE CONFIDANCE RANGE/LOW-HIGH RANGE SURVEYS USED 2001 71 INDIA 2.7 2.1 – 3.8 12 2002 71 INDIA 2.7 2.4 – 3.6 12 2003 83 INDIA 2.8 2.1 – 3.6 14 2004 90 INDIA 2.8 2.6 – 3.0 15 2005 88 INDIA 2.9 2.7 – 3.1 14 2006 70 INDIA 3.3 3.1 – 3.6 10 2007 72 INDIA 3.5 3.3 – 3.7 10 2008 85 INDIA 3.4 2.7 – 3.9 10 2009 84 INDIA 3.4 3.2 – 3.6 10 2010 87 INDIA 3.3 3.0 – 3.5 10   Table – 2 YEAR C.P.I. SCORE 2001 2.7 2002 2.7 2003 2.8 2004 2.8 2005 2.9 2006 3.3 2007 3.5 2008 3.4 2009 3.4 2010 3.3     The C.P.I. data for these 10 years show that  in these ten years India was - ·        the least honest in year 2001 with C.P.I. Score of  2.7, ·        showed no improvement in year 2002 with unchanged C.P.I. Score of  2.7 , ·        showed  improvement of 3.70% in year 2003 with C.P.I. Score of  2.8 , ·        showed no improvement in 2004 with unchanged C.P.I. Score of  2.8 , ·        showed  improvement of 3.57% in year 2005 with C.P.I. Score of  2.9, ·        showed  improvement of 13.79% in year 2006 with C.P.I. Score of 3.3, ·        showed  improvement of 6.06% in year 2007 with C.P.I. Score of 3.5, ·        showed  decline of 2.86% in year 2008 with C.P.I. Score of 3.4, ·        showed no change in 2009 with unchanged C.P.I. Score of  3.4, ·        showed  decline of 2.94% in year 2010 with C.P.I. Score of 3.3,     The analysis shows that India raised on honesty scale from 2001 to 2007 and is continuously declining from 2008 to date despite there being a strong tool to fight corruption i.e.  " Right to Information Act 2005 " . The remarkable point of study is that with the advent of RTI act 2005 in the year 2005 , corruption diminished by 13.79% in year 2006 and further by 6.06% in year 2007. From 2008 onwards corruption is showing continuous  increasing trend  thereby raising a question as to for what purpose the RTI act was enacted and if it is serving that purpose or not ?     We discussed the matter  and we are  of the view that there  is strong need for the Government of India   to introspect as to for what purpose the RTI act was enacted and if it is serving that purpose? If no , then what are the factors responsible for this contradictory situation of rising corruption in India despite there being a strong tool called " Right to Information Act 2005 " ? We are sending this memorandum to you to look into the matter with desired seriousness , Constitute a Committee having considerable representation of civil societies to analyze the factors responsible for this undesirable situation of rising corruption thereby implying failure of " RTI Act 2005 " in the Country and take other appropriate measures as may deem fit by your office in this regard to safeguard the interests of all the people of the nation .  Copy being sent for necessary action by E-mail to - Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil ,The President of India, President House , New Delhi , Pin Code – 110001 , India. "Her Excellency President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil"  presidentofindia@rb.nic.in ,  Yours truly ,   The Signatories –   1-    Urvashi  Sharma 2-    Usha 3-    Prabhuta 4-    Babita Singh 5-    Anjali 6-    Vishal Pandey 7-    Premisagar 8-    Vadam Singh 9-    Ramautar 10-Ram Prakash 11-Vishnu Datt   e-mail rtimahilamanchup@yahoo.co.in