Study on the usage of RTI and strategy of an online RTI flling portal- Part II

Abstract

Apart from the functioning of the ecosystem from the point of view of government infrastructure, another issue the RTI act faces is the difficulties people face in filing RTIs. It is in this regard that RTINation was founded. We shall present the original value proposition below:The time and effort taken to file an RTI Application has acted as a deterrent in filing of applications. When we tried filing an application, we had to spend about 3 hours in a government department. Similar experience was found by a PwC report which mentioned that a person had to visit the government office at least thrice before he could successfully file an application. This made us question the fact that where does a common man in India who works 5-6 days a week have the time to either go to the post office or a government department to ask for information? rtination.com addresses this problem head on – the time taken to file an application on rtination.com has been reduced from hours to minutes. The user doesn’t have to worry about finding details as to where his application needs to go to, nor bother about adhering to a format specified by various states which is one of the major reasons cited for not providing information required. After submitting the first draft of questions he is guided by rtination.com to draft his questions in a better way to ensure a prompt and precise response. rtination.com thus overcomes the following issues faced by the user while filing an RTI application:• Lack of knowledge of the filing process.• Lack of expertise in framing an RTI application.• Lack of time to file the application.• Lack of avenues to share the information obtained.• Difficulty of making the required payment through DD/cheques.By overcoming these barriers rtination.com makes the RTI act easy to use. It provides a platform for people to collaborate and come together to resolve critical issues. Such a collaboration was seen amongst people on the website while they filed RTI application seeking clarity on the CAT 2010 examination. One user, Gerita Stanley who had not received her passport for 2 years. She received her passport within days of filing an application through us. Another user had not received his income tax refund for the past 2 years. He filed an application on our website on March 12th, 2010 asking details regarding the same. The income tax department promptly processed his refund on March 30th and replied tothe person on March 31st indicating that his refund has been processed. People have been successful in getting PF claims, details on roads not built, lost property records etc. through our website. These examples demonstrate how the services at rtination.com are touching lives every day – changing India one application at a time. Appendix 1 has some reviews bysome users of RTINation. One big challenge has been the fear amongst the people. Since Jan, 2010 there have been 9RTI related deaths. Such deterrents cause people to not file applications in the interest ofthe masses. RTINation tackles the challenge by providing the user a chance to file the appeal from the point of view of the masses and collaborate with others. The power of the group offsets the fear generated by past acts of violence. The national average of applicants receiving information is around 26%. At Rtination, the success rate has been 2x the nation average.One reason for higher success rate is that when an application reaches a PIO from an organization, with a professionally drafted information request, he is more likely to act on it. Further, the seal of RTINation on the envelope makes the application seem more official and the feeling of a legal document.