Wednesday, April 21, 2010

[rti_india] Re: RTI and Indian citizen abroad

 

Dear Jagdeep

1) J&K *IS* an integral part of India
2) INR *IS* the currency there
3) Indians outside J&K refers to say a "Bengali" staying in Delhi or a "Punjabi" residing in "Kochi" etc.
4) This has got nothing to do with Art 370 or its merits.

This is a purely legal issue so I shall spell it out in very small syllables.

1) The GoI desperately wants RTI Act to be amended

2) Through their friendly network of NCPRI touts the GoI is creating hype that the RTI Act has certain "citizen unfriendly" defects which REQUIRE RTI Act to be amended in the interest of the citizens. (If you read the DoPT's so called consultation with civil society you can see how touts like Shekhar Singh and Arvind Kejriwal are tangoing with GoI. The AIDINDIA proxy lot is another cog in this scheme - here we have people like Lokesh Sharma and and Vishal K screaming that the RTI Act needs to be amended for NRIs.

3) Once "civil society" concedes (and these people are actually the "shouting brigade" to ensure that citizens voices are not heard) that RTI Act REQUIREDS to be amended, then the Parliamentary horse trading will start and PMO, CJI office etc will be exempted from RTI Act along with many other frivolous and vexatious proposals..

4) It is therefore necessary to examine the fallacy in AIDINDIA's arguments

They (for eg Vishal Kudchadkar) say "section 3 of RTI Act provides that all citizens shall have the right to information."

I say a) You have conveniently left out the first part of section 3 which says "Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the right to information."

Then b), I say section 1(2) limits the RTI Act to "the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir". This means that the business transacted under the Act must be within the limits specified in the Act.

To illustrate. Mr Vishal Kudchadkar, NRI based in San Frisco can come to anywhere in India (except J&K) and file his RTI here. He can also go to any Embassy / Consulate of India anywhere in the world and file his RTI CONCERNING THE MEA OR THE EMBASSY there. But Mr Vishal Kudchadkar CANNOT sit at home (San Francisco) and file an RTI about say victims of Bhopal Gas disaster to the Indian Embassy in Washington DC. In fact Mr Kudchadkar cannot even lawfully file an RTI for information held by the Indian Embassy in Washington if he is files it from his home in San Francisco which is not within the territory of India. On the other hand Mr Sarbajit Roy residing in Delhi can lawfully file an RTI to the Indian Embassy at Washington DC (both points being in India).

5) The quislings (Mir Jafars) of RTI are deliberately confusing the issue. It is not that the RTI Rules have to be amended to allow foreign exchange for NRIs to use the Act. It is the RTI Act itself which has to be amended - and this is the actual game plan.

Sarbajit

--- In rti_india@yahoogroups.com, Jagdeep DESAI <jagdeep.desai@...> wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> This is not clear
>
> What are you trying to say
>
> 1) J and K is not India, 'citizens of India in J and K' what are citizens of
> J and K
>
> 2) INR is not legal tender in J and K, what currency does the state use
>
> 3) Indians outside J and K, again, what are citizens of J and K
>
> All this arises from the ludicrous anti Indian article 370, special status
> for unnecessary reasons
>
>
> Thanqx.
>
> Jagdeep
>

__._,_.___
Recent Activity:
.

__,_._,___

No comments:

Post a Comment