Prof M M Ansari , Information Commissioner and Pankaj K P Shreyaskar , Joint Registrar, CIC

1. Prof M MAnsari, Information Commissioner and Pankaj K P Shreyaskar, Joint Registrar, CIC Assessing and grading of public authorities in terms of greater transparency and accountability and least corruption

2. Introduction • CICs sub committee has evolved a methodology for grading the PAs • In this study, an attempt has been made to employ this methodology for grading the PAs on the basis of RTI compliance Research Question: To examine whether there is any relationship between higher or lower degree of transparency/accountability and the larger or smaller number of RTI applications ??

3. Concept • Transparency, Accountability and Least Corruption Index (TALC Index) is an indicator of good governance • The TALC Index provides an idea about preparedness of the public authorities to promote transparency and accountability and contain corruption

4. The Approach & Methodology The TALC Index is based on a group of 8 major indicators which are further categorized into different parameters comprising of 100 indicators in all: • Citizen’s Charter (15 Indicators) • Citizen’s Grievance Redressal (12 Indicators) • Citizen Interface (12 Indicators) • Internal transparency/Accountability/Efficiency (16 Indicators) • Records Management/Maintenance (8 Indicators) • Accessibility and Participation (5 Indicators) • e-Governance Readiness (8 Indicators) • Compliance with the Right to Information Act, 2005 (8 Indicators) • Handbook under section 4 (1) (b) of RTI Act, 2005 (16 Indicators)

5. The Approach & Methodology (Contd….) • Each question carries a maximum of 1 mark and a minimum of ‘0’ with no negative marks • Responses to the questions are classified into 2 categories i.e. • Yes/No, whereby, each ‘Yes’ carries ‘1’ mark while each ‘No’ carries ‘0’ marks.

6. The Approach & Methodology (Contd….) • The overall scores of the PAs are classified under 5 grades • The classification is based on the ‘percentage’ of total marks obtained • The higher the percentage a PA scores, the better; it is deemed, to perform on the parameters of transparency, accountability and least corruption

7. Methodology

8. PAs Selection Criteria • Based on Annual Report 2007-08 those Central PA which has received at least 365 RTI application were selected i.e. one RTI a day • 48 Public authorities with more than 365 RTI application were identified • Questionnaire were filled up in consultations with the selected PA, mainly CPIOs and AAs • Consultations could be made only with 24 PAs

9. The analysis of Results: Findings/Grading

10. The analysis of Results: Findings/Grading

11. The analysis of Results: Findings/Grading

12. The analysis of Results: Findings/Grading

13. Relationship b/w grading and receipt

14. Assessment of Relationship, if Any • The Number of RTI requests in various PA s were plotted against the grading in the sub parameters to see if there exists any relationship between these parameters • The Number of RTI requests in various PA s were plotted against the grading for the overall performance to see if there exists any relationship between these parameters

15. Observation: RTI regime has desirably increased citizen participation in Public Authorities

16. Observation: Higher level e governance reduces filing of RTI application

17. Observation: There exist a relationship b/w grading of PA s and filing of RTI application

18. Conclusion • The result demonstrates that evidence for 58% of PA s (14/24) supports the view that higher the TALC Index lower is the number of RTI applications and vice versa • The lower Index for 6 PA s shows smaller number of application. These PA shave relatively much more friction points in terms of their public activities • For the remaining 4 PA s despite higher Index, the request of information was also higher. These PA s are BSNL, EPFO, SBI and DDA which has considerable public interface

19. Thank You