युक्ती हीने विचारे तु धर्महानि प्रजायते

RTI Training at Bakreshwar Thermal Power Plant

Centre for Financial and Regulatory Governance Studies, WBNUJS, Kolkata conducted Training on Right to Information Act, 2005 from February 27th to February 28th, 2023 at Bakreshwar Thermal Power Plant, Bakreshwar Township, Suri Sadar, Birbhum district (Kolkata). The purpose of the training was to create awareness amongst its employees about the importance of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) as well as train them in the implementation of the Act. The training was conducted by Ms. Vaneeta Patnaik, Associate Professor, Director of Centre for Financial and Regulatory Governance Studies (NUJS) and assisted by Ms. Pooja Singh, LLM Student (LLM018222, NUJS).
On the day 1 of the training i.e., February 27th, 2023 the attendees were given a quiz to understand the prior knowledge that they had relating to RTI. Subsequently, they were introduced to the philosophy behind RTI, an in-depth analysis was done of the various concepts relating to and provided under the Act. The attendees were brought up to speed with the role of RTI in e-governance and how the same translates to RTI being put in practice. The aforementioned information and training was specifically tailored to the experiences and job profiles of the attendees. The attendees were further appraised of the role and obligations of the Public Information Officers (hereinafter referred to as “PIOs”) and Assistant PIOs (“APIOs”), Information Commissions and Appeals under the Act. The obligation to proactively disclose under the Act, was emphasised and extensively examined by the Trainor and the attendees through discussion and various clinical exercises.
On the day 2 of the training i.e., February 28th, 2023 the due weightage was given upon the role and obligations of PIOs and APIOs in receiving of application, providing information, exemption of information and denial of information. Various case studies were provided to the attendees to better train them on how to identify and deal with vexatious RTI Applications. The training also covered the importance of record-keeping and documentation, which can aid the organisation in disposing off RTI Applications more efficiently. Clinical exercises were carried out to help the attendees understand the intricacies that are involved in responding to RTI Applications.
The two-day RTI training was a success, with the employees showing keen interest in the topic and actively participating in the sessions.