question_answer

Read the passage below:

Nannu is a daily wage earner. He lives in Welcome Mazdoor Colony, a slum habitation in East Delhi. He lost his ration card and applied for a duplicate one in January 2004. He made several rounds of the local Food & Civil Supplies office for the next three months. But the clerks and officials would not even look at him, leave alone do his job or bother to tell him the status of his application. Ultimately, he filed an application under the Right to Information Act asking for the daily progress made on his application, names of the officials, who were supposed to act on his application and what action would be taken against these officials for the inaction. Within a week of filing application under Right to Information Act, he was visited by an inspector from the Food Department, who informed him that the card had been made and he could collect it from the office. When Nannu went to collect his card next day, he was given a very warm treatment by the Food & Supply Officer (FSO), who is the head of a Circle. The FSO offered him tea and requested him to withdraw his application under the Right to Information, since his work had already been done.

 

What does Nanu's example show? What impact did Nanu's action have on officials? Ask your parents their experiences when they approached government officials to attend to their problems?              [NCERT]

 

Answer:

(i) Nanu's example shows that people must be aware of their rights and privileges and right to information is one of the important rights. It compels the government officials and institutions to take prompt action and quick information to the people.

(ii) Nanu's action had a very significant impact on officials. Within a week of filing application he was visited by an inspector from food department and was informed that his ration card was ready. He could collect it from the office. At the same time he was requested to withdraw his application under right to information.

This shows that right to information is a very practical right which can bring down government officials and institutions to the people's request.