From: NCPRI India
Subject: Important Information- National Convention on Grievance Redress and Whistleblower Protection
Dear Friends,
Greetings from the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI). The NCPRI and other organizations are organizing a two-day national convention on the 10th and 11th of October 2011 to discuss the proposed measures for grievance redress and whistleblower protection.
Why this Convention:
The NCPRI has been engaged in issues of transparency and accountability, particularly with respect to empowering the ordinary citizen vis-a-vis established structures of power and inequity. The right to information was a step in that direction, but as people and groups across the country have begun to use its provisions, questions of accountability, and the political space to raise issues of injustice have become very important concerns.
Grievance Redress:
In the wake of current debates around corruption and grievances, we feel it is important to once again highlight people’s struggles for ordinary rights and services like ration, hospitals, schools, water, sanitation, roads, MNREGA entitlements, pensions, Indira Awaas and a host of other government schemes for so-called development that never reaches people. In addition, there is the extreme frustration that arises from an almost complete lack of accountability in the interaction of an ordinary citizen with any government office. Apart from the inequity in entitlements, the lack of accountability and the day-to-day corruption faced by ordinary people remains one of the biggest reasons for the poorest and most marginalized sections of our society not securing their basic right to development. This inherently exploitative system, is compounded by the lack of an effective mechanism through which the ordinary person can either individually or collectively secure their rights, or even establish their grievances with respect to these rights and services, and . Effective grievance redress requires an accessible, decentralized, and responsive system equipped to deal with grievances in a time-bound and accountable manner.
Protecting the whistleblower:
At the same time, people struggling for these rights and the scores of activists who have tried to uncover the nexus of corruption between politicians, bureaucrats and other private interests at the local, regional and national levels have been at the receiving end of harassment, threats and violence. Over the years, many activists struggling for justice have been imprisoned, seriously threatened, injured or have even lost their lives. While a whistleblower protection Bill was introduced in Parliament in response to the number of killings of RTI activists that were taking place, the Bill continued to be limited by the traditional concept of the whistleblower, as one within an office blowing the whistle on its wrongdoings. While that kind of protection is certainly needed in India, a more comprehensive Whistleblower Protection mechanism is essential for ensuring that the struggles for justice, accountability and transparency in public life are not compromised by vested interests again and again.
The National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI) has proposed a series of anti-corruption and grievance redress measures to effectively tackle corruption in the government, redress grievances of citizens and protect whistleblowers. A key element of these measures is a National Grievance Redress legislation which draws on the experience of strength and weaknesses of existing grievance redress mechanisms in NREGA, PDS, health, education, FRA etc. and proposes an independent, decentralized grievance redress mechanism. The NCPRI draft Bill is available at www. righttoinformation.info .
In order to ensure protection of whistleblowers, the NCPRI has proposed several amendments to strengthen the ‘Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosure Bill’ that is currently before the Parliament and is proposing an effective Whistleblower Protection Bill instead. The suggested amendments are available at http://www.righttoinformation.info.
The provisions for both these laws have been based on consultations and discussions with activists and others . However, there is a great need for these proposed laws to be discussed in greater detail, by different organisations and campaigns, and in different parts of the country.
As an important part of discussing the proposed measures for grievance redress and whistleblower protection the NCPRI, along with other organizations are organizing a two-day national convention in Delhi on the 10th and 11th of October 2011. The aim is to invite individuals,citizen’s groups, jan sangathans from across the county to collectively discuss the two proposed measures and to then pass recommendations and resolutions to send to Government, the Standing Committee and Parliament, where the Bills are under consideration.
These will be preliminary resolutions, and the discussions raised in this convention will be taken back by the representatives of the various organizations/campaigns to their respective areas to expand and deepen the debate.
Venue: Bluebells School, Opposite Lady Shri Ram College, Near Greater Kailash (GK) I, New Delhi-110024. Please find attached with this email the following:
1) Invitation Letter- in English and Hindi
2) Draft Public Grievances Redressal Bill- in English and Hindi with questions for discussion
3) NCPRI Background Note on Public Grievance Redressal Bill
4) NCPRI Background Note on Whistleblower Protection Mechanism
5) Parliamentary Standing Committee recommendations on Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosure Bill, 2010 (Whistleblower Protection Bill)
6) Draft Agenda
7) List of Workshops
8) Registration Forms
We hope that you can join us for the Convention in Delhi. Please do let us know of the number of participants from your organization who will be attending this convention.
With warm regards and in solidarity,
Nikhil Dey, Venkatesh Nayak, Angela Rangad and Ramakrishna Raju
(for the NCPRI)
National Campaign for People’s Right to Information
Email: ncpri.india@gmail.com
http://www.righttoinformation.in
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