As part of the celebration of Right to Information (RTI) Week from 5th-12th October, Peren District celebrated the Right to Information Week 2024 at St. Xavier College, Jalukie on 8th October 2024.
Chief Information Commissioner, Nagaland, I Meyionen Jamir speaking at the event said the Right to Information Act was passed in 2005 with an aim to promote transparency and accountability in the functioning of the government and to contain corruption, which are essential for the functioning of a healthy democracy.
While speaking, he disclosed that total number of 2472 RTI applications were recorded in the state during the period of 2023-24 with an increase of 368 as compared to the previous year's record of 2104. The overall percentage of information furnished by the PIOs of various Public Authorities during 2023-24 was 2173 which comes to 87.90%. Further, he disclosed that the Directorates received the highest number of RTI applications, followed by the districts and Secretariat.
Mentioning that Peren District (106) is the third district next to Kohima (239) & Dimapur (134) in receiving the highest number of RTI applicants during 2023-24, he said Peren district was chosen for this programme, adding that the district has many other tribes apart from Zeliang tribe and there is a need to educate and create awareness among the people to know their rights and entitlement in regard to various welfare schemes being implemented especially by the development departments. He appealed to the district Heads of major departments to be more responsible and transparent in their departmental activities and educate the people to be more self-reliant and meaningfully participate in building the society. Jamir also appealed to the citizens of Peren District to be more responsible and refrain from misusing the provisions of the RTI Act.
A PowerPoint presentation was presented by State Information Commissioner, Nosazol Charles, wherein he explained the working of the RTI Act in detail. This was followed by an interactive session with the participants.
The event also saw the participation of 511 attendees from various Heads of Departments, Administrative Officers, Town Councillors, CSOs, GB's, Village Councils, VDB's, Church Leaders and College Students.
The celebration programme was chaired by Deputy Commissioner Peren, Hiazu Meru, while vote of thanks was proposed by State Information Commissioner, T. Kekongchim Yimkhuing.
(DPRO & Mamang IA, Peren)
