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Amit Kumar
Citizen-nominee for RTI Awards 2009 2009
Reference Number: C304
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Organization: none
Nominated by: self
Why is he short-listed for RTI Awards 2009?
For using RTI to expose corruption and irregularities in government, which he believes are fast destroying the effective influence of the State and the Constitution in large parts of the country, including his own district.
In enquiring into corruption in administration of adult and informal education in Bihar, Kumar learnt that well into the year 2008 the state government had not surrendered Rs 41.99 crore, which was the unspent part of the grants that it had been receiving from the Centre between 1990-91 and 2000-01 under Non-formal Education Programme.
The Centre too had done nothing to recover the money.
His RTI application sought from the PMO information about the ‘missing funds’, including what CAG had observed in the matter and any action thereon.
The Union ministry of HRD was compelled to provide Kumar the details of funds spent and unspent by Bihar government and fish out a CAG observation that said Bihar government had diverted Rs 41.99 to purposes other than non-formal education.
After a fortnight, the ministry informed Kumar that it had asked Bihar government to return Rs 41.99 crore with interest.
It was a case where an aam aadmi, armed with RTI, was able to compel government to do what Comptroller and Auditor General could not do.
In another case, Kumar used RTI to compel the officials to pay a poor widow her dues under a state government scheme that helps the poor in case of death in the family.
His enquiry also led to the money earmarked for entire Motihari block to be released to 20 gram panchayats for further distribution among the needy.

Details of the nomination

Amit Kumar belongs to East Champaran district of Bihar, which is one of the Naxalist-Maoist-affected areas of the country.
After working for some time in Mumbai and elsewhere as a freelance media producer, Kumar felt compelled by his father’s death in 2004 to return to his village Madhubani Ghat in Motihari block.
He saw and experienced rampant corruption in administration after returning to his village. He says he can clearly make out the direct relationship between governmental corruption, fast eroding writ of the Indian State, and Naxilist-Maoist activities.
So he decided to use RTI to see if something could be salvaged from the wreckage.
He has since conducted several RTI enquiries into corruption in provision of public services.
Kumar’s father worked in the adult and informal education department and was denied some of his entitlements. Kumar then began to enquire into the affairs of the department and learnt about the irregularities and corruption in administration of government schemes.
He learnt, for instance, that Bihar government had not been spending entire amount of central grants under Non-formal Education Programme (NFE) and might have been diverting the funds to other purposes.
The NFE was a central scheme that had been discontinued by the end of financial year 2000-01 but the state government had apparently not returned the unspent funds well into 2008.
In May 2008, Kumar shot off an RTI application to the PMO, seeking full information on grants released under NFE to Bihar government in various financial areas, unspent funds,
amount surrendered, if any, CAG observations, if any, etc.
The application traveled from the PMO to the Ministry of HRD which informed Kumar in late June 2008 that it was gathering the “old records” about the NFE scheme.
In response to Kumar’s first appeal, the HRD ministry informed him in middle of August 2008 that the PIO had been directed to furnish the information within 30 days.
Immediately after that letter, HRD ministry sent him all the relevant details about the scheme including the grants and unspent funds, but said it was collecting information as to whether Bihar had surrendered any amount. It also said “present records showed that no report of CAG was outstanding in respect of NFE scheme”.
A week after that, the ministry sent Kumar another letter, fishing out a CAG observation about diversion of grants under NFE by various states and Bihar’s utilization of Rs 41.99 crore for purposes other than the NFE scheme.
In about a fortnight, on September 09, 2008, Kumar received another letter from the HRD ministry that said “the ministry has asked Bihar government on September 05 2008 to deposit an amount of Rs 41.99 crore alongwith interest towards unspent balance of Non-formal Education Scheme by September 25, 2009.”
At best, it was a clear case of central government clearly doing nothing on a CAG’s report and doing it only after an active citizen enquired into the matter.
At worst, it was Centre’s remissness in a possible diversion of public funds and corruption by the state.
In another case, Kumar filed an RTI application at District Magistrate, East Champaran, seeking information about government financial aid to farmers whose crops were destroyed in floods in the year 2007-08.
He was one of the farmers who were paid “input subsidy” that was calculated on the basis of crop area destroyed in floods.
Kumar says a 3-member team of revenue and Panchayat officials decided that he would get only Rs 3200 at Rs 1600 per acre of standing crops lost to floods, calculating the subsidy for only two of the 6 acres that he owned. The team justified the calculation on the ground that Kumar had not planted any crop on 4 acres, even though Kumar said he did.
In his RTI application, filed in February 2008, Kumar asked for all the data about the distribution of input subsidy in his Gram Panchayat area, including acres of land that did not qualify for the subsidy and the basis for calculating the amount.
After Kumar did not receive any response from the District Magistrate, he complained to the state information commission (SIC), which sent a show-cause notice to the DM in May 2008.
After more laxity on DM’s part, the SIC imposed in August 2008 a penalty of Rs 21,500 on the DM and instructed him to furnish the information in the next 12 days. Kumar was subsequently sent the detailed information.
It was probably the first case in Bihar where an IAS rank officer was slapped a penalty by SIC. The case made the IAS officers of Bihar serious about their compliance with RTI Act and taught them that just transferring applications to their juniors may not be a good idea. The IAS officers now try to make sure that their juniors respond to RTI applications under their watch.
The information that Kumar received also exposed several irregularities in distribution of subsidy even though he was not able to get a higher amount, he says.
In another case, a poor widow, whose application for government aid under Kabir Anteyashti Yojana had not been answered for several months, approached Kumar for help.
The Yojana provides Rs 1500 financial aid to BPL persons for conducting funeral of their kin who die.
It transpired that there were many poor applicants like the widow who were not given their dues under the Yojana on the ground that the block office had not been sending funds to Panchayats.
Kumar filed an RTI application at the concerned public authority seeking to know why the widow’s application had not been answered after several months and who was responsible for the delay. He also asked for copies of orders to Panchayat secretaries in East Champaran district for ensuring the payment of money under the Yojana.
The block office was then compelled to release money for the 20 Panchayats of Motihari and Kumar was sent a copy of the release order.
He also received a copy of the receipt of the money that that the poor widow had been paid.
Kumar says he will continue to use RTI to make a dent on governmental corruption, helping more people believe that the rule of law and justice still have a chance of survival.