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Shyamlal Yadav

Synopsis

When the Right to Information (RTI) Act was passed in 2005, it marked the beginning of an era that promoted transparency in governance. Since then, while some have used it as a means to get information for their own use, for others RTI has been a tool for creating public awareness. One such RTI activist is Shyamlal Yadav, special correspondent with India Today (Hindi), who has used the RTI Act to bring forth the truth behind several contentious issues. One such successful revelation was the expenditure incurred by the current UPA government on foreign trips made by its various union ministers. The issue raised many eyebrows, eventually prompting Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to write letters to his ministers asking them to curtail expenditure on foreign travel. Another noteworthy RTI-based investigation done by Yadav involved getting information from Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) regarding premium deposits against lapsed policies in the last five years. As a result, for the first time in its 53-year old history, LIC launched a special scheme for reviving polices that had lapsed over five years ago! Yadav has many such success stories to his credit that have been eye-openers and have brought several key issues to the public forum – a feat that would otherwise have been impossible without the help of the RTI Act.

Story

The Right to Information (RTI) Act, which was passed in 2005, triggered a significant change in the way the Indian Government functioned. Not only has it enhanced transparency in governance, it has also become a key that has opened doors that were earlier shut to the public. While for some, it has become a way of getting information for their personal use, others have transformed it into a tool for bringing contentious issues to public knowledge. One such crusader is senior journalist, Shyamlal Yadav. Yadav, with the help of the RTI Act, has brought to the front many significant issues and his work in this area has had a widespread impact. “I always wanted to bring to people’s notice how public money was being misused, and RTI proved to be a potent tool in my quest,” says Shyamlal Yadav, who has filed 1,700 RTIs on behalf of India Today till date!

It was in September 2007, that Yadav filed one of his first RTI applications with the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) seeking information on foreign visits made by union ministers under the UPA regime. He found the issue to be serious because a large amount of public money was being spent on it. Though it has always been an open secret that ministers travel abroad extensively but the question was how much? “I had demanded for details like the name of the minister, date of travel, countries to which they went, days spent on each travel and the expenses incurred during the trip,” says Yadav. Though the PMO’s office promptly supplied him with a lot of information by November 2007, the expenses incurred on each trip were not provided.

Not satisfied, Yadav subsequently filed several RTIs with all union ministries. “I had filed a total of 59 RTI applications for getting the required information. I did not leave any section of the public machinery and demanded for information from all of them,” says Yadav. Eventually, Yadav did receive the information that he wanted, but not without his share of troubles. He had to file several reminders, appeals and clarifications for the information. “Though some ministries did not answer clearly, the information was quite enough to make an interesting story,” says Yadav.

Since this was a case involving big names, it had to be done carefully with patience. “This was a case that involved cabinet ministers, I had to check and recheck the data and our analysis. We could not afford to point fingers without proof,” Yadav adds. Finally, after four months of intensive research, data compilation and analysis, India Today came out with the cover story “Flying Cabinet” in English and “Sair par Sarkaar” in Hindi in February 2008.

The story revealed how 71 of the 78 UPA ministers had made 786 foreign trips in a tenure spanning approximately three and a half years spending several crores of rupees on their travels. It was found that at least 12 of the 78 ministers had traveled more than 2.5 lakh kilometers each with bills of over 47 of them standing at over 27 crores. Till November 2007, the ministers had traveled over 1 crore kilometers, spending about 3,978 days abroad. One minister had even earned frequent flyer miles equal to 24 free trips to New York in first class! “Calculating on the basis of kilometers, the ministers’ had traveled enough to make 256 trips around the globe,” reveals Yadav excitedly.

The story evoked strong reactions from all quarters, eventually forcing Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to write to all his ministers to curb their expenditure on air travel. In his letter to his cabinet dated June 4, 2008, Dr. Singh wrote, “I am writing to ask you to severely curtail expenditure on air travel, particularly foreign travel, except in cases where it is deemed to be absolutely necessary. This economy may be made applicable immediately for your own self and also for all senior functionaries in your ministry.” The case was an eye opener and revealed how the ministers were traveling recklessly and over-spending public money.

Meanwhile, Yadav had also taken upon himself another significant task of finding out details about foreign visits made by directors and rank officers of the Union Government. He suspected that officers too often traveled abroad just to earn Frequent Flier Mileage, which they used for their personal travel. “Initially I had written to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in September 2007 to give me the relevant details, but the DoPT advised me to approach every ministry for such information. Subsequently, I filed over 80 RTI applications, appeals, clarifications and reminders, to get down to the truth in this case,” says Yadav. Though some departments did not respond despite repeated reminders, Yadav was finally successful in his pursuit and the story titled, “Babus Flights of Fancy” and “Sarkari Paiso ke Pankh Par” was published in India Today in September 2008.

In response to the RTI applications, Yadav had received documents running into nearly 1,300 pages. Upon analysis, Yadav found that 1,576 officials of 46 central ministries had traveled over 5.65 crore kilometers, which is equivalent to 74 trips to the moon and back! They had collectively stayed for over 67 years abroad and spent over Rs 56.38 crores, in less than three and a half years. As a result, the Department of Expenditure (Ministry of Finance) issued a circular, two weeks after the story was published, banning the personal use of the frequent flier mileage earned during these trips.

Another significant and successful fight that Shyamlal took up was against Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in October 2007. In this case, Yadav had demanded for information on policies that had had been discontinued in the last five years by the public sector insurer. The policies could not be revived under the LIC rules and the money against those policies had been forfeited. As a response to the RTI application, the LIC informed Yadav that 5.91 crore policies had lapsed in the last seven years. However, the insurer did not reveal how much money was due been against those policies as premium till the date of their lapse. Yadav continued his pursuit to get the required information.

He faced several problems in the process. Recalling his struggle, he says, “I filed the first appeal to provide me with the information. The appellate then went to the CPIO. Then I wrote to the CMD of LIC, but he also justified the stand taken by the CPIO. I filed a second appeal to the Chief Information Officer, who also decided the case in favor of the LIC.” However, this did not dishearten Yadav and he went ahead with the story, which was published in India Today (Hindi) and the magazine’s internet edition in December 2008. The story finally had a huge impact, and the LIC launched a special revival scheme for the policies that had lapsed since over five years ago. “My struggle was finally successful as it was for the first time in its history that LIC had launched such a special scheme,” says Yadav.

Shyamlal Yadav has filed several other RTI applications and the information received has found its way to the public in the form of several investigative stories. Some of his prominent cases include seeking information on the status of corruption cases registered against IAS, IPS, IRS and C&CES officers by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), system of declaration of assets for ministers in state governments and MLAs in their legislative assemblies, and expenses incurred by union ministries on local conveyance. For some of these cases, Yadav had to file as many as 100 RTIs, but this has not deterred him in his crusade and he continues to investigate new cases. “A lot of patience is required as it is still very difficult to get information out of the government. But I will continue my efforts,” says this die-hard RTI campaigner.