International RTI day marked by a street-based event

Kathmandu: A corner meet has been organized in the capital to mark the International Day for Universal Access to Information on Wednesday morning.

Right to Information Federation hosted the event ‘Street-based Information Dissemination Programme’ to remind the public agencies about their obligations and citizens to demand information about their needs in implementing the constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental right. “We call for the government to seriously propel RTI agenda to build an informed citizenry and deliver better governance”, said RTI Federation National Chairperson Umid Bagchand.

On the occasion, a group of RTI activists, information requesters, journalists and consumer rights advocates distributed RTI awareness materials to the pedestrians. Also on the same occasion, the National Information Commission (NIC) of Nepal is marking the day today. NIC has organized a national seminar entitled ‘Artificial Intelligence, e-governance and access to information to observe the day today. On 17 November 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 28 September as International Day for Universal Access to Information.

Nepal enacted the Right to Information Act in 2007 to implement the constitutional mandate to ensure citizens with their access to information. —