MGSIPA and Punjab State Information Commission organise 1-day RTI awareness programme at Ludhiana

Ludhiana, October 9, 2019: As part of Right to Information (RTI) week celebrations, Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA) Punjab and Punjab State Information Commission jointly organised a one day RTI awareness generation programme for Students of Law at Panjab University Regional Centre, Ludhiana today. About 60 participants including senior faculty of Law Dr. Arti Puri, Dr. Shiv Kumar Dogra and Vaishali Thakur attended the programme and took part in academic and question-answer sessions on RTI Act which involves huge public interest. The Training Programme which has been sponsored by Punjab State Information Commission aims to make the law students aware about the basics of RTI Act and the latest developments based on the judgements of the Central/State Information Commissions. Prof. (Dr.) Ravi Inder Singh, Director, Panjab University Regional Centre Ludhiana while launching the event said that the RTI Act, 2005 is a pro-people enactment which has contributed in a big way to bring about transparency and accountability in the Government Departments. He encouraged the participants to equip themselves with the provisions of this Act which will be of immense help to them in their professional careers during their life time. Jarnail Singh, Course Director (RTI) MGSIPA, Chandigarh while highlighting the importance of RTI Act, 2005 programmes, said that today’s programme has been jointly organised by MGSIPA, Punjab State Information Commission and Panjab University Regional Centre Ludhiana. He expressed gratitude to the Institute Management for arranging this event in its campus with the participation of faculty and students. He further said MGSIPA has now expanded its scope of trainings under the able guidance of Special Chief Secretary, Govt. of Punjab and Director General, MGSIPA KBS Sidhu, IAS and Secretary to Govt. of Punjab and Director, MGSIPA Jaspreet Talwar, IAS and organises over 270 programmes in a year on various subjects including RTI. A pool of resource persons, experts, of eminence in various disciplines are associated with training programme. Dr. Arti Puri, Head of Law Department, Panjab University Regional Centre Ludhiana and Dr. Shiv Kumar Dogra highlighted the importance of RTI in public life. RTI experts DC Gupta, IDAS (Retd.) and Dr. Paramjit Singh, Head & Dean (Retd.), Law Department, Punjabi University Patiala enlightened the participants about all the sections of RTI Act and different aspects of this pro-people legislation. AS Sodhi, Project Coordinator, MGSIPA Regional Centre Patiala highlighted the objectives of the training programme.