Report Cards on MLAs of Jharkhand

Taking forward Satark Nagrik Sangathan’s work on ensuring transparency in the functioning of elected representatives, we have developed Report Cards to assess the performance of MLAs of Jharkhand. These have been prepared on the basis of information obtained using the Right to Information Act.

Since its formation in 2000, Jharkhand has witnessed several political crises and in January 2009, President’s rule was imposed in the state. Report Cards have been prepared for the MLAs elected in the 2005 elections.

Our experience in Jharkhand has shown that there is a great reluctance on part of the Government to provide information about the functioning of the political class in the state. The Legislative Assembly Secretariat informed us that the proceedings of the Assembly have never been published and sharing the proceedings with citizens would cause a breach of privilege of the State Legislature!

Attendance records of MLAs in the sittings of the Assembly were denied to us as it was considered “confidential” information by the Secretariat. They also refused to give information on attendance of MLAs in the meetings of the Committees of the Legislative Assembly.

Ahead of elections in Jharkhand, Satark Nagrik Sangathan is partnering with the media – The Times of India and Prabhat Khabar - to disseminate report cards on the performance of MLAs. The Report Cards of MLAs focus on 3 broad parameters-

• their performance in the Legislative Assembly;
• how they allocated the development funds at their disposal; and
• their membership in various Committees of the Legislative Assembly