Patna, Feb. 3: Experts, Indian and international, would discuss the best practices of right to information (RTI) in the city next month in absorbing sessions spread over two days.

The experts would be in the town on March 2 and 3 to participate in the international conference on RTI. Being jointly organised by the Bihar State Information Commission (BSIC) and the World Bank, its theme is “Six years of RTI: The Road Ahead”. Top functionaries of state would take part in the event.

“RTI experts from UK, USA, Canada, Sweden, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan and Bhutan have confirmed their participation in the event. The chief information commissioner and two commissioners of Central Information Commission would also attend it. Besides, chief information commissioners of all the state information commissions, representatives of central vigilance commission, former judges and experts from non-government organisations would be there,” a source in the BSIC told The Telegraph.

The World Bank would contribute $50,000. It would be used for bearing the expenses of the foreign participants. The rest of the arrangements would be made by the BSIC.

The inaugural session of the event, which would be attended by chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, would be held at SK Memorial Hall.

The technical sessions would be conducted in a city hotel. The experts would share their views on different topics in the sessions.

Bihar Legislative Council chairman Tarakant Jha and Assembly Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary would take part in the concluding session of the event.

Deliberations over, the participants would also be taken to two important tourist destinations — Bodhgaya and Rajgir — on March 4 and 5.

“Best practices in the implementation of the RTI in foreign countries, best practices from India and the role of RTI in curbing corruption are some of the important topics that would come up for discussion during the technical sessions,” said the source, adding that a film on Bihar’s Jaankari helpline would also be screened in the event.

The Jaankari helpline of Bihar, launched in 2007, allows RTI applicants to get their applications sent to the department concerned just by making a phone call.

“We will also showcase the functioning of the dedicated helpline in Bihar through which RTI applicants can register their complaints in case anyone is harassing them for seeking certain information,” said the source.

He said the outcome of the event would be documented and widely circulated so that those responsible for implementing the RTI could improve their functioning by taking tips from the best practices of different states of India as well as of foreign countries.