NRIs hail launch of e-Postal order

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Washington: Indians living abroad, especially those in the US have welcomed the launch of the electronic postal order, which they say would go a long way for them seeking information from the Indian Government and other state governments under the Right to Information Act.
A number of Indians living in the US said that RTI has now become accessible to the Indian citizens living abroad after the Postal Department last week launched Indian postal order in electronic format (eIPO).
“With eIPO, I now have the ability to discern conflicting information about governance in India in the news by going directly to the source — the government,” Vishal Kudchadkar, a volunteer with the non-profit Association for India’s Development (AID) at Los Angeles, said.
“In the last seven years, we have tried all possible workarounds to exercise our right to know. Now, our participation in nation building has become tad easier!,” he said. For the past several years, the volunteers of AID have been running from pillar to post both at the Indian missions in the United States and with government agencies back home seeking information under RTI.
However, the inability to pay in Indian currency from overseas was coming a major hindrance in their move.
Balaji Janakiraman Iyer said the launch of eIPO would make the Right to Information more accessible to all Indian citizens living abroad. “While the convenience factor is obvious, the more far reaching impact would be the sense of empowerment NRIs are going to feel in nation building,” Iyer said.