Gifts given by Prime Minister a top-secret: Foreign ministry

It is public knowledge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted a copy of the Bhagwad Gita to Japanese Emperor Akihito during his visit to the country in September last yearDuring his visit to Australia in November 2014 Narendra Modi presented a memento to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the Melbourne Cricket Ground a replica of Mahatma Gandhirsquos charkha with three cricket balls signed by Modi and World Cupwinning Indian captains Kapil Dev and M S Dhoni PicGetty ImagesBut when a Bandra resident filed an RTI asking for the list of gifts that the Indian PMs between May 2009 and November 2014 had given to the heads of state during their visits abroad his application was turned downAustin FernandesIn its reply the Ministry of External Affairs stated that disclosing the information would prejudicially affect Indiarsquos relations with the concerned foreign states This even though the Ministry itself publishes the lists of gifts received by ministers and officials on its websiteThe RTI was filed by Austin Fernandes on December 8 and the reply from the MEA which reached him on December 26 said ldquoThis is to state that the Prime Minister of India presents gifts as per the laid down norms to various foreign dignitaries during his official visits abroadInformation sought by you relates to details of gifts presented during the period mentioned above However disclosure of this information may prejudicially affect Indiarsquos relations with the concerned foreign statesExemption is therefore sought under section 81 a RTI Act 2005 wherein no such information as may prejudicially affect Indiarsquos relations with a foreign state need be disclosedrdquoSeeking logicEarlier this month Fernandes who was unhappy with the MEA reply wrote back to the ministry In his appeal to the ministry he has said ldquoThe Central Public Information Officer CPIO had thus claimed a blanket exemption under Section 81a for all information without any application of mind as to the applicability of exemption in each individual case and has thereby sought to frustrate my applicationThe reply of the CPIO is illogical since the Ministry itself maintains a list of gifts received by officials in Toshakhana and regularly publishes the same on the website httpmeagovindisclosureofgiftsreceivedintoshakhanahtm Going by the CPIOrsquos logic publication of such a list would then prejudicially affect Indiarsquos relations with foreign states which is surely not the caserdquoHis letter goes on to say ldquoMany countries like the United States maintain lists of gifts given to their officials by foreign officials which are published on the internet For example the US state department website has a list of gifts federal employees have received from foreign government sources httpwwwstategovscprc29447htm The list for 2011 httpwwwstategovdocumentsorganization210473pdf includes on page 12 a gift received by President Barack Obama from DrManmohan Singh then Prime Minister of India viz A 20rsquorsquo octagonal white marble table top with design of inlaid blue and yellow flowers and octagonal stand decorated with blue and red flowers Recrsquodmdash1118 2011 Est Value 137500If the foreign recipients of gifts from the Prime Minister of India are pleased to disclose the nature of gifts without any fear of prejudicially affecting relations with India this surely contradicts the CPIOrsquos blanket claim of exemption on this groundrdquoJust curiousWhen midday contacted Fernandes he said ldquoThe reason I filed the RTI was that there was so much hullabaloo over the PMrsquos visit and he had in one of his interactions publicly acknowledged that he had gifted the Gita to the Japanese EmperorHence out of curiosity I filed the RTI to find out the other gifts given by him and the previous PM in the May 2009November 2014 periodrdquo midday sent a detailed email to the spokesperson of MEA Syed Akbaruddin asking him why Fernandesrsquo request was turned down We did not receive a reply