Essay on Operationalising Right to Information - RTI
While it is often said that we Indians are
best at making laws but seldom show necessary gravitas towards their
implementation. And of all the laws enacted recently, the Right to information
Act [RTI] is one which has really turned out to be a game-changer as far as
governance is concerned. Completely in sync with our democratic ethos, this Act
has slowly but surely come into its own. But, still a lot needs to be done to
make it more useful and effective.
While it was Sweden which
pioneered the Right to Information way back in 1766, the same was
internationally recognized for the first time by its incorporation in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights [1948] and the Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights [1966]. But since then, only7 72 countries including India
have put in place any enabling legislation.
Even thought it took a long
while coming, still the India Act is considered exemplary. In 1975, the Supreme
Court, in Uttar Pradesh vs Raj Narain case, ruled that ‘the people of this
country have a right to know every public act’ and this was reaffirmed again in
1982 in S.P. Gupta and others vs President of India and others. With the civil
society slowly finding its voice and wings, a movement started for toning down
the provisions of Officials Secrets Act, 1923 and for the right to information,
in 1996 leading to the passage of a Freedom of Information Act in 2002, but
this Act remained still-born and was never notified. Eventually, sustained
civil society activism saw the enactment of a revised and spruced up version of
the 2002 Act, now re-christened as the Right to Information Act-2005.
But even though almost eleven
years into its operation, it is increasingly felt that this Act is not being
implemented properly due to bureaucratic resistance and government’s
unwillingness to share information. But we need to appreciate certain things
before being able to put the entire issue in perspective. While in the
developed world, the laws relating to right to information are used to throw
light on systems of governance, in India, most of the petitions under RTI
relate to personal cases. Such petitions include those relating to individuals
seeking to know the facts relating to their promotions, ACRs, examination
copies, service details, etc.
One needs to appreciate that
for proper vitalisation of a law like this in our country, an enlightened
activism by the civil society is a must. But, here where people are still busy
grappling with their daily problems of survival, they generally don’t use the
right to information unless and until it somehow relates to them. And believe
me, when it does, many of these people would prefer underhand, but quick
way of seeking the same rather than going through the rigmarole of right to
information.
Against the background of a
competitive, but active party system, proliferation of numerous interest
groups and activism of civil society led by mass media of communication, today
there is almost nothing which is concealed from the people. The sting
operations and investigative journalism have made people more watchful of their
rights, thereby also cautioning and shaking out of stupor the people more
watchful of their rights, thereby also cautioning and shaking out of stupor the
people in the government and administration.
Today, we all know as Abraham
Lincoln said, ‘you can fool some people for all the time, all the people for
some time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time’. So, even thought
the requisite information has always been available in one way or the other to
those needing it, but a need has always been felt for having a better system of
accessing and sharing information otherwise secretly tucked away in government
files, thereby for strengthening the extant system of governance. It is this
void that that RTI filled in.
Even though the Central
Information Commission has brought file noting within the purview of RTI,
one would hark back to a real story. Once, during a flood in one of the
districts of Madhya Pradesh, the local District Magistrate was directed by the
Chief Secretary to cut through the norms and rules to reach speedy relief to
the people, as otherwise it was becoming difficult to obtain relief materials
and select the requisite agencies to do the job without the normal routine of
tendering and all. The DM in question did a neat job and there was a general
appreciation for the good work done by him.
But again, later there was an
audit objection to this practice and the Dm was literally in soup. DM discussed
the issue with the Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary initiated a note to the
Chief Minister saying that the ‘DM carried out my instruction in cutting
through routine to provide speedy relief to the people. The CM may kindly
approve.’ And the Cm signed on the dotted line. Well, even though entirely
defensible as done in good faith and in public interest, if such file noting
are brought into public domain, it can literally open the flood-gates thereby
discouraging many such well-intentioned actions, otherwise indefensible in
terms of compliance with the obtaining norms and rules.
So, even though the public
interest in the from of increased number of petitions seeking information under
this Act is growing, there is also huge pendency as far as disposal of these
RTI petitions is concerned. One, however, need not feel that people needing
information are not being allowed access to it or are being denied the same
owing to bureaucratic resistance. It is simply that today there are many more
channels of seeking and accessing information than the one RTI promises. And
many of these channels including the underhand one are well-engrained in
popular psyche and would take time before the new system strikes root.
But before RTI actualizes it
declared objectives, there is an urgent need to create massive awareness among
people bout this right. And this awareness has to result in dogged public
determination to access information in honest way. We also need to tackle such
problems as popular apathy to fight others’ battles and for this we need a
conscientised civil society with an enlightened sense of altruism. And an
equitable economic development freeing people of their ontological concerns is
prerequisite before such a thing happens.
Also, as of now the same
administrative machinery has been entrusted with the responsibility of
entertaining and processing petitions for information. One feels that there is
an urgent need to provide a separate manpower, equipped with requisite
infrastructure to be solely dedicated for this purpose.
As long as information is
flowing on its own, one should not grudge the receipt of less number of
petitions under the Act. The existence of such an Act is not only the
recognition of the popular right to demand any and every information [but for
those barred in public interest], but it is also a pointer to the gradual
strengthening of the democratic base of our country. Every law evolves
according to its genius and so shall the Right to Information Act.
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