SAVE RTI

There are thousands of cases in which the RTI Act has helped the common man get justice without having to run from pillar to post. The individual citizen/aam admi who had no voice has got a tool which he can use from his own residence.

The RTI has come to be known as a tool to ensure accountability and transparency of public institutions. While one can confidently say that this is a legislation which the common man actually has learnt to use, a large number of people even amongst the educated and literate, are hesitant to use it. Most think that it is the exclusive business of ‘those activists’.

The RTI can be used not just for public spirited activities, but to also overcome the red-tape that we are faced with everyday in various government offices

It is not clear how the RTI act can be misused for it only gives access to the truth and how can the truth be misused? There are two types of reasons or doubt, the officer will be blackmailed and they will be harassed by filling too many applications. As long as the reasons go, one can only be blackmailed if one has committed any folly. Therefore, rather than demanding the information to be shared because wrong acts have been committed, it would better to stop doing wrong things because information should be shared.

There is a deep sense of concern in the government against RTI law since controversy of finance ministry’s famous letter to the Prime Minister over 2G spectrum scam erupted. Now, senior government ministers are arguing what is the point of confidentiality if secret communication between ministries becomes public through RTI applications. They are also concerned about government functioning and institutional efficacy and efficiency as RTI law is misused now. Rather diluting the act the government should streamline this law.

In India, the RTI law was hailed as a bold step when passed in 2005 by the parliament. RTI has had tremendous effect till date. It has become a source of information in number of court cases of which the most notable is the 2G case. In their argument of confidentiality against RTI, ministers forget the very foundation of this law. RTI was introduced so that no government functioning is wrapped under suspicious clouds. So, confidentiality does come but when transparency is at stake there should be no hitch if information is sought under the law.

Confidentiality is an ethical principle, so when the authority of accessibility of information is questioned it is a moral duty to make information public so that no doubt persists. Also, the argument of confidentiality nullifies as Supreme Court ruled three decades ago that right to information is implicit in the right to freedom and speech and expression. Here it is worth mentioning that secrecy is maintained under the law where it is utmost required. The argument that RTI law is harming government’s ability to perform is both laughable and deplorable. How does any disclosure of functioning of government affect its sharpness? In fact, it is a force that makes government’s functioning more accurate as it is the tool of people to monitor government functioning. Not only does it check corruption but also RTI has the potential to mend occurring mismanagement. RTI provides an opportunity where constant vigil stipulates that there are no lacunae in any kind of functioning. It has the potential to expedite the work with modern and apt methodology because of public scrutiny.

Governance is the act of governing, if every aspect of government functioning is made public why does one bother of inspection of acts in the name of confidentiality or in fear that it may hamper performance?

What could a laborer running from pillar to post for his ration card, a student waiting eagerly for his passport, a housewife struggling without water supply or a senior citizen suffering due to pollution caused by an unauthorized factory near his residence have in common?

A notable achievement of the UPA government along with the rural employment guarantee scheme, this key to information has empowered the common man to fight the formidable cave of secrecy that enabled unscrupulous babus to shirk work and breed corruption. RTI is no magic that can make corruption vanish in a jiffy, but it has put the fear of scrutiny firmly in the minds of government employees. Gone is the air of confidence that enabled the corrupt in the government to demand ‘quick money’ openly without any apprehension of being caught. The experience till now suggests that most government departments attempt to clear pending work when they are questioned and responsibility is fixed.

Depending on how we look at it, it is either a glass half full or half empty. However, the road ahead seems exciting. Imagine RTI being just a phone call away, cutting out the massive paperwork that you need to go through now. That would make information available even to those who cannot do the running around, senior citizens, the disabled and those who do not have the time to pursue a RTI query through existing procedures. Bihar has shown the way by setting up a call centre for registration of RTI queries. This obviates the need for elaborate paperwork
and cumbersome legwork which makes life difficult for information seekers.

Under the RTI Act, citizens are empowered to seek information on the functioning of the government and are to get what they demand within three months; in matters relating to life and liberty, answers to queries can be demanded within 48 hours. Right to know a public act is a fundamental right. But the movement for greater transparency has now come under a shroud of darkness as individuals increasingly face threats both indirect and direct for attempting to expose corruption.

The news of social activist Shehla Masood's brutal murder didn't get adequate attention on national media due to the excessive coverage given to Anna Hazare.
It is even more ironical that she was supporting Anna Hazare and had left her house to organize a protest and signature campaign in support of the issues Anna stands for.

The media, as a fourth state, bears the responsibility to make the government, its institutions and functionaries accountable and transparent. And for this, investigative reporting is one of the most important contributions the media makes to consolidate democracy. As things stand now, when most people are not aware of exercising their right to information in a direct and personal way, media’s role and significance of empowering the public about legal advantages of RTI becomes all the more important.

The RTI law has given a greater and wider space for the media to play in empowering people and strengthening democratic polity. By using this legislation, media can investigate and expose issues of wider public interest. Media, as guardians of freedom of speech, can open up “closed doors” to transparency, accountability and participation by disseminating information about RTI to secure people’s fundamental right to know.

Such kind of vibrant media activism, by publishing and broadcasting nationwide discourses on RTI, can eventually narrow down ‘transparency and accountability deficit’ especially in countries like India going through political instability. Transparency and accountability is mainly concerned with promoting information disclosure and access to information as a prerequisite for public accountability.

Most of the people either from the lower economic strata or rural areas go for filling the RTI. Most of us, who are in the urban areas and better off have never had to use the RTI for personal problems, since we always have a ‘contact’ somewhere which can easily ‘pull strings’ for us and ‘get things done’. But the next time we face red tape, let us file an RTI application. It is really simple and like a newly acquired tool, it only gets better only with use.

Unfortunately, since the law exposes all the corruption taking place within the Govt. departments, the officials in the Govt. departments are opposing this law. All the politicians that sit on the tax payer’s money are feeling the crunch. They too are opposing the law.

There are now talks going on about the “diluting” the law. The law in its “diluted” form will be useless. People will loose the power that they had to expose the truth about the Govt. organizations.
We must help save this law. Whether or not one use the law is another thing. There are many RTI activists who everyday exposing Govt. frauds and forcing the Govt. to improve.