Enforcing the Right to Information
Saumitra Mohan
Additional District Magistrate, Hooghly, West Bengal
e-mail:
saumitra_mohan@hotmail.com
It is often said that Indians are best at making laws but seldom show necessary gravitas towards their implementation. Of all the laws enacted recently, the Right to Information (RTI) Act is one which is really going to change the way of governance in times to come.
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). Since then, however, only 72 countries including India have put in place any such enabling legislation.
Even though it took a long while coming, the Indian Act is nonetheless considered exemplary. At the same time, after two years of 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. However, we need to view the entire issue in perspective. Being a new law, the Right to Information Act is in its infancy and, as such, is not expected to move mountains and set off systemic changes immediately, even while it is an important step in that direction.
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. One needs to appreciate that for proper vitalization of a law like this in our country, an enlightened activism by the civil society is a must. However, in a country where people are still busy grappling with their daily problems of survival, they generally don't use the right to information 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.
Moreover, the constraints of competitive parliamentary politics have also ensured the easy availability of all such information of public importance. The trenchant debates in state and national legislatures and decentralization of power under the Panchayati Raj Act have further propagated this flow of information. A vibrant civil society, led by a pulsating and independent-minded media have, strengthened an already evolving system of accessing information.
Against the background of a competitive albeit active party system, proliferation of numerous interest groups and activism of civil society led by the mass media, there is almost nothing which is concealed from the people today. The sting operations and investigative journalism have made people more watchful of their rights thereby also cautioning 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 can not fool all the people all the time'. Therefore, even while the requisite information has always been available in one way or the other to those needing it, a need for having a better system of sharing information and for strengthening the extant system of governance has always been felt. It is this void that RTI fills.
Hence, even though the public response in the form of increased number of petitions seeking information under this new Act is poor, one need not feel that people needing information don't have access to it or are being denied 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.
Before RTI actualizes its declared objectives, however, there is an urgent need to create massive awareness among people about 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 which, in turn, requires a conscientized civil society with an enlightened sense of altruism. 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), 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.
Note: The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not reflect those of the Government.
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