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Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid’s remarks on the need to revisit the Right to Information (RTI) Act, on the ground that its purported ‘misuse’ was hampering ‘institutional efficiency’, displays the discomfort amongst the political and bureaucratic classes over an Act that has unprecedentedly empowered ordinary citizens.
The power of the RTI is manifest in the number of scams that have been unearthed by deploying it — be it a citizen seeking details about that perpetually unrepaired neighbourhood road or a multi-crore scam of national proportions.
In her address to the joint session of Parliament in 2009, President Pratibha Patil laid down the government’s agenda to put in place a public data policy that would “place all information covering non-strategic areas in the public domain”. This is fine. If at all there are amendments, then according to the author, it should be those that buttress and consolidate the RTI Act — providing protection for RTI activists and whistleblowers in general rather than seek to dilute it. But, the power of RTI is making our politicians rather uneasy everyday.
The author observes that an opaque state is essentially a colonial vestige, one that is impervious, mysterious in its workings, if not actually hostile towards ordinary citizens. On the other hand we require a state which envisages that disclosure of information is not just a citizens’ right, but also a fundamental duty where citizens can feel part of governance and its workings.
It seems our netas and babus, among others, would prefer the former. This must be resisted. The point is to strengthen democracy, not starve it of information.
