The government decision to hire a multinational company to check the efficacy of the Right to Information (RTI) Act has raised the hackles of many, especially the activists who campaigned for it. Touted as one of the biggest achievements of the UPA government, the RTI has managed to ruffle some neatly set feathers in bureaucracy, the unaccountable rulers in the government.The government’s choice of the verifier for the effectiveness of RTI—MNC Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) is being viewed as an effort to curtail some of the provisions in the Act. The RTI Act was passed after much wrangling between the government and the activists who were working for it. Fixing a fee for filing petitions under the RTI was one of the most contentious issues. Now RTI is being used by people to elicit all kinds of information from the government, especially those relating to delays and arbitrary concessions being given by various departments to favour a few.
Recently a man in Orissa got relief from the court after he proved that the Forest Department was unduly delaying and denying him permission to cut certain number of trees on his land to raise money for his son’s education. The department had given similar sanctions on a larger sale for industrial houses and business propositions. This information he obtained by repeated petitions under the RTI.
It is such incidents that are causing much consternation among the ruling elite, namely the bureaucrats. By getting a survey done by an MNC, the department can cite various reasons, including the ‘holy cow’ of national security to deny citizens access to information locked in government files. It may be remembered that the setting-up of RTI in itself was one of the ‘redress’ mechanisms suggested by the international monitory institutions under their Country Strategy for India. Hence their interest in the efficacy of the scheme and its scope for manipulation is understandable.
The other day our honourable PM was unhappy at corruption problem when he spoke in a seminar of Justices and Chief Ministers. He should strengthen RTI rather than finding ways to dilute it. If really government is serious about containing corruption [which one doubts!], it should implement simple ways to forcefully and sincerely implement RTI. Statute in books is only first step. We have reams and reams of laws in the books, but the ground realities are totally different. Govt machinery cannot stop corruption. Its only empowered public [through RTI etc] that will reduce the problem to a great extent.It is only common man that is victim of corruption. Give him the authority and he will fight his own battle. Some misuse will be there, but every law or any other statute has this problem.
Government testing RTI Act
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