Editorial from the AT: The highlighting is mine:
Note how the 'progressive, reform minded, etc. etc.' NDA left the
gaping loophole in their version of this law earlier.
But is anyone willing to take a bet yet that this one is going to
make a difference?
cm
Empowering peopleInformation is indispensable for the functioning
of a democracy. In fact, the very concept of democracy sounds
hollow in the absence of the right to information. The people of
the country are not only entitled to know how public money is spent,
but also every act of the representatives whom they put in the saddle
of power. Unfortunately in India, for well over five decades since
Independence, lack of transparency in public dealings has been so
widespread and deep-rooted that the common citizens usually cannot
have a clear idea about what goes on behind the thick veil of secrecy.
Due to a secretive bureaucratic system, dishonest politicians and
bureaucrats, at all levels of public functioning, have succeeded in
institutionalizing the concealment of facts, resulting in
all-pervading corruption and lopsided development in India. This is
what makes the passing of the Right to Information Bill 2004 in the
Lok Sabha last week an epoch-making event in the history of Indian
polity. It promises to shift the power to the people, the ultimate
sovereigns of the country.
The Bill, drafted by the National Advisory Council of India,
provides for setting up a practical regime of right to access
information under the control of public authorities. It paves the way
for establishment of an appellate machinery with investigative powers
to review decisions of public information officers; maximum disclosure
of information along with minimum exemptions; and has strict penal
provisions for failure to provide information as per law. The
independent appeal mechanism, which the new Bill seeks to set up in
the form of a Central Information Commission, would spare the people
the impractical task of appealing to the government through writ
petitions to the High Courts or the Supreme Court. The previous
Bill - the Freedom of Information Act, 2002 - had provisions for
exemptions from disclosure of information, with no penalty provisions
for willful non-disclosure of information, or faulty disclosure of the
same, by a public authority. The new Bill has plugged all these
loopholes present in the previous Act, with the promise to make it
"more progressive, participatory and meaningful". But there exist
some areas in the new Bill that may still lead to corruption and
deceit. Although the new Bill has strong penalty provisions for
failure to provide information or suppression of facts, it provides
government agencies the right to challenge the petitions to be filed
in the event of non-availability of information, thus retaining an
outside chance for corruption and conspiracy to conceal
information.
Yet, the Right to Information Bill 2004, while fulfilling a
long-felt need, promises to bring in a fair amount of transparency in
the functioning of the government and its agencies. Kudos to public
activists like Anna Hazare and all the civil society groups but for
whose relentless campaigns the legislation would have remained on
paper for far too long. The Central government too has fulfilled one
major point of its Common Minimum Programme, despite the apparent
stonewalling by the bureaucrats who had ostensibly tried to prevent
the Bill from getting passed in Parliament, the Bill that would compel
them to comply with the law. Hopefully, the new legislation
will empower people against the state machinery, ensure better
governance, lead to openness, accountability and integrity in the
country, and strengthen grassroots democracy - in the truest sense.
Whether the long red tape would eventually vanish and the welfare
schemes reach the right beneficiaries, the coming days will
tell.
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