Or even with this bill, it wouldn't have
made an iota of difference in those scams?
*** It would NOT have.
At 10:54 AM -0500 5/21/05, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
C'da,
Note how the 'progressive, reform minded, etc. etc.' NDA left the gaping
loophole in their version of this law earlier.
The last govt. had left gaping loopholes, the new closes them. A
future govt. will once again visit this and plug other loopholes, and
that is how democracy functions.
Do you think if we had this bill before, the NE large scale scams
would have come to light? Or even with this bill, it wouldn't have
made an iota of difference in those scams?
--Ram
On 5/21/05, Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
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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