For Info, Break Seal

The Right to Information Bill, which Parliament has just passed, is a major milestone in transforming government. It preserves the important...

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The Right to Information Bill, which Parliament has just passed, is a major milestone in transforming government. It preserves the important core principles that any such Bill should possess. Its predecessor, the Freedom of Information Act, did not adequately protect these principles. This Bill establishes that citizens have a right to information, that the government has an obligation to provide it, that the state apparatus must be materially equipped to do so, that access to information must be free or cheap, that there must be serious penalties for non-compliance and that there must be an independent appeals procedure in case of non-compliance or disputes. It is possible to quibble over minor details like whether the penalty for non-compliance should have included imprisonment rather than the mere imposition of a fine. But, on balance, it was prudent to confine the penalties to a fine, given the nature of the offence. It could also be argued that the Bill does not match the progressive features of information laws already already in force in some states. But, again, it was wise decision to bring all the states uniformly under the ambit of a single law.

This Bill is also unique in that the implementation will be overseen by a body whose composition is not confined to civil servants. It is a product of a unique conjuncture of circumstances: a worldwide Freedom of Information Movement that has led to 50-odd Bills being enacted around the world; the exemplary efforts of organisations — notably Rajasthan’s MKSS — that have shown how potent a weapon information can be in securing citizens their basic rights; civil society momentum that has forced the government to take notice, and a National Advisory Council that had staked a lot on the passage of this Bill. But the long time that it took to come to this point suggests that there is still need to keep up the pressure. For one thing, the government will have to ensure that its own information systems are in order, so that its officials can comply with the Bills requirements. But most fundamentally, the Bill will require nothing less than a revolution in the moral psychology of government. Government officials will have to learn to accustom themselves to a new reality: government no longer has discretionary power over information; government cannot treat people like children and withhold information from them but as citizens with a right to information. But, most importantly, they will now have to operate on the assumption that they will be held accountable. Lack of information was one of the prime instruments by which accountability was often fudged. The Bill gives citizens a potent instrument by which to hold their government to account.

Information itself is not a panacea for the government’s every deficiency. But the passage of the Bill should give citizens more confidence that mobilisation and pressure on the government can work. They should use this pressure to make full use of the opportunities that the Bill will provide.