Threat to RTI

Why in news?

• The legislative agenda of the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament hints at amending the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005.
• Government is considering amending the Act for Introduction, Consideration, and Passing.

Why is it a threat?

• Citizen - RTI Act has transformed the citizen-government relationship and invalidated illegitimate concentrations of power.
• It has legitimised people's demands, and changed the feudal and colonial relationships.
• This progress would be threatened with any dilution of the spirit of the RTI Act.
• Governance - Under RTI, a public authority is to provide as much information suomotu to the public at regular intervals.
• The spirit of the RTI law thus lies in not just filing and getting an answer.
• It actually mandates the replacement of the prevailing culture of secrecy with a culture of transparency.

• Ideals - Government has shown unwillingness to operationalise Lok Pal, Whistleblowers Act and the Grievance Redress law.
• This already has a negative impact on the ideals of transparency and accountability, which would worsen with dilution of RTI.

What are the concerns with the proposal?

• Consultation - Earlier attempts to amend the Act have had strong popular resistance.
• The government now seems to be avoiding transparency and consultation in trying to impose the changes.
• As in the “pre legislative consultation policy”, any amendment to the law should be discussed before it goes to the cabinet.
• But applications for information about amendments to be made under the RTI Act have been denied.
• Process - In recent times, key legislations are passed without being sent to multi-party standing committees.
• Some are being passed under the tag of Money Bill, to avoid facing the Opposition.
• Significantly, this is also the case with legislations having a bearing on transparency.
• Clearly, these are practices without due consideration of the parliamentary processes.

Why is Lokpal significant too?

• The RTI Act just allows to uncover fraud through a demand for information.
• It is the Lokpal law which helps to use the information to hold a bureaucrat or elected representative accountable.
• Accountability should also have been institutionalised through a strong social accountability and Grievance Redress Act.
• But Public servants, troubled by accountability, are seeing these provisions as interference.
• Given these existing shortfalls, any amendment to the successfully and extensively used RTI Act needs a legitimate assessment.

Source: The Hindu