Know your rights : Govern Yourself

I might not get a better time to write this. Today is the the day in 2005 (October 12th), when one of the most important legislations in the history of parliamentary India came into force, which has the singular potential of changing the very structures and working of the government and its various public authorities : The Right to Information Act, 2005.

This act gives to every citizen of India, right to information which will enable them to have access to information under control of the public authorities which will promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority.

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all the persons alike share in the government to the utmost.

Every public authority, under the act, is required to maintain its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner to facilitate access to such records by the general public. Public Information Officers are established attached to every department of the Government of India for this purpose at ALL levels, as per the suo moto declarations of information kept under public domain for information and record keeping by the public authorities.

A new shift from the ‘culture of secrecy’ that has been so far the hallmark of bureaucracy in our country to a culture of transparency and public interest’ is expected through the implementation of this act. Any official or public servant holding any information is morally obliged (and very soon to be protected through legislation) to disclose the information in public interest.

Information can be obtained by any individual by directly writing/approaching to a PIO or any other office meant for this purpose. For those public offices which do not have these PIOs or , when we do not know to whom we have to address while seeking information, a simple Post Card addressed to the nearest Post Office with the due fee is all that is required.

No reasons or personal information are needed to be mentioned while seeking information from a public authority through this RTI Act.

If for any reason, the information sought is not obtained within the stipulated time of 30 days, appeal can be made in the Information Commissions established to inquire in to the non-accessibility of information and if found appropriate, due compensation would be paid to the information seeker and the concerned public authority is warned to furnish the information at the earliest.

For those of us who try to intimidate the value and effectiveness of these acts and appellate authorities, many publications, case studies and other research programs might give some insight, but I have a very glaring example of its successful utilizations by one of our “information’ technology professional (IT).

In his words :

“Dear All,

Just wanted to share the news of compensation I got awarded from Uttarakhand Government in a matter of Right To Information. More important than this award is the exponential rise in awareness about this Act amongst the residents of villages where I worked. They are all using this for solving problems as small as irregularity in receipt of pension, to as large as delay in completion of roads. Nor do they hesitate in asking even from Collector or Chief Minister. We must also use the Act when needed. “

It is to be reminded that the awareness need to be spread as much in our offices, work places, towns and cities as much as the remote places he touched upon !

Hopefully this might work as a starting point !