Outlook India: New Delhi: Tuesday, July 18, 2017.
A group of
RTI activists today urged Rajya Sabha members to refer the Whistle Blowers
Protection (Amendment) Bill to a select committee for detailed deliberation,
claiming the legislation was diluted in the present form.
The bill is
scheduled for discussion in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow.
The National
Campaign for peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI), which has written a letter
to various Members of Parliament, said that the bill in the present form was
diluted.
"The
amendment bill seeks to remove the clause which safeguards whistleblowers from
prosecution under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) if they make a disclosure
under the Whistle Blowers Protection Act," NCPRI said in a release.
The bill also
states that no disclosures should contain information which would prejudicially
affect the sovereignty, integrity, security, strategic, scientific or economic
interests of the state, the release added.
"As the
bill severely dilutes the provisions of the original Act and there has been no
formal platform for public discussion on the amendments, it is critical that
the amendment bill be referred to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha,"
it said.
According to
the data issued by NCPRI, since 2007 around 350 people have been harassed,
assaulted, killed or had committed suicide for taking up information activism.
"The
Whistle Blowers Protection Act (WBP Act), which was passed by Parliament and
received the assent of President on May 9, 2014, has not been operationalised
till date. Instead of promulgating rules to operationalise the law, the
government has moved an amendment bill in Parliament," the release said.
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