Deccan Herald: National: Sunday, March 25, 2018.
The authors of
the Global Democracy Index have pushed India 10 ranks down from 32 to 42 based
on mainly two issues that they think have hurt our democracy: the rise of
Hindutva majoritarianism and its consequences to India's plural society; and
the curbing of media freedoms. They have missed out on what's happening on
another important front – transparency in governance, in general, and this
government's outlook on the citizens' Right to Information.
The Right to
Information (RTI) Act promotes free flow of information to ensure transparency
and accountability in the functioning of government to enable citizens to take
informed decisions to realise their aspirations and entitlements.
However, the
experiences of RTI applicants show that the government is hiding more than it
reveals. This is evident from the level of mandatory disclosures made by the
government as well as the responses to RTI applications by various departments.
The government
has not disclosed mandatory information under section 4 of the RTI Act, which
is why a large number of RTI appeals and complaints are filed with the Central
Information Commission (CIC). By the time information is disclosed as per CIC's
direction, it loses relevance and utility. This raises a question: is the
functioning of the central government transparent as the Modi government claims
or is it hiding more than what it reveals to the public through social media
and advertisements?
The
functioning of the government is shrouded in secrecy. That's an observation by
the Institute of Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM), of the Department
of Personnel and Training, which functions under the prime minister himself.
The ISTM's
assessment is that most government departments do not comply with section 4 of
the RTI Act. Even in this digital age, neither are websites properly
constructed nor is data and information regularly updated. Thus, information
that should be in the public domain is not, which hints at the perpetuation of
the 'culture of secrecy' by the bureaucracy and the political leadership. Lack
of transparency jeopardises the effective functioning of democratic
institutions that protect the constitutional rights of people.
For instance,
a huge amount of vital information is not displayed on the official websites of
government departments. These include information on:
Decision-making
process, delegation of powers, duties and responsibilities of officials and the
system of compensation paid to them;
Minutes of
meetings of committees and boards, details of Acts, rules, instruments,
manuals, office orders, custodians of various categories of documents held by
the organisation;
RTI
applications and appeals received and responses.
Details of domestic
and foreign visits undertaken by officials.
Discretionary
and non-discretionary grants and details of beneficiaries of subsidies;
Sources and
methods of funding of political parties and identification of donors; and,
Details about
Public Private Partnerships and outcomes of such ventures.
Citizens are
being forced to file RTI applications for information that should have been in
the public domain.
Worse,
consider the following responses to RTI applications:
In the last
six months, more than Rs 55,356 crore was written off by Public Sector Banks.
The beneficiary institutions or individuals are, however, not identified. In
the RTI regime, such information should have been voluntarily disclosed to the
public.
Railway Board
has refused to share the details of losses in the last five years. Should it
not be known to the public?
NN Vohra
Committee Report, 1983, on nexus between politicians and criminals has been
disclosed but its annexures have been withheld as missing or untraceable.
Special
Investigation Team's closure report on 1984 riots have been withheld to
discourage scrutiny of the investigation.
Details of
land encroachments are denied by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on flimsy
grounds.
The CIC has
directed PMO to disclose who all have accompanied PM Modi on his foreign tours,
but the PMO is yet to do so.
On the other
hand, it was an RTI query that forced the Modi government to reveal that it has
spent Rs 3,755 crore on publicity so far and that the government spends over Rs
2 crore every month on Twitter and Facebook activity. This huge expenditure can
be avoided if the government voluntarily puts in the public domain the relevant
details of its activities and achievements.
Educational
qualifications are not secret documents as the degree/diploma awarding
institutions display the score of marks/grades on the notice boards and declare
them during annual convocations. Yet, a few institutions have chosen to
disallow access to the education results of individuals in high places,
including PM Modi and I&B minister Smiriti Irani. Many people have acquired
degrees through fraudulent methods. Former Delhi Law minister Jitender Singh
Tomar of the Aam Aadmi Party, had to resign after being arrested for allegedly
using fake degrees to enrol as an advocate.
In response
to several appeals, the CIC has declared that a political party is a public
authority to be covered under the ambit of RTI Act so that the sources and
methods of its funding is duly identified and accounted for. However, political
parties have connived to evade disclosure of collection of funds which, in
effect, becomes a source of influencing political decision-making to favour the
donors at the costs of the innocent majority of citizens and the national
interest. The recently introduced instrument of electoral bonds for political
funding is designed to encourage corruption as the identity of the donor is
kept secret. This is the root cause of corruption. The very purpose of RTI
legislation is thus defeated. Can India call itself a democracy if its
government and political parties hide crucial information from the people? Can
Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas or Achhe Din, be achieved by being unaccountable to the
people?
(The writer
is a former Central Information Commissioner and member, UGC)