NDTV: New Delhi: Monday, April 30, 2018.
Amid concerns
that India's landmark transparency reform, the Right To Information Act, could
be facing serious challenges, the architect of the movement, Aruna Roy,
recalled the uphill climb and the achievements in introducing the law in 2005.
Speaking on The NDTV Dialogues, Lord Meghnad Desai and Aruna Roy, who has
articulated her journey in her latest book - The RTI Story, served a reminder
that the RTI Act has enabled the citizens of India to experience sovereignty
and dignity while highlighting its contemporaneous challenges.
Ms Roy
asserted that the RTI Act should not be politically associated to a party. It
is a law that "should not be tagged", she said. "It is not about
whether it is a UPA, or a BJP law - it is the statute of India," she said.
Lord Desai echoed the same view.
The panelists
highlighted the prevalence of the culture of secrecy in India, and how
important it is to challenge it and embrace a culture of openness in order to
empower citizens.
Ms Roy termed
the RTI as "revolutionary", because of the role it has played in
"shaking power structures". She added that this can be seen by the
unfortunate number of attacks on RTI users and activists, as well as regular
attempts being made to curb the Act or bypass it.
While
discussing the challenges the RTI Act faces, Lord Desai, an Indian-born
Parliamentarian and Labour party politician in the UK, emphasized the
reluctance of governments and the state to reveal information. He also cited
the broadcasting industry as an example where government meddling was ubiquitous.
Lord Desai
observed that India has transitioned into "a different phase" where
along with the application of the RTI, "social media has been fantastic
for the citizens", in terms of creating awareness and flagging integral
issues that affect society.
Ms Roy also
said she was anguished by the Reserve Bank of India's denial of information via
the RTI on demonetisation. "A thing which has impacted 1.2 billion people
overnight, was it something that went through a logical economic or political discussion?
What were the premises? What were the reasons? What did you expect from this
demonetizing? We are not happy that 7 people were consulted; RBI also advised
against it."
.JPG)
.JPG)
