Moneylife: Mumbai: Wednesday, August 15, 2018.
The Right to
Information (RTI) Act has helped Indian journalists unearth sensitive,
important and hidden information to break major stories. RTI is a very
important tool for journalists, especially in a country like India. Journalism
and how it is practised has changed a lot over the decades.
From a state
where getting even public information was hard to get, we now have an
information overload, with huge volumes of information available a click away.
But
information deemed sensitive by rulers is still hard to get. There are also
security restrictions and physical barriers to access. However, one thing has
remained constant the big newsbreak goes to the journalist who has access to
the right sources, who can get accurate information. RTI is one way to break
this barrier. It allows journalists to break news stories without having to
suck up to the power-that-be and to get information as a matter of right.
Keeping this
in mind, Moneylife Foundation, in partnership with Mumbai Press Club, conducted
a special workshop on RTI for journalists. Senior journalist and
Founder-Trustee of Moneylife Foundation, Sucheta Dalal started the session
about how Moneylife has successfully written investigative stories using RTI
applications as an effective tool. One such story was the NSE (National Stock
Exchange) defamation suit against Moneylife, where former central information
commissioner Shailesh Gandhi filed several RTI applications to help gather
evidence in increasing the pressure and ensuring further investigation.
At the
session, Mr Gandhi talked briefly about the RTI Act and how it can be used
effectively by journalists in researching and writing stories. Explaining the
origin of RTI in democracy, Mr Gandhi stressed upon the importance of swaraj or
self-rule in India. He said, “Since we live in a democratic country and which
is in fact the world’s largest democracy, it we, who have elected the
government and therefore are the badshah and begum. Also as badshah and begum,
we not only have rights but we also have some duties.”
Mr Gandhi
then explained the detailed procedure for filing an RTI application, the
difference between mode of fee acceptable at Central government and state
government and word count acceptable in Maharashtra. He also cited real-life
examples, where filing of RTI application has actually helped in delivery of
better governance. Instead of cribbing on civic issues, one needs to file at
least one RTI application every month, he added.
The event at
Mumbai Press Club ended with a panel discussion involving Mr Gandhi, Ms Dalal
and Samir Zaveri, who is well-known for his work as a Railways activist, using
RTI very effectively.