Hindustan Times:Wednesday, February 01, 2012.
Two years after India passed the Right to Information Act in 2005 neighbouring Nepal also adopted a similar law “to make the functions of the state open and transparent in accordance with the democratic system” and to allow every citizen access to information held in public bodies.
Despite the hiccups and drawbacks, the Act has proved a milestone in making public information that had been kept buried inside government files and led to a number of exposes in India. However, the scenario has not been same in Nepal.
Take for instance the case of an NGO exposing firms evading tax to the tune of millions of rupees by forging VAT bills. It took the organization more than six months and seven attempts at getting the document that caused a flutter last year.
At a time when the Right to Information Act is yet to be fully implemented and exercised, the Maoist-led government recently directed all public offices not to disclose 140 kinds of information classified by a committee headed by the Chief Secretary.
No one seems to have an idea of the full list of items that have been included in the directive, but the move has created fresh problems for the Baburam Bhattarai government with various groups including journalists and lawyers resorting to protests seeking its removal.
According to the RTI Act only those information which “seriously jeopardizes” sovereignty, integrity, national security, public peace, stability and international relations should not be disseminated. Anything that directly effects investigation, inquiry and prosecution of a crime can also be kept away from the public.
Issues that affect economy, trade, monetary interest, intellectual property, banking, trade privacy, communal harmony and anything that interferes with individual privacy as well as security of body, life, health and property of a person can also be kept secret.
The Act however adds that the public body shall not refrain from the responsibility of dissemination of even these kinds of information without providing “appropriate and adequate reason not to flow the information.”
But in its recent move the government included new items like issues under consideration in the cabinet, recommendations of the Constituent Assembly, names of ambassadors approved by the cabinet and proposals sent by the parliament to the President.
Information regarding airports, radio and television stations, customs check posts, telecom, power houses, irrigation, canals, bridges, storage of petroleum products and design of dry ports have also been included in the list of things that would be kept secret.
Understandably there were reactions. The Nepal Bar Association flayed the move and two PILs have been filed in Supreme Court. They want a stay on the government’s decision as it is against provisions of the interim constitution and the RTI Act.
Journalists who would be affected by the decision have resorted to protests. A group of them in Dhankuta were prevented by security personnel from attending a programme Bhattarai was to address. They were wearing black arm bands to protest the government move.
On Monday, a students’ organization staged a protest in Kathmandu. The Federation of Nepali Journalists, the biggest organization of journalists in the country, has also announced demonstration across the country demanding revocation of the move.
Already facing a barrage of problems, Bhattarai who completed five months in office this month tried to deflect this one by stating that the decision was taken by the Chief Secretary as per provisions of the interim constitution and the government had no role in it.
In today’s world information is power. Many have benefited from it in countries where it is easily accessible and suffered where there is a cloak of secrecy covering it. The struggle to reap the positives just got a tad difficult in Nepal.
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