Times of India: New Delhi:
Tuesday, June 11, 2013.
The Right to
Information Act has become a thorn for all political parties judging by their
strong objections to the Central Information Commission (CIC) order bringing
these parties within the RTI Act. This is in sharp contrast to the high praise
they showered on the legislation when it was debated and passed in May 2005. A
look at the Parliament debates shows that Congress leaders lionized the Act,
while every party, barring the NDA parties which had walked out of the debate,
supported it. This leads one to assume: The law is good so long it doesn't
apply to us. Here are some snatches of the 2005 debate. The contrast between
the position of the parties then and now couldn't be starker.
Manmohan
Singh (intervening):
The key to the successful functioning of any democratic polity is the ability
of a citizen to observe and evaluate the functioning of the elected
representative and make an informed judgment of their performance. This
evaluation is predicate to the easy availability of the necessary information
for a citizen to arrive at an assessment...At the centre of this intricate web
is the common man, the "aam aadmi'' whose prosperity and welfare is the
core concern of our Constitution.
Suresh
Pachauri (who piloted the bill):
I have no hesitation to say that a new era full of accountability and
responsibility is going to begin...The UPA government intends to handover the
keys of democracy to the people. We do not want to hide any information from
the people which in the national interest... The question is not whether to
grant this right to citizens, but how elaborately and how extensively.
Anand
Sharma: There has
been much public debate on accountability at various levels. When we talk of
accountability, even the legislature has accountability, because the people who
sit in this legislature are representatives of the people, they are accountable
to the people.
Ashwani
Kumar: It (RTI Act)
recognizes at long last that an open society alone is consistent and compatible
with democratic governance, that an open society will be an objective that
would not be realized if there was not genuine and reasonable avenue of
information collection, and that participatory democracy would remain a far cry
for an ordinary individual if the government itself did not make it legally
obligatory for those who the institutions of governance to provide the
information necessary for decision making.
Milind
Deora: This bill is
empowerment of one billion Indians to make them free; to allow them a great
deal of autonomy, a great deal of transparency and more importantly, access to
accountability, which in my opinion, has not been there are for many years in
India...This bill will strengthen the process and delivery of procedural
justice, which often precedes social justice...This bill has the power to
completely transform India.
Jairam
Ramesh: The problem
in our system is the culture of secrecy. There is a cult of secrecy in our
system, and the starting point of this cult is the Third schedule of the
Constitution. It is the oath of secrecy.
Sachin
Pilot: This bill is
capable of bringing a revolution in the entire country and society....The
government which wants to hide something from the people and does not want to
bring transparency in its working style need not introduce such kind of bill,
but this government has the courage to bring such a strong bill.
Ram
Jethmalani: PM has
said information can be misused. I do not agree. True information can never be
misused. False information may be.
Alok Kumar
Mehta (RJD): Many
examples of corruption and immorality under the cover of secrecy can be
observed in many places....I would like to tell when Shri George Fernandes was
minister of defence, Tehelka episode ocured, many things were put under the
carpet in the name of secrecy. All this happened on the pretext of secrecy.
Therefore the process of making information public should be made more
meaningful.
Ram Kirpal
Yadav (RJD): This
(RTI Act) will strengthen democracy and increase the participation of the
common people and this will certainly enable us to seek the information that
used to be concealed in the name of maintaining secrecy. The public will no longer
remain deprived of their rights which had been taken away from them in one or
another manner.
S Sudhakar
Reddy (CPM): I
congratulate the government for brining in a very revolutionary bill on the
right to information, which will bring a lot of changes in our democracy.
Information is the oxygen of democracy, and the functioning of democracy...
Shailendra
Kumar (SP): We will
have to ponder over bringing transparency in the RTI. Through this bill we will
have to particularly think about the illiterate, poor, starved, homeless,
exploited labourers, trials, dalits and monads of our society and country.
P R
Senthil (PMK): I hope
that our bureaucracy, which has been more than a stumbling block for
development, would become more responsible (after the RTI Act), more
accountable and more importantly, more responsive.
R
Shunmugasundaram (DMK):
Lack of transparency is the main cause of all pervading corruption. Right to
information would lead to openness, accountability and integrity. Barrier to
information breeds corruption, will facilitate clandestine deals, arbitrary
decisions, manipulations and embezzlement.
N P Durga
(TDP): Access to
government records and information is an essential requirement for modern
government and the right to information is the bedrock of democracy which can
pave the way for transparency, openness and accountability in governance of the
affairs of the state and ensure effective participation of the people in a
democratic society.
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