Livemint: New Delhi: Wednesday,
August 07, 2013.
 |
| Activists shout slogans during a protest against the change in the Right to Information (RTI) Act in New Delhi. |
Right to
information (RTI) activists held a day-long protest in New Delhi on Tuesday to
oppose recent amendments cleared by the cabinet that would effectively render
void a decision by the Central Information Commission (CIC) that required
political parties to make disclosures under the transparency law.
Public
mobilization and protests may be the only way to safeguard the law in the wake
of the near unanimity among political parties when it comes to keeping
themselves outside RTI’s ambit, activists and experts contend. The transparency
law was put in place in 2005 after years of nationwide protests and public
pressure.
“There is
strong public mobilization on the issue. It’s not very visible right now
because it’s not being projected well,” said Aruna Roy, a transparency
campaigner and former member of the National Advisory Council that sets the
government’s social agenda.
“However,
this is set to increase in the days to come... This is people’s politics and
RTI was born out of people’s politics,” said Roy, who participated in the
protest.
The CIC said
in a 3 June order that six political parties cited in a petition the ruling
Congress party, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist
Party of India (CPI) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were substantially
funded indirectly by the Union government and can be considered public
authorities under the RTI law.
“The act
needs to be protected and not strengthened and it is for the people to protect
it. RTI is the only law in the country in which the onus for implementation is
on the citizens, whereas in all other laws, it is the state that needs to act,”
said Jagdeep Chhokar, an RTI expert and one of the petitioners in the case
relating to the political parties.
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