Indian Express: Colombo: Wednesday,
May 18, 2016.
Indian
Emperor Ashoka was the first to conjure up and grant his subjects the Right To
Information (RTI), says Indian RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak, Coordinator,
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI).
Speaking at a
seminar on RTI at the Sri Lanka Press Institute here on Tuesday, Nayak said
that Ashoka had inscribed on rocks all over the Indian sub-continent his
government’s policies, development programs and his ideas on various social,
economic and political issues, including how religions should co-exist with
each other.
“He insisted
that the inscriptions should be in the local language and not in a courtly
language like Sanskrit. And considering the fact that few of his subjects were
literate, he enjoined officials to read out the edits to people at public
gatherings,” Nayak said.
However,
after the fall of the Mauryan empire, people had stopped reading these edits
and the Prakrits had gone out of use. One had to wait until the British
Orientalist, James Prinsep (1799-1840), deciphered them centuries later, he
added.
RTI in India
is rated as a success globally, though it has a long way to go to merit real
praise.
“5.5 million
applications for information have been received so far, which compares well
with 3.5 million in the US. But then, 5.5 million is only a minute fraction of
the total population of 1.1 billion.”
One of the
issues raised by officials in India is about the cost of providing information.
“Cost can be
reduced if the government and public bodies voluntarily disclose as much as
possible about themselves. In Delhi, people are allowed to inspect government
records every second Saturday,” Nayak said.
Where there
are no websites to go into for information, other methods of communication are
used.
“In Gujarat,
the outer walls of villages are used to communicate the activities of the
Panchayat and the rights villagers are entitled to,” Nayak said.
While
journalists do not find the RTI useful because of the delay in getting
information, the downtrodden sections of society and NGOs in the development
sector use it to see records relating to government departments. Political
parties also use RTI to get authentic information on the government’s
performance. Surprisingly, even government servants use RTI.
Contrary to
the fears expressed by some officials, RTI has not harmed national security.
“If there was
any breach of national security it was due to inspired leaks from officials
themselves,” Nayak said.
In
Bangladesh
Speaking on
RTI in Bangladesh Shamsul Bari, Chairman Research Initiatives Bangladesh, said
the RTI has truly empowered the marginalized. The difference between “we” the
people and “they” the government, is fading, albeit slowly.
But
Bangladesh has a long way to go. Only 50 percent of posts of Designated
Officers have been filled. There is still fear among the people that harm will
come to them if they seek information. RTI activists should educate the people
to shed such fears and see RTI as their entitlement as well as a social need, Bari
said.
In
Pakistan
Speaking on
RTI in Pakistan’s tribal province, Khyber Pakhtunwala, MP and activist Meraj
Humayun Khan said that Khyber Pakhtunwala has excelled in implementing the RTI
act .It has topped the provinces in its use.
“Only the
High Court is out of bounds to the RTI. Earlier the Speaker of the KP Assembly
wanted the Assembly to be kept of it, but a media uproar defeated his designs,”
Khan said.
“We look upon
freedom as a fundamental right and are pro-active on RTI,” she added.
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