Amendment to RTI spark protests, civil society orgs to mobilise

A democratic republic is where there is an informed citizenry and transparency of information. After electing a government of its own choice in 2019, on July 22, the nation did not know that it would have to make sacrifices to its right to information this early in the new term, under the amendment made by the Lok Sabha to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which was introduced in the parliament by minister Jitendra Singh.

Since, civilians have been seen protesting against the Modi government - a government which came to power with a monstrous majority just two months back. The appeal was for the government to roll back the amendment which would render the hard fought, hard earned legislation toothless. On 30th June, around 300 people - social activists, youngsters, journalists, were seen protesting on behalf of the ‘save RTI Act campaign’ by flashing mobile torches on the footpath of Jangli Maharaj road of Pune city and raising slogans of ‘Save RTI!’ 

The RTI act was formed 14 years back on 15 June 2005. Under the provisions of this act, any citizen of India is eligible to request information from any ‘public authority’. The rules made it mandatory to receive a reply with effectiveness on one’s request, within 30 days. Over 60 lakh RTI applications are filed every year and roughly 17,500,000 RTI requests were filed in the first 10 years after the enactment of the law.

The new bill amends section 13 and section 16 of the Right to Information Act 2005. Where earlier, the Central Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioner’s term was held at 5 years or until the age of 65 (whichever is earlier), the amendment states that the appointment and term of these officers will now be held responsible by the central government.  Section 13 of the Act also states that the salaries, allowances and other states of service of the Chief Information Commissioner should be that as of the chief election commissioner. But again, in the amendment, the central government has been given charge and power over this decision of the Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioner's salaries. 

Aruna Roy, a Social activist and the pioneer who was on the forefront in the demand for the original RTI law in 2005 said while speaking to ToI, "RTI empowers the citizens to question power, and this government is uncomfortable with the information citizens who are managing to extract from the government. No one in power wants to be transparent or held accountable. This Bill gives the central government the power to decide the tenure and compensation of even the State Information Commissioners. Such an amendment goes against the claims of the prime minister of his belief in federalism,” adding, “The government should frankly disclose the reason for pushing through such an amendment also realizing that deliberation is as much a part of democracy as the vote. Having an electoral majority does not give them the right to ride roughshod over people’s views.”

“In the last 14 years, there has not even been a whisper of protest over the existing provisions — from judges, the Election Commission or the government itself. First and foremost, there has to be some reason to introduce any legislation or amend any existing legislation. There are several bodies such as the National Green Tribunal and the National Human Rights Commission whose members are considered to be at par with Supreme Court judges or Election Commissioners,” said Shailesh Gandhi, former Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and RTI activist, adding, “The NGT and NHRC are also statutory bodies. This hierarchy of sorts between the constitutional bodies and statutory bodies is itself uncalled for. So why is this amendment suddenly being sought to be pushed through?”

In the RTI amendment protest in Pune, social activists Vishwambhar Chaudhary, Subhash Ware, journalists Vijay Kumbhar and Vinita Deshmukh, RTI activist Vivek Velankar, Human Rights activist Asim Sarode and many such were present, weathering the heavy rains. The campaign plans to push the protests further, culminating in a larger protest at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai.