The Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the United Front has it; the Rajasthan Chief Minister promised it on the floor of the state assembly; a voluminous report has been submitted to the Centre on it; yet, there is little movement within the government to grant the Right to Information and access to citizens about its developmental activities.
Transparency has become the latest buzzword in political circles, yet there is no indication that the government would grant the right to information about normal, developmental activities to the citizens.
Despite the submission of a report by a working group headed by H D Shourie to the Centre in May, and the circulation of a draft Freedom of Information Bill, it is unlikely that the bill would be introduced and passed in the monsoon session of Parliament. A senior United Front leader said there were far more serious issues before the government than this.
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If the Rajasthan experience is any indication, it would be quite a while before citizens are allowed to come anywhere near official files relating to development activities. Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has promised such access on several occasions, but has not yet issued the necessary orders. An agitation is currently on in the state, intended to force the government to issue the orders.
Shekhawat first made the promise in the state assembly on April 5, 1995, and reiterated it on several occasions, including the May conference of Chief Ministers here. The latest assurance was given on May 26 to a delegation of activists led by noted columnist Kuldip Nayar, that the orders would be issued by June 3. Since no such orders have been forthcoming, activists under the banner of National Campaign for People's Right to Information
(NCPRI) have been on a dharna near the secretariat in Jaipur.
The activists plan to observe June 25 as a