Aditi Phadnis: Right to know

BACKSTAGE

This is a true story. The UPA government had just taken over. Newly appointed Textile Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela wanted to invite Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia for a function but was a little hesitant about approaching him directly.

"I don't know him and I don't want him to say no. So maybe you could ask his office if he will be free to come, then I will send the invitation," Vaghela said in a conversation with the newly-named Textiles Secretary, Wajahat Habibullah.

Habibullah considered for a moment, then picked up the phone and asked the office to call Ahluwalia. "Aaah, Montek," he said, "Wajahat here, we'd like you to come for a function" and gave him the details. Then he turned to a slack-jawed Vaghela and said simply: "He'll come."

Habibullah's low profile is in inverse proportion to his influence and power in government. He's a bureaucrat with a history. The son of two highly eminent public figures from Lucknow, the Habibullah family has had an organic link with the ruling classes.

Major General Enayat Habibullah was highly regarded in the Indian Army and Mrs Hamida Habibullah was a Congress activist and social workers in the old days when being a social worker meant organising people instead of dispensing charity.

Through Mrs Habibullah, the family was very friendly with the Abdullah family of Jammu and Kashmir. The late Begum Abdullah was fond of young Wajahat who, before he joined the administrative service, used to accompany his mother in what history would record as important political negotiations between the Congress and the National Conference.

Because of his background, Habibullah developed a deep understanding about political processes in Jammu and Kashmir and also, the architecture of militant groups operating in the valley. Unsurprisingly, he was picked as a target for assassination and made a painful and long recovery from the attack on his life.

Habibullah has personal, firsthand knowledge of the careers of most of the political figures operating in Kashmir. His understanding of the state is encyclopaedic.

He also has a healthy mistrust of most of the actors, both political and bureaucratic. It is this that qualifies him to be a strong and effective Information Commissioner.

Used to denying information rather than giving it, the bureaucracy "" especially in the lower reaches "" tends to be reinforced by its awe of political authority. In Kashmir, Habibullah has seen politics from up close. He is also forthright about the damage corruption and proximity to power can do to a polity.

In a recent report presented before a US think tank, Habibullah acknowledged openly that if Kashmiris are to feel less alienated, governments in the Indian and Pakistani parts of the state of Jammu and Kashmir must grant their people freedom, not merely by granting elections but also by rolling back restrictions on business, terminating governmental monopolies in trade and commerce, and encouraging international investment by bodies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

It is Habibullah's responsibility to ensure that the Indian citizen's right to information is not curtailed and that there is institutional backing for the questioning spirit. With his no-nonsense attitude and confidence Habibullah is the best man for the job.