Opening up the files

Governments the world over have a simple SOP: what you don't know can't hurt us. So they guard information with great tenacity. And the worse governance gets, the more tenacious they become.

Indeed, it is arguable that governance has got worse in India precisely because governments are under no legal and constitutional obligation to come clean about their myriad acts of incompetence and venality, usually both.

But, thanks to the persistent and strenuous efforts of a few committed individuals, most notably the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), this might be about to change.

Aruna Roy, who heads the MKSS and who is a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), has persuaded Sonia Gandhi that the UPA government must introduce during the current session of Parliament the new Bill that is proposed on the right to information.

This pressure has developed because the bureaucracy has been delving into its usual bag of tricks for delaying things. The law ministry had given the opinion that, with so many amendments being proposed to the 2002 Bill, it would be "advisable" to have a new Bill altogether.

This was such a transparent ploy to delay things that the government has been told to do whatever it needs to do, and bring the Bill in this session. It will be interesting to see how things go from here, because the bureaucracy is unlikely to give up so easily.

So far nine states have passed laws on the right to information, and eight have notified them. Assam has not. Interestingly, most of these states had Congress governments, which suggests Sonia Gandhi used her usual powers of persuasion.

The surprise is Tamil Nadu. The DMK government passed the Act but made sure, via exemptions and process requirements, that the law would not really result in information being divulged.

In contrast, the Maharashtra law (to take one example) has allowed citizens and civil rights groups to extract all manner of information and put the government on notice. In Delhi state, too, the law has been used to good effect, and those in charge of governance have had to pull up their socks.

The central Bill has tried to ensure similar results. If the Bill becomes law, citizens will demand and obtain all sorts of information, except where national security or privacy is involved.

If the government is indeed forced to quickly provide information, this will result in genuine empowerment of the citizen. The Bill also provides for a Chief Information Commissioner who will implement the law.

Two things could still cause delays. One, the Bill could get referred to a select committee, where it goes into cold storage; two, an ersatz issue could be raised about which list of the Constitution it fits into. The answer to that is simple: Entry 97, which is meant for things that don't fit in the three master lists.