Noose talk

The Right to Information Act is one of the various initiatives for which the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) likes to take credit. But Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh frankly admitted to journalists in Ahmedabad that it had become a "noose" for the party, an oblique reference to the alleged scams that the Congress is facing. "There have been six milestones under the rights-based approach to development by the UPA, and the RTI Act in 2005 was the first. There is no second opinion that RTI is Congress' contribution. We were the only political party in 2004 to say in manifesto that we would bring in RTI if voted to power. However, RTI has now become a noose around our neck. Despite this, we won't discontinue that Act, because RTI has brought in a revolution in administration," he said. True, but it could be said that the other rights-based laws are nooses for the next government.