In recent memory, no other legislation has galvanised citizens as much as the Right to Information Act passed in 2005 by Parliament. In one stroke it brought citizens closer to the government by empowering them to ask questions about decisions taken or not, as debates continued over crucial provisions of the Act being diluted.
Last month, some 13 years since the RTI has been in place, a survey by the Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and the Centre of Equity Studies, threw up dismal facts. One of the key observations made was that the landmark Right To Information Act, empowering citizens of the country to seek information on governance, was being slowly chipped away leaving questions about whether governments in power were deliberately diluting the Act to protect themselves. The assessment found that several Information Commissioners (IC) were non-functional or were functioning at reduced capacity as the posts of commissioners, including that of the chief information commissioner, were vacant during the period under review.
The Information Commissioners hold the key to information and have the power to order an inquiry if information has been withheld or denied, and as the study observes, also have the powers of a civil court for enforcing attendance of persons, discovery of documents, receiving evidence or affidavits, issuing summons for examination of witnesses or documents. Rarely a day goes by without reports on how the government keeps crucial information hidden, or denies it, to deliberately obfuscate citizens.
Amid this gloom, comes the book The RTI Story: Power to the People by Aruna Roy with the MKSS Collective, a people’s organisation. Roy, a former IAS officer, left the services to heed her calling. The story is about the sweat, blood and tears that went into the making of the most powerful Act, efforts by some very ordinary people determined to bring about transparency in governance. In naming those who took part in the struggle, and in telling their stories, Roy enriches our understanding of what it really takes to empower citizens of the country. These were some very extraordinarily rooted people who made us understand what true governance means by questioning those in power, specially the corrupt.
The RTI story is a story of empowerment. It is a story of how a handful of committed people saw a dream and were soon joined by more. It is an account of their struggle which continues to this day.
The RTI Story: Power to the People ; Aruna Roy with MKSS Collective, Roli Books, ₹495.
