RTI Act amendments, dead activists, a sign of times to come?

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 04:13:07 +0000

The ruling dispensation’s attempts to dilute and declaw the Right to Information Act are a damning indictment of its commitment to transparency and accountability. However, what is more shocking is the atmosphere of impunity that has been allowed to thrive. A compilation by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) reveals that RTI activists are being targeted, and many are even paying for their courage with their lives.

According to the findings of CHRI that it has mapped and shared on a dedicated website, 84 RTI activists have been killed, 169 assaulted and 183 have been harassed or threatened. 7 activists have also allegedly committed suicide. The website maps all such instances since 2005. Out of the total 443 incidents, 177 incidents have taken place after May 23, 2014. These include 23 incidents in 2014 (after May 23), 53 incidents in 2015, 28 incidents in 2016, 30 incidents in 2017, 32 incidents in 2018 and 11 incidents in 2019 so far. Titled the Hall of Shame: Mapping attacks on RTI users, the entire map and details of activists targeted may be viewed here.

Now, let us examine the controversial amendments to the RTI Act and key criticisms thereof:

Tenure of Information Commissioners
According to the previous provisions, the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioners (IC) were to be appointed for a period of five years. However, as per the amendment, their tenure will be decided by the central government. An uncertain tenure could affect the autonomy of the office, by way of subjugating the officer to the whims and fancies of the central government. There is thus tremendous scope for coercion, corruption and manipulation.

Salary of Information Commissioners
Previously, the salary of the CIC and ICs at both the central and state level was at par with their counterparts in the Election Commission. However, as per the new amendment, it is the central government that will determine the remuneration. This once again makes it possible for the central government to control the officers and possibly twist their loyalty. Pension deduction from salary.

In an interview to Firstpost, former Chief Information Commissioner and RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi also raises the question of organisational hierarchy saying, “In the Statement of Objects and Reasons for the bill, it is stated that the information commissions and the Election Commission cannot be at par, as the former are statutory bodies, while the latter is a constitutional body. However, this reasoning is flawed. There are several bodies such as the National Green Tribunal and the National Human Rights Commission whose members are considered to be at par with Supreme Court judges or Election Commissioners. The NGT and NHRC are also statutory bodies. As a matter of fact, this hierarchy of sorts between the constitutional bodies and statutory bodies is itself uncalled for.”

It is clear that these amendments to the RTI act are yet another attempt by a totalitarian regime to dis-empower those who dare to question its methods.

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Modi Government Trying to Weaken RTI Act With Draft Amendments, Say Activists

Mon, 28 May 2018 05:54:49 +0000

RTI activists in the country have demanded that the BJP-led NDA government make the RTI Amendment Bill public, as per the pre-legislative consultation policy of the Government of India.

Image Coutesy: DailyO

The Narendra Modi government is trying to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005, but RTI activists in the country have raised concerns that the proposed amendments would weaken the legislation, which has empowered millions of people to hold public authorities accountable.

On 25 May, the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing “anguish and concern” regarding the “regressive” amendments to the RTI Act 2005 being proposed by the BJP-led NDA government.

Urging Modi to not dilute the Act, the activists associated with the NCPRI have demanded that the government make the text of the draft RTI Amendment Bill available in the public domain for scrutiny and discussion, before it is introduced in Parliament.

Among the most worrisome proposed amendments, said the NCPRI while citing media reports, was the proposal that the central government and state governments would decide the salaries of information commissioners through rules — a move that is likely to compromise the independence and autonomy in the functioning of the commissioners.

The information commissions (ICs), set up under the RTI Act are critical to citizens exercising the hard-won Right to Information, which allows citizens to question and seek information from public authorities. The ICs are “the final authorities to adjudicate on claims of access to information which is a deemed fundamental right under Article 19(1) of the Constitution.”

“The RTI law currently pegs the salaries, allowances and other terms of service of the Chief of all information commissions and the information commissioners of the Central Information Commissions at the level of a judge of the Supreme Court, while those of the state information commissioners are pegged at the level of the Chief Secretary of the state,” said the letter by the NCPRI.

“The status conferred on commissioners under the RTI Act is to empower them to carry out their functions autonomously and require even the highest offices to comply with the provisions of the law. Empowering the central and state governments to decide salaries of information commissioners would seriously undermine the independence of information commissions,” it said.

As it is, the information commissions in the country are in a mess, with the posts of commissioners, including that of the chief information commissioner, lying vacant in several state ICs.

The draft rules in the amendment bill, issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of the Government of India, has reportedly been approved by the Cabinet.

There are also several other issues, raised earlier by the RTI activists, with the proposed amendments that will complicate the process of seeking information from the government.

But the text of the amendment bill has not been made public, and no comments and suggestions from the public has been sought yet.

“This manner of legislating important laws undermines people’s democratic right to know and participate in the legislative process and prevents public scrutiny of the provisions of a proposed bill.”

The RTI activists — including Aruna Roy, Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey, Venkatesh Nayak, Shailesh Gandhi and Shekhar Singh, among several others — have demanded that the Modi government make the amendment bill public in keeping with the pre-legislative consultation policy of the government of India.

“In 2014, a Pre-legislative Consultation Policy was adopted by the Government of India which mandates that all draft legislations (including subordinate legislation) be placed in the public domain for 30 days for inviting public comments and a summary of comments be made available on the concerned ministry’s website prior to being sent for Cabinet approval,” the NCPRI reminded the BJP-led NDA government.

“The necessity and significance of public consultation in the process of law-making is widely recognised by democratic governments across the world,” the letter added.

More than six million RTI applications are filed every year, and the RTI Act is “the most extensively used transparency legislation globally,” to quote the NCPRI. “The law has been used by people to fight corruption and wrongdoing in the system.”

“We strongly urge you to ensure that the RTI Act, 2005 is not diluted in any manner,” said the NCPRI.

“The text of the proposed RTI Amendment Bill must be immediately put in the public domain, along with reasons for proposing the changes, to enable wide discussion and public debate before it is introduced in Parliament. An effective participatory consultative process must be adopted to invite public comments and suggestions on the proposed legislation.”

The importance of the Right to Information, and the threat that it poses to public authorities by holding them answerable, can be gauged by the rising number of attacks and murders of RTI activists in the country. In fact, the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra — which have been ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for over two decades and one-and-a-half decades, respectively — have seen the highest number of attacks on RTI users.

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RTI Amendment Bill | SabrangIndia

RTI Act amendments, dead activists, a sign of times to come?

Modi Government Trying to Weaken RTI Act With Draft Amendments, Say Activists

RTI activists in the country have demanded that the BJP-led NDA government make the RTI Amendment Bill public, as per the pre-legislative consultation policy of the Government of India.