O sancta simplicitas

GOVERNANCE

rti m g devasahayam

 

‘O sancta simplicitas’

 

The RTI Act has not served the core purpose of bringing about transparency and honesty in the functioning of governments

 

Liberalised, Privatised, Globalised’ India seems to have evolved a curious governance paradigm. Having become a ‘contracting state’, allowing scams to rule the roost and failing in their primary duty of providing honest, transparent governance and efficient delivery of goods and services, governments are deceiving the citizens by conferring on them ‘rights’ through verbose legislations! This is exemplified by the Right to Information Act, 2005 and its sister legislation, Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and the Redressal of Grievances Bill, which is now on the anvil. The methodology is simple and scintillating for dogma-driven intellectuals, starry-eyed activists and unsuspecting public.

 

Right to Information has its moorings in the democratic philosophy that people are the masters and they have a right to know how governments, meant to serve them, are functioning. Further, every citizen pays taxes and therefore has the right to know how his/her money is being spent. These principles were laid down by the Supreme Court while saying that RTI is a part of our fundamental rights. There was no need to enact a law to confer something citizens already possess, but were denied because of the culture of secrecy in governments.Read More