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NEW DELHI, India =E2=80=94 Empowered by a
Just days after Sharma filed his case against the village head, = Dharambir=20 Malik, using India's Right to Information (RTI) act, Malik allegedly = plowed down=20 Sharma and several other protesters with his SUV =E2=80=94 crushing = Sharma's legs and=20 killing his daughter-in-law, Sonu, according to local press reports. And = though=20 police say murder charges have been leveled against Malik, India's RTI = crusaders=20 argue that Sonu's death is the latest in a thousand cuts that are slowly = killing=20 the country's most powerful tool in the fight against corruption.
"This is a message to anyone raising their voice against corruption, = that you=20 will be killed," said Arvind Kejriwal, one of the leaders of the = decade-long=20 campaign for the RTI Act.
At least a dozen whistleblowers have been murdered for daring to = expose crime=20 and corruption since the RTI act was passed in 2005, according to = activist=20 Parshuram Ray. But rather than strengthening the law and fighting to = protect the=20 citizens who use it, the government is backpedaling fast to strip RTI of = its=20 sweeping powers, even as politicians and bureaucrats have adopted an = informal=20 go-slow policy that threatens to make it obsolete.
Already, by 2015, the Central Information Commission =E2=80=94 the = body responsible=20 for addressing complaints when officials give incomplete or evasive = answers to=20 RTI requests =E2=80=94 will face a backlog of 90,000 cases, which means = an applicant=20 would have to wait up to six years for an appeal. And the situation is = all too=20 likely to get worse.
"Despite all the provisions of the act, at every level information is = being=20 denied, and nothing is happening. Nobody is being punished for that," = said Ray,=20 who faced stonewalling when he sought to use RTI to expose corruption in = a=20 national program that provides work and wages for the rural poor. "The = reality=20 is that the original aims and objectives of the RTI act have almost been = shattered."
The success or failure of these efforts to hamstring India's = information law=20 could well mark a turning point in the country's escalating battle = against=20 corruption, as well as the struggle for basic human rights.
The volume of alleged corruption exposed in recent months has been = dramatic=20 enough to raise fears that failure to rein in crony capitalism could = derail the=20 India rise to prominence on the global stage =E2=80=94 especially after = it was revealed=20 that foreign direct investment has plunged 60 percent this year.
But the drama might actually be a sign of progress =E2=80=94 showing = not that=20 corruption is increasing by leaps and bounds, but that more and more = scandals=20 are coming to light. And as bruised and battered as it may be, say some=20 activists, that's down to the RTI. Not only did the act play a direct = role in=20 exposing two of the largest recent corruption scandals involving the = telecom and=20 defense ministries, says Nikhil Dey, another RTI pioneer, but it has = also made=20 it much easier for whistleblowers inside government to leak information = without=20 fear of reprisals, since an RTI filing from a newspaper is a speedy way = to end a=20 witchhunt.
"Once you enter the domain of open information, even a leak is = legitimized=20 much more," said Dey. "Before, the press had to think of a million ways = to=20 legitimize the information, because otherwise their source would be = traced and=20 persecuted. Now, because RTI is so extensive and powerful, it makes it = very=20 difficult for someone to say, 'How did this information get out?'"
Indeed, when it was passed in 2005, the RTI act promised a sea change = in=20 governance. By granting citizens the right to demand transparency, it = swept out=20 the colonial era practice of denying access to even the most mundane = details of=20 government programs under the official secrets act. It sought to = pre-empt=20 bureaucratic sloth and obfuscation by requiring government departments = to=20 respond to requests within 30 days. It mandated that every department=20 computerize and make public its records proactively so that citizens = could=20 eventually access most information without filing a request. And it put = in place=20 stiff penalties for officials who refuse to comply.
But as individual citizens and civil society groups discover more and = more=20 ways to use the law, various efforts to undermine the RTI are gathering=20 momentum. Virtually no department has voluntarily complied with the = provision=20 requiring proactive disclosure. Everyone from the Supreme Court to the = Central=20 Bureau of Investigation is fighting to be declared exempt from = information=20 requests. The government is seeking to amend the rules governing RTI = requests in=20 a move that activists say would make the procedure more arcane and thus = make it=20 easier for bureaucrats to justify stonewalling.
The information commissions are also being starved of resources. = There are=20 only six central information commissioners instead of the allotted 11, = for=20 instance, and limitations on hiring additional staff prevent them from = clearing=20 their backlog of complaints. Meanwhile, at the state level matters can = be even=20 worse. In Orissa and West Bengal, for example, the information = commissioners are=20 so far behind that they'll need more than 10 years to clear their = present=20 backlog of complaints, according to a survey by the Public Cause = Research=20 Foundation =E2=80=94 and that's if they don't receive any appeals over = the next=20 decade.
"The reluctance to part with the information is just part of an old = mindset,"=20 said Dey. "Very often if bureaucrats meet together they exchange notes = about how=20 they can avoid revealing information."
And that teamwork might be working, according to Anjali Bhardwaj, who = heads=20 Satark Nagrik Sangathan, an non-governmental organization that trains = citizens=20 to use the RTI act. At the grassroots level, India's bureaucrats are = getting=20 more and more clever at sidestepping the law. Aware of the long delays = of an=20 appeal, officials routinely refuse to disclose basic information about=20 government activities by claiming it would violate the right to privacy, = require=20 applicants to prove their citizenship before they'll accept the request, = or use=20 the arcane structure of the bureaucracy itself to send them from one = public=20 information officer to another like Kafka's man before the law.
In the latest twist, most government bodies are putting low-level=20 functionaries in place as public information officers so that even if = they are=20 sincere they don't have the clout needed to get documents from their=20 colleagues.
"It clearly looks like a very deliberate move in government = departments,"=20 said Bhardwaj.
Links:
[1]=20
http://www.globalpost.com/news/regions/asia-pacific/india
[2]=20
http://www.globalpost.com/bio/jason-overdorf
[3]=20
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Village-head-kills-RTI-activist-s-kin/H1-Ar=
ticle1-661991.aspx
[4]=20
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/india/110214/right-to-information-law-=
corruption