The Second National Right to Information Convention, held in Delhi recently, sends out the message that the right to information movement in India can no longer be ignored by the lawmakers.

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The Delhi Right to Information Act has enabled urban disadvantaged people to get their grievances redressed, but there is no system in place to ensure that the government automatically puts information out in the public domain.

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The long wait for a Central right to information law—hanging fire despite the President’s assent—may just have been worth it. For, the new Act that is set to replace the old one in Parliament this session has radical proposals to ensure unprecedented transparency in sections of the government.

Under these, intelligence and security agencies, so far kept insulated from the public’s right to know, will have to disclose information related to complaints of human-rights violations or corruption. There will be an independent Information Commissioner to enforce the law and harsher penalties for officials who do not comply—extending to a five-year prison term.

Mrs. Sonia Gandhi

These sweeping changes to the Freedom of Information Act, 2002, come after the National Advisory Council, headed by Sonia Gandhi, sent a list of 36 amendments to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in August.

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Commonwealth Human Right's Initiative - a partner of the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation works for the reaslisation of the Right to Information. The fight is laden with hurdles, albeit difficult but not impossible!

There is now a Right to Information, but you have to be Rani of Jhansi to get it

In a democracy, government cannot run in secret. But to a bureaucracy steeped in the culture of secrecy, the Delhi administration's new directions to its officials to be "people friendly" and look at requests for information about government functioning from "the users' point of view rather than what is administratively convenient" must seem revolutionary.

In truth, the direction is only a repetition of what is already in the books but has been forgotten. Officials have forgotten that they are public servants - paid by the public, to do the public's work. All the information they gather and store like magpies is collected with public money. If the experiences of the public are anything to go by, the directive doesn't come a moment too soon.

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Bhupesh Kumar, New Delhi: RTI enabled him to get his paper rechecked and promoted to class XI. He shows his corrected maksheet.

When young Bhupesh says the "Right to Information Act is showing good results," he means it literally. Baffled at failing his Class XI English exam last year, Bhupesh asked to see his corrected answer script: "I’d worked hard, how had I scored so poorly? Wasn’t I entitled to a re-evaluation?" Bhupesh hounded the authorities at the Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School in Delhi’s Nand Nagri verbally, in writing, informally, officially. Only to be snubbed. Till, frustrated, he penned down his queries and sent them to the Public Grievances Commission under Delhi’s Right to Information (RTI) Act. Less than two months later, Bhupesh’s paper had been rechecked, he had passed and RTI had delivered results.

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