The right to information (RTI) actas a law to empower the people: a study of RTI in Gujarat

Abstract

Government secrecy and official opacity have long been the tradition and accepted order of the day, till a few decades back, when the right to have access to official information was recognised and demanded as a fundamental human right for effective, meaningful and participative governance. Power over information is a tussle between administrative absolutism and right of people to oversee and review the decisions and operations of the government to prevent abuse and arbitrary use of power. Movements for information freedom across the world have succeeded in installing such access laws in more than 70 countries, which have been invoked to expose corrupt practices, fraudulence and waste, weak and poor policies, and prevented entrenchment of vested interests to gain disproportionate advantage. The dissertation traces the global movement for freedom of information to change the paradigm of power and the replacement of an implied order of governance with one which is more collective. The study of similar laws in the other countries brings to the fore the power of the law and also the creative ways used to undermine its potential. The study follows the journey of the demand and installation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act in India, with focus on its implementation in Gujarat. The study reveals not only the reasons why this law is accepted as a powerful tool for shifting the power from the recalcitrant and intransigent bureaucracy to the citizens and its success and experiences amongst the various stakeholders, but also explores the operational, institutional and behavioural bottlenecks which bog down its efficacy and are being used, at times insidiously and sometimes out of ignorance, to thwart it. Disclosure of information is still demand driven and proactive sharing of meaningful information is conspicuous by its absence. The RTI, despite its many successes has failed to rise beyond a threshold level to engage the people in the more crucial and large public policy issues over which the Government still remains secretive. The RTI has a long way to go in terms of stable and effective operating procedures, organizational and institutional capabilities, behavioural changes in the bureaucrats and the users, and most importantly, acceptance by the Government that the law is here to stay and that it has the potential to change the government-citizen relationship which was hitherto linear and one way. In the final analysis, the Act has forced a rethink on the dimensions and variants which underpin democracy. Also, there are myriad determinants of success of RTI which are unknown and yet to be studied. It may yet be too soon to achieve synchronicity between the conflicting dimensions of the freedom of information. But the responsibility of finding a way around the conflicting paradoxes and to align the different branches of reality lies collectively with the stakeholders.