RTI culture

The Right to Information Act was passed by the Parliament way back in 2002. It was extended to the State of Jammu and Kashmir also. Over the years the influence and functioning of the RTI has been closely watched by observers and agencies in civil society. General impression is that RTI has been highly beneficial and has contributed to the creation of culture of openness and transparency. The fact of the matter is that Right to Information is an important instrument to strengthen the roots of democracy and also to work towards good governance.
A succinct and objective summing up of the RTI was given by Governor N.N. Vohra while addressing Regional Conference on Right to Information organized by J&K Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development (IMPARD) in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir State Information Commission and sponsored by Department of Personnel and Trainings (DoPT), Government of India. He said that he had been closely watching the advancement of the Act of RTI in the State and he was convinced that after overcoming initial hiccups, the Act has become part of the administrative culture of the State. Initially the departments were loath to give out information in public interest because the culture of secrecy and keeping away from the public any facts and figures about the performance of the Government was long standing culture most probably coming down to us from the days of British Raj. But now departments were more open and forthcoming and the stage of disclosing knowledge voluntarily had been reached.
The Governor was very right in saying that even if we did not have the law, still the people of the State and the country enjoyed the right to information as it is vested in the constitution of the country. It is true that departments are now voluntarily posting information on their respective websites and the need is that they update their websites regularly to make RTI operative in letter and in spirit. Civil society is also reacting constructively towards the Act. Lawyers, advocates and legal luminaries are taking up PIL cases and pursuing them and thereby the RTI is further strengthened. Fortunately, the Supreme Court has further strengthened the Act by interpreting many of its clauses in the right spirit keeping in mind the fundamental principal that the people of this country have a right to know how they and the country are governed. The governance has to be transparent and not in secrecy.
Though some achievements have been made by the civil society in promulgating the reach of RTI, much remains to be done still in this regard. There are still pockets in the administrative structure of the State where the rights of the people to transparency and accountability have to be streamlined.
Morality and ethics form the base of transparency and accountability, which in turn strengthen the Right to Information. This is an intertwined affair and has to be dealt with comprehensively.

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