RIGHT TO INFORMATION | ~Kapsiam Hangshing 
The Indian parliament had enacted ‘Freedom of Information Act, 2002’ to promote accountability and transparency in administration. Accordingly, ‘Right to Information Bill, 2004’ (RTI) was passed by both the Houses on May, 2005 which received the assent of the President on 15June, 2005. The Right to Information Act was notified in the Gazette of India on 21June, 2005 and became fully operational from 12Oct, 2005. This new law empowers Indian citizens to seek any accessible information from a public authority and makes the Government and its functionaries more accountable and responsible. It is the initiatives taken up by the department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India. Under the Act, both the government and non-governmental, profit and non-profit organizations such as NGOs and civil societies whosoever are substantially financed by the government directly and indirectly, should comes under the gallery of the public authority as per ordered by the Supreme Court. The spirit of RTI is to make governance as transparent as possible so that no public policy or the process of making them can be hidden from public view. It mandates timely response to the citizens and it aims at to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information, to secure access to any information under the control of public authority to promote the working of every public authority.
It has become evidence that there are many anticipated and unanticipated consequence of the Act during the period of implementation, i.e.-October 2005 onwards. These have manifested themselves in various forms while some of the issues pertain to procedural aspects of the governments; other pertains to capacity building and so on. The most important aspect to be recognized is that there are issues to be addressed at various ends, for effective implementation of the Act. The governments raised arguments over the implementation of the Act at various aspects in the amendments and its interpretations of the Act to improve and to achieve the objectives. While there is significant information, both anecdotal and non-quantitative on the level of implementation of the Act, there was limited systematic and comprehensive reviewed available for action by the appropriate government. There seems to be broad discussions about the implementation of the Act, intended for the state’s organs in order to bring them under the purview of RTI.
Nevertheless, most of the political parties opposed to come under the Act in which several rounds of political talks and debates have been conducted regarding this matters; “Politicians should come under RTI Act or not.” Section 2(h) of the RTI Act is applicable for political parties as they are substantially financed by the government. They should be declared as “Public Authority” and come under the purview of RTI due to the following reasons:-
* Politicians are funded by the tax payer’s money.
* The amount spent on them for free supply of electoral rolls in times of elections would be huge which is substantially funded by the state.
* Political parties are provided free broadcast on AIR on state owned television (Doordarshan) and radio (Akashwani) as per ordered by the Election Commission of India.
* As per section 13A of the Income Tax Act, large amount of money is exempted under tax exemption on the income of political parties.
* Political parties are also provided facilities for residential and official use by the Directorate of Estates and the Public Works Departments. They are charged a token amount of money as rent or dues for these properties.
* The national parties also have facilities for offices and accommodation in other parts of the state. This are provided not just at normal rate but they are maintained and renovated at a state’s expense.
* As per common knowledge one is aware of large amount being spent on the security of the contesting candidates in the elections and office bearers of the political parties.
* Possibly there are other ways through which political parties get funding from unknown sources within or outside the state which we are not aware of as they do not declare.
* There is a lot of public interest in the financial transparency of political parties on how they earn their actual income and what their expenditure is.
* As political parties claim that they are continuously engaged in performance of public duty and work for the public good. It is oblique to know that they presented in good faith, become more accountable and transparency of financial operation, is essential.
* With a rapid growth of corruption and the use of black money, there is a need to bring into light the internal functioning and make more accountable to the citizens.
* Their ideology claims that they work for the development of the country and for the upbringing of the general masses, especially the underprivileged in the country.
* Most of our politicians claim to represent a political party with a special ideology that largely governs the policy making of the country by discrimination based on social distinction.
* Disclosure related to political parties’ finance to party proceeding is available in public domain in Europe, Central American and in the Scandinavian countries, the political parties have been declared as public bodies under the freedom of Information Act.
* Larger public interest calls for declaration of political parties as public authority as it is likely to promote public debate.
* Political parties are integral part of democracy. Unless they are accountable to the public how can democracy succeed? Hence it is crucial to attain more transparency by bringing them in public domain so that the confidence of the common man and the political system of the country would increase.
We cannot just be always in silence at a moment when we hear, reheard the fraudster and the huge corrupt practices in Manipur. In 2013, Manipur was upgraded to a developed state but as recorded by the National Crime Record Bureau, Manipur has been listed the second most corrupting state in the North-East India. The state is full of riddles; low infrastructure, degraded educational system, medical negligence, poor electricity and water supply, lack of communication and transportation, frequent economic blockades and bands, rapes and molestation of woman, mysterious killings and murdering, threatening and bomb blast, haul of narcotic drugs, etc.. Besides, most of the high profile public leaders sitting in luxuries cars with the beacons of light accompanied by security guards make themselves appear to be a fashionate rival. This culture of VIP is the seeds of hypocrisy. Lots of security covers drives a large quantity of the treasury that adds the degree of ‘powerfulness’. For example; Transfer and posting of officials by the politicians in favor and against in them is prevalent. Getting a state government job required a huge amount of payment from the post of the lowest grade-IV to the highest ranking officer, MCS which is received by the government of Manipur. The recruitments procedure must be rechecked. Again, the Manipur Police hunt peace with absolute freedom due to the AFSPAct (1958). After, Tehelka exposed the fake encounter created by the Manipur Police at BT road, Imphal on the 23rd July 2009 which killed Mr.Sanjit Singh. It took more than 14 months to get justice when her mother consistently approached Guwahati High Court. The CM. Shri.Ibobi told in the Manipur Assembly that Sanjit was a member of PLA, and was responsible for shooting six civilians which killed a pregnant woman by stander Rabina Devi. The 9mm on Sanjit’s was only planted by the Manipur police.
The construction works of a multi-purpose project, the 30 years old Khuga dam was started in the year 1983 at an estimated cost of Rs.382 crore to produce 1.5 mill watts of electricity to irrigate 15,000 gallons of water. In spite of it, the Lamkamin suffers a severe short of water every dry season. The working contractors were assigned to handover the government’s plant and machinery after being used but most of them refused to return it back where the concern official presents a false statement of reports and was approved by the superior with a truce. Many special schemes and development programs such as SGSY, IREP, IWDP, BRGF,PMGSY, SSA Mid-day meal, DRDA, PDS, NRHM, MGNREGS, etc have been launched by the Centre for the rural and urban development and for the people’s welfare, especially the hunger. On 7Feb 2014, Ministry of Rural development released Grant in Aid amounting Rs.26, 83,000 crore for construction of rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana financed created by NABARD. And, on 3Oct, 2013 the CCpur district plan sanctioned 1.06 crore for the year 2013-14 under BRGF.
To illustrate the ploy, let observe how the Public Distribution System (PDS) items such as rice, wheat, sugar, kerosene, etc are utilized in Manipur. PDS Rice was evolved to ensure timely availability of food grains at affordable price to enhance food security Act to the weaker sections. But the state government did not formulate any guidelines for identification of either beneficiaries as well as review of households. The audit noticed that the items meant for identified beneficiaries were diverted and the consumers were denied of the intended benefit of having PDS item at a prescribe scale in a timely manner. The end retail price of BPL rice fixed by the centre should not be more than 5.65 per kg however the state government fixed the price at 6.21 per kg for BPL card holder which in response to the centre, the state department stated that their instruction cannot be done due to state’s financial hardship. The involvement of MLAs in distribution of PDS item resulted in total dilution of established procedure in distribution, supply chain of the district and distortion in administrative control and accountability. The quantity of wheat that the state government lifted=7272 MT and its allocated= 6060MT of Wheat from both BPL & APL without any demanded made by the district authority during 2009-10. The government also diverted sugar, kerosene, etc to ineligible individuals/institutions like the MLA, Municipal Councils, educational institutions and individuals on special permission issued by the district authorities. Unauthorized ration card was issued by the chief chairman authority to households and on production of the slip; PDS item were issued from Saikot in CCpur district. The government, instead of availing transport subsidy and Hill Transport Subsidy scheme, the state government charged the costs to the beneficiaries by fixing high end retail price. Monitoring mechanism as envisaged in the PDS (control) order has not been established and no evaluation was carried out by the department to assess the implementation of the public distribution system. The GoI had sanctioned a package of 60 lakhs (1st installment) for construction of Consumer Court building at the district headquarters at CCpur, Chandel, Tamenglong and Senapati in 2010.( Based on Statement of FCI records & Audit reports by CAG, Government of India: 2010)
A governance system which seeks to be the best projector against the festival of corruption in India, the state government of Manipur also constituted a body known as Manipur Information Commission at Imphal, Civil Secretariat assisted by a few activists later on and it came into existence from 12Sept, 2006. However, the RTI Act is still a dawn in Manipur. It’s a big reason to wonder why the Manipur’s government is on backlog. On the contrary, unlike Manipur, several types of departments and ministries and in others parts of the states could now and then file the RTI and get justified. The moment when this parliamentary legislation Act empowered, people will directly claim the misappropriation and they will have the right to expose many instances of corruption. Imagine how many bureaucrats and people’s representatives could be prosecuted if the RTI penetrates them in Manipur?
After the introduction of the Act, Manipur is among the seven sister’s states which have already formed such a commission. However, the state government is reluctant to raise his eyes brow to oversee the working of the department. Ironically, not only the government’s unable to fill the vacant post of the commission but the office rooms at Secretariat had once disappeared following the retirement of the Chief Information Commissioner. Later on, the rooms are being utilized as a chamber of another department. The Prime Minister and Home Minister had exerted their concern on the situation in Manipur to the Chief Minister Ibobi and the home secretary went there to prevail upon the Manipur’s home department to do their homework.
While the rest of the states are in the midst of anti-corruption campaign, the corruptor also fights against corruption in Manipur. It becomes exceptionally festive. Consider the state must hence to be among the states where corruption has not only become institutionalized in the officialdom, but also deeply entrenched in the society as such other states in the North East, especially Meghalaya has taken a march ahead in this regard. Many civil societies in Meghalaya have set up their own help desk to give assistance to the public in pursuing their cases against corrupt practices as well as to raise the awareness against the scourge in the state. Unfortunately in Manipur, despite much hype by the government, many other autonomous bodies that already existed have been effectively throttled and rendered either ineffective or else subservient to the executors through force. The Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) is just a perfect example. The subversion of this valued institution, meant to check and balance the powers of the government so as to keep it from straying from the norms prescribed by democracy, cannot be less than criminal. It must be noted that the RTI Act is meant to deter the power from hiding documents inside the government’s envelopes precisely by making all such envelops easily accessible to the public. For it is when the information regarding the state’s affairs remains the monopoly of those who hold the state’s executive powers, that ambiguous spaces are created in which corruption thrives unhindered and without the fear of discovery. Just the human rights commission becomes a reality; the better it will be for the state.
In every organization, peoples in position of authority refused to share information to the public in order to protect themselves using some sort of excuses but expose only the good points. Likewise, most of the departments resist disclose of information to someone who seeks information. The government always tried to keep away any inconvenience information coming out in a public domain, citing such high ideals as a national interest and security. Truth to tell, at the same time there exists an act of resistance from different officials, contractors, politicians and the UG to share details information when excuses and delaying tactics failed to deter the RTI activist, open coercion and physical threat used to stop them from borrowing further activities where some of the activists have been even lost their life in the process. The refusal of Manipur University authority to share information even after repeated appeal made by the RTI applicant is an example. While the political leaders in Manipur usually trying to make a distance from their people, the bureaucrats often forget that they are the servants of the public. Rishang Keishing once said “while Ministers and bureaucrats are indulging in corruption, the UG armed groups are again busy serving extortion notes to them”.
Subsequently, a large number of activists have been targeted and killed for probing malpractices. Without legislative protection for them, the enabling RTI legislation is almost nullified and fight against corruption crippled. For this cause, the NCPRI demanded ‘Whistleblowers Protection bill ‘to help RTI activists and also prescribes punishment for anyone ‘knowingly making false complaint’ while trying to protect honest officials. Under the grievances redress bill, all public authorities would be required to appoint officers to redress public grievances. These relates to alleged violations of the citizen character. The NCPRI also has been pushing for a separate mechanism on the premise that grievances may relate more to maladministration then any specific allegations of corruption.
Every individual within the territory, regardless of how big or small is not a bar when it comes to educating oneself against fighting corruption. With the help of the PIOs even the illiterate can be a petitioner through simply writing application letter or by email (free of charge for BPL) to SIC. If the concern officer fails to provide details information, a fine of sum (as per the guidelines prescribe by the SIC) can be imposed on him. Perhaps it’s may be fruitful or fruitless but it must be noted that no lawyers can argue without facts. So, it’s an obligatory from the enlightened sections of the civil society to familiarize the ordinary citizens on how to get justice through the Act. We really need people to take up such steps like Arvind Kejriwal who resigned from his (IRS) services, using RTI paradigm to expose corruption by mentoring an illiterate and show them a pathway. :
In times when the elections draws nearby, those in power will naturally be looking for all means within their command to raise money or else enlist supporters through extending official favors and gifts. With the upcoming election, we want the best candidate for our representative as a Member of Parliament or MLA or MDC to be nominated or elected for these tasks, not just for the sake of leadership competitors and money, but also for the efficiency of the state administration in the long run. Needless to say it will be in the interest of the people and the state to prevent such an eventually. Popular ignorance favors fraudulency and corruption against development. Over a year battling for Autonomous Hill State within a state or Tribal state, whatever, is a secondary. RTI is our right and the need for such right is primary, we must push the latter with battling. Several acts of development funds could be unearthed using this Act. It is mandatory to conduct public programs, seminars and workshops to suggest that the information seekers too have to learn how to use the Act, regardless of whether it could be effective or ineffective. Mass awareness through campaign on media, journals and in newspapers must be strengthening in support for the RTI and Protection of Corruption Act. Let us than raise our voices louder to fight against corruptions on the right time in the right place, intelligibly and coherently to begin the process of ensuring ourselves and the generation to lead a better future. The big Question is what can we do to make the best of it?
…Right To Information…
The writer is a free-lance Zogam.com contributor in Delhi
Reference:
* Debate on ‘Should the political parties come under RTI?’ Delhi University @2013