‘RTI activists targeted due to negative identity’
With the spurt of attacks on the RTI activists for exposing the corrupt activities, fear looms around the activists who seek information and bring to light the corrupt officials. In this backdrop, SHAILESH GANDHI, RTI activist and Former Information Commissioner with the Central Information Commission, New Delhi, talks about the need for better governance and to stop diluting the Right To Information (RTI) Act of 2005. Edited excerpts:
Q) There has been a hue and cry over the need to provide protection to the RTI activists after a stream of attacks on several RTI activists in India. Do you think that providing protection to RTI activists is the need of the hour?
Firstly, providing protection to RTI activists is not possible with the current law and order status in India. According to me, RTI activists are just one class of people and it does not need special protection from the police. When it comes to RTI users and other activists, protection must be provided to them on the basis of threat perception. For example, someone putting a Facebook post which affects the sentiments of a large number of people must get a proper police protection. Same should be applied to RTI activists who receive threat calls from powerful people for exposing their corrupt activities.
Q) Several organisation and societies have been mulling over the need to amend the RTI act of 2005. Do you think the amendments in the current Act will make a huge difference pertaining to RTI users?
At present, we need better governance and speedy investigation to book the culprits for the murder of RTI activists. For example, RTI activist Satish Shetty was killed for exposing land scams in Maharashtra in 2010. Police were investigating the case for four years and couldn’t receive any concrete evidence thereafter. It is important that we improve our investigation and judicial process. Our RTI Act ranks fifth in the world and it is known to be one of the tremendous force to challenge the corrupt activities. It is important that the Act is protected against dilution by making amendments in it and rather be interpreted properly.
Q) Why do you think that RTI activists are being targeted?
The Supreme Court (SC), in CBSE Versus Aditya Bandopadhyay (2011) case, stated, "The RTI Act should not be allowed to be misused or abused to become a tool to obstruct the national development and integration.” Due to the statement by SC and several other bureaucrats expressing their displeasure towards RTI, a negative identity has been created by the RTI activists, which is also a result of them being targeted. RTI Activists challenge the powerful people and works against them which is one of the reasons for them being targeted.
Q) There are also several RTI activists seeking information towards the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme who are being targeted? Why do you think it is happening?
MNREGA scheme serves the poor people of several benefits. Several activists have exposed the corruption in implementing the scheme and have brought to light the corrupt activities in the village system. The corrupt officials running the scheme, whom the RTI activists expose, are uneducated and it eventually hit backs hard on them.
Q) Lastly, how can we protect RTI users and make use of the RTI Act of 2005?
If there are amendments made under the RTI act, it would eventually put restrictions on the freedom of expression. We must not allow curtailment to our freedom of expression. The act has had an impact on our present government system. Care must be taken that there are no vested interests to deprecate users and RTI activists and thereby protect the Article of 19 (1) (A) of the constitution of India which guarantees the freedom of expression.