For an alive and thriving democratic set-up, such as India, an essential prerequisite is the right to information. Without this privilege, there can be no real right to exercise power and make the government accountable to its people. This right is an effective tool to check and control the arbitrary exercise of power and the prevalence of corruption, and to make the government responsible for its policies and actions.

The right to information is important for various reasons including the contribution it makes to building a more open and democratic society; ensuring accountability; fighting corruption; increasing transparency; preventing anti-people policies and, thus, addressing poverty; and protecting and promoting human rights, especially of the underprivileged.

Political Economy of Right to Information Act, 2005

The Right to Information legislation stemmed from the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), a grassroots Rajasthan-based organization involved with workers and peasants, founded in 1990. MKSS has been working towards strengthening the participatory democratic processes in order to ensure a life of dignity and justice to ordinary citizens.

MKSS was born out of a struggle for community ownership of land against a feudal landlord. The subsequent struggle for minimum wages made the people realise the need and the strength of transparent and accountable systems of governance as fundamental for accessing any right. It became clear that access to relevant information comprised a basic tool to safeguard public interest.

By mid-1994, MKSS had formulated a specific demand for the copies of the financial records of expenditure incurred by panchayats. MKSS had to mostly rely on informal means and sympathetic officials for access to these documents since there was no legal way of accessing relevant information even within the panchayat. Once the information was procured, the villagers were organised in groundbreaking participatory social audits through Jan Sunwais (public hearings), in which government officials were brought face to face with citizens. Thus, social audits paved the way for the demand for transparency, accountability and redressal. The first Jan Sunwai organized by MKSS in December 1994 established the importance of information for the people, and exposed the official opposition to the disclosure of records. This flagged off the struggle for the people`s right to information in Rajasthan, which gradually spilled over to other Indian States.

In the meantime, when government officials refused to part with records and the Rajasthan Chief Minister failed to keep assurances made in the State Assembly in 1995, a three-year-long struggle was waged to bring relevant amendments in the Panchayat Raj Act and enact a comprehensive People`s Right to Information legislation.

It was against this background that the National Campaign for the People`s Right to Information (NCPRI) was created in 1996. Its mandate was to work towards drafting and campaigning for effective legislation to be passed at the Centre and in the States as well as to support people`s struggles and groups agitating for access to relevant information and records.

Since 1996, the Right to Information laws have been enacted in the States of Tamil Nadu (1996), Goa (1997), Madhya Pradesh (1998), Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan (2000), Delhi (2001), Assam (2002) and Jammu and Kashmir (2003).  A national Bill was placed in Parliament in June 2000 and was passed as the Freedom of Information Act in 2002 but not notified. Protesting against the inadequacies and ineffectiveness of the proposed national law, the UPA government promised a better law under its Common Minimum Programme. The efforts of civil society for entrenching the Right to Information in India were finally rewarded on June 15, 2005, with presidential assent to the Right to Information Act, 2005.

According to the Right to Information Act, 2005, public authorities have an obligation to disclose suo moto a large list of information, and citizens have a right to information. The first is a very important feature for transparent governance; the latter right enables citizens to seek permissible and specific information to improve the quality of governance. The successful implementation of these rights would be beneficial for informal workers as well as for people living below the poverty line.

The Right to Information Act, 2005, has great potential for ordinary people, workers in the informal sector and people living below the poverty line to know what the budgetary allocation for a particular programme is, what is due to them under a particular scheme and who is responsible for its implementation. Beneficiaries can ask questions of those in charge and civil society can get mobilised and empowered. Thus, this right has the potential to create a ripple effect on the socio-economic status of this category of people. It will also act as a mighty check against corruption and will introduce accountability.

Some Salient Features of the Act

The Right to Information Act has several significant features. Citizens have the right to secure access to information under the control of Public Authorities. A citizen can seek information from any department of the Central and State governments, Panchayati Raj institutions and other organisations and institutions, which include non-governmental organisations established, constituted, owned, controlled or substantially financed directly or indirectly by the State or Central government.

The term `Information` is widely defined as any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advice, press releases, circulars, orders, log books, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data, material held in any electronic form, and any information relating to any private body that can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force.

The Act provides that the executive wing of the State enforce the freedom to information. Every Public Authority is mandated to appoint or designate Information Officers responsible statutorily for dealing with requests for information.

Any person seeking information should file an application in the prescribed format with the Public Information Officer (PIO)/Assistant Public Information Officers (APIO). In the event that a person cannot make a request in writing, the concerned PIO shall render all reasonable assistance to the person making the request orally to produce the same in writing. If the applicant is sensorily disabled, the Public Authority shall provide assistance to enable access to the information. Moreover, the applicant is not required to give reasons for requesting the information or any personal details except those required for contacting the applicant.

A reasonable fee is prescribed for each application. No fee is applicable for people living below the poverty line and in case the information is provided after the prescribed period.

The information sought from the PIO must be provided or refused within 30 days. However, if the information requested involves the life and liberty of an individual, it must be provided within 48 hours. Information sought from APIOs must be provided in 35 days.

If the person requesting the information fails to get a response from the PIO within the prescribed period or is aggrieved by the response received, an appeal may be filed within 30 days with an officer superior in rank to the PIO. In case the appeal is not allowed, the applicant has the right to appeal within 30 days to the Central or State Information Commission. The PIO shall be liable to pay a penalty of Rs 250 per day for each day of delay subject to a maximum of Rs 25,000 for failing to furnish the information or communicate the rejection order within the time specified.

The Act is silent on the issue of vexatious and frivolous requests. Such a provision is necessary to prevent the abuse of the Right to Information. Additionally, the law would have been more effective if the matters that are exempted were fewer and specific. This Act does not provide for a right to access to information held by private bodies that cannot be accessed by a public authority. Another weakness of the Act is lack of provision for an appeal to an independent authority; appeals can be made only to the government.

The Right to Information Act, 2005, represents a huge shift in the thinking of the State machinery. Till the enactment of this Act, the State considered it to be its sole prerogative to release to or withhold any information from the public. The Enron Power Project at Dabhol, Maharashtra, is an excellent illustration of how withholding information regarding Public Authorities from people caused great prejudice and allowed corruption to thrive. And often access to information was denied on the grounds of confidentiality. 

The Right to Information Act, 2005, reverses this trend. Citizens today have the right to know how they are governed and can legally exercise this right. The task of the civil society is, therefore, to consolidate this shift in practice and carry forward the goals of the Act with vigour and maturity. Those who invoke the Act must also promote the values of transparency and freedom of information and make it an abiding contribution to governance rather than to seek hasty prosecution, which might even erode the legislative intention and produce counter-productive results.

In a democratic society like India, citizens cannot realize their right to live in a corruption-free society unless the iron veils of secrecy are lifted and a culture of transparency brought about. That is what the Act intends to do, to some extent.