It is very unusual to find lawyers, activists, and common citizens defending an existing law to the extent that they reach a consensus against allowing any amendments. Coming from a community of nit-picking perfectionists, each with their own strong set of opinions and with a litany of detailed complaints about its poor implementation, the Right to Information (RTI) Act presents a rare example of energetic citizen participation in its formulation, use, implementation — and, now, protection.

It is not that the RTI Act 2005 is by any means a perfect piece of legislation. There is much that can be done to finetune and improve it. However, what activists and citizens have realised, ever since the enactment of the law, is that the adversaries of transparency have been looking for the smallest window of opportunity to neutralise it. They have withstood the repeated and sustained efforts by officials of the DoPT to undermine the law by bringing in amendments “to strengthen it”. Many RTI practitioners now realise that the best can often end up being an enemy of the good. Therefore the immediate priority is to show maturity and determined practicality by working hard to use the strengths of the law as it is, struggle for its better implementation, and use the law to initiate a culture of transparency in governance.

The current proposal has been pegged to the president’s speech to Parliament on June 4 stating the government would strengthen the RTI with amendments. Protests drew an assurance from the minister about a deliberative process before the amendments were considered. Despite these assurances, there has been no consultation or deliberation in the public domain, and the proposed amendments seem well on their way to the cabinet. RTI activists know that, like the amendments proposed in the past, if the current proposal is accepted, the people of India stand to lose a substantial part of what they have gained in terms of public accountability in the last decade. The current proposal therefore, must be rejected in its entirety.

... contd.