Nation-wide Protests Against Secrecy Around the RTI Act Amendment

Among the bills listed under the ‘Legislative Business’ to be carried out during the monsoon session of Lok Sabha,which will be held from July 18 to August 10, is ‘The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2018’. Although included in the ‘New Bills’ category, the contents of the bill haven’t been made public. Such secrecy regarding parliamentary functioning has distressed civil society activists, at large, and Right to Information (RTI) activists in particular. From amongst the foremost RTI campaigns and groups, the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI) has issued a press release on July 14 which states: “It is a matter of grave concern that the government has refused to make public the contents of the amendment bill. This manner of secrecy and lack of any public consultation is a violation of the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy and undermines basic democratic principles.”

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2018, NCPRI had stated that the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy, adopted by the government in 2014, “mandates that all draft legislations (including subordinate legislation) be placed in the public domain for 30 days for inviting public comments and a summary of comments be made available on the concerned ministry’s website prior to being sent for Cabinet approval.”

The press release postulates that, based on media reports, the proposed amendments will “fundamentally weaken the institution of the information commissions by allowing the central and state governments to decide salaries of commissioners”.

According to the letter to the PM, “The RTI law currently pegs the salaries, allowances and other terms of service of the chief of all information commissions and the information commissioners of the Central Information Commissions at the level of a judge of the Supreme Court, while those of the state information commissioners are pegged at the level of the Chief Secretary of the state.”

NCPRI, along with the National Alliance of Peoples Movements (NAPM), Anti-Corruption Team (ACT), the National Right to Food Campaign, the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) and state level RTI campaigns will hold protests across the country. The Press Release states the plan of action of the protests as follows:

“On the 18th of July 2018, a rally and Jan Manch is being held in Delhi to:

• Oppose amendments to the RTI Act
• Demand immediate operationalization of the Whistleblowers Protection Act and the Lokpal law
• Oppose electoral bonds

The Jan Manch will be held on the 18th of July, 2018 at the Speaker’s Hall, Constitution Club, New Delhi from 1:30 pm to 4 pm. Representatives of all political parties will be invited to the Jan Manch to put forth their respective party positions on these issues.”

The protests will address the issues mentioned above, force the government to hear the genuine grievances of the public regarding more transparency in the government’s functioning, tackling corruption in all aspects of governance, and also demand for the protection of RTI activists and whistle-blowers who have recently come under various attacks, a lot of whom have had to lose their lives.