[VoxSpace Life] Survey On RTI: How Fragile Are The Lives Of Those Who Seek The Truth?

‘Right To Information’ A Saviour Of The Masses

For any country to work smoothly, there should run a continuous dialogue between the people and its government. In order to be a true democracy, a nation should allow questions and answer the queries of its citizens. It not only promotes transparency but also brings a certain sense of liability that is needed. After all, the best way to make sure that a system is working is to have certain checks in place. Therefore, when the Right to Information Act (RTI) was introduced in 2005, it marked a significant change of ways in India. Pundits said at that time that this was the way in which the citizens could now be able to keep a tab on their government and the government would be able to build public awareness, which, in turn, would increase its bankability. A proper win-win situation was achieved, at least on pen and paper. However, what appears good in theory doesn’t always transpire well in practice.

Milestone Cases

Ajay Bose vs Central Railways

While we did have several RTI activists and interesting revelations brought forward after the act, the system itself, like other government initiatives, is still a tad bit messy. Take the story of Ajay Bose, for example.  He made an appeal to learn about the prices, in which the Central Railway’s catering department bought its commodities to cater to the passengers. At first, it was denied, but Bose persisted.

“I filed the application in July 2016 but didn’t get a reply from Central Railway. It appeared they wanted to cover something up. I filed an appeal and the appellate authority showcased the railways asking them to provide details sought by me within 15 days. Despite this, there was no reply even after several months,” stated Bose.

Finally, after much dilly-dallying, he received his intended reply and what he learned was pretty shocking.

A number of items were bought by the Railway for several times over their prices and in many instances, the amount that the Centre claimed to have distributed was way over what it had actually bought. The anomalies were staggering – One kg of Amul curd, which should normally cost around Rs. 25-30, had been bought for Rs. 972; refined oil was bought for Rs. 1253 per litre and the list goes on.

However, later, this entire episode was nullified and the Central Railway Chief Commercial Manager Shailendra Kumar gave a statement, saying, “The question of any scam does not arise as the edibles were not purchased at the prices being reported in the media. There is a miscommunication on part of the earring Information Officers who did not take proper precaution while furnishing the information.”

Thus we were left entirely at the mercy of speculation of deciding whether it was actually a goof up or a cover-up.

Kush Kalra Vs The Banks

Another RTI, which was widely discussed, was filed by Kush Kalra, who wanted to find out if the banks were liable for any loss or robbery that happened to the lockers that they provide.

The reply was, “As per safe deposit memorandum of hiring locker, the bank will not be responsible for any loss or damage of the contents kept in the safe deposit vault as a result of any act of war or civil disorder or theft or burglary and the contents will be kept by the hirer at his or her sole risk and responsibility.” And “While the bank will exercise all such normal precautions, it does not accept any liability or responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever sustained to items deposited with it. Accordingly, hirers are advised in their own interest to ensure any item of value deposited in a safe deposit locker in the bank.”

The simpler version of it is if your valuable stuff gets lost from the lockers in the banks, you can’t blame or sue the bank for damages. You are entirely on your own on this one.

So you see, RTI comes with its own pro and cons, however, at the very end of the day, it is, to a certain degree, a measure by which you can, if not hold the government liable, make it more accountable. However, the filing of an RTI and getting a coherent reply is getting tougher these days. Add to that the persistent attacks and threats that are being carried out by miscreants of those, who are filing these RTIs. In several states, the RTIs have simply been kept hanging and by the time one gets an answer the purpose of the question might just get defeated.

The Number of RTI’s Filed So Far

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Transparency International India took a peek at how RTIs have progressed since its advent. A whopping 2,43,94,951 RTIs have been received by the states and the union during 2005-2016 and as expected, the Central government leads the charge by being the receiver of 5743471 applications, followed by Maharashtra with 5495788 appeals and Karnataka with 2278082 RTIs filed. The bottom three contenders on this list are Mizoram with 10308, Sikkim with 3794 and Manipur with 2267 of them. It will be interesting to notice that the UP government doesn’t keep any RTI receiving data, but one can safely assume that if they did, it won’t be a small number.

Another interesting fact to note is that the Jammu and Kashmir State Information Commission came into formation in 2011; whereas, most of the states had formed their respective commissions by 2006. J&K’s commission was formed via Jammu and Kashmir State Right to Information Act, 2009. The kicker is that Kashmir’s RTI annual reports are only available until 2013-14. The RTI data of the last few years, which have been particularly significant considering the raging communal and regional tensions, are not available. No RTI data for the Financial Years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 can be found for J&K. Moreover, owing to the state’s small population, one might expect that the RTI filings would be less, however, that’s not the case at all. From 2009-10 to 31 March 2014, there have been 73,452 RTIs filed in the state and there were a total number of 2,499-second appeals.

The Flip Side To RTI

The RTI backbone of our country is still not strong and, although people want answers, the answers get them into trouble. A Union department of personnel and training study stated that one out of three RTI activists receives personal threats. In the study, 38 percent activists noted that they have been subjected to verbal abuse; around 22 percent reported that they have been physically harmed. Around 66 percent of the study participants said that they have faced discrimination in one form or the other and around 12 percent stated that they have been put into false legal cases for revealing the information that they had received via RTI appeal.

The biggest problem is also that the RTI act doesn’t keep the name of the person seeking the information a secret, exposing the person to a life-risk, should he ask uncomfortable questions. However, certain measures have been taken. For example, the Bombay High Court ruling in 2010 directed the state government to provide RTI applicants security if they receive threats, but then again, around 10 alleged murders of RTI activists were noted in Maharashtra till 2016, which is the highest for any state.  Still, there are citizens, who are fighting this battle to keep democracy alive by asking questions. That’s, perhaps, the biggest takeaway from a ramshackle act that fails to protect those seeking the truth.