The country is gripped with a wave. The anti-corruption wave. The writing on the wall is as clear as can be. Tackle corruption or see your way out. The citizen will accept nothing less.
Yet, it is ironic that in the anti-corruption narrative, the RTI Amendment Bill (2013) threatens to slaughter our democracy.
The RTI (Amendment) Bill that sought to keep the political parties out of the purview of the RTI Act, was introduced, in an arbitrary and hasty manner, during the Monsoon session of the Parliament in August 2013. What followed was a massive public outrage and citizen campaigns, which forced the Government to send the Bill to the Parliamentary Standing committee for further deliberation and public consultation.
The Standing Committee report is now public and unsurprisingly concludes that political parties should indeed be kept out of the purview of the RTI Act. The Standing Committee consultations turned out to be a farce with citizen voices being completely overlooked.
Mr. Gandhi! You have, of late, taken a welcome moral high ground against corruption and time and again showcased the RTI Act as the Government’s achievement. You have proclaimed the RTI Act as that ‘one tool in the hands of common citizen that can fight corruption’
Why then, Mr. Gandhi, is your government so keen to amend the RTI Act? When you hold aloft the principles of transparency, why are you shy of applying it to your own party? What would you want this government to be remembered for? Passing the RTI Act or amending it and making it toothless?
We ask you, Mr. Gandhi, to be on the right side of history and tear up the RTI (Amendment) Bill, just as you did with the Criminal MPs ordinance.
And while doing so, promise the nation, that the excellent RTI Act will never be diluted!
Signed
Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar, Shailesh Gandhi, Subhash Agarwal, Anjali Bhardwaj and Venkatesh Nayak
