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Right to Information: Introduction The Indian constitution has adopted a democratic form of government. According to J.W Garner, the great political scientist, "Democracy has been variously conceived as a political status, an ethical concept and a social condition." In this form of government, the power is vested in people. All government activities are carried out according to the wishes of the people. In short, we can say that India has adopted a ‘Representative Government’. Freedom, Equality, Fraternity, Fundamental rights, Social justice and Independent Judiciray are the values of Democracy. Democracy is a way of life in India.With the objective of making the governmental institutions more accountable to the people and making it a transparent government, so that the governmental activitites are carried out according to the hopes and aspiration of the people, the Right to Information (RTI) Act was passed in 2005. Under this Act, the Indian citizens can request for information from the government on any matter. The act is considered to be a part of our Fundamental Rights. It becomes more crucial for the vulnerable sections of our society, as they battle social and economic norms, which are derogatory on humanitarian grounds. This is particularly true for women issues. A survey of various government departments in the city reveals that a number of women invoking the RTI over the years have been glaringly few as compared to the men filing the applications. In the rural parts of India, women find themselves trapped in a ‘patriarchal system’, where they get very little chance to get their voices heard. Women are always subject to violence. The patriarchal society is not the sole responsible factor for this problem. Various socio-economic issues contribute to it. Poverty, illiteracy, untenable social customs can be responsible factors for this problem. Although the Indian Constitution provides equal rights, irrespective of gender, but in practice we witness a different picture of rights in rural areas. Under such a condition, the application of the RTI Act by women groups is very minimal. Lack of awareness, education and minimal representation of women groups are the main reasons behind such a dismal show. Thus, an effort should be made to make create awareness among rural women about their basic rights. Coordinated action is called for not only retrieving and rehabilitating them, but also to prevent them from exploitation and make them aware of their basic rights as citizens. Right to Information In the history of the Indian Constitution, one of the bold initiatives was taken for upholding the citizen’s right to information under Right to Information (RTI) Act, which was passed in 2005. For the first time in the history of independent India, a citizen can seek information on all public authority, be it central and state and the government was bound to furnish the information within a definifte time frame without penalty. It is an act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizen to secure access to information under the control of public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commission and for matters connected there with or incidental"(Article 2005). The main objective behind passing this act is to make the democratic institution more representatives for the people and to bring transparency within the government. Thus, the parliament of India passed the right to information act to empower citizens to openly question the government about their developmental and institutional work. The new law virtually makes public participation in day to day governance, with transparency of procedure making officials resposible for their actions. Right to Information is a part of the Fundamental Rights under Article 19(1) of the Indian Constitution. The article states that ‘every citizen has the freedom of expression and speech’. In 1975, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment in the case of state of Uttar Pradesh vs Raj Narain (AIR 1975 SC 865) which held that "people have the right to know every public account, public act, everything that is done in public way by their public functionaries." The RTI Act signifies that the citizens have the right to: • Request for any information (as defined in the act) form the government • Take copies of any government document • Inspect any government document, work and records • Take certified samples of materials of work • Obtain information in the form of print outs, floppies, tapes or in other electronic modes or through printouts The Right to Information is
thus considered to be a milestone so far as law in India is concerned,
because it brings those, who govern and are goverened on an equal
platform by sharing information with the public as the part of
fundamental rights. Every individual irrespective of any discrimination
is entailed to have information. So it is the constitutional duty of the
government to provide all the information to the citizen, if they
ever want to access this right (Right to information). Right to Information among women Women in rural areas are among the underprivileged sections of the society, who due to various socio- economic conditions, are not able to use their rights in a frequent basis. Though there are some case studies, which depict that women in small percentages exercise RTI to seek information, but that does not prove that women are filing RTI applications as their democratic right. Few cases are mentioned below, which shows that women are using their rights: • Ms Khetramani Samantrai of Bhubensewar used RTI to get information about her land document. Ms Samantrai, brought a land near Dhauli, Bhubaneshwar. Karunakar Swain, a nortary club prepared the land document, which was submitted at the District Sub-Register Office (DSO) in Bhubensewar, but she did not receive the original document. She filed along with some voluntary association filed RTI, to know the cause of the delay in providing the original document. • Mrs Vinita Kamte, the wife of late IPS Officer Ashok Kamte, who died fighting terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai attack, in her Book ‘To The Last Bullet’, brought to light the various lapses on part of the Indian security system that lead to the killing of many including Ashok Kamte. The expose’ was based on the information gathered with the provision of the Right to Information Act in place. In an interview to a news portal, Vinita Kamte clearly stated that the post mortem report of the deceased police officer was also obtained through a request made under the Right to Information Act. These are some of the success stories of women utilising their RTI. However, there is a very different picture in rural India. The rural Women are basically confined to household activities and are not comfortable enough to come out from their conventional duties, exercise their RTI on any matters. Women in rural India remain aloof to RTI Moreover, the very concept of RTI is not known to women of rural areas. Due to the lack of awareness, very few cases have come up where women stand up against injustice through the RTI Act. Women in rural areas do not participate in political affairs, thus, they do not take initiative to exercise RTI and make the governing institutions more representative and accountable. The delay in issuing a decision after filling an RTI Act also becomes a constraint among women in filling RTI. These are just a few of the constraints that have hampered the success of the act in the rural areas. RTI is a tool to bring transparency and accountability among governmental institutions. In particular, the RTI Act has a much higher impact on the quality of life of the poor and the marginalised sections of the society. RTI, if properly implemented, can be a boon to rural women. Thus, effort should be made to make the rural women aware of the act and its implementation. There should be RTI campaigns in villages to make them aware of it. We can conclude that through the RTI Act, the rural women can politically and socially be aware of their environment, but efforts should be made to make the act easily available to them. According to Aruna Roy, a protagonist of the Right to Information Act, "The RTI Act gave the common man a vital tool to demand their rights without getting beaten up on the streets." q References:
Pritisha
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