Governance for UPSC, GS 2 Notes By UPSC Topper| Page 2 of 6

GS-2 Strategy by UPSC Topper Ravisankar Sarma

Exemption under RTI

Matters pertaining to sovereignty, security and integrity of the country
India’s strategic, scientific and economic interest
Relationship with a foreign state
Incitement of violence
Personal Information (Section 8(j))
Exempted Organizations – CBI, BSF, IB, RAW

The objective of RTI and associated positives

Citizen Participation: Equipping citizens as claimants of governance information empowers citizens and transform India from merely elective democracy to a participative democracy. NGOs and CSOs have been able to better check state activities leveraging RTI
The democratization of Information and Knowledge: Boosts transparency and ensures that public officials and bodies remain accountable to the citizens
Reduced Corruption: Reduces and exposes corruption and ensures timely action from public authorities. RTI has unveiled several scams including the Adarsh housing society scam, 2G scam and the CWG scam
The instrument of Social Audit: RTI can function as an effective instrument in fulfilling objectives of social welfare schemes to optimise socio-economic returns and ensure that entitlements reach deserving beneficiaries. Hence it is simply an instrument of social audit.
Trust of Citizenry: Enhances the trust and credibility of citizens in government institutions
Reduced Paperwork: Digitization of records stipulated under the Act would reduce paperwork and ensure easy access and storage of data beneficial to citizens and administrators alike

Challenges of RTI

Bureaucratic Attitude: Information from bureaucracy are yet to fully open up and remain secretive and locked under the Official Secrets Act, 1923
Human Resource Vacuum: State Information commissions are a grossly understaffed and huge delay in procuring and providing information has discouraged citizens from filing for RTI
- In Kerala, despite appeals as high as 14000 forwarded to the SIC, only one member continues to be part of SIC causing a huge delay in the processing of applications
Abuse of Schedule 2: Subversion of the RTI act by public authorities in the name of intellectual property laws.
- Several organizations like the NTRO have misused exempted clauses to deny information to deserving citizens
Lack of Awareness: RTI faces the challenge of information literacy especially in the rural areas. Only 13% in rural areas are aware of the RTI
Poor Accessibility of Information: Poor record-keeping and a considerable lack of efforts to digitize records in several states have emasculated the RTI. None of the states have taken efforts to implement RTI digital infrastructure
Lack of suo-motto disclosure: Government departments do not voluntarily disclose updated information mandated in the RTI act which leads to a rise in the number of RTI applications filed
Recommendatory Power of CIC: The CIC does not have the power to enforce their decisions upon public authorities in cases where they do not comply
Exclusion of CBI from RTI is disheartening as CBI is involved in the investigation of corruption cases and excluding it from the RTI’s ambit would reduce citizens trust and credibility in CBI’s ability to function as an independent investigative body

Right to Information (Amendment Bill): Issues

Dependence of the Commission: The act makes the CIC subordinate to the government as he is accorded a salary and term as determined by the Union government. This threatens the independence of the commission and provides space for the arbitrariness of the executive
Constitutional Nature Diluted: The bill does not provide equal constitutional status to CIC in comparison to CEC

Suggestions and Way forward

Operationalizing RTI: 2^nd ARC recommends the formation of a national coordination committee to operationalize RTI better.
Correcting Bureaucratic Culture: 50% bureaucrats may be recruited from non-civil services background and code of conduct of civil servants may be changed to accommodate openness and transparency of RTI
Digitization of Information: Government records, documents and memos can be placed in the digital domain and an online portal can be opened for citizens to apply for desired information
Suo-motto Disclosures: Government departments need to voluntarily update the information so as to reduce the volume of RTI applications and to facilitate access to citizens without them requesting for it
Generating Awareness: IEC campaigns can be organized particularly in rural areas focussing on women population to empower them with a right to information and enable them to conduct social audit
Grievance Redressal System: Creation of an independent forum to hear the complaints with respect to RTI Act and its implementation
- Public Grievances Commission set up by the Delhi Government
National Security Bill must be introduced as per the Law Commission’s recommendation to avoid inconsistency in disseminating information in the context of National Security

Should Political Parties come under RTI?

Inadequate transparency in the functioning of political parties has led to the criminalization of politics eroding people’s faith in the democratic process. Bringing political parties under RTI may infuse greater transparency in its functioning regaining lost credibility among the people.

Yes

Tax benefits: Political parties are fully exempt from income tax
Free Air time during elections, Land in cities at throwaway prices
The government and ruling party are effectively one of the same
EC has failed to check financial irregularities of political parties, CIC can help
2^nd ARC recommends any organization that performs functions of public nature: political parties and NGO come under it

Financial Burden: RTI needs to be backed up with institutional mechanisms which would burden political parties that do not have the requisite infrastructure
Affect Smooth Functioning: Compliance under RTI may affect the smooth functioning of political parties with regard to resource allocation and time constraints
Electoral Reforms: Funding of political parties for elections should be checked by the ECI through electoral reforms rather than making them compliant under the RTI
Viability: It is not viable to question political parties with respect to election manifesto framing and choice of candidates

Way Forward

Transparent functioning of political parties need to be ensured through a constitutional or statutory provision
Political parties must go for maximum suo-motto and pro-active disclosures that will regain the lost trust of the public. A healthy debate as to what constitutes public authority including all stakeholders should continue

Whistle-Blowers Protection Act

Seeks to provide protection to Whistle-blowers who bring to light corruption of government officials, criminal offences and wilful misuse of power

Who is a Whistleblower?

A whistleblower is not merely any government official who comes across corruption in his official capacity, but any NGO or citizen who has provided the information with regard to the corrupt, arbitrary and criminal acts of any government official. Such a wide definition was necessitated by the RTI Act, which provided ordinary citizens with access to information earlier confined to government officials.

What does WBP offer?

Anonymity: Concealment of the identity of the whistleblower
Protection against victimization: Suspensions, transfers and threats of violence including police protection and penalising perpetrators of victimization

Amendment to WBP and associated issues

Persecution of Whistleblowers: The amendment takes away the immunity accorded to Whistle-Blowers from legal actions and makes them open to persecution under the draconian Official Secrets Act (OSA)
Deterrence from Whistleblowing: OSA act has a jail term of 14 years and can deter honest officials from exposing corrupt and criminal activities. It defeats the purpose of the Whistle-Blowers Protection Act and seeks to weaken whistleblowers rather than empowering them
Restrict exposable information: The amendment also seeks to cut down on the information that can be exposed and prohibits any inquiry into issues which might be detrimental to national security, sovereignty, integrity and economic interests. The exemptions that apply to RTI hence apply for whistleblowing also.

Social Audit

Social audit is a legally mandated process where potential and existing beneficiaries evaluate the implementation of a programme through comparison of official records and ground realities.

Benefits

Participatory Democracy
Enhance transparency and accountability
Smooth Implementation of Social Welfare programmes
Wider benefit circle
Deterring Corruption by bringing guilty to law
Recovery of misappropriating money, appropriate and targeted usage of funds

Challenges

Lack of institutional mechanism
Lack of administrative and political will at the ground level
Social audit units lack accessibility to official documents for verification

Conclusion

Social Audit can be the cornerstone of an open government that proclaims open governance as its primary ideology.
It provides much needed political empowerment to the common man and needs to be further strengthened to ensure smooth implementation of programmes.

The participation of the beneficiaries themselves raises the accountability of the government and ensures that the volume of funds separated for such programmes reap benefits to the much-deserved sections of the society