"We are the Party that is responsible for the historic RTI Act. We pursued this because we believe that ultimately in transparency lies the solution to the problem. The RTI Act is the single most important reason why citizens of our country feel empowered to fight corruption,” stated Congress President Sonia Gandhi at AICC meeting held on 17th January 2014.
This patently wrong claim has been made on earlier occasions too by various stalwarts of the Congress party and the UPA. RTI is thus becoming yet another example of modern history being distorted through orchestrated disinformation. The fact is that Congress Party is not the first entity that either ushered in or struggled for the Right to Information (RTI) / Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation.
The credit on this count should go to all entities across the political spectrum that pitched for this transparency initiative over the last several decades.
The credit for being prime-mover of transparency legislation should perhaps go to late G. C. Bhattacharya of Democratic Socialist Party, who had moved The Freedom of Information Bill, 1983 in Rajya Sabha way back in December 1983, when Soniaji had not entered politics.
Moving this private members’ bill, Mr. Bhattacharya had stated: “Sir, I beg to move for leave to introduce a Bill to provide for certain agencies to ensure freedom of having access to and obtaining public information for the citizen and for matters connected therewith.”
On 22nd December 1983, he had also moved another anti-corruption bill, The Civil Servants (Disclosure and Scrutiny of Financial Assets) Bill, 1983.
We can leave aside the efforts of journalistic fraternity and other public affairs professionals to avoid mix-up with the Freedom of Press.
The FOI subject has figured in both the houses of Parliament over the years. It is here pertinent to recall a Rajya Sabha question put by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Ashwani Kumar and late Pramod Mahajan during the Rajiv Gandhi regime.
In a three-part question dated 14 August 1986, the MPs had asked what steps the Government is taking to grant freedom of information in the country. And the stock official reply was that “The information is being collected and will be laid on the Table of the House.”
Another significant milestone in RTI domain was the setting up of an inter-ministerial task force (IMTF) in the late eighties or nineties when the Congress was not in power at the Centre.
Answering a question on IMTF in Rajya Sabha in September 1991, the then Minister of State for Home Affairs, M.M. Jacob, said: “The Inter-Ministerial Task Force which was set up to go into the entire question regarding Right to Information has since submitted its Report.”
He continued: “Its recommendations reflect on the one hand, the need for a more purposeful information dissemination system and on the other a close and comprehensive look on issues relating to security clarification and privacy. In view of the importance and complexity of the subject, formulation of definite views on the issues involved in the matter would necessarily take time.”
It is here pertinent to note that the Congress Government under the Prime Ministership of P.V. Narasimha, did not let the idea of RTI bloom into a law.
The turning point, however, came in June 1996 when the 13-party United Front coalition unveiled its common minimum programme (CMP).
As put by CMP, “The Official Secrets Act will be reviewed and amended in tune with the need for openness and transparency in governance. A Bill on Freedom of Information will be introduced within six months to give the people access to information at all levels.”
In January, 1997 the United Front Government set up a Working Group on Right to Information and Transparency to examine the feasibility and need for a full-fledged law. In its report submitted in May 1997, it recommended a draft Freedom of Information Bill. Soon thereafter, the Centre discussed the draft Freedom of Information Act with the States at Chief Ministers’ conference.
Rest is history. Several States seized the initiative and enacted their own laws. Goa was perhaps the first State to enact RTI law. As put by the NDA Government’s reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha in December 2000, “The Government of Tamil Nadu, Goa, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have enacted the Right to Information Act”. Of these, only the Goa Right to Information Act, 1997 and Rajasthan Right to Information Act, 2000 contain provisions for imposing penalties on persons who fail to furnish information within the time specified or furnish any false information.”
In all eight States - Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Goa and Madhya Pradesh - had enacted their own RTI laws prior to the UPA Government enacting RTI Act, 2005 in 2005. UPA time and again fails to mention the fact that it did this by merely repealing the BJP-led NDA’s Freedom of Information Act 2002.
When RTI wave gained momentum after the emergence of the United Front, the Congress Party did not throw its weight behind RTI. The historic resolutions passed at Congress Plenary Session held in August 1997 thus make no mention about RTI/FOI.
A lot more can be written about the half-hearted implementation of the RTI Act by the UPA Government. It is better to reserve other facts for another occasion when someone again tries to walk away with a claim that is contrary to the facts.
ends
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