FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 27, 2006
College Park, Maryland, USA

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Nirveek Bhattacharjee ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) - 410-627-7679 (Baltimore)
Vishal Kuchadkar ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) - 323-632-6479 (Los Angeles)

Save Right to Information, Save Democracy, Urge AID Volunteers

Volunteers of the Association for India's Development (AID, http://www.aidindia.org/ ), PrajaNet and the Los Angeles chapter of Asha for Education, are shocked and dismayed at the retrogressive step taken by the Indian cabinet by approving an amendment that will exempt file notings and cabinet papers from disclosure, under the Right to Information Act, 2005 [1]. We appeal to all Indians to strongly oppose this proposed amendment and save India from going back into the dark ages when corruption governed governance.

"File-notings are the only way through which the trail of decision-making process can be ascertained ensuring transparent functioning of the Government" explains Sudarshan Suresh, a volunteer with the Bay Area chapter of AID [2]. He adds, "By proposing the new amendments, it seems that the government is hell-bent on handcuffing democracy".

The progressive and landmark Right to Information Act came into being in October 2005, after a 15 years long grassroots struggle for transparency in governance spearheaded by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) [3]. Training camps have been organized across the country by various groups and well-minded citizens to make people aware of the act and its provisions. Every strata of the society are enthusiastically using the Act to successfully redress and rectify grievances that arose out of blatant corruption in government offices [4,5]

Registering his protest against the amendments, Prof Mohan Bhagat, Director of AID, says: "We protest such a calculated attack on a process which we believe has given hope to every Indian that his/her Government trusts him/her enough to give him/her the right to question his/her Government's actions in an open transparent manner".

We urge all the different professional, alumni, regional, cultural and entrepreneurial associations in the US and everybody who wishes to see a strong, democratic, empowered, corruption-free India to raise their voices in order to save our fundamental Right to Information. They can do so by going to http://rti.aidindia.org/ and

•        Signing the Save RTI petition (which already had over 2700 signatories)

•        Emailing, calling and faxing the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Personnel

•        Calling the Indian Embassy and Consulates in the US

•        Writing letters to the editors, strongly opposing the amendments.

•        Endorsing a letter to the Prime Minister on behalf of the association, group or network you are part of.

Vishal Kudchadkar, a resident of Los Angeles, and one of the coordinators of the Drive against Bribery campaign (http://www.antibribery.org/) in the US, explains what the amendments mean to him as an NRI: "Having seen the fruits of participatory democracy, transparent governance and an informed citizenry in the US, I wish the same for India. I believe the true potential of India can be achieved if the common masses are freed from the shackles of corruption."

[1]The Tribune, July 20, 2006: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060721/main1.htm
[2]Aruna Roy: An Act Disabling an Act, Indian Express: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/8966.html
[3]Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Samar Magazine: http://www.samarmagazine.org/archive/article.php?id=128
[4]Right2Information Blogsite: http://right2information.wordpress.com/
[5]RTI Success Stories, NDTV: http://origin.ndtv.com/rti/successstories.asp