The recent decision by the Central Cabinet to amend the Right to Information Act to exclude file notings, cabinet papers and answer sheets of examinations from its purview is an anti-democratic step. The passage of RTI Act by the UPA Government was a milestone in the history of our country, empowering its citizens for the first time to experience true democratic spirit by allowing access to information about how decisions are taken and money is spent. This would have brought an end to the arbitrary manner in which our bureaucracy and leadership function in the name of the people.

 

However, the Central Government seems to be quite worried about the implications of all decisions becoming public, which will probably expose the irregularities in the decision making process and will then raise questions on how these decisions were taken. The citizen of a democracy has a right to know how all decisions are taken and no section of bureaucracy or leadership should be left immune to this Act. Information of the kind which has been left out of the ambit of this Act, like that which is supposed to sensitive to the security of the country and the state of Jammu & Kashmir,  must be also brought within the purview of this Act. Often arbitrary actions involving huge embezzlement of funds and gross human rights violations are justified in the name of national security.

 

To protest against this attempt to tamper with the RTI Act by the Central Cabinet, I propose to begin a fast from 8th August, 2006 at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. The Cabinet will have to take this step back otherwise face the consequences of an awakened citizenry committed to fighting to the end to save their due right. This is a battle between bureaucracy and leadership wanting to continue to function without being accountable to the citizens and a citizenry now bent upon making the process of governance transparent to the people. This is a struggle to realize the dream of real democracy. The history of this country shows that people will never tolerate authoritarian rule and will overthrow anyone trying to ride roughshod over them. It is time once again to teach a lesson to our rulers, who often forget that they enjoy the privileges only in the name of the people of this country. People are supreme in a democracy and they’ll demonstrate it to their rulers.

Sandeep Pandey
Contact Phone: 9313106745 (Faisal Khan), 9871602612 (Rajeshwar Ojha) and 9415022772 (Arundhati Dhuru in Lucknow),

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