N.S.Venkataraman for BeyondHeadlines
The RTI Act, which was once an ultimate weapon in the hands of the citizens to fight for probity in public life has now, lost its sheen. The bureaucracy has effectively nullified this Act by its calculated tactics. The Information Commissioners who are supposed to ensure the implementation of the RTI Act in letter and spirit have become the employed tools to sabotage the RTI Act. They are carefully chosen ex-bureaucrats or those with political and official patronage, who are put on the job to defeat the letter and spirit of the RTI Act and frustrate the RTI Activists.
Now, the ground reality is that most of the letters seeking information under RTI Act are not acknowledged at all or a reply is sent at the end of 30 days stating that the letters should be addressed to some other section. The endless cycle goes on.
On many occasions, the complaints sent to the Information Commissioners are also not acknowledged or routinely forwarded to the so called Appellate authority in the government department, who seldom respond. The net effect is that the thousands of letters seeking information under RTI Act now remain unanswered and are gathering dust.
Some RTI activists who persist with the same letters for several months get tired and have no alternative other than withdrawing from their efforts.
Under such circumstances, when nothing works, people tend to think that only street demonstrations and violence will work in this country to get any response from the government departments. Anna Hazare and AAP exploited such people’s frustration for some time and they themselves have been exposed now, as they have proved themselves to be no different from the average politician of India.
In such circumstances, there is no alternative other than the committed individuals resisting corruption and demand for bribery at individual level. This calls for sacrifice. The question is how many are willing to do this and with the media largely ignoring such efforts, whatever resistance put up by individuals remain largely unpublicised and unnoticed.
Those who long for probity in public life should not lose heart and they should resist the demand for corruption from whatever quarters in everyday life and make themselves role models for others to emulate. A few individuals fighting for the cause in every small town, village and city would certainly keep the ray of hope alive!
(N.S.Venkataraman is a Chemical Engineer from Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu and Director of Nandini Consultancy Centre. He can be reached at nsvenkatchennai@gmail.com)
