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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Aruna Roy lambasts PM for statement on RTI amendments

Aruna Roy lambasts PM for statement on RTI amendments

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published Published on Oct 16, 2011   modified Modified on Oct 16, 2011

-The Times of India

 

Founder member of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) Aruna Roy on Saturday condemned the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the Right To Information Act was adversely affecting deliberations in the government and deterring honest officials from expressing their views on file.

Roy was speaking at a seminar on 'Strengthening participatory democracy: Role of RTI' at the International Centre Goa, Dona Paula.

"The Prime Minister has made a statement that I completely disagree with. My seven-year period in government was fraught with corruption," said Roy, considered by many as one of the architects of the RTI Act.

Countering Singh's claims of bureaucratic inefficiency, the Magsaysay award winner said the killings of RTI activists was of much more concern than the RTI affecting government functioning.

"I'm much more concerned about the lives of RTI activists being killed. What have you done to protect our lives?" she sought to know from the PM.

Stating that even earlier, bureaucrats were not making file notings, Roy said, "No one wanted to take the onus (to make a noting) if it was a critical issue."

Stating that transparency benefits the system, Roy said, "We reject the suggestion that transparency makes bureaucrats inefficient. The government has always been inefficient. Papers accessed by us through RTI have proved this."

She opined that transparency actually aids honest bureaucrats, and felt that due to RTI, honest bureaucrats can make notings on files in the confidence that disclosure of the file notings under RTI would vindicate the honest stands they take.

"In the last six years, information received by the people has created upheaval in governance. What has upset the system is the scams. Instead of welcoming transparency, the persistence for amendments is wrong," she added.

Nikhil Dey, co-convener of NCPRI, too, was critical of the proposal for amendments and said, "We completely oppose amendments in RTI. The prime minister is saying the RTI affects bureaucratic functioning, but it is the opposite. It is a great benefit for honest officers as earlier their notings were being hidden."

"The government has consistently said that amendments will be done only after putting them in the public domain. It should not slip in amendments like it did the first time," Dey added.

Roy also lambasted the removal of the CBI from the purview of the RTI.

How can the government talk of a Lokpal on one side and remove the CBI from the purview of the RTI? she wondered. "Eighty per cent of cases investigated by the CBI are corruption cases," Roy added.

The chairman of the Planning Commission has said all public-private-partnerships will also be outside the purview of the RTI. How can this be done when the state provides facilities like electricity and water to these projects? she questioned.

The Times of India, 16 October, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Aruna-Roy-lambasts-PM-for-statement-on-RTI-amendments/articleshow/10372556.cms


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