Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Balancing national security and right to information-Mohammad Ali

Balancing national security and right to information-Mohammad Ali

Share this article Share this article
published Published on May 30, 2012   modified Modified on May 30, 2012

Fourteen national and international non-government organisations and academic centres have called for reforms in what they say are excessively-broad exemptions granted to the government on national security issues by the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

To guide decision-making on information requests relating to national security, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), along with other groups, is in the process of formulating “guidelines” to bring about consensus on the extent of restrictions permissible on access to information.

At a two-day national conference on “National Security and People's Right to Information in India” that concluded here on Monday, CHRI director Maja Daruwala highlighted how the bogey of national security was being used to withhold information by the authorities.

“In the context of the RTI Act, national security has not yet been clearly defined. The fluidity of the concept makes it very easy for the government to call in aid of non-disclosure that the information required comes under ‘national security' and withhold the information or to enter into a long drawn battle, which very few have the capacity to continue engaging in.”

Security defined

The main argument was that before using national security as an excuse to exempt information from getting into public domain, the term needs to be defined by the democratic process of debate and discussion, she added.

Muzaffar Bhat, an RTI activist from Jammu and Kashmir, spoke about an instance which highlighted the tension between the government's desire to keep information secret on the ground of national security and the public's right to information. In November 2011, he filed an RTI in the Union Home Ministry, asking for the Interlocutor's Report on J&K. Even though he was denied the report by the Ministry on the pretext of national security in December, the report was made public on May 24.

Right abuses

Venkatesh Nayak of the CHRI argued that “there have been lots of instances where the paramilitary forces have denied information related to human rights abuses and corruption using national security as an excuse, which needs to be stopped”.

The draft of the guidelines being formulated by the NGOs says “access to information by enabling public scrutiny of government action not only safeguards against government abuse and abuse by government officials but also permits the public to play a role in determining the policies of the government.”

“Since national security is a pre-condition for the full enjoyment of all human rights, including the right to information, some degree of secrecy is appropriate in specific circumstances,” it said.

The Hindu, 30 May, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3471458.ece


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close