Public must fight for right to information: Roy

*Right to Information makes the powerful truthful
*Transparency important to make informed choices
*Eradicates corruption, Encourages good governance

By Nizla Naizer

Aruna Roy

Stating that Sri Lanka must seriously consider enacting the Right to Information (RTI) Act as the rest of the region including Pakistan and Bangladesh have done, Indian social activist Aruna Roy who herself campaigned extensively towards implementing the Act in India, added that unless the public and the media gather forces, their voice will not be heard.
Roy was Chief Guest at the Journalism Awards for Excellence last night and speaking at the Sri Lanka Press Institute yesterday said, “In South Asia, we influence each other and the plurality of democracy deepens with the Right to Information.”
She added, “Conflicts and unrest can only be ironed out with transparency and good governance.”
However, she said that activism is key even in the face of ‘anti-nationalism’ labels.
“There is a new breed of non-party political activism that is taking hold of our region,” she said, “In India, it was not the academics and the NGOs who canvassed for change, it was the average peasant and the wage earner, who were not paid their dues in a small city in Rajasthan and who demanded to see the records explaining why not.” Their voice was actively supported by the Indian media and eventually the Indian Administrative Service and the 40-day protest which began in the city of Biawar in Rajasthan sparked off a 10-year campaign that ended with the Right to Information Act passed in 2005.
Roy who is a member of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), an organisation that advocates the rights of poor rural workers and wage earners in Rajasthan, was actively involved in the campaign. She informed that till date, over 400,000 rural individuals have used the law to obtain information.
“Transparency is important for every citizen to make informed choices,” she explained and added, “If I do not know what my government is doing, I can’t make policies or decisions.” She stressed that the campaign continued despite threats of organised terror that was unleashed on individuals who were asked to testify against corruption. “It was a successful movement because it brought personal, political and human rights issues together,” she explained.
The phrase ‘Our money, our accounts’ became synonymous with the movement which demands that the government and its institutions must disclose their actions if they have nothing to hide, and Roy explained that it’s the crux of the issue. “The override to the Officials Secrets Act in India through the RTI was quite simple. What the Member of Parliament is allowed to see, we who elected him there should be allowed to see as well.”
But she added that the idea is not to ‘lynch’ the corrupt individual. “We just demand the money back. We don’t intend to put all corrupt individuals to jail, but they must return what was taken.” Once an application for information is made and the public official does not respond within thirty days, the Act demands that he pay a fine of INR 250 a day till he does, for a maximum of INR 25,000 out of his own pocket. “This ensures that they are encouraged to be responsible and accountable because if not they pay the price.”