The Right to Information (RTI), which gave the citizens of India access to records of the central government and state governments, was thought to be one of the most revolutionary pieces of legislation in modern India. Armed with RTI, common citizens were empowered to know whatever they deemed worth knowing. Some intellectuals compared it to the fall of the Bastille during the French Revolution. But Wajahat Habibullah, chief information commissioner, India, does not think so. He does not subscribe to the adversarial and revolutionary notions that have been built around RTI. "RTI is participative and is not something that goes against the government. Both the people and the government are partners in it. It is like the invitation to the ball by Prince Charming in the Cinderella story," he says. In an interaction with Dataquest, veteran bureaucrat Habibullah spoke on the different issues pertaining to RTI and how it is conjoined with e-governance. Excerpts

It has been over two years since the RTI Act has been in place, how would you assess the peaks and the pitfalls?
The RTI Act came into force in October 2005, so it is nearly two and half years. I dont think for an act as revolutionary as the RTI Act, this is really enough time to assess it full impact. But from my numerous interactions and from what Ive read, the Act has had an impact. A lot of information that was earlier unavailable or for which the common person had to pay bribes, is now accessible with the help of the RTI Act. There is also an impression that the Act has not reached the rural areas. But from the percentage of appeals and complains that I receive from rural areas, which is much smaller than what I get from the cities, I can only assume that people are making wide use of the RTI Act.

I would still consider it just a trickle, because India is huge and the government is huge, with so many wings and departments. So it is a mixed proposition but at the same time, positive. I dont see any negative trends. Others may disagree with me, you might come across noises like I am being harassed or that people are filing applications merely to harass individuals, but I would not categorize it as a negative trend.

There is a popular perception that the bureaucracy was worried about the RTI Act coming into play and there was some sort of reluctance and resistance from their end?
That may have been the case in certain small pockets, but you need to know that the bureaucracy is also the largest user of the Act. So why should they be worried about it? Till now, within the bureaucracy, one hand was not aware of what the other hand was doing. And there were things that you would have liked to keep in the cupboard, not necessarily skeletons. It was just too much trouble trying to find the necessary informationyou know it is there but you dont know where it is. But all these things have to be now disclosed. Hence, there was a certain degree of resistance which is quite understandable. If you visited the record rooms, particularly at the district level officials, you will be appalled at the condition in which files are stored. I give due credit to people who look after them, that they can actually trace anything in that huge jumble.

What kind of information as a citizen of this nation, am I empowered to get?
Every kind to be honest. The range of applications that we get is truly amazing. For instance, we get a lot of applications from the slum dwellers in Delhi. I also get a lot of application from illiterate people as well who want to know about ration cards, passports, or the different functions of the municipality On the other hand, I also have applicants wanting to know whether stock exchanges are required to give information. There are people who want to know how electricity bills are prepared or how is electricity produced that is actually supplied to them. There are also questions on why the nuclear power plants have proved economically unsustainable or what investments have gone in to producing nuclear energy. So you have every level, from the high intellectual to what one calls the aam admi level.

What do you think is the role of IT in enabling the RTI Act?
It is vital and basic, without it the Act will not be able to work because the load will become so heavy on the Public Informetion Officers, on the state authorities, and the central commission that it will become impossible to function. Take the case of the tehsildar from Nanded, he was telling me that they are giving information to villagers on the laptop, and that has helped in a big way.

Are you exploring new ways of using technology, for instance the mobile phone?
Yes, but someone needs to come up with a proper program. We are open to that. Someone recently spoke to me about how mobile phones could be used for the purpose, which can certainly be done. As mobiles nowadays use GPRS, and our systems are designed for receiving an application through emails and replying to them as well. So I dont see a real difficulty in feeding the same to the mobile handset. There are challenges, but I am no expert on that matter though I am sure it can be worked out.

What is the roadmap for digitization of the information commission?
We are going to become an e-administration department; there are only two in the Government of India at the presentthe department of IT and the ministry of rural development. The department of administrative reforms is administrating these reforms. I have volunteered for complete digitization; the department of administrative reforms is working on it and currently analyzing our functioning. It will come up with a proposal, train people and we should become an e-administration department in the coming months. There after much of our work would largely be done electronically.

Finally, how do you think RTI and e-governance are linked to each other?
RTI and e-governance are twins and are inseparable. E-governance will never be complete unless the RTI Act is fully implemented, neither will RTI work if there isnt a full fledged system of computerization and administration.

We have always stated that we are the biggest democracy in the world, but due to this Act we can also say that we are one of the most advanced democracies as well. Because this Act has given people the right to actually participate in governance, which is the essence of what we call inclusive growth. This is in the best interest of the country and of governance because governance will be efficient, governance will be smooth and will also be fully accountable and fully transparent. I am convinced about that now and have become a practitioner of the RTI Act.

Shashwat DC
shashwatd@cybermedia.co.in

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