India’s ‘Right To Information Act’ is helping people wrest back power from bureaucrats and find out how public money is being spent. Report by Kavitha Rao.

The people of Chandrapura, a remote village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,were more than usually isolated. For 60 years, they went without roads, electricity or a bridge to connect them to the outside world. During the rains, they were cut off from the rest of the country for months but their repeated complaints were ignored, until a radical new law came to their rescue. The Right to Information Act (RTI) helped the villagers to do something they had thought impossible: question the government and find out where funds for their village had got to. In Chandrapura work began on a bridge last September, a mere two months after an application for information was filed. The village now has roads, electricity and a bridge to the outside world.

Across India, the RTI is helping people wrest back power from the authorities and find out how public money is being spent, or – in too many cases – siphoned off.The Act became effective nationwide in October 2005, but has snowballed in the last few months. Similar to the British Freedom of Information Act it allows citizens to inspect government records, take copies and question the government for a basic fee of 10 rupees (about 1p). This is revolutionary in a country where public information has always been out of bounds. For years, greedy bureaucrats – known in India as babus – have demanded bribes for the most routine of tasks. Corruption has become something to be tolerated with a shrug.

Now even the poorest of Indians are using the RTI to secure everything from repairing roads and sewers to getting passports, subsidised food, school places and old age pensions.The Information Act has also exposed corruption in various public schemes, including disaster relief, public distribution systems, and privatised water supplies. “The RTI is a magic wand. For the first time, the common man has an effective tool to fight bribery and apathy,” says Arvind Kejriwal, a former bureaucratturned- RTI activist and founder of Parivartan (‘transformation’), an organisation which works for social change. Kejriwal was awarded the 2006 Ram on Magsaysay award for his efforts in popularising the RTI.

The RTI applies to all public authorities, which must appoint public information officials.These officials must deliver information within 30 days, with certain exceptions for national security. Those who don’t are fined 250 rupees for every day of delay, up to a maximum of 25,000 rupees.

“The RTI has worked particularly well for routine tasks, such as getting passports and pensions, which previously took months or years,” says Wajahat Habibullah, head of the Central Information Commission (CIC), the body in charge of implementing the act. Ganapathy Krishnan of Chennai agrees “I tried to get a ration card (entitling the holder to subsidised foodgrains) for two years with no success,” he says. “Then I filed an RTI application, and got it within 45 days.” Major Ramesh Upadhyay, a retired army officer, is using the RTI to get information about what he claims are false cases filed by the police against him. “I would never have dared to file a complaint against the police before,” he explains.“Now the police are scared of me.That is the power of the RTI.”Many applicants mention how easy it is to apply for information. “Even a seven-year-old can file an RTI application,” says Chirag Kapoor, a 20-year-old student activist who – along with other students – has filed 46 applications seeking the repair of Delhi’s battered roads.

However, the babus are defending their turf. Last October, the government tried to amend the RTI to exclude the disclosure of file notings: crucial jottings in the file that record the opinions and actions of officials. After a public outcry, the amendment was withdrawn, but some bureaucrats continue to stonewall. “Whatever they may say in public, the bureaucrats are against the RTI”, says Kejriwal. Activists also accuse the Central Information Commission (CIC) of being too soft on bureaucrats, a charge Mr Habibullah denies. However, the Commission has disposed of 6,500 cases so far, but imposed penalties in only 46. “Bureaucrats have begun ignoring requests for information, because they know that penalties are rarely imposed,” says Kejriwal. Mr Habibullah counters: “Imposing penalties is a long drawn out process because show-cause notices must be issued, so if we do impose penalties it tends to delay cases even further”.

Currently, the CIC is clogged with cases. It receives an average of 900 a month, but disposes of only about 500, making for long delays. Ironically, the CIC is staffed mostly by retired bureaucrats. This, say Kejriwal and other activists, is a conflict of interest. “What we need are judges or lawyers who have experience in hearing cases, not bureaucrats,” says Kejriwal.

Most Indians remain unaware of their right to information, particularly in rural areas. “The government has done absolutely nothing to promote the use of the RTI,” says Cyriac Joseph, who heads Sakshi, a Bangalore based NGO that trains people to use the Act. “People don’t know how to ask the right questions, and very often they think the purpose of the RTI is to solve all their problems rather than just provide information.” Indeed, the highest number of applications come not from ordinary citizens, but from bureaucrats seeking information about theirtransfers or promotions. There have also been reports of applicants being threatened, beaten or harassed by the police.

Activists say resistance is to be expected. “You can’t reverse 60 years of red tape in two years, but for the first time we are recognising the importance of the individual,” says Shailesh Gandhi, a Mumbai-based activist who has filed over a thousand RTI applications. Gandhi has revealed corruption in government land deals, forced the transfer of police officers, and exposed the misuse of funds from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

The Right to Information Act still has a long way to go to become truly effective but the good news is that innovative ways are being devised to help people use it. Bihar, India’s poorest state, has just become the first state to launch an RTI phone helpline. Volunteers will help illiterate people to file applications on the phone. Says journalist and activist Manish Sisodia, who helps villagers in remote locations to use the Act, “It’s much easier to convince poor villagers to fight for their rights than urban Indians, because they are so badly off that they have nothing to lose.” Sisodia is part of a pilot project that aims to help villagers in five remote villages file 1,500 applications by the end of the year. Nationwide, newspapers, social activists and TV channels are conducting awareness drives. Right to Information cells are being opened in railway stations, colleges and community centres.The slogan Hamara paise hamara hisaab (‘Our money, our accounts’) is gaining popularity.

“The RTI has passed out of the hands of the government and into the hands of the people,” claims the CIC’s Habibullah. The Commission is currently working to computerise all government records, which is mandatory under the Act.“The RTI and e-governance need to go hand-in-hand. Then the CIC will not be overworked, because people can simply access all the information they need through the internet,” he points out. “India has still not achieved its independence,” says Shailesh Gandhi wryly, “When the British left, power was simply transferred to the bureaucrats. But if even a million of us use the RTI, we can achieve the independence we lost.” What you don’t know, Indians need to realise, can hurt you.