ON the first anniversary of the
RTI Act the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today cautioned against the emergence of 'professional middlemen' in the use of this Act as has been seen in some countries and also encouragement of rivalry among stakeholders of this nascent law.
Though PM assured all stakeholders that the Government would make a sincere endeavour to strengthen the implementation of the Act in favour of genuine information seekers but he coolly sidestepped the issue of removal of file notings from the purview of the Act.
Dr Singh said that the right to information was not a substitute for good governance and that it could only support and aid the process. Emphasizing the word “public interest”, the Prime Minister underlined the need for a computerized network throughout the country, down to the village level, to ensure public participation in the process of development.
He further added that whatever may be the differences on the finer points of the Act, we must all be aware of the course that we are setting for the future of democratic governance. It can be said that the right to know is the most fundamental of all those rights, which are critical for upholding human dignity. We live in an age of information, in which the free flow of information and ideas determines the pace of development and well being of the people. The implementation of
RTI Act is, therefore, an important milestone in our quest for building an enlightened and at the same time, a prosperous society. Therefore, the exercise of the Right to Information cannot be the privilege of only a few.
As published by Taxindiaonline.com