People's right to information
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Syed Fattahul Alim
Right to information is a basic human right. The concept of human freedom is also inalienably linked to the right to information. Information is the first step towards awareness. And a population that is uninformed about what is happening all around, in the particular society they live in and in the world at large, are naturally deprived of all the rights they are entitled to.
But is this right acknowledge in our society? The issues like free flow of information, the rights thereof and all the relevant topics are subjects of discussion everywhere-in the press, in the political circles, in the civil societies and among the intelligentsia in general. Even the successive governments have never denied the importance of these very general issues. Regardless of this universal acknowledgement of information's unhindered flow and hence the right of the people in every tier of society to have access to it, the right, in real life, is hardly ever realised and exercised. One can draw here an analogy between other similar terminologies such as the larger issue of democracy or the recently talked about issue like transparency, accountability, social responsibility, good governance, etc. But a deeper look at all the issues will reveal that the common denominator they all have is information and its accessibility.
The present context of the above discussion on information and people's right over it has to do with the Right to Information Day, 2007 which was September 29. How this special day dedicated to the cause of establishing people's right to information was observed? Were the people at large for whose cause the day was observed internationally had any inkling of it? If a survey is conducted among the otherwise conscious and enlightened section of society, it would be found that a very insignificant portion of them are aware that there is such a day called Right to Information (RTI) Day. If that is the level of awareness among the more or less enlightened section of society, then what is the picture among the people at the grass roots level? The chief of the local chapter of the Transparency International Professor Muzaffar Ahmed, who presided over a roundtable organised to mark the RTI Day, did call the attention of all concerned to exactly this particular point. He said that all the talk of information, its accessibility to the people and their right to it never goes beyond the four walls of the room where they are discussed. As a consequence, people have remained ignorant of such a vital issue in their lives.
No one is going to contest that people at the grassroots have to be made aware of yet another component of their basic rights, the right to information (RTI). Now, how is one to make that happen? There is certainly a very strong point in the argument that the issue of people's awareness about their RTI has to be addressed in the form of a movement. The argument here is also very plausible. But the boring question of 'how to do that' will continue to surface again and again until the problem of creating the appropriate vehicle to reach the concern to common people's level of consciousness is solved. Elitist seminars, symposiums and talks organised by a small section of the urban intelligentsia do not provide any solution. To reach the level of the masses, the issue should therefore come down from its ivory tower. Moreover, if RTI is to be looked upon as a vital concern equivalent to the rights to food, clothes and shelter, in the final analysis, it must also have to be an agenda of politics.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing efforts at political reform and the drive against corruption, the issue of RTI should now take the centre stage of public concern. How is political reform, for example, connected with the RTI? In the political parties of the country one would see a big gap between the higher echelons and rank and file on the one hand and the parties in question and the common people for whose cause theses parties justify their existence, on the other. The gap referred to in the foregoing is again one of information. The workers and supporters of the political parties have hardly any access to how the different committees of their beloved parties are run day in, day out. Interestingly, the constitutions of all these parties unequivocally say that the various committees to run them should be elected democratically. What is more, the party constitutions in about every case spell out in detail how the leadership would remain accountable to the elected committees concerned. In real life situation, the picture is quite different. Once elected or selected, the leadership becomes permanent. Those in charge then conveniently forget that the general members of the committees they head have the right to know how they (the leaders) are running their day to day business and that the members have also their own say in those vital matters. The truth in most cases is, neither are the general members of those party forums keenly aware of their rights, nor are they willing to exercise those. As a result, the information gap between the workers and party leadership widens more and more with the passage of time. Obviously, the parties and their leadership gradually become alienated. At a stage, the syndrome of alienation affects the entire party hierarchy, from the base to the apex. And finally, the party in question loses its connection with the masses it is supposed to represent and lead. So, what in such cases happens in the long run is for everyone to see in the present Bangladesh. With the political power concentrating in one person's hand at the summit, it naturally turns dictatorial and as such inherently corrupt. And small wonder the popular adage that 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' applies so fittingly in the Bangladesh context. In the circumstances, it should not surprise any when such parties engage in limitless corruption once they are voted into office.
Similarly, in the government offices, the information is always in short supply. It is not just that people in general have no access to official information. Even the various departments of the government are starved of vital information about one another.
So, a general apathy towards dissemination of information appears to be a general trend of our society.
Increasing people's awareness about their right to information is, therefore, a huge task. A mass movement is necessary to achieve that end. But before the issue of RTI reaches the level of popular consciousness, it is important that the culture of unhindered exchange of information is practised within the government offices, within the political parties and within all kinds of public offices. Once this first step towards RTI is made in all seriousness, the still larger goal of its access to the mass people will follow as a matter of course.
Right to information is a basic human right. The concept of human freedom is also inalienably linked to the right to information. Information is the first step towards awareness. And a population that is uninformed about what is happening all around, in the particular society they live in and in the world at large, are naturally deprived of all the rights they are entitled to.
But is this right acknowledge in our society? The issues like free flow of information, the rights thereof and all the relevant topics are subjects of discussion everywhere-in the press, in the political circles, in the civil societies and among the intelligentsia in general. Even the successive governments have never denied the importance of these very general issues. Regardless of this universal acknowledgement of information's unhindered flow and hence the right of the people in every tier of society to have access to it, the right, in real life, is hardly ever realised and exercised. One can draw here an analogy between other similar terminologies such as the larger issue of democracy or the recently talked about issue like transparency, accountability, social responsibility, good governance, etc. But a deeper look at all the issues will reveal that the common denominator they all have is information and its accessibility.
The present context of the above discussion on information and people's right over it has to do with the Right to Information Day, 2007 which was September 29. How this special day dedicated to the cause of establishing people's right to information was observed? Were the people at large for whose cause the day was observed internationally had any inkling of it? If a survey is conducted among the otherwise conscious and enlightened section of society, it would be found that a very insignificant portion of them are aware that there is such a day called Right to Information (RTI) Day. If that is the level of awareness among the more or less enlightened section of society, then what is the picture among the people at the grass roots level? The chief of the local chapter of the Transparency International Professor Muzaffar Ahmed, who presided over a roundtable organised to mark the RTI Day, did call the attention of all concerned to exactly this particular point. He said that all the talk of information, its accessibility to the people and their right to it never goes beyond the four walls of the room where they are discussed. As a consequence, people have remained ignorant of such a vital issue in their lives.
No one is going to contest that people at the grassroots have to be made aware of yet another component of their basic rights, the right to information (RTI). Now, how is one to make that happen? There is certainly a very strong point in the argument that the issue of people's awareness about their RTI has to be addressed in the form of a movement. The argument here is also very plausible. But the boring question of 'how to do that' will continue to surface again and again until the problem of creating the appropriate vehicle to reach the concern to common people's level of consciousness is solved. Elitist seminars, symposiums and talks organised by a small section of the urban intelligentsia do not provide any solution. To reach the level of the masses, the issue should therefore come down from its ivory tower. Moreover, if RTI is to be looked upon as a vital concern equivalent to the rights to food, clothes and shelter, in the final analysis, it must also have to be an agenda of politics.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing efforts at political reform and the drive against corruption, the issue of RTI should now take the centre stage of public concern. How is political reform, for example, connected with the RTI? In the political parties of the country one would see a big gap between the higher echelons and rank and file on the one hand and the parties in question and the common people for whose cause theses parties justify their existence, on the other. The gap referred to in the foregoing is again one of information. The workers and supporters of the political parties have hardly any access to how the different committees of their beloved parties are run day in, day out. Interestingly, the constitutions of all these parties unequivocally say that the various committees to run them should be elected democratically. What is more, the party constitutions in about every case spell out in detail how the leadership would remain accountable to the elected committees concerned. In real life situation, the picture is quite different. Once elected or selected, the leadership becomes permanent. Those in charge then conveniently forget that the general members of the committees they head have the right to know how they (the leaders) are running their day to day business and that the members have also their own say in those vital matters. The truth in most cases is, neither are the general members of those party forums keenly aware of their rights, nor are they willing to exercise those. As a result, the information gap between the workers and party leadership widens more and more with the passage of time. Obviously, the parties and their leadership gradually become alienated. At a stage, the syndrome of alienation affects the entire party hierarchy, from the base to the apex. And finally, the party in question loses its connection with the masses it is supposed to represent and lead. So, what in such cases happens in the long run is for everyone to see in the present Bangladesh. With the political power concentrating in one person's hand at the summit, it naturally turns dictatorial and as such inherently corrupt. And small wonder the popular adage that 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' applies so fittingly in the Bangladesh context. In the circumstances, it should not surprise any when such parties engage in limitless corruption once they are voted into office.
Similarly, in the government offices, the information is always in short supply. It is not just that people in general have no access to official information. Even the various departments of the government are starved of vital information about one another.
So, a general apathy towards dissemination of information appears to be a general trend of our society.
Increasing people's awareness about their right to information is, therefore, a huge task. A mass movement is necessary to achieve that end. But before the issue of RTI reaches the level of popular consciousness, it is important that the culture of unhindered exchange of information is practised within the government offices, within the political parties and within all kinds of public offices. Once this first step towards RTI is made in all seriousness, the still larger goal of its access to the mass people will follow as a matter of course.