First of all, I would like to draw your attention to one of the foremost principles of governance that is now in currency all over the world, and which I had also observed during my eight years of work in different foreign countries, that is, the proximate control of the people on their affairs. It means that ten to twenty thousand of people, whenever they like, can change the mode of governance of their life. So, I would suggest a change in the preamble of the purposed Orissa Right to Information Draft Bill, to mean that the Act while ensuring transparency in the governmental action would enable the people to influence the governance of their community life by way of using information.
Secondly, the Draft Bill should take into account the standard information technology applied by various countries of the world including U.S.A, Britain and third world countries like Thailand and Indonesia where the freedom of information legislation has already been enacted and in force. In these countries all the necessary information meant for the people are available on the internet.The most updated information technology is being used by the governments of these countries to disseminate information to the people, but in our State we still cling on to the old methods of governance and communication. In such a situation even if we enact Right to Information, it can't materialize. It would remain another defunct law like thousand others we are having today. Giving the people some legal right is not enough, the State has to create conditions for it's realization.
Thirdly, the Draft Bill has to deal with the question, how the information shall be gathered, stored and compiled, so that it could be communicated to the people quickly as per their need. The corresponding Acts in other countries have included the provisions for information generation, whereas the present Draft Bill has completely ignored it. My suggestion is that the Draft Bill should clearly provide for various Competent Authorities to collect, compile and document all necessary information in such a way as to enable a citizen to access it with ease and facility. Again, my suggestion is that every Competent Authority should have power to generate information and to set up his information unit accordingly. Further the State Government should also spend some money by way of incentives for promoting the cause of information collection and documentation by the individual departments.
If there is no proper compilation and documentation of the information, nothing can be disseminated to the public in response to their application. There are piles of information, now also available in government offices. But in absence of their proper compilation, these information fall to disuse.
If we do not provide information to the people through Internet there is every likelihood that every day some group of people shall visit an office and howl for this and that information, and in the process stall the entire office work. Political elements shall also take advantage of such situations to derive political mileage over their rivals.
In other countries all the information relating to the citizens are available on the Internet. If some body wants to correct a mistaken record or update an old record in regard to his maintained in a public office, he can do so on-line without any botheration to any body. My suggestion is that, this method of dissemination through Internet can be started in right earnest from now by our public authorities, though it would require quite some time to crystallize and stabilize as a working system.
While coming over here, a friend remarked that with right to information being enacted, all top secrets of our country shall be leaked away to foreign countries. This is a baseless thinking as I know from my experience in foreign countries where I used to serve as an Intelligence Officer of Government of India. Three gadgets revolutionized the intelligence collection, photocopier, fax machine and handycam. Aa a professional intelligence officer, I could collect whatever information I wanted in foreign countries. Here in India also, I can speak with certainty, if you spend some money, there are people who shall collect and hand over all sorts of so-called secret information of the Government to you at home. As a matter of fact, the very informations which are supposed to remain secret are getting leaked out But our public servants in the name of maintaining secrecy do hide very useful information, which are supposed to be communicated to the people. This is a typical tactic of the bureaucracy, which can't however go on any longer.In my view, a Legislative Committee should decide which information the State shall protect from disclosure. And the personnel having the security clearance should be in custody of such information.
Now let me tell you that I have worked for last four years in peripheral areas of Orissa. To my surprise, I found Internet Cafes in almost all small towns and NACs including places like Gurandi, Umarkot etc. in these interior areas. There are a lot of NGOs also in these areas and using Internet. If all the governmental information is made available through Internet, the people won't crowd public offices and make unnecessary disturbances. They can straight go to an Internet booth and access information of their choice.
Last but not the least, I fully support Justice Mishra's observation that the Act should only contain what is practicable, otherwise we shall invite new burdens and fresh problems by enacting a new law on Right To Information.