This 21st century is an age of information. It is but natural that every citizen should have access to information as a matter of Fundamental Right. I am happy to see that civil society institutions like NGOs are taking initiatives to arouse public consciousness about this right. Now your effort is to bring about a law, which would guarantee realization of this right by the citizens. Such a law would be a progressive step, which would benefit both Government and people.
Sri Mahapatra, IPS in his speech opined that some information should not be disclosed by the Government to the people. But in my opinion, the common people should have access to all that is necessary for leading their day-to-day life.
I have just returned from a training camp on the tribal development in KBK districts, held on behalf of Gopabandhu Academy. In that camp the issues of starvation death at Kasipur, Naxalite menace in tribal areas and acute poverty of the people, etc. came up for discussion. You would wonder to know that the literacy level of Malkangiri district is only 8.5%. Why so low literacy percentage? In Kasipur block, a total of 100 crores of rupees was spent under IAFD scheme in course of last 10 years. But why did it fail? I would humbly submit before the media men present here that no newspaper discussed these issues seriously. But such type of information is very much necessary for people's development.
I believe that civil society institutions, be it a youth club, NGO or a self-help group can play a great role in making the administration alert and responsive towards the needs of the people. Similarly if the political parties take genuine interest in people's development then the administration has to show responsiveness towards the people's concerns. Even if there is no law on right to information, the administration has to act responsibly if there is pressure from the civil society. But such a role on the part of civil society institutions is conspicuously absent in today's scenario.
Nowhere in the World are there so many laws as in India. And also nowhere in the World are the laws so complex as in India. But these laws, as I know are of little significance so far people's development is concerned. As you know, the legislature i.e. Parliament or Assembly makes the laws, which the communities of the people at ground level are to abide by. In between we the bureaucrats are there, who are supposed to implement the laws. But as you know, the security of the Government servants is so foolproof that they know that nobody can oust a Government servant from his service within the tenure of his job. This sense of security enjoyed by the Government servants makes them act and behave arbitrarily and irresponsibly towards the people.
If there is coordination between the 3 agencies, Legislature, Administration and Community organizations, any programme or scheme could definitely succeed in delivering the results; otherwise all the plans and programmes are bound to fail.
In the present context when we see the people largely ignorant about the information that matters to them, it is the NGOs and Community based organizations, which have to take the lead role in making them informed. The Government has to encourage the efforts of such NGOs in making information accessible to the people.
A law on Right to Information has to be made in Orissa in such a way as to make the political parties, administration and all the actors of governance, transparent, responsible, responsive and accountable before the people. Such a law could render development truly meaningful for the people since the people would feel encouraged and enabled by this law to take part in the development purposes.
We in our academy hold training programmes for elected representatives, officials and NGOs from time to time on different themes relating to development and governance, I like some of the NGOs like you to take part in such training programmes and contribute by way of dialogue and deliberations to the ongoing process of awareness building among the actors of governance for making the system work better and better.