Some thoughts on RTI

The best legislation that our ministers have ever passed in the parliament is RTI act. It is one of the most powerful acts, which gives direct power to the people to raise queries and get answers. I think we should really thank the civil society members, ministers and the bureacrats involved in passing the historic act.

With all due respect to RTI act, I would like to critic few parts of this legislation which looks uncomfortable and getting too much into details (atleast for me personally). So here it goes.

Privacy:

Recently President Pratibha patil was in news for her exorbitant foreign travel bills. Her foreign visits have caused around Rs. 205 crores to the exchequer. I think as President she is required to travel different countries and meet different people. She is the first citizen of India, the highest authority in Indian government and needs to carry that image with her, where ever she goes. Comeon she represents India and has to spend money for that. Now who was this gentle man who wanted to know the details of her travelogue and bills. Isnt this getting too much into the personal detials. And look at media, they are ready to post about this at full length with all minute details. Privacy is something which each of us demand and its our right to hide few aspects of our life. We need not disclose everything about ourselves to people. RTI is a wonderful act and should be used sanely. People should use RTI to get relevant information and not about personal details about people in adminstration or government.

Temples and Masjids:

Recently I came across a few news articles which mentioned about temples, masjids and churches coming under RTI act. As far as the legislation goes I believe only public institutions and few other allied instiutions come under RTI act. Is it really necessary to get temples and masjids under RTI.

In India people donate lakhs of rupees to god being anonymous. There are some special bhakts who gift kiritams and what not to impress the Lord. Do you think RTI will work here?.

Transparency is good. Giving access to information is great, but there needs to be a balance between privacy and transparency which RTI act should bring, as it evolves.

General VK Singh's drama

Todays newspapers spoke at length with big and bold headlines about General VK singh disclosing to the media,  that he was offered bribe of Rs. 14 crores by an Ex Army person. The story goes like this, some months back India's Chief of Army was offered bribe to buy sub-standard vehicles. It seems that the lobbyist came to General VK Singh's room to make the deal. And General Sahab was shocked and could not understand what was going on. He was so upset with the event that ..he kept quiet and informed about this event to the Defence minister a few days later. Oh come on Sir, are you joking?. I cant really understand why media is talking about this incident now.  I have some serious doubts about this incident.

Firstly, General VK singh, has been working in Army from several years and is aware of the system ,its practices and policies more than anyone. He has been serving as the Chief of Army from past 2 years.During his tenure in Army which spans for more than 30 years, he might have come across several such incidents directly or indirectly. There was no complaint about being offered bribe to him or his officials/sub-ordinates previously. Why so ?

Secondly, people are not that fool to listen to General VK Singh,when he says that "I was shocked", "I could not understand what to do"... Oh comeon you are the Chief of Army ....You have the supreme powers to take him(lobbyist) to court or take him to jail . With your experience in Army and the powers that you have as the Chief of Army , you can at the very instant when the lobbyist came to you to offer bribe, take some action against him.

The whole incident looks like a planned one. "Thehindu" comes out with a neatly drafted column on the issue and by afternoon, BJP shows its opposition power in the Parliament. TRP ratings of  news channels go up and BJP has new agenda to talk and suspend the question hour in Parliament. Congress has one more reason to worry. Looks like we are hearing about such stories every day.