Right to information
A non-government organisation arranged a conference in Dhaka, chaired by the Chief Adviser, regarding uninterrupted flow of information and this seems to be the last pledge of the caretaker government to fulfil. The general people do not long for an assurance or promise from the government side any longer, other than the effective implementation of the act. Our Law Commission prepared a valid draft of this long awaited law but one has to feel sorry that successive governments did not make any endeavour to go forward with it. The draft was abandoned first in the Ministry of Law and it groaned in the Information Ministry for a pretty long hour. It had been a custom for the Information Ministry to assure and reassure the ballot power (the common people). Ironically, due to the failure to fulfil the promise, the idea was left untouched.
It is to be duly underscored here that our Information Adviser spoke of the matter off and on while it was not taken into account. Later, the government gave a final, positive proclamation. Undoubtedly, people trust this government in terms of transparency, accountability and free as well as impartial information. But where does the problem lie? It is simply difficult to understand.
The task needs to be accelerated since the infrastructure and the procedural measures will take a long time for its full implementation. Britain made 'Freedom of Information Act' and five years have elapsed since the inception to build up an 'Information Regime'. India too took one full year. The preservation steps and methods that we have are invariably shaky and insufficient.
The crux of the matter is that if we can build up a tolerably good system under this act, the nation as a whole will benefit.
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