Unfortunately, citizens are yet to rise to the occasion and play a meaningful role to take the law forward. Demands for information are yet to pour into government offices in large numbers to test the system.

It would be unfair to compare the Bangladesh situation with the Indian experience (refer to Part I of this column published yesterday).

During the International Right to Information Week celebrations recently, a common question in people's mind was: Is the Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI) going in the right direction?

A common reaction of most people about the RTI Act is a lack of trust in its efficacy. It is this general lack of faith in the willingness of public officials to break away from the age-old culture of official secrecy...

What is encouraging to note is that this time the government has come forward to break the culture of secrecy. That's why the RTI law has a provision of pro-active disclosure.