Civil rights triumph over attempt to weaken anti-corruption law

Civil rights activists across India were celebrating a government climb-down yesterday, after controversial proposals to dilute the country’s freedom of information law were dropped.

The legislation, introduced last year, gives public access to all government papers with a few limited exceptions.

Thousands took to the streets in cities across India over the past two weeks to protest against what has been seen as an attempt to kill off a law that empowers the poor and tackles corruption.

Leaked copies of a government bill, which was withdrawn late last week, revealed plans to remove crucial details of government work, including file notes, from public view.

Private companies, community groups and individuals have been using India’s Right to Information Act extensively to root out corrupt practices, particularly bribery, in India’s public sector.

“The poorest of the poor are entitled to food subsidies but unless they grease a few palms they can’t get them,” said Venkatesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, explaining that minority groups and lower castes are the worst affected .

Nayak trains people in poor communities across India to use the freedom of information law to challenge corrupt officials, known derogatively as “babus” – a name originally given to Indian clerks in the colonial era. When government is more transparent, he said, it is harder to extort money .

In the month of July alone almost 20,000 right-to-information applications were made across India on issues as diverse as ration cards, passports, road repairs, water and electricity connections, embezzlement of social security funds and public sector pay.

More than 1500 volunteers manned information centres outside government offices as part of an anti- corruption drive sparked by outrage over media reports, including sting operations in which officials and police were filmed taking bribes.

“There has been a 180-degree shift in approach,” said Shri Wajahat Habibullah, head of India’s Central Information Commission, an independent complaints body. “We inherited our bureaucracy from the colonial administration and our imperial past – it’s attuned to keeping things secret. But now officials are expected to give out information unless they are told not to.”

There have been close to 3000 complaints of obstruction in providing public information in central government alone up to the end of July. The figures for India’s federal states are unavailable but are thought to be far higher.

In cases where officials conceal or falsify public information, fines can reach 25,000 rupees (£350), the equivalent of a senior official’s monthly salary.

The first contempt-of-court case, involving a Delhi official who failed to pay a fine, took place last week and “people are baying for more”, said Habibullah.

“Until now, officials had no interest in ordinary people but they are being forced to change,” explained Shailash Gandhi, convenor of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI).

The NCPRI claimed to have uncovered widespread corruption in the ruling Congress Party’s flagship employment scheme, which guarantees 100 days’ paid work per year to every rural family living below the poverty line.

“We got the lists of people who were meant to have benefited and found fictional names. Many entitled to work were not included,” he said, adding that people are slowly learning to demand their rights. “The right-to-information law is empowering them. It could transform the way this country is run over the next few years.”

All of which is proving too much for the country’s public sector elite.

“We’ve got a classic ‘Empire Strikes Back’ situation,” said Venkatesh Nayak. “T hey are worried and are trying to backtrack.”

The government withdrew its unpopular proposals following opposition from left-wing parties and reports that the Congress Party chairwoman, Sonia Gandhi, had “reservations”.

“It’s a limited victory,” said Shailesh Gandhi, as protesters held lively demonstrations and street “referendums” in cities across the country yesterday.

“We are still waiting for independence in India – from the brown-skinned rulers who took over when the British left. It will still take some time until we get a real democracy.”