Who will mind the minders?

If you want my opinion, no one should. But, obviously my opinion does not count for much or else there would not be reviews on the performance of the Central Information Commission and the Right to Information (RTI) Act. This nation has been built on the strong foundations of opaque processes and ad hoc, whimsical decisions, and tied together with plenty of red tape. Who do these RTI activists think they are to try and change the way things have always worked?

While I admit to have prematurely announced the death of babudom, I was happy to find out that the RTI was nowhere as effective as I feared it would be. My fellow babus had devised several effective ways of countering the RTI Act like rejecting applications on false pretexts, proving incomplete or incorrect responses, delaying responses, or in some cases demanding proof of citizenship before an RTI application can be made.

One and a half years after the Act came into effective, several organizations and newspapers have begun reviewing the performance of the RTI to ensure that it is not merely an eyewash. PRIA has done a detailed performance review of the RTI Act and has pointed out several problems like delays in approving the constitutions of the state information commissions, high cost of application process in some states [Himachal Pradesh charges Rs. 10 per page for photocopying, when shops in Mumbai charge twenty times less] and very few penalties being actually imposed for delays in responding to applications for information. They also point out more serious problems like Public Information Officers (PIO) in government agencies threatening applicants to withdraw applications, refusing applications under false pretexts and being absent from their offices.

The Financial Express has pointed to several problems like delays in the appeal process and insufficient number of Information Commissioners with the Central Information Commission. However, the most serious problem being the perception among PIOs that the RTI need not be taken seriously since the CIC is reluctant to impose pentalties on PIOs for not doing their job ["there have been a total of only 27 cases on which penalties have been imposed, out of the thousands that have come to the commission since October 2005"].

Several newspapers have also pointed out the ineffacies of the RTI in various states, while arguing that the RTI be given more teeth. Meanwhile others in the government are looking to see how to quickly extract a few key canines. The government's earlier attempts at curbing the RTI were stymied [they had tried to amend the RTI by making file notings and the UPSC exams exempt from the RTI]. They are now trying to exempt certain organization from the RTI Act. Activists like Anna Hazare has threatened an agitation if the RTI Act is amended.

Meanwhile, netas, babus, builders and industrialists will be spending a lot of sleepless nights in the coming fortnight as activists have launched a large-scale enquiry into the creation of several Special Economic Zones (SEZs). That this will unearth some dirty secrets is definite, what is not known is whether any heads will roll. I will be sure to write about how my dear babu friends can save their necks. You know who I will be rooting for.

3000+ pending cases with Central Information Commission

It turns out that us babus have more reasons to cheer. TOI reports that there are more than 3000 complaints and appeals made under the RTI act still pending.

My earlier apprehensions were quite misplaced. When I think about it, it seems bleeding obvious that you can't have babus accustomed to doing nothing in charge of getting other babus to get off their fat asses. "It takes a thief to catch a thief" is all very well in theory but in practice you can be sure that they'll soon be hand-in-glove laughing at you, while they merrily enjoy their unjust rewards.

Lamenting the Death of Babudom

Right to Information Act vs. Right to Not Act

I ask you what is the use of living in a democracy if the rights of the many are used as an excuse to trample over the rights of the few. Is it not the responsibility of a democracy that rights of individuals be protected?

The individuals that I speak of are that dying breed of bureaucrats like me, and the rights that I speak of are our unassailable Right To Not Act, which has been variously described to encompass the Right to Unjustified Self-Importance, the Right to 2 p.m. Afternoon Naps, and last but not least the Right to Chai Paani. And the cudgel that is being wielded to steal us of our rights is none other than the much touted Right to Information Act.

The death knell

I do not exaggerate that us babus are now an endangered lot. Now, the citizens of our country can demand to know why their application was rejected and then we have to wade through that same maze of files that we had so successfully built up over the decades. You can very well imagine the damage this has done to the physiques that we had so carefully cultivated through two hour long lunches followed by afternoon siestas on the nation's time.

And then there is the digitization of documents that has begun in right earnest. Soon all those mountains of files that we had to painstakingly built up will be reduced to a few terrabytes of data. I ask you, isn't that too much of a price to pay for having information conveniently at your fingertips?

If you answered no, then you clearly haven't seen the tearful expressions of gratitude on the faces of the poor war widows who have just been told that the petrol pump that the government decided to award them will finally be theirs after years spent filling all the appropriate forms, writing enquiry letters, enquiring about the status of enquiry letters and so forth. This trend of answers at the tips of their fingers and instant gratification is disturbing to say the least.

The future

So where does that leave me and my sorry lot, the ones who through our propensity to misplace applications (filled in triplicate) and other wiles of bureaucracy helped ensure that this nation's progress after our independence has been like that famous tortoise, slow and steady.

After we are gone, who will direct hapless citizens to the appropriate departments, which only the facetious would call making them run from pillar to post? Who will guard the secrets of how this nation works close to our chests?

With babudom in its final throes, and democracy clearly irrelevant, I will spend the rest of my days here, lamenting the death of officialdom, the demise of all things sacred, and occassional celebrating a few victories of the my kin.