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Thu, Mar 20 2014. 12 07 AM IST

A file photo of Central Information Commission office. A

national study on the implementation of RTI in 2009, shows

that RTI applications had a 50-60% chance of receiving a

respons e from the government. Photo: HT

RTI: A thrilling but sobering experienceThe real power of RTI lies in the fact that it has enabled citizens to understand how government functions

The Congress party is working hard this election seas on to remindvoters of its h istoric contribution to governance and anti-corruption by

enacting the right to information (RTI) law. Indeed, RTI was among

the first pieces of legis lation brought in by the Congress -led United

Progressive Alliance in 2005 and Congress president Sonia

Gandhiwas at the forefront ensuring its safe passage in

Parliament. So, has nine years of RTI lived up to this promis e?

Indias experience with RTI is both thrilling and sobering . Thrilling

because of the enthusiasm with which citizens used RTIthe

Comm onwealth Human Rights Initiatives (CHRI) estimation of RTI

applications filed across the country in 2011-12 is 4 mil lion.

While the Congress has focused on its role in exposing corruption,

the real power of RTI lies in the fact that it has enabled citizens to

understand how government functions. This can have far-reaching

consequences . In 2008, the Satark Nagrik Sangathan, a Delhi-

based non-governmental organization, began using RTI to access

information on the performance of Delhis lawmakers across a

range of indicators from legis lative performance, their local area

development (LAD) expenditure, to attendance in committee

meetings like the police and ration vigilance committees. This information was widely disseminated in the run-up to the 2008 ass embly

election.

Researchers from JPAL-MIT (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) studied the effects of this

information campaign on voter behaviour in 10 electoral constituencies. The findings were significant. The information campaign im provedvoter turnout by 3.5% and high-performing lawmakers s aw an increase in their vote share; attending ration and police committee meetings

increased incumbent vote share by over seven percentage points.

The government on i ts part has been a reluctant participant. This may come as a surprise, but the rate of rejection of RTI applications is

relatively low. Data from RTI Ass ess ment and Analysis Group (RAAG), a national study on the implementation of RTI in 2009, show that RTI

applications had a 50-60% chance of receiving a response from the government. The more recent CHRI study estimated rejection rates at

10%. But this may soon change, as early findings from a new study by RAAG sugges t that rejection rates are ris ing rapidly.

Here is the bigger surpris eRTI applications m atter. The genius of RTI is that it is designed to engage directly with the key instrument of

the Indian bureaucracypaperwork and files. RTI applications are subm itted on paper, acknowledgment s lips are mandatory and

respons es are time-bound and have to be given on paper. In essence, every RTI application requires the system to open a file. And once a

file has been opened, the system simply has to respond, thus triggering a virtuous cycle of action.

That RTI applications lead to action is bes t evidenced in an experimental s tudy by economists Leonid Peisakhinand Paul Pintowho

examined different ways of accessing ration cards in Delhi , to find that filing an RTI application is almost as effective as paying a bribe .

Applicants who paid a bribe received their cards wi thin two-and-a-half months of submitting their applications . Those who filed an RTI

received their cards within four months. Applicants who s imply filed applications and res orted to neither the bribe nor the RTI route were s till

waiting to receive their cards one year later.

This is not to sugges t that governments have embraced RTI. Although RTI applications are difficult to ignore, substantive reforms

reviewing internal rules and procedures, updating record management and filing systems which are necessary for transparent

governance, have been firmly resis ted. Moreover, crucial provisions, like section 4 of RTI that mandates departments to proactively disclose

information, have been al l but ignored.

And rather than use RTI as an opportunity to identify information constraints faced by citizens and im prove business processes,bureaucrats have busied themselves complaining about the vexatious, frivolous and voluminous nature of applications. In fact RTIs

singular impact on our governance systems has been the introduction of these words in to our governance vocabulary. So, in practice, RTI

is a reactive law that responds to citizens requests for information rather than a law that proactively builds the foundations of transparent

government.

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Bureaucrats are not alone. Every arm of government has repeatedly sought to res ist RTI and calls to amend the law are now a regular

occurrence. This is hardly surprising. RTI exposes government decis ion-making to the poss ibility of scrutiny, thus challenging traditional

modes of getting things done. And this generates a new set of pressures that need to be negotiated.

Responding to the press ures of RTI requires striking a delicate balance between the need for discretion in decision-making and the

imperatives of transparencyhow to ensure that transparency in appointments doesnt curb the dis cretion to hire the right people? How to

ensure that transparency in political parties doesnt encroach on the internal workings of parties? Crucially, it requires tackling head-on the

causes of adminis trative failure and the breakdown of rule-based decis ion-making, including the vexed questions of bureaucratic

incentives, pol itical influence on career paths, staff capacity and s o on.

Negotiating this complex world of transparent governance requires im aginative political leadership. On this, the Congress, for all its s upport

to the idea of RTI, has quite simply failed. Rather than actively engage with the challenges posed by RTI, it has been at the forefront of

efforts to amend the law. And this has also em boldened efforts to res ist RTI. It is now com monplace for bureaucrats and poli ticians to

argue that RTI has m ade decision-m aking imposs ible. This failure to provide the leadership needed and bui ld the foundations of a

transparent government is sobering, for in the long run it may mean that a s ignificant opportunity has been lost.

Yamini Aiyar is a senior research fellow and director of the Accountab ility Initiative of the Centre for Policy Research.