We all pay taxes. Even a beggar on the street pays sales tax when he buys anything from market. This money belongs to us. But where does this money go? Why is there no medicine in hospitals? Why are people dying of starvation? Why are the roads in such pathetic conditions? Why are the taps dry? And the list goes on of such unanswered questions. Now we have a right to question governments. Thanks to our Parliament that it passed Right to Information Act, which empowers citizens to question the government, inspect their files, take copies of government documents and also to inspect government functioning and hold the government accountable.
But merely having legislation doesn’t help; much more needs to be done. Subsequent developments after the passing of the legislation show that the government is not very serious about implementing the Act. The appointment of information commissioners seems to come up in a very tragic fashion and needs professionalism. RTI is no doubt a powerful tool to bring down the effigies of sick governance to some level of sense, but the officers in charge need to be appraised with some better sense and understanding of the subject.
Md Ziyaullah Khan
Pune