Right to Information

Madhav Godbole has brought out many implications of the proposed Freedom of Information Bill, 2000. He knows well how the bill can be twisted by various agencies particularly of the government which one of the custodians of wealth of information termed as 'official' documents. Many government agencies both at the central and state levels are engaged in collecting various technical information data periodically (daily, monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, annual, etc) e g, agro-meteorological, hydrological, hydrogeological, geological, agricultural, etc. However, quite often these data are not compiled regularly. As a result, most of the information became outdated and irrelevant. There are many conservative departments which are very rigid about sharing any information with outsiders. These agencies do not release any published and printed documents at all. Hence, it is very difficult to know about the activities and performance of these departments. The Freedom of Information Bill should have clauses to allow ordinary citizens to take stringent action against such secretive departments whose primary function is to provide vital information to people for better planning.

R N Rakshit
Mumbai