The Tamil Nadu government can claim a pioneering role in enacting a Bill to ensure the people's right to information, on which a Central legislation has been proposed by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy. But the provisions of the measure, passed by the State Assembly last week, do not sound like the perfect answer to the prayer for more transparent governance and participatory democracy. It may be unduly churlish to deny the DMK regime credit for the initiative. The Bill -- purportedly to enable individual citizens to access within a deadline of 30 days any documented information of any permissible category relating to any organisation under the government's control is not without its basic merit. It does represent, at any rate, a recognition of the right, long rendered unreal by successive governments. The severe, even self-defeating, limitations of the legislation lie in the impermissible categories of information, listed out by its authors. It is understandable if information about military and security intelligence and similarly sensitive areas of the country's foreign policy conduct is made inaccessible to the common man. The secrecy of the proceedings of the Cabinet is constitutionally protected. Equally out of bounds are aspects of the policy-making process such as budget formulation.

More disingenuous are the broad range of bars placed on dissemination of information in the name of a largely notional public interest. The qualifying clauses make the Bill almost a companion to the outdated Official Secrets Act (which Reddy very rightly considers ripe for amendment in several respects). A particularly cynical response is warranted by the provision that seeks to protect from prying eyes ``confidential communications between Ministers and the Governor''. Equally inexplicable is the denial of the right where it can presumably damage ``the government's ability to manage the economy''. If a measure aimed at ensuring right to information is to be effective, it should meet certain basic requirements.

In the first place, a State-level initiative can only be a hopelessly inadequate one. The demand for the right as a major issue dates back to the Bofors days, and it was a popular response to the attempt to shroud the kickbacks and save the culprits under the smokescreen of `security'. Only an enlightened Centre can rescue the right from manipulated myths. Secondly, no measure in this direction can go a long way without the political will to put life and credibility into its provisions.

The Tamil Nadu Government says that the Bill will enable the citizens to ascertain the quantity of rice and other stocks in the public distribution system. The claim will carry conviction only if figure-fudging in the PDS is eliminated. That the right cannot be guaranteed by the government and its agencies alone necessitates the need for strengthening the freedom of the Press. Rulers at the Centre and in the States will do well to look up the draft Bill on the same subject prepared by the Press Council some time ago.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.