Abstract

This paper tries to justify that right to information is a fundamental human right. As my
understanding goes human rights can be regarded unhindered use of natural resource and we
need to treat information as that also and make its flow free from unnecessary restriction. As
Aruna Roy had undoubtedly said that right to know is right to live. Which is an inevitable
human right and a human should comprise of it. If we take information it is an abstract concept
but for the sake of complexity and understanding Indian government had tried to give it an
objective definition. According to Right to Information Act 2005 information can be defined as
any material including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases,
circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any
electronic form.1 Great intellectuals had written about importance of disclosure of information
in their several works. The importance of freedom of information was to fight evils, liberty or
good governance policies. Jeremy Bentham had said that Secrecy, being an instrument of
conspiracy, ought never to be the system of regular government 2. Even in United Nations
General Assembly in year 1946 a statement which held true to the subject of this paper which is
Freedom of information is a fundamental human right and is the touchstone to which the UN is
consecrated. This paper will try to establish importance of Right to Information and
effectiveness in Indian democracy. At the later stage of paper we will be evaluating that had it
sufficed it purpose? Or is it just another failure of public policy, and if it is what are main reasons
behind this. Freedom of information decides the fate and future of the people of a country we
should not compromise with it.

1 RTI Act, 2005

2 Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham volume 2, part 2 (1839).

Introduction
First I am going to demonstrate that with restriction in information one man thing from which
you are deprived is nothing but your basic human right. This can be shown with the help of few
examples:Situation 1: Imagine someone died because of accident and you need to claim insurance. But
police refuses to give you the document like FIR and post mortem. What will you do? What is
your last resort?
Situation 2: You are not given the information for admissions through reservations and the
admissions are totally done as a secret. What have you lost?
In both the above situation proper freedom of information is not here and due to which there
fundamental human rights are being violated. These are the consequences of secrecy of
information. As rightly pointed out that Governments that try to control information are fighting
a losing battle and if they bother trying, will face exorbitant costs. 3 Here the cost will be fading
confidence of people in government. As seen in one of the scenes of the show which is going
through the mind of people Game of Thrones that a person demands for information his captor
and he is bind to give that information as this is a basic right of every person. I know both these
situation have different scales but access to information is an important part of development. A
government who rules with secrets is not a working democracy but merely a form of
dictatorship.
RTI is a sword which is used to cut down conspiracy and corruption in different sectors
of democracy. Also through to proper knowledge they can take participation in governance
which is an essential part of a working democracy without this they will be taking all wrong
decisions and probably going for the doom of the country. In India we use Right not Freedom
due to reason that word Right implies parallel duties. As citizen have right to access data on the
other hand government also have the duty to provide with data and mechanisms to attain that
data. Whereas Freedom doesnt implies clear duty to government for providing data.4
3 Thomas Freidman, 1999 New York Times International Affairs Correspondent.

Right to information as fundamental Human Right

What does lack of information does? The satisfying answer to that question would be that it
hiders or takes the opportunity of people to develop and stop them to efficiently using their
Human Rights. There are countries like South Africa where right to know is given as a
Fundamental Right. Recently Justice B. Subhashan Reddy has stated that efficient use of RTI is
necessary for activists to ensure accessibility to other rights. Also we cant ensure liberty of
people without giving them the proper knowledge. In a free society like ours gate must be open
to everyone to take a part in societys welfare, but to that everyone should also have proper
knowledge of the thing going on in the society and other part of this says that everyone should
have a right to express about these situations. Some things should be concealed not because
people dont deserve to know it by seeing the bigger picture which is safety of the state ex. War
related information.
Importance of recognizing Right to access information:

It is a necessary condition for a working democracy and an essential for the notion of

good governance and efficient use of other human rights.

It impose a duty on the government on one hand and also gives benefit to people. People

violating this law shall be punished by the courts.

It gives the virtue that knowledge belongs to the peoples not organizations or
government. The thought that data is secret unless there is a solid purpose behind
discharging it is supplanted by the thought that all data is accessible unless there are solid

explanations behind denying it.5

Gives citizens the legal power to attack the legal and institutional impediments to
openness and accountability that still dominate the operations of many governments. It
moves the locus of control from the state to the citizen.

4 Dr. Suresh M. Devare, RTI as a Human Right in India

5 http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=77#_edn3 last visited:
19/11/2015

Basically it can be said that right to information is key to gates of human rights and any violation
in this would lead to certain amount of punishment. In India, people have right to know about
their rations and found out any fraudulent practices.6
Constitutional position
RTI in not explicitly given to the citizens of India as a part of fundamental rights. Thus,
according to Supreme Court approach toward RTI it can be seen that they are deriving it from
article 19(1) (a) which is freedom of speech and expression. Supreme Court while regarding to
Right to know have also said that without Right to information, Right to life cannot be
exercised.7 If anyone violates this right one can go to the court for reforms under article 226 to
high court and article 36 to Supreme Court. So basically recognizing it as a Right compels to
form a corresponding act to back the Right. So that we can operationalize the Right.
Development in India
From long ago India have been struggling for the right to information and they were growing
with the passage of time. The states were the first to take steps in this direction which complied
centre to jump in.
The first instance of this right can be shown in year 1994 when a group named Mazdoor Kisan
Shakti Sangathan in Rajasthan who were fighting for land right and minimum wages raised up
said that the corruption in administration is due to denial of rights to the citizens therefore they
ask for access to data. This movement took up the air and Rajasthan government had to enact
laws regarding right to know in the year 2000. This prompted other states as Mysore to enact
right to now.

6 Kejriwal, A. (2003) "More stories of Parivartan", India

Together,April2003:http://indiatogether.org/2003/apr/gov-rtidelhi.html
7 Reliance Petrochemicals Ltd. vs Proprietors of Indian Express, AIR 1989 SC 190