It's right time to answer to the question Is India a Democratic Country?
Indian Constitution proudly speaks India is a Democratic country. But is it really true??…
What made me to ask this question? - How Democratic is Indian polity?
It is because Indian polity has failed to provide solutions to the common man's problems.
If a government teacher does not teach properly, can the parents do anything about it? Or if a doctor in a government hospital does not treat properly or does not give medicines what action can be taken against him? Or what can any one of us do if the policeman refuses to register our FIR or registers a false case against us?
We cannot do anything about it. We can only complain to the higher authorities who do not act upon our complaints or who rarely act upon it. So, the citizens do not have any control over government employees.
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Some of us feel that this country would be a better place to live in if we had good politicians and bureaucrats. However, real change can come only when the people of this country hold their government and public servants accountable, so that they are forced to respond to the poorest citizen of this land. And when that happens, no public servant or government would dare to be corrupt, inefficient or insensitive.
Thomas Jefferson rightly said… "Information is the currency of democracy." We cannot even begin to make the government accountable if we do not have the basic information regarding government decisions and functioning. But, is it possible for an ordinary citizen to get right information in this regard?. Yes!
The Right to Information Act that was passed by Indian Parliament in May 2005 empowers us to do just that. It gives us the right to question our Government and get information about matters that affect us in thousands of ways. Used innovatively, this information can then be used to hold our Government accountable.
In State of U.P Vs Raj Narain
Supreme Court has observed
"In a government of responsibility like ours where the agents of the public must be responsible for their conduct there can be but a few secrets. The people of this country have a right to know every public act, everything that is done in a public way by their public functionaries. They are entitled to know the particulars of every public transaction in all its bearings."
Right to Information is a small concrete step in making our polity more democratic. It has given power to the people to "just question" the government. The main objective of this paper is to create Awareness regarding "Right to Information Act" through which much of the common man's day to day life problems can be solved thereby making our country really democratic. The paper is more of application oriented rather than mere descriptive of the act.
Information, Appeal, Public Information Officers (PIO), Assistant Public Information Officers (APIOs), Appellate authority
