New Delhi:
The Prime Minister today said that he is against any dilution of the Right to Information Act which allows the public to apply for documents used by any government department. "Empowering our citizens with this right was a huge step forward in the direction of curbing corruption and improving process of governance," said Dr Manmohan Singh. Acknowledging the country's frustration with graft, he said, "This convention is taking place at a time when there is a vigorous ongoing debate on the issues of corruption and governance."
He also warned, "Excessive (use of) RTI can discourage honest public servants from giving full expression to their views...I think we need to remember here that a point of view brought under public scrutiny and discussion in an isolated manner may sometimes present a distorted or incomplete picture of what really happened in the processes of making the final decisions."
(Read: Full text of PM's speech)Adding that the demands or applications for information can overwhelm departments, he said, "A situation in which a public authority is flooded with requests for information having no bearing on public interest is something not desirable"
Recently, the effective use of RTI has led to the disclosure of documents that have left the UPA government squirming. The recent topper of that list was a note prepared by the Finance Ministry in March this year that faulted P Chidambaram for not exercising his complete powers as Finance Minister in 2008 to enforce an auction of valuable spectrum.
The absence of that auction is believed to be one of the major catalysts of the telecom scam, believed to be India's largest swindle. Mr Chidambaram, who is Home Minister, was asked to resign by the Opposition on the basis of the Finance Ministry's note. After a week-long political storm, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee clarified that different ministries had contributed to the note and that he did not agree with all its inferences.
"The demand for information under RTI has growing significantly year after year in the last six years," said Dr Singh, whose government has been weakened by a recent cache of financial scandals. "It is a matter of considerable satisfaction for us that the rejection of information requested has been decreasing." He also agreed that public authorities need to voluntary disclose more information.