ROLE OF PUBLIC, MEDIA AND NGOs

ROLE OF PUBLIC, MEDIA AND NGOs IN OPERATIONALIZING RIGHT TO
INFORMATION ACT, 2005
Alok Chantia
Abstract:
Democracy of any country depends upon the good governance which ultimately depends
upon transparency, openness and accountability. A democratic form of government is
presumed to work for the excellence and betterment of common people granting equality
and social justice. In recent years Indian democracy has shown significant emancipatory
potential of civil society while fighting against corruption, undemocratic ways of the
government and dominant social structure.
Empowering the citizens of Indian democratic republic the Right to Information Act,
2005 was given Presidential assent on 15 June 2005 and became operative from 12
October, 2005 i.e. 120 days of its enactment. The right to information is seen as the key
to strengthen the participatory democracy and ensuring more peoples’ involvement in the
process of good governance. It arms the people with the information as regards
government policies, rules, regulations, decisions and controls the discretionary and
arbitrary exercise of the power.
Success of any enactment depends on its effective implementation and enforcement in
true spirits for which groundwork and infrastructure is highly necessary. Besides
education, training and sensitization of the authorities for operationalizing the Act is also
mandatory. Section 26 of the Act authorizes the appropriate government in this regard.
Role of public, media and NGOs is also very important for making the democratic
institutions responsive and leadership accountable to the public. After critically analyzing
the provisions and working of the Act, the present paper provides an analytical
framework to understand the linkages between public, media, NGOs and good
governance through Right to Information Act, 2005.