The Hero of Freedom Movement in the Punjab- A Review

Dr. Satyapal: The Hero of Freedom Movement in the Punjab by Shailja Goyal

(pp. viii + 271, Rs. 485, 2004)

Recent years have been an emergence of regional histories. These studies are on the one hand the outcome of a realization that in order to understand the ‘national culture’, regional studies are imminent and on the other hand it is a vehement self-assertion of regional academicians to reclaim and reinvent, what has been ignored by elitist historiography. The history of Indian independence is replete with examples of unsung saga of regional heroes. Punjab produced many such heroes and Dr. Satyapal was one of them.

The book under review is a life sketch of Dr. Satyapal who played an important role in the history of Punjab. Satyapal was born on 11th May 1885 in a Khatri family at wazirabad (Pakistan). He graduated in 1902 from F.C. College Lahore and got his M.B. degree from King Edward Medical College Lahore in 1908. Shialja reflects on how, in the backdrop of liberal atmosphere created by socio-religions reform, Satyapal felt on emergent necessity to forge Hindu-Muslim unit in India and joined hands with Saifuddin Kitchlew.

Satyapal became actively involved in Punjab politics in 1918 when Michael O’Dwyer restricted the issue of platform and third class tickets to Indians in Amritsar on the contention of regulating and easing traffic at the railway station. With Kitchlew, he spearheaded the Rowlatt Act agitation and was hailed as the hero of Jallianwala Bagh. One of the most important events of his life was his trial in Amritsar Leader’s Conspiracy case. Shailja has presented vivid accounts of the trial to show the manner in which imperial oppression operated. “Satyapal had no idea as to why he was being detained without even being made aware of the charges on which he was to be tried”.

Satyapal led the Non-cooperation Movement (NCM) His support to the Gurdwara reform movement, which too was inspired by non-violent principles, brought Sikhs closer to the movement and gave impetus to NCM in Punjab. He became the vehement critic of Simon Commission and active participant in Civil Disobedience Movement. Later he became the Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly.

He was one of the prime motivators of the Congress. He was its secretary from 1922 to 1927 and 1929 to 1933. He acted as its President from 1934-1938. He was also the member of the Working Committee of All India National Congress in 1920’s and 1930’s.

Shailja has reflected on the strength and weaknesses of Satyapal. She believes that he was a true Gandhian. He stopped the people from getting violent even when Lala Lajpat Rai was hit by a lathi and he faced the blows while protecting him. The Satyagrahis remained disciplined and the freedom struggle was realistically under the direction of his leadership. During his tenure as the Speaker of Punjab Assembly he said, “I can never by an act of omission or commission let the dignity of this House suffer or its prestige lowered.”

Satyapal’s weaknesses are reflected in the factionalism that infected Punjab Congress during 1930’s. He was at loggerheads with Gopi Chand Bhargava on one or other issue. At times he could not rise above his personal ambitions. Besides this, he was a writer, an orator and strong believer of secular values.

This book is a valuable reading to understand the life and times of Satyapal. Shailja has used impressive historical accounts to trace his ‘historical biography’. It is in its true sense a biographical work since it revolves around the life of Satyapal. It also reflects upon the freedom struggle in Punjab and shows how through his leadership the movement in Punjab kept pace with the mainstream struggle for independence.

December 2004

Savarkar & Hindutva- A Review

Savarkar & Hindutva: The Godse Connection by A.G. Noorani

New Delhi: LeftWord, 2002

Savarkar has been one of the most contested figures in the Indian political sphere. The right-wing 'Sangh Parivar' ideologues have left no stone unturned in idealizing him (Veer Savarkar) as a model for Indian youth and the left-wing critique has attempted to deconstruct any such right-wing hypothesis. More than Savarkar, Hindutva finds its protagonists amongst every section of Indian thinkers. The debate has become even more marked since the unveiling of a portrait of Savarkar in the gallery of the Parliament. This development is significant since he is being projected at par with those for whose murder he was tried in the court of law.

A.G.Noorani's present work is a serious research aimed at critiquing Savarkar, who has become a cult figure for the BJP. Unlike Sumit Sarkar's 'Beyond Nationalism', which deals more with nationalist frames and gives isolated references about Savarkar, Noorani's work deals with Savarkar and 'his' ideology of Hindutva. An earlier work 'Kakhi Shorts and Saffron Flags' by Tapan Basu also attempted at discussing BJP's ideological foundations but there has hardly been any extensive work on Savarkar. The present work attempts at dissecting Savarkar's iconisation through serious archival research and extensive critique of his theory of nationalism.

Although, ideologically Sangh Parivar hails Godse and the murder of Gandhi but they hesitate to own him in public. "The Sangh Parivar has always been ambivalent about Gandhi and felt embarrassed if asked to denounce Godse. The sin is denounced, but the sinner is spared:" Organiser (RSS's mouthpiece) portrays Godse as representing 'the people' and the murder he perpetrated, as an expression of 'the people's wrath'.

Sangh Parivar has tried to glorify Savarkar as a revolutionary and a great freedom fighter. Advani claims that he was sent to Andamans for his revolutionary activities. Noorani contests this claim. He presents evidence to show that Savarkar was sent to Andaman on being convicted for complicity in a brutal and wanton murder. He had narrowly escaped conviction for another. Interestingly in neither case did he hold the gun. He goaded the assassin but covered his own tracks skillfully.

Savarkar's cowardice is exemplified from the petition for clemency that he field with the government from Andamans wherein he promised to 'serve the Government in any capacity they like, ..... The Mighty alone can afford to be merciful and therefore where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the government'. Noorani believes that no apology, no plea for clemency can be more abject and demeaning than this. It by itself suffices to render Savarkar unworthy of admiration or respect.

Jinnah is often entirely blamed for propounding the two-nation theory in 1939 and the partition of India in 1947. Interestingly, it was not Jinnah but Savarkar who first propounded this theory in 1923 in his work on Hindutva and secondly at the Presidential address to the Hindu Mahasabha in 1937. "Savarkar believed that not only the Hindus and Muslims are different, but that one is inferior to the other."

Savarkar's The First War of Independence- 1857 can amaze anyone. Interestingly, he consigns 'the antagonism between the Hindus and the Mohammedans to the past and believes that 'their present relation was to one not of ruler and the ruled, foreigner and native, but simply that of brothers, with the one difference between them of religion alone' and though 'their names were different, but they were all children of the same mother'. This work may seem contradictory and deceptive when one reads his 'The Six Glorious Epoch', which he wrote towards the evening of his life. Here he accuses Ashoka of gross intolerance towards Vedantic Hindus, Tipu Sultan for barbarism and Akbar, a foreigner for his cruelty, intolerance and bidharmi.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Savarkar, escaped physical and mental agony in the jail. By pleading against alleged ill treatment by Muslim Warden he managed to get better living conditions for himself and also Foremanship. He used it to lord over the Muslim prisoners. He started propagating Hindi as the national language and invoked a hatred for Urdu.

Savarkar was a practising atheist. Noorani opines that he did not misinterpret Hinduism, he rather ignored it. He laid the foundations of Hindutva not as a synonym of Hinduism but a loose representation of cultural nationalism (Hindu nationalism). Noorani argues that RSS projection of Vivekananda as the progenitor of the Hindutva is not true as the latter dwelt on spiritual realism and Savarkar's Hindutva is not Hinduism. It is interesting that BJP has been championing the cause of Ram Mandir in the name of Hindutva which has nothing to do religiosity.

The whole Hindutva project is motivated with hatred and venom against Muslims. Savarkar has justified violence and till today his fellow brethren are mitigating bloodshed and revenge in Gujarat. At a public meeting at the Vedanta Ashrama in 1925 Savarkar said that we must not think of participating soft virtues like humility, self surrender or forgiveness. On the contrary, we must, during our subjection, develop sturdy habits of hatred, retaliation, vindictiveness and such other features. Noorani has also cited evidence to show Golwalkar's and Savarkar’s concrete links with Nazi Germany.

Noorani gives minute details of Gandhi murder conspiracy and the trial. Although Godse and Apte were tried and hanged, Savarkar was released by the court for absence of corroborated evidence, which Noorani convincingly questions. In the aftermath of the demolition of Babri Masjid and the project of rewriting of history, Noorani raises questions about the rationality of the Hindutva project. The defeat of BJP in 2002 assembly elections in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh has sent a clear message for its stalwarts that Hindutva card won't sustain their electoral gains for too long.

October 2003

Autobiography of a Cop Committed to Human Rights

Autobiography of a Cop Committed to Human Rights
Yogesh Snehi
The Tribune, Sunday, August 18, 2002

Tryst with Law Enforcement and Human Rights by Sankar Sen.

(APH Publishing, New Delhi. Pages VIII + 384. Rs 595)

THOUGH the title suggests a treatise on law enforcement and human rights, the book is, however, an autobiography of Sankar Sen chronicling 30 years of his life as a police officer. At present Sen is a senior fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences. As an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer he held important posts ranging from Superintendent of Police (SP) to the Director of the National Police Academy (NPA). During this term he served in Vigilance, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Border Security Force (BSF), Railway Protection Force (RPF) and later joined the National Human Rights Commission as its first Director-General.

The work is divided into 16 chapters with an introduction and an index at the beginning and end, respectively. It beautifully portrays the changes in style and texture of policing in India that occurred during the turbulent decades of the last century. The preface gives us an insight into the psychology of the author. It is a testimony to the sincerity of the author and sensitively narrates the agony and ecstasy of a senior law enforcement officer committed to the cause of human rights. Sen draws the readers’ attention to the deteriorating state of policing in India. "The nexus between police officers and politicians has wrought havoc with service discipline and morale of the police." Also highlighted are some disturbing developments, such as infighting and decline of professionalism as a result of poor pay and promotion prospects. The author tells us that an overwhelming majority of constables, who constitute the bulk of the police force, retire in the same rank. This gives a new insight into the problems that bedevil our police force.

There are other significant psychological aspects of these problems. The author feels that the public perception of the police and judiciary, which has branded it as unworthy of trust, shapes and influences police response. He observes that due to this policemen develop a sense of uncertainty and insecurity and suffer from self-pity, thereby making the use of force (custodial violence and brutality) more likely. This may dramatically transform the perception of a reader towards the police. The author had worked with the Shah Commission for an enquiry into the declaration of Emergency by Indira Gandhi. He narrates certain interesting observations made by Justice Shah on one of the most unfortunate episodes in Indian democracy. The book also has accounts of his colleagues and the people who have inspired him.

The sociological insights of the author are surprisingly incisive. The work shows his sensitivity towards the problems of tribes, casteism and human rights. He thinks if the police refuse to investigate tribal cases such as the loss of a small amount of rice or a chicken because of the petty nature of such cases, it would cause serious economic hardships to tribals and would shatter their faith in the judicial system. The author is also critical of separate messing arrangements for constables based on caste. His association with the NHRC has affirmed his conviction that adoption of short cuts and illegal and brutal methods not only dehumanises the police, but also saps their skill and competence. Despite all these concerns, the author reaffirms his faith in policing. He firmly believes that a sensitive and proactive police officer can command respect and confidence and render yeoman’s service to the community.

He asserts that communal riots can be prevented if the law-enforcement machinery takes firm preventive measures at the first signs of approaching trouble. The book suggests enhanced vigilance on corrupt officers and proactive action against them, improved reporting and investigation, re-energising and re-orienting the force by selecting good leaders and improving pay scales, improving training and reducing stress.

The author, while narrating his days in the BSF, has highlighted the disturbing trend of influx of refugees from Bangladesh, which has caused a serious law-and-order problem. His understanding of diplomatic undercurrents at meetings between the BSF and the Bangladesh Rifles may draw a reader’s interest. The recent emergence of private security agencies and their role in maintaining law and order is discussed in the epilogue. The commendable reforms carried out by the author at the NPA and in the RPF make for interesting reading. Although there is always a subjective bias in every autobiography, this does not undermine the true worth of a work. The book can be of a particular interest to young officers joining the police service as well as their senior peers and members of the public troubled by the decline of law and order and erosion of human rights.

Dam, Nation and Rehabilitation

Dam, Nation and Rehabilitation

Yogesh Snehi

In the past one month there has been a spurt in the debates surrounding the issue of dams in India. The argument seems to be divided into two different blocs. On the one side are the activists of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), who are being supported by an entire range of socialists ranging from communists to Gandhians. On the other side is neo-right, the new face of erstwhile followers of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, who have recently embraced hybridised form of tradition and globalisation under the garb of vasudeva kutumbakam. The latter stream of thought has come up to a point of confrontation with NBA over the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. While there has been a lot of debate on the question of dam, development and rehabilitation in the past too, but in the recent past neo-right has tried to present the standpoint of NBA as against development; with an anti-nation perspective.

We thus come across this entire new debate on the question of dams where on the one hand there is this question of right to determine development and ensure adequate rehabilitation and on the other hand there is this issue of nationhood, which can go to the extent of violently chasing any attempts to undermine it, as seen during an attack on NBA office in Vadodra and Modi’s reaction on Supreme Court’s Judgement on 8 May 2006. The point that I am trying to make is that we are locked into a very serious confrontation between civil rights and nationhood. The principle of justice and fair play for the oustees has been undermined in the hands of an authoritative state which thinks that majoritarianism has the right to determine the course of development and the rest have to just follow the way.

This debate raises some very critical issues on the question of rehabilitation; its nature, its course, role of the state and plight of the displaced. There have been arguments that rehabilitation has been a non-issue in any dam projects earlier and it is precisely because of NBA that the process of rehabilitation has become difficult. But if people displaced by earlier dam projects have not been able to raise their voice it might be because of the fact that those displaced remained voiceless. In the recent times we are listening to the protests of oustees of Pong dam in Himachal Pradesh. Interestingly, Himachal Pradesh government has alleged that Punjab and Rajasthan governments are not cooperating in the rehabilitation of Bhakra, Pong and Thein dam oustees, perhaps because in this case oustees are primarily the people of Himachal.

In the case of NBA, thousands of people from three states- Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra have been displaced and rehabilitation has become a mere paper work in the hands of these governments. Can we justify any such state policy which uproots people from their fertile irrigated assets and in the name of rehabilitation provides them with barren pieces of land or any such unrealistic compensation? The question remains that who decides the course of development. If NBA raises its voice against increasing the height of dam until complete rehabilitation, its activities are classified as an anti-progress and anti-nation movement. Critics of NBA go to the extent of describing its activists as ‘professional agitators’.

Dams per se are certainly not irrational, but we will have to decide at what human costs and which benefits will these dams be constructed? Interestingly, check dams or bands have been significant since ancient times, but most of these were localised in terms of cost and benefits. Even if benefits outdo human costs, we will have to rethink as to how long will Eklavyas be forsaken for Dronacharyas of development? The role of the state and courts has been biased in these matters. While the state has constantly been trying to enhance its control over common property resources by displacing farmers and tribals, the judiciary is equally biased in the favour of dams.

The reaction of government over Medha’s fast also raises many questions on the future of non-violent protests in India। By referring to Medha’s fast as an ‘attempt to suicide’, the government has made a mockery of Gandhian ways of protests. Do we have a place for non-violent protests in Indian democracy today? The reaction of government has shown that protest against the policies of the state will now be categorised as criminal acts. The space for democratic dissent is shrinking. It is high time that the policy makers and government realise that biased development will only lead to others forms of violent resistance. And what will be the nature of democracy then? Dr. Manmohan Singh will have to answer these questions when he comes out with the report on the committee formed by him to look into the question of rehabilitation; perhaps before it is too late for the arrogant state to respond and respect the rights of its ‘lesser’ citizens.

22 April 2006

Their Lives are Scattered but They Build for Others

Their Lives are Scattered but They Build for Others
Yogesh Snehi

The Tribune, Sunday, June 22, 2003,

Chandigarh, India

CONSTRUCTION projects involve largest women contract labour in India. Some of these are migrants who travel hundreds of kilometres for work. These women labourers move with families. They are poor and a part of the unorganised sector, since their labour is contractual or casual. A 1971 law (Abolition of Contract Labour Act) sought to eliminate the practice of contract labour and provide some benefits such as maternity leave to women labourers in this field. It, however, is often violated. In some states construction workers are covered by the minimum wages law; in other states they are not.

Phulesari, Ramvati, Kusibai, Rajeshwari, Parmila and Godavari work as contract labourers for the construction of a hostel at the Panjab University. All of them belong to Bilaspur district in Chattisgarh and are between 20 and 40 years. All of them have an agricultural background and own a house in their village. Just 50 per cent of these families own a marginal land (one acre). Though most of them wish to go home once in a year, Parmila and Rajeshwari have not been to home for the last ten years and Godavari for the last six years.

Lives of these women are interesting. Before settling down for work none of them were known to each other. The day the contractor employed them, their first job was to construct a house for themselves. They constructed these houses in a day with mud and bricks and tin/cement sheets for roofs. A mini-colony of ten-twelve families emerges in a day. Their single-room structures are vulnerable to weather and sometimes even to heavy vehicles which accidentally ram into them. The settlement has a common corridor and the doors open in it. There are no facilities for bathroom and toilets and these women have to manage it in some corner or go behind dense bushes nearby. Their living conditions make them vulnerable to 'anything'.

These women work for eight hours a day and get a meagre sum of Rs 50 per day. They are hardly aware of labour laws, according to which minimum wages have been fixed at Rs 80 per day. With this little sum, these women hardly manage savings and live at bare subsistence level. Although women admitted that men sometimes do the household work (when she gets ill), most of the time it is she who bears the triple burden of the construction work, household chores and looking after the children. If there is an elder daughter, she takes care of the siblings. Otherwise, there are no creches or any other places where children can be looked after or supervised.

Health standards of these women and children are far from satisfactory. Their diet intake includes very ordinary pulses, rice and wheat which do not necessarily fulfil the daily nutrient requirement. Although, there was awareness about the Pulse Polio immunisation programme, no child (except one) was immunised with DPT.

The children are also vulnerable to accidents from construction activity and transportation vehicles. Moreover, these women are not provided with any maternity or sickness benefits because they are essentially seasonal labourers. Very often, they are even denied accident benefits as well. All the women are illiterate. Some males have, however, passed matriculation examination.

Keeping in mind the large number of kids (one would question the hoopla over the family welfare programmes) they have (Phulaseri has four children, Ramvati and Kusibai two each, Parmila six and Rajeshwari one) and their meagre income which is hardly enough for living, they don't foresee education for them. Also, the migratory pattern of their living leaves no space for such activities. These women have earlier worked in Ropar, Kharar, Patiala, Rajpura, Ramdarbar, Dadumajra, Panchkula, Barnala and Kurukshetra.

Women have their own means of recreation. All of them are Hindus and share every Hindu festivity. Men, in their free time, sit around, chat and smoke a bidi. For these migrant labourers, the marriage of a daughter brings joy, it also brings financial trouble and, often, indebtedness. There are hardly any ways in which these women can imagine ways to improve their lives. They believe that they are used to this way of life, perhaps because they see no way to change it for the better.

In the absence of literacy and essentially militant unions and also the wherewithal to fight in courts, these women continue to earn below the stipulated minimum wages. They are handicapped in this regard because of both domestic obligations and the economic imperative of earning wages. They believe that this is, perhaps, their destiny.

Network of Social Security

Network of Social Security
Yogesh Snehi

The Tribune, Sunday, May 26, 2002,

Chandigarh, India

Towards Securer Lives: SEWA’s Social-Security Programme
Compiled and edited by Mala Dayal

(Published by Ravi Dayal. Rs 175. Pages 160 )

IN the present-day Gujarat, when mayhem and carnage reign; when women are openly raped, humiliated and killed; their near and dear ones are burnt in front of their eyes; when the government does not even register FIRs against the culprits, the role of NGOs becomes very important. The book under review illustrates the work of one such NGO in Gujarat.

This book, as the name suggests, is a captivating account of SEWA’s (Self Employed Women’s Association) social security programmes, detailing the schemes for child care, health and nutrition, housing and insurance. It exemplifies how women in the unorganised sector (at SEWA they prefer to call themselves self-employed) organise themselves into a union and co-operatives, thereby developing collective strength and bargaining power, becoming visible and obtaining a voice and representation in policy-making forums.

This work is of a great help in understanding NGOs working in the social sector. It shows us how an NGO convinces and organises people for its own welfare. We get a deep insight into what SEWA does, who are the beneficiaries of its work, in which areas does it work, where does it gets its funds from, why does it organise women and above all how does it organise them?

Maya Dayal has used research papers and pamphlets presented at workshops and seminars and also unpublished case studies and surveys to write the book. The sincerity of the work can be judged from the editor’s apology for a sketchy bibliography. The work tends to bring out the spirit of participation and empowerment through self-help and involves the reader with it. Maya takes us through the ups and downs, struggle and evolution of SEWA.

This work has come up in collaboration with the Mahila Sewa Anasooya Trust (an offshoot of SEWA). In the beginning, Meera Chatterjee of SEWA gives a foreward on the work and summarises the structure of SEWA. Maya Dayal introduces SEWA with interesting facts about it. ‘It was started in 1972 as a reaction to non-recognition of the self-employed women as labourers.’ Today, it has over 3,00,000 women workers as its members (two-thirds are rural and one-third are urban). With a third being Dalits, one-third Muslim and a third ‘backward castes’. When we read about the cooperation between different religious communities that exist in the functioning of SEWA in Gujarat it is difficult to understand the eruption of hatred which has taken hundreds of lives.

The book offers us very insightful and interesting details about the schemes undertaken by SEWA. Maya has divided the work into seven chapters. One each on introduction, conclusion and a post-script on the earthquake of January 26, 2001. Four chapters are dedicated to SEWA’s child care, health care, housing and insurance schemes. Interesting statistical details help the reader to peep into the organisational structure and the success of SEWA. The brief case studies bring out the experiences and reaction of women and make the work even more absorbing.

The book gives clear details about the sources of finance, SEWA’s collaboration with the government and its conflict which help the reader to analyse SEWA closely. She points out through a SEWA survey that 98 per cent of the mothers involved in Shaishav (creches) gave their children iron and folic acid and vitamin A supplements. Significantly, all these schemes are sustained by women themselves. One is wonderstruck at the success of health and housing schemes. Dais are trained, health awareness camps are undertaken through "know your body" schemes. There is indeed a lot the present-day government in Gujarat needs to learn from SEWA.

The book eulogises SEWA’s success in providing pucca houses to self-employed women, which are registered in their names. This is something which always remains a distant dream for most of the women working in the unorganised sector. It shows us how insurance has transformed the approach of these women towards their lives. They feel secure and confident after they have been insured of sickness, death, damages to house and work tools and materials through group insurance schemes administered by SEWA.

All these projects have indeed kindled a new hope in the lives of self-employed women. The book shows us how women at SEWA are getting empowered. They are taking important household decisions. The work stimulates the imagination of the reader and instils a new faith in the indigenous methods which could be applied to empower women at grassroots. This experience can be of immense use to social activists, policy makers, researchers and a general reader too who is interested in understanding the dynamics of self-reliance through self-help.

This book, however, suffers from an important limitation. Maya Dayal seems to be greatly influenced by SEWA and eulogises its achievement throughout the work. She hardly leaves any space for criticism and epitomises it as an ideal for NGOs. This robs it of any scope for critical evaluation which the reader could indulge in. This book, at this juncture shows that there is light at the end of the dark tunnel. That there is hope if the Gujarati spirit which has been brought out in SEWA resurfaces and all communities work together for the empowerment of the common man.

Ask, and You Ought to be Told

Ask, and You Ought to be Told

Yogesh Snehi

The Tribune, Sunday, January 15, 2006,

Chandigarh, India

How much has been spent on repairing city roads? What are the medicines that government hospitals distribute free of cost? Now you can seek a whole lot of information of public interest from the authorities. Yogesh Snehi on the strengths of the Right to Information Act as well as the pressures it might face from the bureaucracy

A NEW chapter was added to the history of peoples’ movement in India with the coming of The Right to Information (RTI) Act on June 15 last year. The necessity for this piece of legislation was inspired by the need to enlarge democratic spaces in the Indian polity. This Act has the potential to provide immense possibilities for developing accountability and transparency in decision-making and the utilisation of public funds. Thus, it is important for every Indian to read and make use of this piece of document.

Before the enactment of the RTI in the country, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Madhya Pradesh had upheld and enacted the RTI Act in 1997, followed by Rajasthan in 2000 and Delhi in 2001. The RTI owes its inspiration to Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), Rajasthan, which started the movement for minimum wages in rural India and exposed rampant corruption in schemes meant for rural development. The fruition of the Act in 2005 represents the aspirations of Indian people and their will to develop a new political culture in this country.

The RTI Act has given the people power to have access to all such information that was earlier inaccessible and was kept confidential. So now one can question and seek information about the absence of teachers in government schools, insufficient medicines in hospitals, policy and procedures followed in making decisions, etc. Initiatives for Democratic Rights (IFDR), Chandigarh, recently wrote a letter to Dean Students Welfare, Panjab University, demanding information about the utilisation of a fund meant for mess/canteen workers’ welfare. To make the role of public authorities meaningful, the Act lays emphasis on suo moto disclosures on the schemes initiated by any department which has access to public money and which concerns the interests of the common people.

Every department will appoint a Public Information Officer (PIO) who will be responsible for providing all such information sought by public at large, subject to the payment of a nominal fee which will be defined in the ‘fee rules’ framed by the respective state governments. Interestingly, this Act stipulates the time framework within which this information has to be provided. It should not exceed 40 days in any case. If the PIO concerned fails to provide such information within this time, he has to inform the applicant the reasons for the same. He can also be fined in case of wilful nondisclosure and the applicant has been given the right to appeal the appellate authority against the PIO. The Central Information Commission (CIC) and the State Information Commission (SIC) in the respective states will regulate the work in this regard.

The pace of implementation of the RTI is, however, abysmal. The Punjab Government has planned to digitalise the information and evolve a paper-free office for the Commission. I am not sure what will the government do with digitalising the information when the majority of the population is illiterate in information technology. Besides this, the seriousness of the government in reaching out to the people is questionable since it continues to be reluctant to translate the text of the Act into Punjabi. Something very significant came up at the workshop organised recently by the Ministry of Rural Development at Jaipur, where Aruna Roy (MKSS) pointed out that the Chief Information Commissioner did not have an office for himself and the Commission. The same is the case with the SIC, which continues to ‘hunt for an office’ for itself.

This Act continues to be under threat of pressure from public servants — our bureaucrats. Though the Prime Minister has said that ‘file notings’ relating to development plans, schemes, programmes and projects should be in the ambit of the RTI, there is immense pressure on the government and the Central Information Commission to exempt these from the ambit of this Act. The seriousness of the matter can be judged from the fact that on December 9, O P Kejariwal, one of the four Information Commissioners with the CIC, wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister expressing his concern over the eroding of the RTI by the bureaucracy and the abysmal working conditions at the apex commission.

It is a serious matter because if the exemptions under file notings related to identifiable individuals, group of individuals, organisations, appointments, matters relating to inquiries and departmental proceedings are implemented, it would amount to, as Kejariwal says, "nothing less than an effective amendment`85" It indeed raises questions on what would be the nature of the Act after file notings are exempted. Any information which may have the potential of creating trouble for the officer concerned may be classified as file noting. Further, if the officials concerned would not be named then on whom will the responsibility of the aberration be laid?

Finally, even though the central government should be given its due for the enactment of this Act, the public should continue to lay pressure on the government for its effective implementation. It is also essential to question the procedure of appointing the PIOs as till now those officers have been designated PIOs who have earlier denied information to public.