RTI needs no amendments: Aruna Roy
'The Right To Information (RTI) Act has revolutionised the nation and has tilted the power scenario in the society today,' said Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy at the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media (IIJNM) here on Friday.
Satisfied with the results RTI has brought in since its implementation in 2005, she said: “Except Srilanka, all our neighbouring countries are in different stages of implementing the Act. The Act is not just right to information but right to live,” added Roy, who was one of the prime forces behind the implementation of RTI.
Roy narrated an anecdote about a woman who only had primary education, but was fighting for the implementation of RTI. “When the media asked her why she was fighting for the implementation of RTI, the woman said, ‘When I ask my son how much money he spent, why should I not ask the government, which claims to have spent crores of money on us.’ The RTI has given public the power to audit government's expenditure,” she said.
When asked if there was a need for any amendments, Roy said: “The act is comprehensive and needs no change. However, for proper implementation there is a need for manpower.”
Expressing her concerns over the establishment of SEZs in various parts of the country, she said: “Many multi-crop cultivable lands in Mangalore and other places are being listed as barren land so that it can usurped for setting up SEZs by the government.”
Noted journalists Nagesh Hegde and Dakshina Murthy, along with the vice dean of IIJNM, Kanchan Kaur, were present.
