Reverse logic

Administrative Reforms Commission Chairperson Veerappa Moily had won our approval in these columns last week for suggesting that subjects concerning the country’s security be put under the purview of the National Security Act and that the Official Secrets Act be scrapped. However, Mr Moily’s latest recommendation, that the armed forces be taken out of the ambit of the Right to Information Act, contradicts the very reasoning that underpins the earlier suggestion. Arguing that the army deserves the same treatment as the paramilitary forces that lie outside the ambit of the Act, Mr Moily has applied a bizarre reverse logic which is akin to setting off a race to the bottom with regard to transparency and accountability.

Ostensibly, the paramilitary forces are out of the purview of the RTI Act in order to safeguard information critical to the country’s security. However, the Act contains sufficient in-built provisions to set such worries at rest. Section 1.8 of the Act provides for the withholding of information whose disclosure might “affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence”. What excuse is there, then, to exempt the military and paramilitary forces from the purview of the Act?

In recent years, the Indian Army’s reputation has taken a severe beating with regard to at least two significant issues – corruption and human rights violation. Several instances have come to light exposing a web of corruption running through the ranks of the army, with horizontal linkages to the bureaucracy and politicians. In addition, allegations of human rights violations, from Kashmir, Manipur and elsewhere, have grown in number. Nevertheless, national and state human rights commissions have been barred from investigating army and paramilitary personnel. It is precisely to remedy this situation that the RTI Act must be applied to the military and paramilitary forces. All human and political rights derive from the basic right to know. If the RTI Act is to fulfil its professed aim of creating greater transparency in the functioning of government agencies, containing corruption and enhancing accountability, the way to go is to bring both the military and paramilitary forces under its ambit.