The Web of Rights

A few weeks ago a young friend from Delhi spammed my Orkut account with a message urging me to check out their NGO's work on good governance, using Right to Information as a tool. Though the spam irritated me a bit, I was impressed visiting the organisation's website and learning about the work they are doing. The Right to Information Act and the involvement of Indian civil society in putting it to use has been a watershed among movements that have people at their core. While the relationship between right to spam and the right to information are complex, in this case, I thanked my young friend for sending me the information! In fact I invited her to write for this journal which she has done.

Unhindered flow of information say economists is an essential pre-requisite for perfect competition in markets. And perfect competition is best for consumer welfare. Drawing an analogy, if we think of citizens as 'consumers' and democracy and its institutions (elected representation, universal franchise, rule of law) as the framework, then again information becomes vitally important for this framework to deliver the goods. The goods: of course good governance, empowered citizenry, lesser corruption among others.

So the right to information is one of those 'super-rights' that if realised to its fullest can nurture and strengthen other rights of the people. This is why the rulers of the day have been jittery and attempts to dilute the law are afoot, here in India. Thankfully a proactive and vigilant civil society has till now prevented this from happening.

Yet, can this right stand in isolation as a source from which other rights and empowerments flow? We know this is not so. For information without understanding is useless, just as understanding without information can be misdirected. Education and the existence of a vibrant civil society movement guarantees that this marriage of information and understanding take place.

Let's talk about India. Here the right to information legislation is being used by deprived and better off alike in demanding (among various other things) information about progress in government projects, payment of old-age pensions among other things. But in many cases there is a civil society organisation facilitating the process of exercising the right. This is necessary as many of us do not know the exact procedures involved. Moreover a large section of the victims of mis-governance are the deprived. They are victims because their deprivation has made them vulnerable and among these deprivations is often a lack of basic education.

Education nurtures our social consciousness, even the most rudimentary knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic helps us relate to the world in an extra-animal way that is not only about instincts. The Indian reformer Swami Vivekananda said

'Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.' Without the manifestation of this perfection - what we call here social consciousness, or our consciousness of rights and duties - no super-legislation can guarantee salvation.

While NGOs can play the important role of mediator they can do so much. To instil consciousness about rights, to inculcate the attitude of asking questions and fighting for answers, education has no alternative.

So in this web of rights where the right to information alongwith human rights occupy a central space, education happens to be the gossamer thread that holds it all together. Its that sine qua non which guarantees that the web, is a web of life and empowerment and not a quagmire of blind alleys and endless pits. And this is why the right to education (elementary education to begin with) becomes so important.

Alas! progress on this right is slow and in India we still don't haven't got the necessary amendment to the Constitution that will enshrine this supremely important right. Bogged down in nitty-gritties, procrastinating for reasons best known to ourselves we keep delaying in institutionalising one of the pivotal rights that will bring this web to life. When education and enlightenment reach every corner of our land and people begin to ask questions and demand for change, that will be the greatest of revolutions to have come for a long time. Till then we go on erecting the edifices of our democracy, on thin ground.

(Editorial written by Rajat Chaudhuri, Published in Southern Initiatives Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol II/I. Copyright, Southern Initiatives . All rights reserved)