HURDLES TO TRANSPARENCY LAWS IN SAARC NATIONS

Author:MAMTA BHADU

Army Institute of Law, Sector-68, Mohali

Email: mamtab496@gmail.com

Phone No.- +91 9501340199

Co-Author: PALLAVI SUPEHIA

Army Institute of Law, Sector-68, Mohali

Email: Pallavi.supehia@yahoo.com

Phone No.- +91 8146012440

1
 HURDLES TO TRANSPARENCY LAWS IN SAARC NATIONS
Mamta Bhadu and Pallavisupehia
nd
2 year Students at Army Institute of Law, Mohali

The concept of liberalism has reached to such a height that today we can talk of things that
were unimaginable in the past. History gives us instances where the ruled had to go to the
extent of revolting against the rulers for what, we can today get at the drop of the hat. Right
to Information is the new age tool of the democratically ruled. The abstraction of this new
age tool was laid by Sweden way back in 1776. This right slowly spread its angelic wings to
the rest of the world. In the 90s the SAARC nations in the quest of being more transparent
and liberalised bestowed its citizens with the right of RTI.
Transparency is the magic wand which will restore the faith of the public in a responsible and
a healthy government. RTI has led to corruption free and transparent governing systems
across the world. RTI disseminates the power of checks of the organs of the government to
the people. In today’s world RTI plays an integral role in the upliftment of a nation as a
whole therefore it is of utmost importance for the SAARC nations to implement RTI and
ensure its smooth functioning.

SAARC has different region specific problems which are non-synonymous to other regions
of the world leading to peculiar kinds of hurdles.The paper endeavours to put light upon these
stumble blocks. It shall briefly also brush upon other kinds of transparency laws. It will deal
with what can a state achieve if it exhausts its right to information completely. The attempt
shall also be to solve region specific problems of the SAARC states.

2
INTRODUCTION

Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the 8th of December
1985 joined hands together to launch an eco- political organisation for regional association.
These countries by signing the Dhaka Declaration are together called the SAARC nations.
These nations have similar social and economic problems of underdevelopment, poverty, low
levels of production, unemployment and pressure of population compounded by exploitation
of the past and other adverse legacies.1With a similar back set, SAARC as a regional
organization serves as a pedestal for socio-economic friendship, understanding and trust. The
population of these countries is so much that it is an association which brings together the
most number of people on earth together.2

CONCEPT OF RIGHT TO INFORMATION

The right to Information and community participation is a right that flows from the right to
life and liberty a commonly accepted law principle3 and sometimes even under the Right to
speech and expression. It is also a human right.4 Right to information is the right to i)
inspection of work, document, records; ii)taking notes, extracts or certified copies or
documents or records; iii) taking certified samples of material; iv) obtaining information in
the form of diskettes, floppies tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or
through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device. 5This
generally includes the right to know about the general administration and expenses made by
the government.The public in general has the right to know the circumstances under which
their elected representatives are governing the country.6

1
http://www.saarc-sec.org/userfiles/01-Dhaka-1stSummit1985.pdf (visited on 8th march 2016)
2
http://saarc-
sec.org/uploads/document/SAARC_in_Figures_2012%20as%20on%205%20Nov%202012_20140502121639.p
df(visited on 8th march 2016)
3
Article 9, The Constitution of Pakistan 1973; Article 32, The Constitution of people’s republic of Bangladesh,
1972; Article 23, The Constitution of Afghanistan, 2004; Article 21, The constitution of India, 1949;Article
7(2), The interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007;Article 13, The Constitution of Democratic Socialist Republic of
Sri Lanka, 1978; Article 21, The Constitution of Republic Maldives, 2008, Article7(1), The constitution of the
Kingdom Bhutan, 2008
4
Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.
5
Section 2 (j) Right to Information, 2005
6
DURGA DAS BASU, COMMENTARY ON CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, Vol. 2, 2007. p.381.

3
HISTORY

SAARC is an economic and political organization meant especially for the South Asian
countries. The idea of an association for regional cooperation for the South Asian countries
was propounded by the late Bangladeshi, president ZiaurRahman, in the late 1970's proposed
the creation of trade bloc consisting of South Asian countries. 7In the beginning it was
difficult for India and Pakistan to pose faith on each other, but it eventually worked out well.
The foreign secretaries of the member nations met in Colombo in 1981 with a fixed objective
in mind, they set up areas of cooperation and then added upon it. Hence, the charter of the
SAARC nations was made and was signed in 1985. It was established in Dhaka and
Kathmandu was made Secretariat-General.8 Afghanistan was made a member state later on.
Today it has 9 observer states. Over a span of 31 years SAARC has spread its wings to some
16 fields and arenas. It also seesInformation, communication and media as an arena of
cooperation. Rightly so, as SAARC nations are worst hit in this case. SAARC can learn a lot
from the world in this case. The SAARC nations Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and Afghanistan rank 139th , 24th ,78th , 130th , 117th , 83rd and 166th
respectively.9Except for Bhutan the rates are very high. There can be clear relations made to
the provisions of Right to Information in these countries.

Sweden can act as the best possible exemplar to the SAARC. Sweden was the first country to
bring the RTI into a reality. The Freedom of Press Act, 1949 was passed due to the vehement
efforts of Anders Chydenius. He was the hero of the act and uplifted Sweden to the pedestal
of the most liberal country. The country made it a fundamental right for all its citizens to have
the right to ask the government for information in 1977.10It also gives the right to official
documents under the Freedom of Press Act11.

The Rights given by the Swedish government in context to right to information are
exceptional. It constitutionally protects the right. The right is put under the chapter 2 of the
constitution which is reserved for people even outside the country12.This provides for more

7
http://saarc-sec.org/Charter-Day/6/(visited on 7th march 2016)
8
http://saarc-sec.org/SAARC-Secretariat/18/ (visited on 8th march 2016)
9
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015 (visited on 8th march 2016)
10
Chapter 2Article 1 (2), Constitution of Sweden of 1947
Freedom of information: that is, the freedom to procure and receive information and otherwise acquaint oneself
with the utterances of others;
11
Chapter 1, Article 1
12
Chapter 2Article 1,Freedom of press Act, 1949
Every Swedish citizen shall be entitled to have free access to official documents, in order to encourage the free
exchange of opinion and the availability of comprehensive information.

4
and more transparency.The Act lies down that the seeker shall not be inquired by any public
authority his identity, or the purpose of his.13 There are also provisions for appeal in case of
any discrepancy to The Ombudsman Court of law.14 With 250 years of application of the
rightSweden has given the world an escape from corruption. The public bodies are also to
provide necessary equipment where ever necessary and if it doesn’t pose a serious
difficulty.It has provisions like free of cost document disclosure.15

The Swedish secrecy act of 1981 lays down only four expectations as to the documents not to
be released16

 Documents of obvious little importance,

 Documents which are not secret
 Documents found in large numbers which have been exempted
 Electronic records kept in a central registry

Apart than these all sorts of public records are open for the citizens as fundamental right so as
toencourage the free exchange of opinion.17Sweden ranks number 3rd in the least corrupt
countries list18the open data index also is at 670.19 It rates as 8.98 World Press Freedom
Index.20 Sweden has forever maintained itself as one of the least corrupted states.

Corruption has its obvious ills that it gets, it kills transparency, and the strongest pillar of the
nation might become weak, stabbing the growth of the state, killing democracy which might
lead to the collapse of the whole state.

The SAARC are one of the worst hit with the hurdle of corruption which is making the
developing rate of the region very low. Not just this, the region is prone to communal
violence, illiteracy, high poverty, low infant mortality rate, child labour, terrorism and food
scarcity. Transparency in the administration can’t get the region rid of these problems but can
definitely, in the remoteness of its impact help lessen the problems that are an impediment to
getting rid of all these problems. Transparency can the most easily be brought by RTI.

13
Chapter 13,Article 14, Freedom of Press Act, 1949
14
Chapter 9, Article 2,of Press Act, 1949
15
http://www.chydenius.net/pdf/worlds_first_foia.pdf (visited on 06 march 2016)
16
Chapter 15, Secrecy Act of 1981
17
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/foi (visited on 8th march 2016)
18
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015 (visited on 8th march 2016)
19
https://index.okfn.org/country/(visited on 9th march 2016)
20
http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php(visited on 9th march 2016)

5
Bhutan has recently moved away from monarchy to a democratic monarchical set up has a
newly made constitution; there is no RTI in Bhutan. There is though a bill which is yet to be
passed by the legislature, The Right to Information Bill of 2013 which has been framed on
the lines of the RTI Act of India.21 Owing to itsless population, small, relatively peaceful and
beautiful geography Bhutan is a happy and satisfied nation. It ranks 24th in the corruption
perception index and 104th in the World Press Freedom Index list. But, for strengthening the
democracy which Bhutan is pursuing it is very important that the legislaturepassesthe RTI
bill. This will put checks on the democratic frame andwill elevate Bhutan to a prosperous
state.

Pakistan is the nation to have passed the first legislation on RTI amongst the SAARC nations
in 2002.22 It was an ordinance; the next legislation was passed not before 2013.23 The major
problem with Pakistan has been its unstable political and administrative arena. Pakistan has
seen draconian eclipses on its press and expression rights.24 Withpolitical stability slowly
setting its feet firmly in the land of Pakistan, RTI has come as a ray of hope. Today there is
no central legislation for RTI in Pakistan but provincial acts.25 There was a bill introduced in
201326 but hasn’t been yet passed by both the houses of the parliament. The stance of RTI is
not good in Pakistan. Lack of political motivation, exclusion of minorities,27unstable
government etc have all landed at117th position of the Corruption perception Index, 159th on
the Freedom of Press Index.28

The Maldivian president has newly assented to the RTI Act. It is said to be a rigid nation with
a lot of Islamicbeauracary. The machinery is also set up and Commissioner of Information
has been appointed. He has the power enforce a fine of up to $324 on information officers
who deliberately refuse access to information and a fine of $1,621 on any individual who
destroys requested information, obstructs a public authority or the Information Officer.The
act also provides protection to whistleblowers publishing information regarding corruption or
breach of the law.Under the act, requests are to be answered in 21 days, or 48 hour if the

21
The right to Information, 2005
22
Freedom of Information Ordinance, 2002
23
Pakistan Right to Information Act, 2013
24
The Security of Pakistan Act, 1952;The Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960
25
Balochistan Freedom of Information Act, 2005;Sindh Freedom of Information Act, 2006; Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act, 2013;The Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013
26
The Federal right to Information bill, 2013
27
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/neighbours/hindus-in-pakistan-protest-exclusion-from-rti-act/(Visited
on 9th March 2016)
28
https://index.rsf.org/#!/(Visited on9th March 2019)

6
information is relevant to an individual’s liberty or protection of a person’s life.29Maldives
ranks 112th in the Freedom of Press Index.

Bangladesh passed its Right to Information Act in 2009. It lays this right for all the citizens30
and sets up a national commission for the purpose of this act. 31 The Act lays down penalties
for officers who refuse, deny, obstruct or giving distorted, incomplete, incorrect
andmisleading Information of 50 Takas per day to the maximum of 5,000 Takas.32.The Act
sadly doesn’t have any provisions for whistle blowers. The right can’t be exercised without
the payment of money. The Act doesn’t even have provisions for secrecy for the seeker in the
procedure.33 It also covers Political parties unlike India. The country ranks 146th in the
Freedom of Press Index and 139th in the corruption perception index.

India ranks 136th in the Freedom of Press Index and 78th in the Corruption Perception Index.
India acts as a role model for all other SAARC. The act exempts many important government
agencies from the ambit of RTI. The ambit covers the two Houses of Parliament, State
Legislature, the Supreme Court/High Court/ Subordinate Courts including their
administrative offices, Constitutional Authorities like Election Commission, Comptroller &
Auditor General, Union Public Service Commission etc34. Only domestic and foreign private
bodies working within the country have been excluded from the purview of the
Act.35Corruption rates are falling. The prices are actually nominal, only the cost is merely
printing prices.36

Afghanistan became the 101st country to procure for its citizens this right. The Act doesn’t
really lay down clear definitions and words like national security and national interest. The
Act does make annual disclosure of information mandatory for government machineriesThe
Act sets up a Monitoring Commission on Access to Information which can only recommend
disciplinary actions against violators of the Act but can levy no fines. 37The law is for non-

29
Chapter 2, Article 7 Right to information Act, 2013
30
Section 4, Right to Information Act, 2009
31
Section 10, Right to Information Act, 2009
32
Section 27, Right to Information Act, 2009
33
Section 27, Right to Information Act, 2009
34
Section 24, Right to Information Act, 2005
35
Section 2 (h), Right to Information Act, 2005
36
Section 6, Right to Information Act, 2005
37
Chapter 5,Article 26 (2)Law on Mass Media, 2014

7
governmental organizations and the private sector38. Afghanistan ranks 159th in the Freedom
of Press Indexand 166th, the lowest of all SAARC nations in the Corruption Perception Index.

Sri Lanka doesn’t have a personal Act for Right to information but the same is covered under
Article 14 of the Constitution. The right is ensured against the state or any other statutory
body39 (like Article 12 of the Indian constitution). The right is reserved for citizens.40The
Right to information Bill 2015 has been deliberated upon.Sri Lanka ranks 165th in the
Freedom of Press Index and 83rd in the Corruption Perception Index

Nepal has re-secured the right to information for all its citizens41on the payment of a
reasonable amount of fee. This right was contained in the constitution of the kingdom even
before the present interim constitution.Act provides for the promulgation of regulation in
consultation with the Commission. Section 11 of the present act brings up a National
commission and has a diverse composition. It does not fix any timeline for responding to the
RTI by the officers. The act also secures protection to the whistle blowers under section 29.It
also punishes the person who misuses the information provided. A penalty of rupees 1,000 to
25,000 against law demeaning officers has also been imposed. Though it would be too soon
to judge Nepal in the current situation that it is in now butNepal ranks 105th in the Freedom
of Press Index and 130th in the Corruption Perception Index.

Most transparent states around the world have others reasons of being successful in
transparency also because they don’t have challenges like the SAARC sub continent. The
population level, literacy rate, the much envied political stability, less starvation problems,
none or less communal riots, lesser terrorism so on and so forth. But in order to bring in
brighter and developed future RTI is here to stay.

HURDLES TO RTI IN SAARC

SAARC as a regional organisation has failed when compared to other cooperation blocs like
ASEAN, EU etc. SAARC has less or none dispute resolving powers or trade links for that
matter. The SAARC nations have been dwarfed by the ‘Indo-centricity’ of the region. The
member states have a fear- psychosis viz-a-viz India due to her extraordinary achievementsin
all sphereslike military, economy, nuclear power etc. The Indo- Pak rivalry should also be
equally blamed for the failure. The rivalry has become an impediment to trust and faith
38
Chapter 1,Article 2, Law on Mass Media, 2014
39
Article 14A(1)(a)The Constitution of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
40
Article 14A(3)The Constitution of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
41
Right to Information Act, 2064 (2007)

8
among the members. The member also do not strongly identify with the association like Sri
Lanka, Maldives and India are much into being the next ASEAN member while Pakistan and
Sri Lanka align with the Organisation of Muslim Countries. The charter says that there
should be no discussion of nonfactualissues this is another major flaw.

Similarly the SAARC are not able to achieve the full results of RTI due to some region
specific problems.

BHUTAN

Bhutan is the least corrupt of all the SAARC nations and is one of only a few countries which
have been independent throughout their history, never conquered, occupied, or governed by
an outside power (expect for occasional nominal tributary status).The most quoted thing
about Bhutan is that its GDP is instead Gross National Happiness. The Country has remained
peaceful in a monarchy. In 2005 Bhutan the king and government distributed a draft of the
country's first constitution and the general public was to review the same. Opening slowly its
leaves of Democracy Bhutan has no RTI provisions at all. Though there is a bill waiting its
passage from the legislature.

Main problem that Bhutan faces is

 Lack of a legislation
Bhutan doesn’t have a central legislation which bestows the power to know in the
people. The reason could be the period of transition and may be the lack of political
will. There is The Right to Information Bill of 2013 in the legislature waiting for its
passage. Though this right is included in the constitution. But this lack makes whistle-
blowers prone to atrocities.
 Naivety and non-experience
Bhutan due to its in experience is not able to bring up democracy strengthening
legislations. This could be because they are first trying to finish with the most basic of
laws of their land
 No or none awareness amongst the people
The people having forever lived in a monarchy are not familiar to any such rights and
haven’t know of their craveing for RTI.

SRI LANKA

9
 Sri Lanka is an island nation, once a colony of the Europeans. It shortly followed India in
freedom in 1948. Political apathy took over Sri Lanka after its first president died. The
successor was not as accommodating and tolerant as the first one and brought up the issue
of language. This problem went ahead to finally become a civil war. Due to such fertile
ground of political unrest Sri Lanka and its development had to suffer a lot
 No separate legislation
The island nation has not been yet able to make a separate law for the right. It has
been doing just fine with the article in its constitution. Though the legislature is being
impressed with the laws of India have brought up the Right to Information bill (2015).
Soon the country will have an act. The lack of an act makes whistle-blowers prone to
atrocities.
 Expectations
The right under 14 A(2) puts various exceptions and makes it open for a very wide
interpretation42
 No formal procedure
The lack of a separate act makes it difficult to have a correct formal procedure, it
becomes flexible and porous. With the new bill soon in the hope of passage shall
solve this problem
 Time
With no hard and fast law a seeker might keep waiting for ever, with no special courts
or officers to tackle the excesses that can take place.
 Awareness
Lack of Knowledge of the magical powers of RTI leaves the country prone to very
less RTIs.

BANGLADESH

Due to political exclusion, ethnic and linguistic discrimination, as well as economic neglect
by the politically dominant western-wing, popular agitation and civil disobedience led to the
war of independence in 1971 from Pakistan and wasborn after a war.After independence, the
new state endured famine, natural disasters and widespread poverty, as well as political
42
Article 14 A(2) No restrictions shall be placed on the right declared and recognized by this Article, other than
such restrictions prescribed by law as are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security,
territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals
and of the reputation or the rights of others, privacy, prevention of contempt of court, protection of
parliamentary privilege, for preventing the disclosure of information communicated in confidence, or for
maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

10
turmoil and military coups. The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by
relative calm and economic progress.

 Lack of awareness
The basic reason of the failure of all kinds of rights is the lack of awareness. Harold
Laski said “Eternal vigilance is the price of civil liberties.” The act being new can
collect more audience and awareness in the near future.
 Over protective nature of the government
It is the lack of political motivation that the government of Bangladesh is behaving
over protectively and has released national broadcasting policies in 201443 that shall
punish the media severely if it is found guilty of disseminating information that could
smear the image of law enforcement agencies, armed forces and government officials
with judicial powers, information that is against the government or public interest or
impedes national security. Or the State Security Act of 1923 which exempts
variousspheres from being brought under RTI.
 Provision of fee for RTI
Bangladesh is a nation with a nominal GDP44 and a major chunk of the population
resides in poverty. In such a case a price for a human right is unacceptable and is
hence not letting Bangladesh have better transparency.
 Limited to citizens
Section 6, of the act lays this right down only to citizens. It limits the growth of the
right. This also highlights the over protective nature of the government of Bangladesh
 No fixed time
The lack of provisions for any fixed time can lead to its misuse like the provision of
Pocket veto by the president of India.45

INDIA

India was born in 1947 and since then, has been leading amongst the SAARC nations, owing
to its democratic nature and young population. India soon followed after Pakistan and got a

43
http://www.thedailystar.net/sites/default/files/upload-2014/gallery/pdf/broadcast-policy-2014-.pdf (visited on
10th march 2016-03-10)
44
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD (visited on 10th march 2016-03-10)
45
Article 111, Constitution of India, 1949

11
permanent legislation.46 Owing to its impeccable legislation style, the rest of region seems to
have influenced a lot from India.

 Exemptions
The act puts the political parties at such a pedestal that they need not reveal their
information. It also exempts all kinds of private bodies.47
 Non obligatory nature of RTI
The public authority as according to section 2(h) can refuse to disclose information48
 The present whistle blower act
The act passed for the protecting of Whistle blowers has backfired much and has not
really been helping. The biggest example being the vyapam scam whistle blowers
who were killed.
 Lack of a truth check
Officials either give incomplete information, false information or decline to give
information under one pretext or the other. This is because there is no check or test to
check the information provided is right and correct.
 Very less punishment provisions
Provisions for inflicting penalty upon the Public Information Officer who fail to
discharge their duties lay as Penalty of Rs. 250/ each day till application is received or
information is duly furnished to the application. However, the maximum limit of
Penalty shall be Rs. 2500/49.

MALDIVES

Maldives is an island nation owing much of its GDP to tourism. It is an Islamic state. It has
newly got an RTI act. Though it is too soon to comment on its functioning as it has been 2
years but however the following things are keeping Maldives behind

 Lack of awareness
The basic reason of the failure of all kinds of rights is the lack of awareness. Harold
Laski said “Eternal vigilance is the price of civil liberties.” The act being new can
collect more audience and awareness in the near future.

46
The Right to Information Act, 2005
47
Section 24, Right to Information Act, 2005
48
Section 7, Right to Information Act, 2005
49
Section 20, Right to Information Act, 2005

12
  Exemptions

Neither is the government obliged to reveal information that harms the immunities of
the parliament and the courts, information of a closed trial, personal or judicial
records which could harm the dignity of a child below 18 years, and information
regarding victims of sexual abuse. These laws are taken very strictly and make RTI a
far dream

PAKISTAN

Pakistan is the story of political apathy and military rule. There is been a lot of
political turmoil which has led to the nation being unable to function. This has also
lead to the government trying not to disclose its working due to which the right to
information has found it hard to pave its way in.

 Political fluctuation
Pakistan has oscillated from military rule to democracy with several suspensions of its
constitution and passage of acts such as Security of Pakistan Act, 1952, maintenance
of public order ordinance, 1960, several changes in the Pakistan penal code and the
Pakistan code of criminal procedure. It will be most important that there shall be
political stability in the state.
 Lack of political motivation
The only central legislation to have ever existed was an ordinance which expired after
6 months. Though most of the provinces have their regional laws but the lack of
uniformity and even discriminatory laws in some provinces are holding Pakistan back.
 Reporting of parliamentary proceedings
The record of parliamentary proceedings is published but often far too late to be of
benefit to journalists or those who need timely access to this information. In addition,
very few copies of the debates are published and they are rarely available at
bookstores.
 Lack of will in the public
The public should agitate for a central legislation

AFGHANISTAN

13
 The topic of rights and especially right to information has been quite controversial in teself
in Afghanistan as it is supports the talibani ideology in such cases leading to minimum
support by the government as such.50

 Lack of awareness
The poverty ratio, literacy levels, GDP and humanitarian situation of Afghanistan is
such that the miracles of RTI can’t be highlighted upon. Such a right looks like a first
world privilege when seen in the light of the problems faced by Afghanistan. If
examples of other nations reach the ears of regular Afghanis there might be a future
change
 Socio economic problems

NEPAL
 Political situationof the country restless with the involvement of military. it almost
took two decades for the right to information related laws to pass in the parliament.51
 Lack of awareness among the people of nation can be said to be one of the biggest
issues for the successful working of any law.
 Many provisions of the right to information act of Nepal are copied from other nations
due to which it lacks authenticity in relation to the law prevailing and is not fully in
accordance with the functioning of the government.
In Nepal only citizens can seek information under the right to information

SOLUTION:

All the governments around the world are trying to implement RTI or improve it for the
betterfunctioning and so that the people are well aware and able and willing to work. The
hurdles that stop the right to information act to either get implemented or to prevail in the
SAARC nations can be improved if the nation as a whole is willing to do so. Many of the
issues that restricting RTI are same in all SAARC nations.

AWARNESS

There needs to awareness among the people as to how important the right ti information is
and if it doesn’t work properly then how it will hinder the progress of the nation and the
50
http://www.af.undp.org/content/afghanistan/en/home/ourwork/crisispreventionandrecovery/successstories/Acc
esstoInformation.html (visited on 07 march 2016)
51
https://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/38121/FINAL-Asia-Disclosed-full.pdf (visited on 09 march
2016)

14
 people. The people should also be aware of the fact as to how they can use RTI to benefit
themselves in cases of health, etc. most of the SSARC nations have nearly to awareness
about RTI. If there is enough information about the right then not enough aout how to use
it.

The government and various NGOs working in the various nations need to work to
increase the awareness among people about RTI. People should be well aware about the
various ways in which RTI can be used. Also the awareness should not be limited to the
urban and the middle and rich section of the society but even the poor and the homeless
requires to know. The RTI is unable to come up in Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
India, Maldives, Pakistan and Afghanistan because of lack of awareness.

EXEMPTIONS

The exemptions given to government to not disclose information in various countries in

the law laid in respect of RTI are at times too harsh and therefore the law stands of no use.

In Bangladesh there are only four types of information available, India its17, Nepal its12
and Pakistan its 5 types of information that is available to the people under the right to
information52

The exemptions given should be strictly restricted to important sectors where due to
national security issues the information can’t be disclosed or in the areas of defence. So
that the government is unable to hide behind the exemptions laws for its misdeeds.

RIGHTS TO WHISTLEBLOWERS

The RTI in itself can’t work successfully till the time it doesn’t guarantee protection to the
whistle-blowers in a manner that they are not harmed in any possible way.

This is a very important aspect as without this the whole law falls down. Most of the
nation’s either give no protection to the whistle-blowers at all or partial protection which
is not very helpful.

POLITICAL ENCOURAGEMENT

52
http://www.cuts-international.org/cart/pdf/Analysing_the_Right_to_Information_Act_in_India.pdf (visited on
11march 2016)

15
 All the SSARC nations possess oneor the other kind of political distress due to which the
transparency of government becomes a trouble by itself which is either not supported by
the politics itself or due to the atmosphere around it.

The political atmosphere needs to encourage and support the law of right to information as
it will ensure the better functioning of the government.

Political malfunction of the nation needs to be resolved and a sound political system
should be set up. Also the overprotective nature that many governments possess like
Bangladesh requires the government to make its machinery transparent.

PUNISHMENT PROVISIONS

The punishment related provisions of the law should be stricter.

Like in the case of India maximum fine for failing to discharge duties is rupees 2500. If
the punishment for not abiding by the law is not strict then even after the a proper
functioning right to information not much change can be brought about as no one will
concerned with a law whose non observance does not cause much harm.

EXPERIENCE AND PROPER DEPARTMENTS

The SAARC nations do not have much experience with the right to information and in
many cases it is simply copied from the other nations. The countries need to attain more
and more information in relation to the law. Not only this it is required that for the better
functioning proper departments are made and work is allotted then vaguely distribute it to
the present system.

FEE EXEMPTIONS AND EASY ACCESS

As most of the SAARC nations are not pretty much economically sound therefore there
should be no fees in relation to the procedure of the right to information that an individual
has to pay. This creates problem for the common man to easily access the law. The law
should also be easily accessible. The procedure laid down by the law to get information
should be simple and time and energy efficient so that everyone is able and willing to use
their right to information.

CONCLUSION:

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Right to information is a very powerful tool in the hands of the citizens of a nation. RTI is
an integral part of the democracy.For the very same reason, if any democratic nation
wants to work efficiently and successfully in a manner that it develops each day,forthis
that nation has to provide its citizens with the right to information. The same applies on
all the SAARC nations. The SAARC nations to develop will have to provide its citizens
with the right not just this they will also have to help one another to implement the law.

Right to information works as the oxygen of democracy and can be used in various
sectors for the benefit of the people of the country. RTI in sectors of health services, food
security and water and sanitation will help people live in a very healthy environment and
not only this it will also help them to keep a check that the environment they are living in
is not misused by the government and laws here are properly implemented and adhered
with for health and environments benefits.

SAARC nations are the hub of cheap labour and land due to which land scams, violation
of rights of workers, fake certificates, frauds and scams of transportation and
communication have increased. An easy an efficient wayto stop this is RTI. And therefore
RTI will help even the commercial sector develop and government’s involvement in cases
of scams can be reduced.

Unnecessary expenditure by the government can be checked and reduced by the help of
RTI as when government will be answerable to the people for every step it takes such
transparency will help in proper utilisation of money and resources by the government.
Also the deserving candidates will only get seats for government job vacancies and with
these efficient workers the functioning of the democracy will improve even more.

Right to information is regarded as a part of right to life and liberty as it can be linked
with the respect and dignity of a human being. This will increase people’s faith in
democracy and will bring back the government and the people to discuss various social,
economic and political issues that the nation faces in diverse sectors to help improve and
solve these problems of national importance.

As proved in the case of Sweden RTI helps in reduction of corruption in the government
department and increases the accountability of the government towards people developing
a much nurtured relationship between them.

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Therefore right to information is a need of the hour in the SAARC nations as it will help
them develop and should be efficiently implemented in all the nations and each one of
them should help others do this. Also only implementing a law related to RTI is not
enough it has to be taken care of that the law provides with all that is required but at the
same it doesn’t give away so much that it becomes a problem in itself. there needs to be
some limitations even to the right to information but only in cases where letting out
information can be more harmful then hiding the same as in the cases of issues of national
security and defences.

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