Seek views on RTI amendments in other languages too: NGO to RS

A Parliamentary panel's decision to seek public views in English and Hindi over government's move to amend RTI Act to give immunity to political parties from providing information is being opposed by NGOs and RTI activists.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has written to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to immediately withdraw an advertisement seeking comments on amending RTI Act as it violates the people's fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.
The Rajya Sabha Secretariat, on behalf of a parliamentary standing committee, had published advertisements on September 21 in some newspapers inviting people's comments on the RTI Amendment Bill in English or Hindi within 15 days.

"CHRI submits to you that the terms and conditions specified in the advertisement for sending comments and views on the RTI Amendment Bill amount to an unreasonable restriction of the citizens' fundamental right to speech and expression," said Maja Daruwala, director of CHRI.
The advertisement also ignores India's linguistic diversity. According to the 2001 Census data, at least 50 per cent of the citizenry in India does not speak or read or write in English or Hindi.
"By insisting on making submissions in English and Hindi only, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has deprived one half of the citizenry of the right to send comments and views on the RTI Amendment Bill," the letter said.

All citizens have the right to send their submissions on the RTI Amendment Bill in any of the languages recognised in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Opportunities must be created for people to exercise this right, it said.
The NGO also objected to one of the clauses in the advertisement which seeks to keep any memoranda received by the committee as "confidential".