Part 5 of my conversation with Mr. Shailesh Gandhi about his life before and after RTI…

We say India is the world’s largest democracy and the definition of democracy is rule of the people, for the people, and by the people. But in a government office does the common man feel like a ruler?

We say we are a democracy because we have a fair system of elections in place but elections by themselves do not make a democracy.

In my opinion, the heart and essence of democracy is the concept- that each individual citizen is sovereign. They give a part of this sovereignty to the state and in return, get the rule of law. This is the basis of human rights and the principle of democracy.

The fundamental premise of democracy is that all people are equal. This comes from the basic premise of human rights that all people are equal.

Right to Information plays a major hold in upholding this. For the first time, the governmental official is liable for a personal penalty for information that is denied or withholded without a reasonable cause.

RTI also recognises the fact that citizen is the ruler of the nation. How? RTI does not specify the information that would be given, it only specifies the information that would not be given.

No one can say that any piece of information is confidential therefore could not be given. There are 10 criteria and only if the information falls under these 10 criteria then only information can be withholded.

Therefore, undeniably, RTI is one of the the powerful tools we have in our hands.