Govt puts off RTI changes

Mumbai/New Delhi: Social activist Anna Hazare on Saturday called off his 11-day hunger strike after Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithiviraj Chavan assured him the government would not pass a bill to amend the Right to Information Act.

The government dropped a move to amend the Right to Information Act in this session of Parliament on Saturday. It had been seeking to amend the Act to exclude file notings.

Hazare told DNA in a telephone interview from Alandi, 30 km from Pune, that he had called off his fast as he expected the government to fulfill its promise.

“I am committed to the people of India. I told Chavan the government should promise not to table the report in future, although they had assured me of not tabling it in the current session of Parliament,” said Hazare.

Hazare said that by going on a fast he had not wanted to put “emotional pressure” on the government.

“I have no personal stake in the campaign to retain the spirit of the RTI. It is for the benefit of citizens. All dangers that were seen, had the RTI been amended, have been averted,” added Hazare.

Activists involved in drafting the RTI Act will meet Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh after August 25, when their suggestions will be taken on a decision to make file notings public.

Hazare said provisions for file notings had been made in the draft. “We will show the copy to the Prime Minister. We had said file notings should be made public,” said Hazare.

The right to information includes the right to inspect works, documents, records; take notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; take certified samples of material; obtain information in form of printouts, diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts.