Activists see threat to RTI from Data Bill

Vijayawada: There is need to define the data protection and information since the Centre is about to introduce the Data Protection Bill in Parliament which might encroach upon the provisions of the RTI Act, said Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey while addressing the workshop organised by the United Forum for RTI-AP here on Monday.

Pandey said that the governments should do away with the practice of appointing retired IAS and IPS officers as the information commissioners who have soft corner for the government and its employees. “More often than not these retired officers have been protecting the officials in case of complaints against them in providing information to the RTI applicants,” he added.

The activist recalled how an officer proudly stated that he had successfully thwarted the efforts of an RTI activist from getting information he needed. He said that he was not per se against the Data Protection Bill but it should not encroach upon the provisions of the Right to Information Act, which is one of the best enactments in the world.

Bhupatiraju Ramakrishna Raju said that the proposed amendment to Section 8 (1) (J) should be widely discussed and the activists need to stage protest demonstrations to protect the RTI Act from the attempts to dilute it. “The proposal should be put in public domain to allow the people to discuss it,” he added.

Yarramsetti Jaganmohan Rao, president of AP RTI Forum (Samachara Hakkula Vedika) said that the recommendations on right to privacy appear to be detrimental to the RTI Act. He decried the attempts to describe the data as information. “Both are not same,” he asserted.

He said that it was an attempt to deny information on the pretext that the information is revealing personal data. He opined that the Data Protection draft bill should be in harmony with the RTI Act. Jampa Krishna Kishore said that the activists should safeguard the RTI Act at any cost. He decried that the commissioner posts are filled with the men of the ruling party.

Dileep Reddy, former commissioner, deplored the fact that the civil society organisations are not active to bring pressure on the governments in the larger interests of people. He underlined the importance of studying the draft bill on Data Protection thoroughly and the data and information should be defined first. He regretted that the mindset of the commissioners and PIOs has become anti-people.