Right to information in the context of open government and information regime

Abstract

Democracy, rule of law, federalism, separation of powers, secularism and judicial review are the accepted principles of our consti-tutional form of Government. They are judicially re-affirmed as the ba-sic features of the Constitution. The authoritarian, totalitarian and regi-mented states are distinguished for several reasons, from the liberal democracies. Free flow of information is either prohibited or, manipu-lated and regulated in totalitarian states. However, the free flow of information is ingeniously con-trolled or regulated in some of the liberal democracies including the republic of India, which religiously subscribe to British colonial laws like the Official Secrets Act, 1923, among others, which virtually infuse the paradigm of a secrets society within the democratic facade Right to know and right to information of a citizen is an essential and primary concern of the republic of India. India cannot look forward towards becoming an open government by withholding transparency, openness and accessibility of citizens to all the institutions of the government. In this age of information, citizens are at the threshold of a new order. Explosion of information and exclusion from information are two competing trends in our cosmos of human rights and democ-racy versus government by secrecy. The Director General of UNESCO in a foreword to the Mac Bride Report titled, quotMany voices one worldquot had emphasized that communication is at the heart of all social inter-course. With the coming of a new world communication order, every person must be able to learn from others and simultaneously conveying to the others, the understanding of his own condition and his own view of world affairs. Every well-informed person can identify the issues that affects his life, his national destiny and international unity. The techno-logical advancement and continuity of imperial domination firecely com-pete to occupy human minds, and they affects the emerging national order and communication process. Fundamental freedoms becomes a...