NEW DELHI, May 11: India’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday approved a right-to-information bill aimed at forcing government agencies to disclose records to the public in an effort to help stamp out corruption. The 545-seat lower house passed the bill after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cajoled lawmakers to vote in the final days of the current budget session which ends Friday.
“This bill will ensure our institutions discharge their duties in the desired manner and fill a vital gap in citizens’ framework of rights,” Singh said adding it would usher in an era of good governance.
Berlin-based Transparency International ranks India as one of the most corrupt countries in the world at 90th, out of 145 countries, in 2004.
It said bureaucrats in India regularly take kickbacks in awarding government contracts and ask for bribes in return for services which citizens are fully entitled to.
“The bureaucrat, the customs and excise inspectors, the doctors and touts in government hospitals all extract money from the citizen on one pretext or the other,” it said.
Singh said under the bill a national information commission will be established and provide regulators with extensive investigative powers. It will also impose stringent punishments.
He said the legislation will also apply to the Indian security forces which are frequently charged with rights abuses in the disputed state of Kashmir and the strife-torn northeastern states.—AFP
