The Right to Information Act is a timely legislation introduced with the intent to empower people to hold their Government and its agencies accountable to democratic norms of functioning and responsive structures that reflect aspirations of the people. While the Act in itself provides a spectrum of rights for people to exercise, it remains to be seen how it will in practical ways improve democratic governance; hence enhance quality of peoples life.
It is fair to say that RTI to truly be effective in fulfilling its proposed objective is essentially dependent on a broader set of societal values practiced within a specific context. Depending on a society’s openness and willingness for human growth and development, the consequence of RTI will produce varying results. Since RTI is only a means towards affecting structural and functional changes in government and their institutions, it is helpful to assess the contextual conditions in which it must not only operate but also affect positive change.
Since the introduction of RTI, numerous worthy initiatives in Nagaland have been made through different means in trying to create awareness about the legislations and the potential it provides in affecting democratic governance. Nonetheless, if RTI is to have any semblance of relevance in the Naga context, these activities will have to go beyond just creating awareness and those organizations advocating for RTI must actually take the initiative to involve in the practical task of utilizing it in a real manner.
The need for advocacy groups and youth networks in Nagaland to take the leading initiative in making use of the provisions of RTI is essential bearing in mind the prevalent attitude of complacency and conformism. Considering the present entrenched system of patronage politics, these groups would be failing on their parts if they do not lead by example. Unless these groups lead by example, it is likely that RTI may only exist theoretically.
In the Naga context it is of utmost importance to locate the implementation of RTI within the practice of patronage politics, gross dependency on government, politicization of government institutions and functioning and the tendency to involve extended kin on issues of governance and democracy. Naga experience has examples where issues concerning grievances with lack of democratic functioning, misappropriation of resources or misconduct by officers have turned into personal episodes where respective clans, villages and tribes come in strong defense of the officer and even made undemocratic interventions.
While these practices prevent the natural course of democratic enquiry and dispensation of judicial procedures to be processed, its consequences goes beyond just the immediate issue. These attitudes translate into mobilization of opinion along lines of identity and patronage which causes a society to become more inward looking and resistant to new ideas for fear that their present position of status, power and privilege may be lost or taken away. In affect a culture of defensiveness, self-righteousness, patronage and mobilization along lines of identity, all of which contravenes a culture of openness and democratic values has comfortably set in. For RTI to be an affective means to bring change in governance, it is unavoidable that the existing culture of conducting affairs must be confronted and replaced with a more responsive culture which allows the growth of a peoples.
