January 15, 2016
Right to Information - A catalyst for change
The Bangladesh RTI Act is similarly geared towards changing the culture of secretive governance inherited from colonial times. The goal is to replace it with more open, responsive, law-based and citizen-friendly rule.
November 16, 2015
Changing Contours of RTI, Part II
It would be unfair to compare the Bangladesh situation with the Indian experience (refer to Part I of this column published yesterday).
September 28, 2015
Challenging irregularities in the Education Sector
A common reaction of most people about the RTI Act is a lack of trust in its efficacy. It is this general lack of faith in the willingness of public officials to break away from the age-old culture of official secrecy...
August 16, 2015
Are political parties “Public Authority”?
Afrequently asked question about RTI law relates to the meaning of the term “authority”. As the Act empowers citizens to query public authorities on matters that concern or aggrieve them, there is an obvious need to understand the concept of authority under the Act.
July 16, 2015
The meaning of “information” under RTI Law – PART 2
When people, even the poorest of the poor, experience that they have a legal right to ask for and get information, or at least a response, from powerful civil servants whose shadows they would not dare to cross in the past, it generates a sense of empowerment and a feeling that they are much less unequal and oppressed than they thought.
July 15, 2015
The meaning of “information” under the RTI law (PART 1)
In last month's column, we said that a key reason for the tardy progress of the Right to Information Act (RTI) in the country is general disbelief that the age-old practice of official secrecy in the work of public authorities will change just because there is a new law that seeks to end it.
June 15, 2015
A revolutionary law
The Right to Information Act (RTI), one of the most important laws of Bangladesh that came into force on July 1, 2009, is perhaps also the country's least known. Many see it as the most revolutionary law adopted by the Bangladesh Parliament.