India to have whistleblower act soon

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday said that the government would soon bring the whistleblowers act to protect those using the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The prime minister, however, said that the exemptions under the RTI Act should be looked at critically. "There is a concern in the administration over the misuse of the act," he adds.
The RTI is an Act of the Parliament of India "to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens."
The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir which has its own act. Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen may request information from a "public authority" (a body of Government or "instrumentality of State") which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days.
Manmohan Singh exhorted public authorities to proactively disclose information that was not exempted. He said he was against the dilution of the RTI Act.
However, "RTI should not affect deliberative process of the government," he said.
Addressing the two-day annual convention of the Central Information Commission here, Singh said "we wish to make the Right to Information an even more effective instrument for ensuring transparency and accountability in administration".
He said there was a need to strike a balance between disclosure of information and the limited time and resources available with public authorities.
"The Right to Information should not adversely affect the deliberative processes in the Government," he said adding, "We must take a critical look at it. There are concerns that need to be discussed and addressed."
There have been demands for amending the transparency law by certain sections of government who feel it is "transgressing" into their functioning.
Amendments to the RTI Act and exemptions given to security agencies from making disclosures under it are expected to be debated at the conference being attended by information commissioners.
"Another concern that has been raised is that the Right to Information could end up discouraging honest, well meaning public servants from giving full expression to their views.
"I think we need to remember here that a point of view brought under public scrutiny and discussion in an isolated manner may sometimes present a distorted or incomplete picture of what really happened in the processes of making the final decisions," he added.