Reviewing the Right to Information Through the Prism of Indian Policy Process

The importance of an informed society cannot be over emphasized for accountability, participative decision making & democracy. The right to information by, ushering in transparency makes the citizens enlightened about the business of governance. The study reveals that seeds of contradictions that the Indian State is facing were present at the embryonic stage of introducing the right to information reform. The author explores how the State is going through the pains of pulls and pressures within the system to produce a credible response to the right to information. There is no evidence of an integrated seamless response of the multi strata Indian State. The right to information reforms has shown mixed results but the hopes are alive that the reforms may not be still born. The freedom of information is examined in the context of theories of Power as well as the philosophy of New Public Management. It is felt that no single grand theory can capture all the facets of the right to information. The concept and practice of the right to information sits delicately between many disciplines. Effort has been made to gauge the nature of Indian State from various perspectives- State Interest approach and Society Centered approach. The Indian State has exhibited tendencies that are a mixture of the two approaches. Further, the behavior of the Indian State changes with reference to changing circumstances. The Grindle and Thomas’s Interactive approach towards policy process is found more apt in the Indian Context. (Grindle and Thomas 1991). The policy inflections of the State in the context of the right to information are a template for analyzing policy making in India. The ability to address the concerns and apprehensions of the public officials is the key to the success of any reforms in India. The pace of reforms is dictated by appropriate recognition of the core issues - systemic inter linkages, systemic checks and balances and degree of consensus and conflict in the system.