Right to Information? Wrong

On my flight back from Dubai, I met a very senior HRD executive who was all

praises for the way Indian IT industry was growing. He was flying to take up a

new assignment in Delhi to head the HR department of a start-up BPO company. He

said he was taking up this job in spite of a not so great difference in pay

packet because he was confident that working in new and emerging markets would

give him an altogether different experience. He believed that this experience,

in the long run, would more than make up for his financial remuneration, because

the big opportunities will come from emerging markets. He said that people and

companies are increasingly seeing a lot of value in getting senior people to get

a taste of working in emerging markets.

While on one hand he was so upbeat about India, on the other he was very

apprehensive about the right to information-something which he said will, in the

long run, decide how people and organizations, the world over, look at India.

While he was looking forward to taking up the new assignment, he was not too

sure if life would be easy for him outside office. His experience in dealing

with the government was bitter. On his last visit, when he came here with his

family, he could not find out why his reservation at the Government of India run

resort in Jim Corbett National Park was cancelled at the last minute, without

even informing him. The only answer that he got from the resort official was

that there were some VVIPs visiting who had to be accommodated last minute. He

was very disappointed, but he still wanted to know if it was really because of a

last minute VVIP visit or was it that the reservation clerk made some extra

money by canceling his reservation, and giving it to a more enthusiastic

tourist. Despite several follow-ups, he found no answers.

This single experience is relatively insignificant in the larger scheme of

things, but it is important. As India becomes a destination for more foreign

companies and people, there will be pressure on our systems to serve them

better. One would see more such instances, of harassed citizens or expatriates

working here, asking for information. "Why did this happen, what went

wrong, whom should a person contact for his problem, how does he get in touch

with an official, and so on." Today, it is very easy for government

officials to not answer these questions, and still get away with it. But in the

days to come, if India does not gear itself up to be able to handle these

questions, there are going to be problems. And the only solution for this is to

make sure that the 'Right to Information' is actually practiced. And all systems

and processes for it put in place.

This 'Right to Information' business would go far beyond making India

conducive for foreigners and foreign companies to operate here. In fact, the

impact is going to be much bigger on Indians. For instance, if ordinary citizens

and organizations do not get basic information, which they should, all the plans

and initiatives for eGovernance become meaningless. If an individual is not able

to cross-check from the land records department what is the status of the land

he is planning to buy, or if a new factory which has applied for a license from

the environment department cannot get to know which stage his application form

is, eGovernance really looses its meaning.

Taking this a little further, absence of real 'Right to Information'

practices will mean that all the big plans that we have for Cyber Laws will not

really mean much. For instance, if I apply for a passport on-line, and discover

that in case of problems or additional info that I need, on-line does not help

me, I do not think I will be very happy.

And looking purely from a business point of view, if 'Right to Information'

is not seriously taken up, very little interest level will remain in eGovernance.

And a very hot market, which is today buying lots of IT products and services,

could turn cold. The Indian IT industry would be one of the biggest losers if

'Right to Information' is not implemented.