It’s time our youth used their right to information
January 15, 2025
Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz
More than five months after the interim government took office in Bangladesh, our youth who spearheaded this change appear to have not yet discovered the country’s Right to Information (RTI) Act, the only instrument available to citizens to probe the work of government offices. Yet, this is a readily available tool for them to create the changes in governance that they wish to see.
NGOs and activists still promoting the RTI law, however, tell us there have been recent indications of interest among youths in exercising the law. For this budding
interest to turn into action, more of them must come forward, and the vacant information commissioner posts must be filled. Here are some examples to help our
youth understand the importance of the RTI law.
The first example, dating back to 2010, relates to one of the earliest RTI requests in the country. It was submitted by the Bangladesh Environmental Law Association
(BELA), of which Syeda Rizwana Hasan, an adviser to the interim government, was the executive director. Information was sought from Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), the city development authority, on the construction of a high-rise building on Hatirjheel Lake in Dhaka, known as the BGMEA Tower
