তথ্য অধিকার আইন

The Daily Star, Thursday July 14, 2022

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

Over the last two decades, most of South Asia has adopted right to information (RTI) laws, also known as freedom of information (FOI) or access to information (A2I) laws. With a shared colonial past and a deeply-entrenched culture of official secrecy and unbridled exercise of government power over people, the countries in this region provide a unique opportunity to observe how a law that seeks to establish transparency and accountability in governance has fared in these common contexts. Having previously looked at the status of the RTI regimes in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, we turn today to Pakistan.

Pakistan is, in fact, the first country in South Asia to have adopted an RTI law – albeit as an ordinance by a military ruler, in 2002. However, it soon became evident that the government’s motivation in this regard was influenced more by donor pressure than serving public interest. The new law had no teeth to…Read More

The Daily Star, Wednesday Jun 15, 2022

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

As authoritarianism creeps in across the world, the ideals of participatory democracy and representative governance have taken a back seat once again in many countries. Since the end of World War II more than seven decades ago, the scope for people’s participation in the affairs of the state has waxed and waned, in countries old and new – and now it seems to be receding again.

The incredible devastation and human suffering caused by the war sparked the quick generation of international principles, norms and standards, in which people were put at the centre of all visions for a new world. International legal instruments sprang up, in which the rights and welfare of the people were the main focus. Soon these were relayed into national laws…Read More

The Daily Star, Sun May 15, 2022

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

Today, we turn away from the positive and encouraging side of the Right to Information movement in Bangladesh, depicted in our previous column (The Daily Star, April 16, 2022), to peer into the shadows.

Union Parishad Chairman threatens to beat up RTI applicant: The case stemmed from an RTI application submitted to the Designated Officer (DO) for RTI of a Union Parishad (UP) in Nawabganj Upazila, Dinajpur District, on February 6, 2022. Harunor Rashid, a local journalist, sought the following information: the number of Succession Certificates issued by the UP during the calendar year 2021; the amount of fees levied for their issuance; and the government account to which the money was deposited. While waiting for a response, the applicant happened to visit the UP office on some other business on February 17, 2022. The Secretary of the UP, who is also the DO, spotted Harunor and informed the Chairman. According to local media, the Chairman apparently lashed out at him for his audacity to ask for…Read More

The Daily Star, Saturday April 16, 2022

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

Today, we present tales that have been gathered from ordinary Bangladeshis. In the absence of a common source of information recording all the right to information (RTI) requests in Bangladesh, we reached out to those who help people submit such requests. These are some of the stories that are inspirational and motivating…Read More