Uniform RTI Act mooted for South Asia region

Media experts from South Asian countries today called for exploring the possibility of framing a uniform Right to Information Act for the entire region on the lines of the one in India.

They urged the respective countries to introduce similar legislation in view of the geopolitical and socio-economic similarities of the nations in the South Asian region to further promote grassroots democracy.

The experts also demanded that India should make suitable amendments to the RTI Act, there by making the administration more transparent. They discussed at length the merits and demerits of the Act vis-a-vis various media.

They were participating in an interactive session on the ''Right to Information: Are the Media playing their role?'' as part of the three-day South Asia Media Colloquium-2006 on the penultimate day today at the International Centre, Goa.

It was one of the six sessions under the theme ''Media and Development with a Human Face'' organised jointly by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre of India (AMIC-India), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung-Germany and the ICG.

Chairing the session, former Press Institute of India (PII) chief Ajit Bhattacharjea urged the media to make the best use of the RTI Act which, he said, was only one of its kind in the world empowering the people at the grassroots level.

The Centre, he said, was contemplating to make more amendments including on the disclosure of file notings as part of refining the act further. But, he opined, the amendments should be pro-peode.'' ''It is linked to the livelihood and participation of people in grassroots democracy and has a vital role in changing the society.

It is an instrument of change in governance,'' he said.

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