Accessing goverment info, risking up to your very life!

[Pierrot Péladeau]

Millions of Indians have embraced the country’s five-year-oldRight to
Information Act <http://righttoinformation.gov.in/>, which allows
citizens to demand almost any government information. People use the law
to stop petty corruption and to solve their most basic problems, like
getting access to subsidized food for the poor or a government pension
without having to pay a bribe, or determining whether government doctors
and teachers are actually showing up for work.

But activists like Mr. Jethwa who have tried to push such disclosures
further — making pointed inquiries at the dangerous intersection of
high-stakes business and power politics — have paid a heavy price.
Perhaps a dozen have been killed since 2005, when the law was enacted,
and countless others have been beaten and harassed.


  High Price for India’s Information Law


  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/world/asia/23india.html?src=sch&pagewanted=all


Pierrot Péladeau
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