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Govt undermining transparency laws: Bihar RTI activists' dialogue

By A Representative
A public dialogue, organized at Patna's AN Sinha Social Research Institute on Right to Information (RTI) and Public Grievances Law, saw well known RTI activist Nikhil Dey and retired Justice Rajendra Prasad highlighting how attacks on RTI activists in Bihar is creating havoc in the state.
Participated by more than 100 RTI activists, including family members of the recently-murdered RTI activists Valmiki Yadav and Rajinder Singh, who were monitoring development work in their area, Dey said, when people ask for information, there is a lot of trouble. The government does all it can to hide information from thosr seeking it.
Another activist Anjali Bharadwaj said, "There is an effort to pressure change laws in order to undermine transparency. Recently, the Prevention of Corruption Act has been changed, the appointment of the Lokpal has not been done and efforts are being made to weaken the law by changing the Right to Information Act, for instance."
Added Ashish Ranjan, the matter is serious because governments at the Central and and the state have failed to raise voice against corruption and in the name of good governance, and thre situation has a point where brave people are being killed and common citizens who are speaking against corruption are being targeted instead of getting security.

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