 अगर हम देखें तो सुजना का अदिकार कानूं जो 2005 में पास हुए पारित हूँ हर साल हमारे देश में 40-60,000,000 RTI अप्लिकेशन लगाई जाती हैं तो की पूरे विष्व में शबसे जाड़ा पूरे विष्व में RTI जैसे कानूं लुज होरे हैं तो सुजना का अदिकार कानूं आया और हम बस्ती में गये जाड़ा हम काम करते हो, हमने लोगों को काब इसका अस्तमाल करी है, बहुती बडया कानूं आया है, तो कुछ लोगों ने खड़े हो के कास राषन तो मिलता नहीं है, सुझना का क्या करेंगे सुझन ऐन बोत असी आंगरी, हम करेंगे आप गयया आप्टीकासि आप एक गपातूर atya application file and their filed applications to access the records of the ration shops to access the stock register of the ration shop. And as soon as they filed these applications within a few days, they started getting these visits from the goons of the area, from the rations mafia to their homes saying that we've heard of me information mangi hai अआप यह पनी इनफरी मेंग़ी की रेखोंगरू करतीजें because, अगर आप नहीं करेंगे, तो हम आप को दिलि में तो नहीं रहीं दे डगी हैं। many of them landed up at their homes, got blank, affidavit signed & said that, अब अब अप सुच्ना लेंगे, भी लिग देंगे क्या आपने जुगी अपनी बेज दीए हमें और आपको हम यहासे निकलवादेंगें बकोस अच फीट लिए ख़ेच्टिप एफ़ट देशिजन वस देखें कलेक्तेडिग लिए परसिस्टिप अदर देखाईः की राइट का जो हनान होरा है उन सब चीजों का परदा फाष करने के लिए उपरसुषना निकलने के लिए सदिकार का अईच्टिमाल होँ है लोगोन इस सबाल पुच आए खे जो हमारी जुटिशरी है एक जजिस है है हमारी सुफरुम कोडके राइ कोडके उनके अस्छिट्स और लायापिलितीख की हमें कोपीच चेगी है लोगोन इस सबाल पुचे आए अगर हमारी मिनिस्टर्स है प्राई मिनिस्टर है उनकी एजुकेशनुल कोलिटिकेशन वो केते है कि यहे है, तो उसकी हमें कोपी दीजेए, तो यह तरेके कि सारे सबाल लोग पूच रहे हैं, और आम नागरे किस देश के पूच रहे हैं, वो एक तरेके अकाुन्तिबिलिटी जो लारा है यह कानु, वो पसन्द नहीं है, उन लोगों को, आप दुसरी ताएब का जो हम, जिसको हम कहते है, कि बिल्कुल जो हमारे साम्ने आख्डे भी आते है कई बार, और नजर भी हम सब के और जहन में भी आता है, वो है जब आतक्स इतने गंभीर हो, के वहापर हत्याए भी हो रही हो. तो जैसे वेंके टेशने का सब तर से जाडा लोगों की, मोर दें 70 पीपल, हाँ भीन किल्ड में आग्ड्डे नहीं, लासक 13 नहीं आख्सेसें इंप्रमेशन, विच दे है आख्डे लिए, मुस्थ of these cases, these are people, who have not just accessed information, they have then gone on to blow the whistle on corruption, file complaints using that information. So, I am now making a slight distinction between those attacks that happen, when people are just asking for information, and then when that information is being used, the attacks that then happen, which we find are many a times far more serious, and also result in what we typically see as murders of RTI activists. और इसके अंदर, बहुत लंभी लिस्ट है, और बहुती शरनात लिस्ट है, बहुत लंबी लिस्ट है, और बहुती शरनात लिस्ट है, but I think we have people here, who have first hand experience of losing their family members, of facing these kind of attacks on themselves. लोगोंके उपर भे बुन्यादी जुटे मुकद्मे जारी किये जाते है, जो सालो साल चलाये जाते है, किसी पे हत्या का मुकद्मा होगा, किसी पे अलगलक तरीके के केसिस तोके जाते है, So these people are going to, we have panellists who are going to talk about this, but very briefly, these are people who are using the information that they have access to, to expose corruption from the lowest to the absolute highest level, because it is really about the nature of corruption in our country, which goes down to the lowest level, where without asking for a bribe of Rs. 1000, your ration card will not be made, you will not get pension, you will not get water connection, whose struggle people are fighting with the law of thinking. To the highest level, where people are getting big corruption scandals, whether it is Aadarsh scam, whether it is CWG, whether it is any other type of brush touch, they are exposing all of them. Our belief is that the law of thinking has created a total of 1.3 billion people's whistleblowers in our country. Because till now, traditionally whistleblowing was done by people who were privy to information within the government. They had files, they used to see that there is corruption, and they would go out and wake up corruption, they were government officials. Since the law of thinking has been passed, every citizen of our country has got access to that file. So one way, each and every one of us is a potential whistleblower today. And what we are seeing by way of the attacks on RTI users, is also that we need to look at it in the larger context of attacks on whistleblowers. And this is the reason that there are two types of requests for whistleblowers. We feel that there has to be a remedy for some of this. There are at least two kinds of things that are necessary. The first is that if we analyze how people are asking for a whistleblower, most of the people who are attacked are actually asking for information which the government should have provided proactively. The law of thinking of whistleblowers has written that the government is responsible for its statutory responsibility that it should reach people. Such a thought which is in public interest which is related to larger public resources. So if we look at the thought of public distribution system, of pensions, we see that many other contracts are being given by the government. All this thought has to be provided by the government itself. Now section 4 of the RTI Act is perhaps the worst implemented section of the law. In our country, Dharachar's Trianvan is a very big mess. It is absolutely correct that any government is not paying attention to it. And the reason for that is that when someone should go and think about it, they have to come in front and apply the application. So if I wanted information about what is happening which should have been provided under the RTI law, it is not being provided. I have no choice but to actually file an application. And the moment I do it, I am identified and I am targeted. So the first demand that is coming from the RTI community is that section 4 of the law needs to be implemented properly without which we will continue to see these attacks happening on people. The second thing is that we are telling the information commission that if someone comes to you and says that there are attacks on us, then immediately look at the information. If it can be public, then make that information available. Make the information available on websites. Dharachar says that information has to be made available in the most accessible ways. You can apply boards, you can apply wall paintings. So we are saying that if there are attacks on people and they reach the commission, then at least the commission says that make that information public immediately. The reason behind this is that the reason why people are being attacked is that they are not asking for information. This will be a deterrent. People will think that we will attack them on the RTI applicant that we should not ask for information. So it will be a deterrent for attacks that RTI users are facing. The other thing which is also necessary and we are very cognizant of the fact that anonymity is not an option for an RTI user. If you apply for an application and you have to give your name, you have to reach a place where you can prove that you are a citizen of the country, then there is no question of anonymity. But what is it that can be done to protect those who even use information to expose corruption. And this is why RTI users and the national campaign for people's right to information has been at the forefront of also demanding and effective whistleblower protection law. And the whistleblower protection law is a long process of law. It started with the murder of Satendra Dubey. But finally when the law was passed in 2014, there was a great demand from RTI users. Because in that law for the first time there is a statutory definition of a whistleblower. And apart from the many other things that the law provides for and there are of course like in all other legislations there are also drawbacks. But one of the very powerful things is that it gives the competent authority the power to give protection to someone who is being victimized or who is being threatened and whose life is under threat. Now if you see one after one cases where RTI users have been murdered every person I think 90% of the cases people have gone and actively sought police protection. People have not been killed in the first attack. If you see Nandi Singh's case which was hacked 40 times in Assam if you see Balmiki Yadav's case Rajendra Singh's case which has been killed in Bihar recently you see Bhupendra Veera's case that all these people have been attacked before they have sought police protection and the police have refused to give them full impunity Now we believe that itself is wrong and like any other citizen they should have got protection and here we have to be cognizant of the fact that these people are stepping beyond their own personal interests and they are in a sense conscience keepers of society they are coming forward because they are looking at the picture and therefore in the law there is a recognition that if someone is a whistleblower and they come and say that they are being attacked and they feel that threats are real then they will be given protection unfortunately in the last four years more than four years since the law has got passed this law has not been implemented by our government so I am going to just take two minutes Venkat if I may to really talk about the current context of what we are seeing by way of protection of whistleblowers and I think that the story is rather dismal what was the need that the government specially such a government which came in power on this that we are against the law and we will not let them eat so one aspect was that this government will accept all such laws and such frameworks through which this anti-corruption and grievance redress that all the legislations will be properly implemented in which we thought that the law has an important part of whistleblower protection unfortunately what we have seen through words and through actions the government has really been pushing back on the entire decentralized framework of anti-corruption that we all have been fighting for for the past many decades so if you see our MOS home is Kiran Rijiju when in Bhopal six semi-operatives were linked to the encounter people asked questions so they stood up and said that the worst thing in this country is that the culture is bad that people have to ask questions you let the authority do their work you don't need to ask questions we will take good control what sort of a democracy is that and what kind of a signal does that send out and this is not just by any one person we have seen this happening across the board which really gives out the signal in either encouraging or protecting people who are questioning the government asking inconvenient questions and who are putting the government in trouble and who are putting the wrong people in trouble the government tried to change the rules of the law in the last year and if you see in those rules the two most worrying clauses one clause is that if you want then you can take it back from your appeal commission till now when people were being threatened and were being told to take back your case people used to say that this is not a law what will you attack on us now the case is gone now the appeal has gone to the commission the government has made the rules that if you want you can take back your case that means you are leaving the door open for people to pressurize you that you go and take back your case the second thing which is more dangerous than that is that if you die then the case will be closed this is providing a perverse incentive because you are basically saying that if I am asking for inconvenient information and I go up to the commission if my murder happens then I will not even be able to hear my case that means I am not getting justice even that case will not be heard and taken forward the government like I said has not implemented the whistleblower protection law the whole demand was the whistleblower protection law and the grievance redress law that was because if you analyze the RTIs then most of the RTIs are about such people who should have been not getting it then there should have been a proper grievance redress mechanism so that they don't have to roam they should complain they should not go to a cool box and they should immediately get the whistleblower protection law and if someone takes a big whistleblower and exposes it whether it is 2G whether it is a human rights violation or corruption then there should be a fair and independent probe that is why the demand for the whistleblower protection law the whistleblower protection law is 4 years old the RTI activists that we take so many jokes we go and find this information then we use it to file complaints and then nothing happens on those complaints remains today as well because whatever the government comes with their political opponents suddenly their cases start to increase and their cases start to fall down so that is really the way in which corruption and many other kinds of criminal offenses are also being tackled with in our country and I think that none of that has seen any improvement in the current context if we look at the current government and the grievance redress law which was brought into parliament which would have helped a lot of people who are today being attacked has not been reintroduced there was a promise by the current government that last time when the law, the bill was kept in parliament it was lapsed so we will bring it back it was the law of people's power and it has not been reintroduced so I will stop my presentation here actually just one last thing I think what we needed to do was to see information commissions being strengthened their hands being strengthened because they have the power to direct the government to give information and also to protect whistleblowers but we have seen that recently there are amendments that have been proposed to the RTI law which actually will compromise the independence of information commissions and I think that we will have to see this too in this presentation