CAA citizenship data cover-up hollows out RTI scope further

NT Bengaluru: Multiple rejections of Right to Information (RTI) applications seeking data on the number of persons granted statehood under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is further proof that the former law has been diluted. The daily newspaper ‘The Hindu’ became the latest applicant rejected by the Union Home Ministry for asking this question. The Public Information Officer repeated the claim they neither compiled nor were they obligated to provide data on citizenships granted under CAA. In April, two similar RTI applications from West Bengal and Maharashtra had been rejected.

Both applicants were told there was no similar provision to keep records of citizenship applications under the previous Citizenship Act, 1955 or the new CAA. Many are surprised because CAA has been more than four years in the making. The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was formulated in 2019 with the ruling BJP’s stated goal being fasttracking citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis from neighbouring nations.

Act notified after 4 years Four years: after CAA was passed, the Act became a reality as the ruling BJP issued a notification for the same in March this year on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections. The Home Ministry had confirmed that the applications would be submitted, processed and approved in “a completely online mode”. As such, records for the same would be maintained, belying the presence of data but refusal to disclose the same. The RTI Act, which was passed in 2005 and perceived as a big step in promoting transparent governance, has been made toothless over nearly 20 years.

Commissions understaffed: For instance, both BJP and non-BJP governments at the Centre and State deliberately neglect to appoint members to the Information Commissions (ICs). There is a Central Information Commission (CIC) and State Information Commission (SIC) dealing with the Union and State governments respectively. Scarcity of IC members results in an overload of applications and delayed replies. The New Delhi-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Satark Nagarik Sangathan disclosed that seven of the 29 ICs of the country were inactive for periods between 2023 and 2024. In Jharkhand, the IC was inactive for four straight years. In Tripura, it was three years. In Telangana, it was a yearand- a-half. In Maharashtra, more than one lakh applications are pending while in other states ICs remain unheaded.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre leads the pack by refusing to appoint Information Commissioners. After 2015, the Centre didn’t appoint commissioners except when citizens petitioned the courts and forced them to do it. The IC at the Centre has three members instead of 11. This has resulted in more than four lakh pending applications in the country and a waiting period of more than a year to receive information from 14 of the 29 ICs.

Some estimate that a new application in Chhattisgarh would be answered in 2029. Moreover, the appointment of IC members often includes pro-government retired officers and others. Also, the Modi government’s amendments to RTI include the Centre now deciding pay of the service members and reducing their wages.