TY - JOUR
T1 - More than a decade in the making
T2 - A study of the implementation of India's Right to Information Act
AU - Relly, Jeannine E.
AU - Rabbi, Md Fazle
AU - Sabharwal, Meghna
AU - Pakanati, Rajdeep
AU - Schwalbe, Ethan H.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the editor of World Development and the two manuscript reviewers for very helpful insights and input on the manuscript. The authors also acknowledge Manish Poptani for his work as an interpreter and translator and his transcription work. We also thank Shazia Salam for audio transcription. Jeannine E Relly received funding for the research from the United States–India Educational Foundation, Fulbright Commission in India. The researchers also received funding for transcription and fieldwork from O.P. Jindal Global University in India under the Research Grants Policy.
Funding Information:
The authors thank the editor of World Development and the two manuscript reviewers for very helpful insights and input on the manuscript. The authors also acknowledge Manish Poptani for his work as an interpreter and translator and his transcription work. We also thank Shazia Salam for audio transcription. Jeannine E Relly received funding for the research from the United States–India Educational Foundation, Fulbright Commission in India. The researchers also received funding for transcription and fieldwork from O.P. Jindal Global University in India under the Research Grants Policy.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - India's progressive Right to Information Act (RTIA) is a global model. The RTIA was adopted a decade and a half ago to serve as a check on corruption and to advance democracy, citizen equity and public accountability. Little primary research has been conducted on the implementation of the RTIA. This research employs a socio-political and technocratic framework to study influences on RTIA implementation over time from the citizen requester ‘demand-side’ and the governmental ‘supply-side’ from an institutional development process perspective. Our constructivist approach utilizes in-depth semi-structured interviews from frequent information requesters and information commissioners (N = 114) and a new dataset of a random stratified sample of information commissioner decisions for release of information under the RTIA (N = 500). We found that political will, bureaucratic culture, and societal activism and engagement were the strongest overarching socio-political factors impacting implementation. Socio-political subfactors that appeared weak or wanting in the RTI regime were leadership, oversight, coordination, positive workplace incentives, reflexivity, and public information officer communication style with citizen requesters. Technocratic constraints, directly influenced by socio-political factors that impact implementation, included follow-through on administrative policies and rules, capacity building, monitoring, oversight, and sanctions. This study found that technocratic factors included in the institutional design of RTI legislation may not be sufficient for short-term institutional change in cultures of bureaucratic secrecy. However, coalitions of citizens, civil society organizations, media, engaged public officials, and interested politicians can drive a transparency agenda in a country when political will and bureaucratic leadership are weak.
AB - India's progressive Right to Information Act (RTIA) is a global model. The RTIA was adopted a decade and a half ago to serve as a check on corruption and to advance democracy, citizen equity and public accountability. Little primary research has been conducted on the implementation of the RTIA. This research employs a socio-political and technocratic framework to study influences on RTIA implementation over time from the citizen requester ‘demand-side’ and the governmental ‘supply-side’ from an institutional development process perspective. Our constructivist approach utilizes in-depth semi-structured interviews from frequent information requesters and information commissioners (N = 114) and a new dataset of a random stratified sample of information commissioner decisions for release of information under the RTIA (N = 500). We found that political will, bureaucratic culture, and societal activism and engagement were the strongest overarching socio-political factors impacting implementation. Socio-political subfactors that appeared weak or wanting in the RTI regime were leadership, oversight, coordination, positive workplace incentives, reflexivity, and public information officer communication style with citizen requesters. Technocratic constraints, directly influenced by socio-political factors that impact implementation, included follow-through on administrative policies and rules, capacity building, monitoring, oversight, and sanctions. This study found that technocratic factors included in the institutional design of RTI legislation may not be sufficient for short-term institutional change in cultures of bureaucratic secrecy. However, coalitions of citizens, civil society organizations, media, engaged public officials, and interested politicians can drive a transparency agenda in a country when political will and bureaucratic leadership are weak.
KW - Bureaucratic culture
KW - Corruption
KW - Development
KW - Freedom of Information laws
KW - Government transparency
KW - Implementation
KW - India
KW - Institutional development
KW - Right to Information Act
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089000201&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85089000201&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105088
DO - 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105088
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85089000201
VL - 136
JO - World Development
JF - World Development
SN - 1873-5991
M1 - 105088
ER -