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A study right to information bill

Senior journalist Dr. Ranga Kalansuriya said that international organizations has named the draft proposed right to information bill supposed to be presented to the parliament of Sri Lanka is one of the seventh supreme right to information bill in the world.Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya joining for a discussion with BBC said organizations such as Article 19 of the UK and Democratic Campaign of Canada has named this bill a sturdiest bill.

He said Sri Lanka was one of the countries in the south Asia which did not adopt the right to information bill so far.

He said although there was a strong public opinion in India to legislate the right to information act, but in Sri Lanka the opinion was created not by the public but for the necessity of the government and few nongovernmental organizations.

He said the public don’t have much knowledge about the fundamental rights obtained through this right to information bill.

Right to question

“Public can get information’s and the public get the right to question the government in power”

“Why my child was not permitted school?”

“Why the hospital whom I get treatment doesn’t give me free medicine?”

“How much money spent to repair the road in my village?
Is the amount spent is reasonable? Who was the contractor?”

“Why I cannot sell my paddy? Why nobody buys my paddy?”

By legislating the right to information bill the public legally gets a right to question the government in power said Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya.

Effective measure

“Currently 70% of the countries in the world has adopted the right to information bill. However none of the countries legislate the bill during their first term in power.

Many countries legislates this act during the last period of their second term because this bill is not favourable for the government in power”

However the current government in power has decided to take a sturdiest measure to legislate the bill during its first term said Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya.

“Due to that, some partners of the government raised a doubt can they work with such a public favourable bill”

Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya said Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinhe has pledged that he would adopt the bill without hindering the quality of its content.

The government said that it would present the draft bill gazette to the parliament by the coming week.

http://lankanewsweb.net/news/item/2626-a-sturdy-right-to-information-bill

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