Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 8 (IANS) India is passing through a transparency revolution, but powerful sections of the country are not yet ready for the transition, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Wednesday in the backdrop of a mass movement against corruption.

“Our country is passing through a transparency revolution. Walls of secrecy are crumbling gradually in every field, whether in politics, administration, religion, business, and journalism. But India is not ready…Indian politicians, research people, journalists, armed forces, and all those holding key position in India..They are not still ready for this transition and that is why there are now some problems in this transition period,” Antony said at an event in the Press Club of India here.

“But it is also another face of Indian democracy. After a few years, this will settle, but the transition will go on and I am very happy about that,” he said.

Noting that the Indian parliament had contributed to the transparency revolution, Antony referred to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, passed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in 2005, as one of the major steps in this regard.

“The trend has started. You cannot stop this transparency revolution midway. It is percolating to all walks of human life, all organisations, ultimately all families in India. That is the beauty of this…the present state of Indian democracy,” he added.

Antony’s comments come at a time when the anti-graft movement started by Gandhian Anna Hazare with a five-day fast in April caught the imagination of the entire country and yoga guru Baba Ramdev too joined the movement with his own agitation last week.

“Ultimately, nobody can feel that they will be here permanently. Nobody can feel they are making legislation, they are making things, they will be here all the time. Nothing is permanent in a democracy. Change is a must today or sometime later,” he said, in a veiled message to parliamentarians, legislators, ministers and civil society members, who are now part of a panel that is drafting the anti-graft ombudsman bill.

He also praised the media and NGOs for contributing to the revolution and noted that the Right to Information (RTI) would spread to every walk of life, with the private sector too joining the transition soon.

“RTI is a revolution and after that, all secrets are becoming a thing of the past. Lots of secrets are coming out. So I do not think anybody can take any step that is not appropriate. I am sure RTI will expand to many areas and ultimately every part of Indian life will be transparent,” he said.

He also appealed to the media to remain independent in its role. “I do not think journalism is totally independent nowadays,” he said alluding to the ‘paid news’ syndrome that has caught on, where the dividing line between advertisements and news has blurred.

“My request is the media should not allow themselves to be manipulated by vested interests who look for interests in either politics or the corporate world or in media houses. Indian journalism is becoming very difficult, be it for the management or journalists,” he said.

Noting that journalists too feel insecure today, Antony said: “So independence of journalism is a question mark, but as conscious keepers of our society, as the vanguard of Indian democracy in this industrialised society, in this atmosphere, there are a lot of interests that are clashing. There, you have to be very careful.”