Colleagues,

Of possible interest to some of you...

Roberts, Alasdair S., A Great and Revolutionary Law? The First Four Years of
India's Right to Information Act (January 9, 2010). Suffolk University Law
School Research. 

Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1527858

Abstract: India's Right to Information Act (RTIA), adopted in 2005, is
among dozens of national laws recently adopted that are modeled on the
United States' Freedom of Information Act. A large number of studies
completed in 2007-2009 have examined challenges in implementing the law.
Indian citizens filed about two million requests for information under the
RTIA in its first two and half years. However, use of the law has been
constrained by uneven public awareness, poor planning by public authorities,
and bureaucratic indifference or hostility. Requirements for proactive
disclosure of information are often ignored, and mechanisms for enforcing
the new law are strained by a growing number of complaints and appeals.
Nonetheless, RTIA advocates have demonstrated the transformative potential
of the new law, and continue to press energetically for proper
implementation. Public authorities and civil society organizations have
developed innovations in practice that may be useful to other developing
countries adopting similar laws.