Public and private interest

Chandigarh, Wednesday, August 13, 1974

THE essence of a modern democratic government is full publicity to all business that is of public interest, but several Union Ministers seem to think otherwise. Thereby, they reflect their disbelief in the precept that the State itself is public property and that it must do everything above board. This is evident from Labour Minister Raghunatha Reddy’s refusal, in the Lok Sabha on August 8, to divulge the contents of the Chakravarti Committee report on a wages and income policy. He needlessly created suspicion by insisting that the report was “a secret document” and meant for the Government’s “internal use”. What precisely is a popularly elected Government’s “internal use” of a report on wages? The implicit secretiveness strikes at the root of government by open discussion and consensus. Reddy said the document was intended “to help the Government understand certain problems connected with wages, profits and income policy”. What the people’s Government wishes to understand, the people themselves wish to understand even more clearly. Otherwise, it would be a closed and not an open society where everything is expected to be subjected to the public gaze all the time, with no iron or nylon curtain to suit the administration’s convenience. Reports dealing with defence and national security may, with some justification, be treated as confidential. Premature disclosure of vital details would mean offering military secrets on a platter to a hostile country. Even in this sphere, the people’s fundamental right to know is being increasingly asserted.