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Atanu Dey writes about the need and importance of transparency of government:
Firstly, what is great leadership:
It seems to me that great leadership is about leading a government that is on the citizens’ side. Great leadership is open and transparent about what the government is doing and why. It is about accountability and responsiveness. At its foundation, great leadership consists in fighting the government on behalf of the people if the government is not doing its duty.
Trust as a key foundation.
Trust lies at the heart of any enduring relationship. If the people cannot trust those whom it has elevated to high positions in government, it will inevitably lead to a cynical but rational rejection of governmental authority. Trust has to be deserved and earned. For that, those in government have to be forthcoming about what they have achieved and more importantly, what they have failed to achieve. A great leader tells all and lets the people decide whether or not he or she has delivered on the promises made.
The first and the most significant sign of failure of leadership is when those in government cannot reveal what the government has been up to. Secrecy or even the reluctance to make public all that the government knows signals failed leadership and gross incompetency.
The best part is this idea: “Getting information that the public is entitled to should be as easy as getting the weather forecast.”
The information should be out there for anyone interested in getting it without going through any “Right to Information” mechanisms. To be frank, I think the much trumpeted RTI is a load of ignorant nonsense but I will not go down that sidetrack here. Getting information that the public is entitled to should be as easy as getting the weather forecast. There are people who have weather information (it’s their job as meteorologists) and one simply navigates over to the appropriate website without having to file an application to get the weather forecast. One doesn’t have to invoke some “Right to Weather Forecast Information” law. A RWFI is silly and it is equally silly to have something like RTI.