Sandeep Pandey to go on fast again against amendment to RTI Act

New Delhi, Aug 21 (UNI) Magsaysay award winning activist Sandeep Pandey today said he would go on an indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar here from August 8 to protest the proposed amendments to the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

Describing the cabinet decision to amend the RTI Act to exclude file notings, cabinet papers and answer sheets of examinations from its purview is an ''anti-democratic step'', he said he would begin the fast so as to force the Government to take back the step.

''This is a battle between bureaucracy and leadership wanting to continue to function without being accountable to the citizens and a citizenry now bent upon making the process of governance transparent to the people. This is a struggle to realize the dream of real democracy,'' Pandey said in a statement.

The ''awakened citizenry'' was committed to ''fighting to the end to save their due right,'' he said.

Pandey had sat on hunger fast here in protest against the Government move earlier this month also. A protest by civil rights groups at the Jantar Mantar was lifted after the Government later decided not to bring the proposed amendment in the current session of parliament.

UNI VN BD2006