THE long agitation over the Union government’s new farm laws shows that reforms by stealth or force don’t work, not even when they are introduced by a government with a sizeable majority. There is really no substitute for discussion in Parliament and outside. In fact, wider consultation is a principle that should be applied to the legislative process in general if laws are to be meaningful to people and successfully implemented instead of remaining on paper as is mostly the case. The drafting and then passing of the Right to Information (RTI) law under the UPA. . .